Footsteps were heard as three shadows could be seen running with scratches all over their body. They never expected that entering into the forest for this particular task could lead to so many unexpected occurrences. The shadows finally stops after a long while of running and their faces could be finally seen, they were Michael, George and Joshua. Where was Andrew at this time? Where could he have gotten to? From the facial expressions on the faces of the three men, it seems like something foreboding has happened. They were after all tattered and injuries could be seen all over their body just from trying to escape from the danger behind them, so perhaps Andrew is already dead. Although he wasn’t the weakest, that is the only plausible explanation as he was not among them at this moment.

After regaining their breath, Joshua says, “We have tried all we could. There is nothing more we can do at this point”. George and Michael nods stiffly with heavy hearts, the ordeal which they went through wasn’t included in the plans and although they knew that it won’t go through as they had planned, this was beyond what any of them could have ever expected.

Taking a cab down the recap lane, we go back to when they were just about entering the forest, after their little power up. They got into the forest as per their plans and they faced their first foe, the praying mantis. One of the stronger species of insects and as a result of its great prowess, it took Michael just a single swing of his cutlass to behead it. It would have proved to be a bit difficult if it was the Michael of the past. But since they had to accomplish the task at hand as quickly as possible, he didn’t want to waste any time which they do not even have to spare. But this didn’t mean their journey were boring cause all of a sudden they had to face insects which they don’t usually see around. Anyone would have wondered why most of the times they were usually stormed by insect monsters and not one of those beasts. This time around though, they met with various beasts but to their shock, they were either dead or hibernating. On an occasion where they were about passing through a route, they found an adult bear dead on the floor. An adult bear was as huge as a soccer field and it body was very hard to deal any damage to, such a beast would be able to kill the current Michael in just a second, but it was now dead and what was gnawing on its dead body was a pack of wolves. Not just any wolves but a pack of alpha wolves. They had to retrace their steps before being noticed and go through another route. They were even afraid of if anything could be waiting for them at the entrance as on retracing their steps, they could find beasts fighting to the death. Beasts of whom traces were nowhere to be found formerly of whom weren’t just huge but powerful. Just the shockwaves from their battles threw them off course various times but they went back on track after some time. This happened various times and they had to even stop killing any insect beast on their part as they wouldn’t want to aggravate any of these beasts as they would most definitely be killed by any one of them without being able to put up a single fight. Hence they had to detour most of the times finding another path and therefore taking longer time.

At this rate they were going they don’t know when they would be able to get to their location as time went by quickly and the distance they had hoped to cover haven’t even been gone through and would have to retreat as staying until night time wasn’t even an option as beasts of all kind would be rampant then. Hence they quickened their pace towards the area they needed to be and although they took long due to the detours because of the beasts which they found on their way, some of which were even having sex out in the open, exposing them to various techniques which could be used in having sexual intercourse, they eventually reached their destination. But unlike what they thought about meeting an army of rats with the rat king, the place was not actually only filled with rats, as what also greeted them was the most deadliest insect in earth, “the mosquitoes”. Giant, blood sucking infested mosquitoes were what barred them from reaching their goal. The mosquitoes were not only huge but their proboscis at their head was sharper, slimmer and longer and not just one but six of them with jagged edges like a chain saw. If such a thing was used on humans, it did go right through their body and if it went through a vital organ, that did lead to immediate death. And apart from its great piercing ability, it also has a very hard exoskeleton which protects them from being hurt easily and it’s proboscis could inflict great injuries on the rats and its ability to draw blood from their host was dreadful as the blood which they take in, strengthens them and makes them last longer in battle. The rats on the other hand were just bigger than usual with sharper tooth for biting and tearing which they used for killing the mosquitoes, and although the mosquitoes were buzzing in the sky, their great jumping ability enables them to be able to hold on for a little while longer. The rat kings on the other hand were not only huge but they walked with just their hind limbs, like they were humans. They had sharp claws like a bear on their paws which increased the lethality of their attacks. They were stronger and faster than the average rats and could also jump higher and due to their strong limbs, falling from a high height doesn’t cause too much trouble for them hence they dealt much damage to the mosquitoes and has been the reason few of the rats were able to survive until this moment. Seeing more rats being killed enraged the rat kings and made them to attack with greater power and strength.

On seeing this sight, all of them felt chills on their skin. There were rats of various sizes both small, medium and large whose dead bodies were strewn over the floor with all their body fluid sucked out from them and what laid on the ground was just bones and sacks of skin. None of their blood were wasted by the mosquitoes as they came in swarm and were actually still engaged with the king rat and not just one but two of them. Right now, the team of hunters couldn’t help but be grateful for the invasion of these mosquitoes cause handling just one rat king while battling it out with the other rats would have been difficult and deaths were to be expected, if another rat king were to enter the fray while they were busy trying their best to handle them, they would all be dead without any doubt or argument. The battle ranged on and on while the hunters stayed behind hiding while they watch the battle continuing , as it shows no sign of ending soon as the rat kings were both fighting a battle of attrition with the mosquitoes and although they were killing some of the mosquitoes, they themselves were being worn out and would eventually fall in battle, hence just giving up and fleeing right now would be the right choice but there seemed to be high on adrenaline as they fought it out with the mosquitoes. The mosquitoes although being more in numbers were blind and just attacked based on instincts instead of intelligence but they seemed to be in a battle formation as immediately as one fell, another would fill in the gap for it with more still buzzing around the area. Hence it was a hard battle for the rat kings as it didn’t seem like the battle would end anytime soon.

“Shouldn’t we go and take what we came here for while they are still battling it out with each other”, Andrew asks while taking a swig from his gourd of wine. “No, we should wait it up for them to exhaust each other’s strength, then we go for the steal. Going now would be more deadly than initially as if they were to stop fighting and focus all their attention on us, we wouldn’t be able to stand a chance at all and we would all be killed without doubt”, replies Michael and the rest of them nods in acknowledgement. “But what if they don’t end their fighting before it gets late”, Joshua asks at this point while shivering. This was after all beyond what he bargained for and he couldn’t suggest going back, cause he won’t be escorted by anyone and that would surely be equal to committing suicide on his part. “We would have to wait a little while longer for that”, this time around, it was George whom replies. They waited a little more longer and it wasn’t wasted as the rat kings were almost exhausted and starts being ferocious in their attacks towards the mosquitoes which was swarming them. The mosquitoes has finally been able to inflict severe damages unto the rats and they were bleeding in various parts of their body.