NOVEL NEXT WORLD Chapter 37: The Sabotage
After Zoey and Ace returned to their base with the second flag, they instantly gathered all of their remaining teammates, which were only Jumbo and three other players. They didn’t have more weapons to defend themselves with; Jumbo was carrying a broken piece of wood to use as a shield, but apart from that, they had no protection. The rest of the team tried to search for anything useful in the piles of rubble around the base, while Jumbo stayed at the front of the base to wait for the red players. But since the enemy was right on Ace and Zoey’s tail, they appeared right after the blue team returned to their assigned positions.
With Shade up and playing again, he waited for his teammates to charge against the blue team again, but this time with more aggression than ever. They weren’t messing around now, with Shade, Cory, and three other red players going straight for the remaining flags while Grant opened fire as soon as he popped out of the trees. They first encountered Jumbo, but after Cory tackled him to the ground, Shade and his teammates advanced quickly, pushing through the thin lines of defense left in the blue base.
Grant focused fire on Jumbo, eliminating him immediately, but as he locked his sights on him, a few blue players flanked him and pushed him back to the trees behind. Ace and Zoey allowed Shade to head straight to the flags, sticking to the sides of the sandpit in the middle, and as the other red players spread out to cover more ground, they were able to pick off three of the weakest opponents. Baby and Kenny showed up, but counting them, only five red players remained alive, with Grant still playing since he had only been beaten down. The blue team still outnumbered them, but since only Ace and Zoey were left in the open area of the base, they had to improvise to defend their flags with barely any resources.
Ace tried to distract Cory and Kenny, who came at him right away with resentment as they hadn’t been able to eliminate him yet. He ran around the base as they chased him, unable to match his speed, though they gained more ground as they got closer to the center. Only Shade was heading for the flags, though, prompting Zoey to run up to him and jump at his back, holding tight to restrict his movement while her teammates joined the fight from behind.
But as they first had to take out Baby, who stayed behind to cover for his friends, Zoey was left indecisive about what to do. She looked back to see that Scott hadn’t yet arrived, even when he was right behind her and Ace a minute ago. She had no other option than to stall Shade as much as possible, which she managed to accomplish for a while since he couldn’t get her off him. But because she lost her focus for a brief second, Shade grew frustrated and dropped on his back to scare her away.
Zoey wasn’t able to react fast enough, and even though she tried to jump to safety, Shade’s body dropped on top of her at full force. Luckily, she had dropped into the mud and sank in a little before Shade crushed him, and while she did feel the impact, the force of the hit decreased significantly, probably saving her life as he was twice as big as her. But before she could get up, Shade turned around, and while restraining her, he aimed his mace at her leg. She panicked and tried to kick him off, which saved her leg from being crushed by the heavy head of his weapon, but she was still technically hit by it. She didn’t seem to mind even though Shade laughed at her before getting up to fetch one of the flags. But since Zoey had only lost one life, she got another chance to confront him, although she waited for Ace to give the order.
After seeing Zoey get taken out, Ace stopped running from Cory and Kenny in the middle of the base, where Shade was now picking up the second flag, and Zoey was running to the end to respawn. With Shade now turning back and cornering him, Ace had no way out, yet he still ordered his teammates to rush at their opponents. They didn’t have any weapons to fight, which is why they only managed to beat down Baby and Grant but did not eliminate them. Despite this, they charged at the remaining red players, distracting both Cory and Kenny for a second, letting Ace take a swing at them as they turned around. Getting his last chance to take them down for good, Ace was stopped by Shade as he kicked him from behind, interrupting his attack and forcing him to drop his weapon as he fell to the ground. And with his two brute friends still in front, the blue players didn’t get to help him out since they couldn’t fight against their opponents.
They tried to overpower them, but it was to no avail, as they easily took them out with one swing of their axes. Zoey froze as she watched all of it unfold, terrified to approach the fight as her friends were being genuinely hurt by some savage lunatics. The blue players were all out, including Ace, who received a mighty blow to the back from Shade’s mace. He groaned and writhed in pain, but he appeared to be exaggerating his injury as he kept screaming loudly, drawing in Shade’s friend to laugh at him. And as they failed to realize he still had one life, they didn’t proceed to beat him up, although Ace didn’t try to fight back. Instead, he took advantage of the attention he had garnered to let Zoey escape.
–RUN ZOEY!– Ace shouted to get Zoey out of her trance, but he was quickly silenced by a kick in the mouth by Cory. Witnessing this, Zoey’s eyes filled with rage, but instead of confronting the three brutes surrounding her friend, she gathered the courage and will to listen to him and ran away for the sake of the team. She circled the sandpit to head directly to the stream, outpacing Kenny and Cory as they tried chasing her. She quickly ran past them but had to dodge Baby and Grant’s grasp as they returned to the battle. She was barely able to duck and avoid getting caught, though she then had to change her direction to dodge the bullets flying her way as Grant still had a gun.
–Don’t chase her. Let’s wait here and beat her ass if she tries to capture the flag– Shade ordered with a perverted grin, getting a few laughs out of his teammates, who seemed reluctant but ended up complying and waiting right in the middle of the base for Zoey to return. Ace stayed quiet and avoided any contact with them, pretending to be unconscious as he lay on the mud, peeking to see the direction where Zoey escaped to assess the situation. He looked concerned as Scott was still nowhere to be seen, though he held hope in the possibility of her saving the game and somehow scoring the last point they needed.
Zoey ran as fast as possible away from the blue base, taking the right flank that she had gotten used to, reaching safety fairly quickly. She was in tears and breathing heavily, still in shock to see her team get wiped out, though she didn’t stop or look back until halfway through. She took a moment to catch her breath, but as she reached the place where she last saw Scott, she became nervous as she couldn’t find him on the desolate path. She began looking around, so focused on her friend that she didn’t even notice that the hunter she had taken down was missing. But after she noticed a shadowy figure in the distance, past the boundaries of the playing field, she regained some hope and began following it without thinking twice, quickly venturing deep into the forest as the figure kept moving.
Scott was stupefied as he watched Frost and Panda talking in secret behind a bush. While he was glad to have found some familiar faces, he became more and more curious as to what they were talking about. He almost stepped out of his hiding spot to walk over to them and get a closer view. But before he got the chance to do so, they left the bush in a hurry, sneaking closer to the area outside the forest.
Scott couldn’t see where they were heading, but as he noticed that it was bright and clear past where they were, he moved towards the light, taking their previous position. There, he was blinded by the sun beaming above, but he kept his eyes locked on Panda and Frost, following them with his gaze as they edged the border of the forest, seemingly trying to flank something that only now Scott had become aware of.
Outside the forest, there was a big, open field with short, green hills. The landscape was similar to the one on the training grounds, except this one looked untouched and completely natural, like the fields Scott had seen his whole life while living in the village. He was still in the shadows cast by the trees behind him, but as he tried to step closer to the exposed grass, he quickly took cover once again after finding something that looked like it wasn’t supposed to be there. To his right, where Frost and Panda had disappeared, next to some fallen trees, there was a large cargo carriage with a steady roof, being pulled by two horses, and with what appeared to be crates inside.
Around the carriage were strange, dirty-looking men, nothing like the soldiers and recruits that Scott was used to seeing back at the base. There were around eight of them: two at the front, in charge of the horses; two more loading up the carriage with logs from the fallen trees nearby; and four more at the sides, chatting casually, though they were armed with rifles for some reason. Seeing these men already gave a bad impression to Scott, who gave them a closer look before pulling out his gun in case they were enemies. But as he thought about it, he began to back away to warn the people at the game. But when he noticed Frost and Panda approaching the carriage from the side, still hiding in the border of the forest, Scott stayed watching carefully.
He got excited when he saw Frost pull his blades out of his trench coat as he waited for the men loading the carriage to turn their backs on him and Panda. The latter had his machine gun ready but allowed Frost to make the first move, and as soon as he saw the opportunity, he stepped forward, with Panda following shortly after. In broad daylight, they sneaked up behind the strangers, closing the distance before they could react to the rustling leaves caused by their sudden move to take them out silently. They got rid of them by covering their mouths, preventing them from screaming and warning the others while choking them to death, only to then throw their bodies behind the fallen trees they used for hiding before.
Scott gasped in horror; he was dumbfounded, but at the same time, he remained curious and even amazed to see them in action. He got a closer look as Frost and Panda approached the back of the carriage, trying to get in without being seen, which was hard with all of the equipment they were carrying. Frost had his razor blades in hand as usual, but he was also geared up with ammo belt, and a backpack, and alongside Panda, they carried more arsenal than their squad combined. They looked like they could take on an army by themselves, which is why their approach confused Scott.
Instead of fighting, they were infiltrating the carriage, which appeared to be the worst choice as the armed strangers at the side of the vehicle noticed it moving as soon as they tried to hop in. Luckily, they didn’t bother to check the back and just climbed the sides of the carriage to hold on as the two in front began driving the horses. For a second, Scott tried to step in to stop them from leaving as Frost and Panda were inside, but then he saw that they had successfully hidden in the back of the carriage, where they had to lay low and wait for the carriage to take them somewhere else. Scott just kept watching, completely forgetting about everything else to figure out what they were plotting. But just when he got an idea, he spotted Kiwy at the top of a tree, which only brought up more questions.
Ace became bored, as he could only watch Shade and his friends chat and joke around while they waited for Zoey to show up. All of the eliminated players were waiting in the middle of the stream with the audience, though Jumbo and a few of his teammates stayed with Ace to make sure he was safe. They almost tried to drag him out of the scene, only for him to subtly gesture for them to go away. They quickly realized that he still had one life and was playing dead, so they stepped aside to watch from the back of the base, waiting with him for the opportunity to catch their enemy by surprise, which seemed to have taken forever.
He finally got excited when he heard someone coming from the front, creating quite a lot of noise as they stumbled their way through the trees. But once he and everyone else got to see who it was, they were flabbergasted to see Chappy appear out of nowhere. Ace smiled with joy, but Shade and his friends were completely dismayed when they noticed he was carrying their last flag. He had made his way all over to the opposite side of the base with the red flag, and since no one was left to stop him, he was now delivering it directly to the enemy.
–What are you doing here?– Baby asked, both perplexed and irritated as he and Shade caught up to what he was planning. With them blocking his way, Chappy stammered as he tried to come up with a response before looking around for a blue player. His teammates were already distrusting him, but as they saw how nervous he got, they realized he was betraying them, and before he could say anything, they tried to surround him and prevent him from taking another step. But as he locked eyes with Ace, and since all the red players were focused on him, Chappy waited for him to get up before surprising both his teammates and the present blue players.
–DO IT!– Chappy shouted as he hurled the last red flag at Ace. Cory and Kenny tried to grab it midair, but as it slipped through their fingers, it made its way over to Ace, who had sneaked up to the flags in the center before receiving the last one. He had a shaky grip as he struggled to move from the pain he was in, but with the last flag in hand, he planted it firmly with the rest before the red players could do anything to stop him. Baby got a punch on Chappy before turning around, but by the time they all realized what he had done, it was already too late. Ace had scored the last point for the team, winning the game, and prompting his teammates to celebrate with him.
–Wait, what? That doesn’t count!– Shade exclaimed in annoyance, but as he was still confused as to what had happened, he just looked around to find an authority to step in and stop the match. His friends instinctively tried to beat up Ace and his teammates, but the commotion got the attention of everyone in the audience, who were already on their way after seeing Chappy running through the stream with the last flag.
Tricky, Candy, Nitro, and Indie ran over to the base alongside all the soldiers to confirm if the game was over. Once they reached the blue base, they saw all the red flags planted and began cheering for Ace’s team as they claimed their victory. Their other teammates joined them in their celebration, getting to rub it on Shade and his friends’ faces in front of everyone. But since they didn’t consider their victory legitimate, they turned to Crisis to complain and have them judge the situation.
–They didn’t win! We got sabotaged! This idiot stole our flag and gave it to them, it doesn’t count!– Shade shouted at Tricky in anger, grabbing Chappy by the shirt with the intent of hurting him. But as he was met with indifference by Tricky and some soldiers, he quickly lost confidence and assertiveness, letting Chappy go as he processed yet another humiliating defeat. His teammates didn’t even know what to do, though most of them were relieved to have finished the game, even joining the blue team as Candy approached Ace to give him a medal, officially granting them the victory.
–Better pick your teammates wisely next time…– Indie said casually to Shade as he furiously watched the enemy celebrate. He was left speechless, but after such an abrupt ending, his group didn’t know what to do other than leave. They threw their weapons away in a fit of rage before disappearing without saying anything else, letting the rest have their fun as they all gathered to praise Ace. He was picked up by his teammate and even some red players before being tossed in the air over and over again victoriously as he showed off his medal and laughed in pure joy.
Zoey could hear the cheers coming from the base, so while she kept following the hiding figure, she relaxed a little after knowing they had won. She remained anxious as Scott still didn’t appear, and after walking through the forest, trying not to make too much noise, he almost gave up and turned back when she lost sight of the person she was following. But as she got a glimpse of the light found outside the forest, she got even closer to the edge, where she was curious to see the person hiding. At first, she hesitated to approach him, but as it looked like he was just admiring the green field in front of him, she stepped closer and saw that it was Scott. And as soon as she recognized him, she sneaked up to him with a mischievous smile, staying silent to scare him, as he was unaware of her presence.
Instead of turning around, Scott kept watching the scene unfold as the carriage began leaving. Frost and Panda were already inside, but out of nowhere, Kiwy jumped from a tree onto the roof of the carriage. She appeared to be light enough to not cause much sound or movement, and even though the armed strangers were hanging from the side, they didn’t get to see her flying through the air for the brief second she was visible. They continued chatting, oblivious to the fact that a cat girl was right on top of the carriage, and as they kept moving like nothing happened, Scott laughed to himself. However, his laugh was cut short by a loud noise right behind him that made him jump, and before fully turning around, he found himself on the receiving end of a surprise attack.
–BOO!– Zoey shouted as she playfully threw herself at Scott, trying to tackle him after making him jump out of the bush. She wrapped her arms around him before giggling in glee, but as she made him shriek, she inadvertently caught the armed strangers’ attention. As the carriage was leaving the area surrounded by hills, it got closer to Scott right as he screamed, and before he could take cover, the two strangers facing them jumped off the carriage and opened fire in his direction. Their makeshift weapons appeared to be made out of scrap, though they were still powerful enough to shoot bullets that penetrated wood.
Scott quickly brought Zoey down with him as he dropped to the floor, barely dodging a couple of bullets that went straight through one of the trees behind them. They both gasped in horror but stayed low to not be shot while they tried to figure out what to do. The gunfire continued for a moment, but as the strangers were very determined to get rid of the lurkers spying on them, they allowed Panda, Frost, and Kiwy to take action.
The two strangers that started shooting at Zoey and Scott were surprised by Kiwy leaping at one of them, scratching his face, causing him to drop instantly, with the other one not even noticing her until she held onto his back and wrapped her hands around his neck. He screamed for a brief moment, only to be silenced by her deadly claws nailing his throat, gushing blood everywhere, and tainting the grass below. After hearing the scream, the two strangers on the other side got off the carriage as well, but as soon as they touched the ground, they were met by Panda aiming his machine gun at their feet.
With a brief pull of the trigger, Panda immobilized them by shooting off their legs. They dropped their weapons as they lost the ability to stand up, and as they began bleeding excessively, they kept yelling at their teammates to help. Unfortunately, the loud shots startled the horses, who began running at full speed to escape, forcing the two drivers on top to jump off. They were armed as well, but as they had dropped right next to Kiwy, they immediately locked their sights on her. She was vulnerable for a second after one of her claws got stuck in the neck she had just slashed open. But as she faced the two strangers, she remained calm and didn’t move a single muscle, seeing that Frost was about to save her.
While the carriage began moving uncontrollably, Frost waited until he was behind the two men aiming at Kiwy to jump off the carriage, not even making a sound from the galloping of the horses when he sliced the back of the last strangers’ necks with one clean cut midair. With a stylish landing, he turned to Panda to see that he was finishing off the men that he shot to put them out of their misery. They kept screaming in agony until their bodies were filled with so many holes that they bled out immediately. But with the three of them leaving a bloody scene where the carriage was once parked, they couldn’t do much now that the horses were running away.
Frost watched the horses escape for a second before focusing on what might have caused the strangers to open fire. He looked around frantically, already losing his patience as his fury built up, but he quickly got a clue when he noticed some movement in the bush where he and Panda were hiding. He immediately approached it until he saw Scott and Zoey stand up, panting in fear and shock as they looked around. They seemed relieved to be safe now that the threat was gone, but their confused expressions quickly faded away when they saw an extremely pissed-off Frost, who first seemed baffled when he recognized them but then couldn’t contain his temper as he kept heating up.
–WHAT ARE YOU TWO DOING HERE?!– Frost yelled at Scott and Zoey intensely, exasperated to the point that his face was bright red. His loudness stunned them for a bit, but even when they got a second to give a response, both Scott and Zoey couldn’t even look at Frost’s smoldering face, not getting to say a word before he continued rebuking them.
–YOU ARE SUPPOSED TO BE PLAYING RIGHT NOW! WHY ARE YOU HERE?– Frost reiterated with increasing rage and his voice almost breaking as he tried to get answers desperately. His intensity drew out Zoey’s stammering as she tried to defend Scott, but it was only when Frost exhausted himself with his own yelling that Scott got a chance to respond.
–W-we were jus-...– Scott stuttered nervously, too scared of Frost to keep talking, which only infuriated him further. Panda tried to step in and calm Frost down, but at this point, he wasn’t listening to anyone; he just had to take his anger out on someone.
–You were trying to sabotage me, that’s what you were doing!– Frost shouted bitterly, lowering his tone for a second before turning more hostile with his expressions, giving Scott a death-threatening stare that pierced his soul. He didn’t know what to do, trying to look at Kiwy and Panda as they approached Frost, but even they judged him with their eyes, though it seemed much nicer compared to Frost’s relentless chiding.
Frost continued to berate Scott and Zoey, but mostly the former, as he was the one in the front. But as Panda’s machine gun alerted everyone at the blue team’s base, the other Crisis members identified the sound instantly, growing anxious as they realized the mission had been compromised. They tried to pretend to be surprised, though, waiting for Indie to give them an order. But while she looked confused at first, she didn’t waste time bringing some men with her, leaving some soldiers to guard the players while she and her teammates searched for the source of the noise. Candy, Nitro, and Tricky reluctantly followed her, but they were already nervous, even frightened to find out what had happened, though they could only shake their heads in anticipation of Indie’s reaction.
–I can’t believe how stupid you are to be doi-..!!!– Frost continued to shout at Scott, who actually gathered some courage to take the fall for Zoey, receiving all of his insults to keep her away. But as he closed his eyes to be able to take Frost’s harsh words, he didn’t realize when his teacher suddenly drastically changed his demeanor. Frost immediately showed up when he saw Indie show up, growing nervous when he noticed Candy and the rest with her. And as Scott turned around to see why everything went quiet, he was surprised to see that he wasn’t the one in trouble now, as everyone was staring at Frost.
Indie was first appalled when she found Panda, Kiwy, and Frost standing in front of two seemingly innocent students, but when she started looking further, she quickly noticed what this was all about. She looked past Frost to see the carnage they left behind them, and after seeing the different dead bodies lying in the pools of blood, her eyes widened with indignation. She was just as perplexed as the soldiers behind her, who began inspecting the scene. But after a brief look at the corpses, Indie stared down at the ground for a moment before shifting her attention to Frost, and only to him, who immediately tried to explain himself when he saw her ominous expression.
–Look, I can explain… It was a-...– Frost tried to say before Indie could inevitably start berating him in front of all of his teammates. But as he stuttered a little in his desperate attempt to excuse himself, Indie didn’t even have to cut him off with words; she just interrupted his train of thought with a deadly stare. Frost became quiet, his face turning apologetic, almost docile, while Indie took a big breath to compose herself. Everyone else just watched anxiously, but they were somewhat relieved when she finally opened her mouth since she didn’t have much to say.
–Yes, you will explain, let’s go…– Indie replied coldly, with the same firm and assertive nature as always but with an oddly deadpan voice, which was accompanied by a daunting stare that she refused to give to anyone but Frost. She was able to coerce him into remaining silent and just followed her obediently like a dog as she returned to the forest, walking calmly while everyone watched awkwardly before doing the same.
–This is going to be bad…– Nitro whispered to his teammates jokingly, though really quiet, even when they were a good distance away from Indie and Frost. In response, they only agreed silently with a nod before following Indie and Frost like everyone else. Despite not having a clue about what was happening, Scott and Zoey were speechless and followed as well, gladly leaving the scene for the soldiers to investigate.
–Yep, real bad…– Panda replied in a whisper after a while, growing concerned for his chief as he watched him visibly distressed walking next to Indie. Candy, Tricky, and Kiwy shared the sentiment, and even though they all looked guilty, with even Scott and Zoey showing remorse, they seemed more hopeless. With nothing to say, they were only able to watch as Indie took Frost back to the base to have a real talk, which would most likely end deadlier than the game or even the fight that had just occurred.