(BL) Hunting The Field Guide
Chapter 480: She’s been here all along

Chapter 480: She’s been here all along

Kellen checked the area around him before he pulled his bag off of his back and got down onto his knees before Bree. He glanced at the person who had their head in Bree’s lap, still covered in her coat, and he noticed that Bree’s bag was tucked between the two people. Kellen could see that they were still breathing, and that was a relief to Kellen.

He opened his bag, reaching inside for the food rations that he’d brought for this occasion. Bree’s eyes widened as the shakes came out. Stable shakes, lukewarm, but still consumable.

Kellen shoved three into her arms, taking the gun from her in return.

"Drink those, toss the garbage on the ground after. Fuck the forest." Kellen said, his voice serious. "I’ll keep an eye out." Kellen told her, and watched as relief flooded her expression. Bree looked like she wanted to break down, but thanks to the training that she had received from Kellen, she didn’t.

Kellen watched as she hardened herself after a shaky, deep breath. Then, she popped the top on the first of the shakes and Kellen turned his attention back to the forest around them. Kellen made sure that they were safe as Bree got some of her spark back. It was always alarming to Kellen to witness it happen before his eyes.

Watching a Guide get their life back after a few thousand calories was pretty alarming. There was some distance when it was yourself, since Kellen never had any issue when he did it, but others?

It always made a little shiver run down his spine.

Her hollow cheeks filled up before his eyes, and Kellen had to focus on the forest.

"Is there anyone else around?" Kellen asked carefully, watching as Bree finished up her second shake. She looked grim as she tossed the empty container into the foliage.

"There are a few still around. I don’t know where they are. They left us behind to go explore. We’re looking for the core." Bree told him, opening up the lid on the last shake. Kellen was glad that was the case, and that they had followed his advice.

"I saw that the group split up a while back. Who left?" Kellen asked and watched as her jaw tightened.

"A group of fucking idiots. If they die, it’s not on us." Bree muttered. "They were taken by the poison. Had to be. The personality change was too great, and they wouldn’t listen to us." Bree seemed pretty angry about it, and Kellen felt his shoulders tense.

"How many went, Bree?" He asked and she let out a heavy sigh, tossing the now empty carton behind her. She’d drained all three rather quickly, and Kellen, still holding the gun, grabbed one of the masks dangling off of his bag.

"Three left, leaving the four of us left. We had the older Esper with us, and it was two idiot Espers and one of our Field Guides. I tried to convince her to stay, but I think she was involved romantically with one of them before they entered the gate." Bree tsked, shaking her head as she strapped the new mask on and took a deep breath in. Her eyes went wide. "This air is so clear. It’s so nice! I feel like I can think a bit more." She gushed, and Kellen felt a stone grow in his gut.

"Did...Gwen go with them?" Kellen asked. Careful, weary. He didn’t think that she would, but Bree had just said that the gate changed them slightly. The poison to be more specific, but he still had to ask.

Bree gave Kellen a strange look. She seemed confused about why he had asked that question, and the pit in his stomach dropped. He was very worried that she was about to ask who Gwen was when she spoke up.

"What do you mean? Gwen’s right here." She said, gesturing to the person sleeping in Bree’s lap.

Kellen couldn’t breathe. He’d thought his heart had stopped beating for a second before he reached over and tore the jacket off of the body on her lap. True to her words, it was Gwen in Bree’s lap. Kellen’s head felt dizzy from the sudden revelation.

He’d been here, for maybe ten minutes, not even aware that Gwen was right before him. Here. Alive.

Kellen felt emotion choke him, but he had to gather himself. He couldn’t freak out right now. He had to keep himself under control.

Gwen was asleep, curled up around Bree as if she didn’t have a care in the world. She was dirty, her clothes ruffled, and there looked to be some dark stains on her clothes. Kellen’s heart was in his throat as he scanned her, and Bree, for her part, was watching Kellen and the forest around them.

"I’m sorry. I thought you knew she was in my lap. I...my brain’s a little fogged." She said, very apologetic. Kellen let out a weak chuckle.

"It’s okay, Bree. I understand. To you right now it makes perfect sense that I would know she was here. I’m just...is she hurt? Are you hurt?" Kellen asked. "Why did they leave you behind? Are they coming back?" Kellen asked. He knew he was bombarding her with questions, but he had to in this moment. He needed to know what was going on. He needed a clearer picture.

Bree paled slightly, clearing her throat.

"Uh, well, part of why they left me behind was because of my condition. I was going to let Gwen rest before I woke her up and she was going to go scavenge for food for me. The older Esper went off with another Guide to find the core. They were going to continue to mark their trail so that we could follow them eventually when we were well enough to follow."

Kellen’s mouth fell into a grim line. He knew what that meant.

She might not, but Kellen had the experience that she lacked. Both in having had this happen to him before, and having seen it happen to others. The Esper was kindly letting them die on their own thinking that he was going to come back for them. That they were going to make it.

"Were you supposed to stay back on your own?" Kellen asked her and Bree nodded, looking a little confused.

"How did you know that?" She asked, and Kellen sighed. He understood why the other Esper did it, but it was such an Esper move that Kellen wanted to punch him. It was the first thing Kellen had taught his students. Field Guides are important, but expendable. You can and would be left behind if you were deemed worthless.

"A lucky guess." Kellen told her, looking down at his sister. She had no idea about what she’d signed up for, and now she was peacefully sleeping as her brother watched over her. "Here. Take this mask and put it on Gwen." Kellen said as he grabbed another mask and handed it to Bree. He shifted, pulling his bag back onto his back once he had done it back up. Then, he found a spot near the girls and settled down.

Bree was watching him, curious what he was doing as Kellen glanced around, keeping an eye on their surroundings.

"So...what do we do next?" She asked carefully and Kellen chuckled.

"Well, we wait for the sleeping beauty to wake up, and then we continue towards the core. If they had found it by now, we would know. If they do find it and touch it while we rest, we turn and head back the way we came and try to get out of this fucking hellhole as soon as possible." Kellen told her and Bree nodded.

"And if that doesn’t happen? They don’t find the core?" Bree asked and Kellen gave her a grim look.

"That isn’t an option for us, Bree. I am here to rescue you, but I am also here to touch the core. I can fail finding survivors, I cannot fail touching the core." Kellen said. "It’s not an option." Kellen was very insistent about that, his gaze hard, and Bree swallowed.

"It’s that serious?" She asked and Kellen was all at once reminded that she knew that this was a dangerous gate. Out of all of the Field Guides who had been sucked in against their will, she knew the most. Yet she didn’t know how dangerous it was.

Kellen wanted to snarl. He wondered who had agreed to Bree being the Guide who had gone in with everyone. Why she had been chosen beyond her giant pool of powers that resided inside of her.

"Bree, it’s very serious. With a gate like this? A gate that closes behind those who enter? You have to touch the core at the very least to be able to escape. It opens up the gate, allowing others to come and go. Usually that also means that someone defeated the Boss monster, but since we don’t know what it is, we have to touch and go. Someone is going to have to be a track star, and it looks like that is going to have to be me." Kellen said and Bree’s expression grew more severe.

"I see. I didn’t know that." She said and Kellen nodded.

"I can tell that. Did the others know?" Kellen asked and she shook her head.

"I think the older Esper did, but we didn’t. He just told us we needed to go to the core to be able to leave. We didn’t ask any further questions. It was already tense, and it only got worse when we-" She cut off, her eyes watering and she dropped her gaze.

Kellen’s heart ached for the girl. He reached out, giving her shoulder a squeeze.

"We can cry after, alright? Keep it together for a little bit longer, Bree." Kellen told her softly and Bree nodded. She sniffed, wiping at her eyes but coming against the mask. She gave a weak laugh as she realised that she couldn’t even wipe away her tears. She began to laugh.

"Yeah. Can’t really do it in this damn mask." She joked, and Kellen felt his lips turn up for the first time in a while.

"Yeah. Doesn’t really work that way, right?" He said, before he gulped. "Bree, did you see Guide Jameson in here?" He asked. He wanted to make sure. Bree blinked, before furrowing her brows.

"No? He was in a completely different area from us. I didn’t see him at all." She said and Kellen’s chest tightened. Fuck.