Chapter 70
Natalie and Shannon shuffled away from the river bank, and slowly crossed the fields that were down in the valley. At this point, all of the adult wolves had come out as well, taking care of the incoming monsters. The further they moved away from the ogres, the worse their aim became. As goblins touched down in the field, the wolves would head over to them and quickly put an end to the monster before it could get up. Meanwhile, the wargs hung close to them, making sure to intercept any of the creatures that were thrown a bit more accurately. As they got to the far side of the field, the goblins were no longer being thrown at them. The far limit of the ogre's range came out to be revealed, but it was still a ghastly distance. They were just barely landing short of where the pack was, but that was more than enough distance to clear the bridges leading into west Lethbridge. Seeing what the groups here had to deal with made both of them want to leave faster. Flying goblins and just the sheer number of monsters that they had witnessed made the fact that they were undisturbed last night feel like a miracle. All it would have taken was a single monster discovering that they were there, and hundreds would have been upon them.
Moving forward, they slowly walked up the hill in front of them. Thankfully, none of these hills were that steep, giving their tired and out of breath bodies a much needed chance to recover. They had essentially sprinted for almost a kilometer, and then crossed a raging river, all while running for their lives. Nat wished that the four times recovery that applied to the canines would apply to her, but previous wounds from fights had still healed at the normal rate. Getting to the top of the hill, Shannon collapsed onto the grass with a sigh of relief. Seeing this, Nat could not help but follow suit and collapsed down just a few feet from her. Minutes passed until their breathing finally returned to a slow, steady pace.
"Next time. Next time do not let them all know where we are. For the love of all that is good, if you do that again I will strangle you myself." Shannon declared, between breathes.
"I promise. I promise that I had absolutely. No idea that they could sense that. News to me." Natalie wheezed out in response.
"Really? Fuck, then just do not do it near any again. My legs can't take much more." Slowly, Natalie devolved into a bundle of laughter, which Shannon mildly joined in after words. They laid on the grass, unmoving and just laughing for a solid few minutes, before finally getting their breath back and got back onto their feet. As they had laid there, most of the canines went back into the Soulscape. Seeka, Kali, and Maia stayed out to be their ears and eyes for the day. Together, the five of them headed west across a few more barren farming fields. Right now, after seeing the scene at the power station, Natalie felt so much better being out in the open than inside the city. While she did not know for sure, it appeared as though something to do with man-made structures had the ability to bring over monsters. Did they just spawn out of the materials? Or did they make use of them as a transport medium? Unless they got close to one of those pits while they were open, Nat felt as if she might never know.
On the other side of the field, the five came up to another road. However, at best Nat was only able to guess where they were. Without any landmarks in the area, and no road signs or markings of any kind, it was hard to know where they were on a map exactly. Heading north, their small group followed the road along its path, keeping an eye out for anything that could tell them where they were. While there were a couple of farm houses along the way, most of the land around them was wide open fields. After their harrowing experience, which Shannon's was far longer and more traumatizing, the emptiness of nature and lack of any cityscapes was much more welcome. Unlike the feeling that Nat got from the power station, she felt far more comfortable and happier out here. It was almost as if the land itself sang, happy to have their company.
It was not until they passed four different farms and the road had started to bend, did they find their first road marker. Getting her map collection pulled out, Nat went through and checked them for where they were. The intersection of Highway 25 and Range Road 222. After going through half a dozen maps, she finally found one that showed where they were as well as what was in the area. Seeing that the town of Coalhurst was immediately to the west, both sighed in relief that they decided to head north. They had no wish to enter another town for at least a few more days. Seeing that the highway led into Diamond City, both immediately vetoed following the highway. Leaving their only route that they had left open to go up the Range Road. Neither of them had an issue with this, as it was even more desolate of any large man-made communities than the highway was. Instead of a paved road, it looked to just be a dirt and gravel road, unlike the paved highway they had been on. Getting all of the maps stored back inside, they turned onto their chosen path and kept walking.
As the five of them continued north, it was far more peaceful than any of them had expected. No tracks of any kind of monsters were to be found, and none were sighted nor heard. None of them dropped their guard, but they did not try to be stealthy at all while walking brazenly down the middle of the road. They took a couple breaks, mainly because the two women were still very sore and exhausted from the past few days of activity. They knew they were pushing their bodies, but getting out into the countryside and away from the city was worth it. Natalie had a smile on her face the entire walk so far, and Shannon's face was far less downcast than it had been. All in all, not a bad second half of their day, as they walked underneath the sun slowly heading towards the majestic mountains.
Huge thanks to my Elder Wolves Jake, Viktor, Nikolas, Saganatsu, Eeleater, Eric, Corgi, Lachlan, Coen, Adam, John, Nicholas, Jacob, Onean, Hades, Neal, Sebastian, Sir Hellington, and Kevin for supporting me and my writing! Remember that I keep Patreon ten chapters ahead at all times. Our next goal on Patreon will be getting up to 25 patrons, which I will then open up an official discord for everyone to come and discuss the story in and hang out!