Chapter 918: Entering the city yet again


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    Erik urged the clones forward, making them dive deeper into the surrounding forest, staying off the main road and out of sight of the city gates. The others followed closely behind on their own clones.


    The forest was dense but dimly lit by the sun''s rays piercing through the canopy.


    Erik let his hand trail the rough bark of an old oak as they passed, remembering simpler times spent hunting thaids around here.


    But now the forest felt strange and watched, as if the very trees were listening for intruders.


    They moved in haste, worried to be found by the guards littering New Alexandria''s surroundings. The clones'' paws barely cracking fallen twigs on the forest floor.


    As the clones strode through the forest, Erik''s mind wandered back to the night when he had fled the city.


    The memory was still vivid: the deafening explosions, smoke filling the club, bodies littering the floor.


    Back then, he escaped a massacre at the Red Lotus Lounge, after having helped many people and saved many other ones.


    He remembered the chase that followed leaving the club. He remembered his fight to death with Nathaniel''s father''s goons.


    Erik knew that Nathaniel''s father''s criminal empire had likely been destroyed with the elimination of the Crystal Cross Gang.


    It could have happened even before that.


    Erik got told by Amber and the others that Matthew McConnel ended up in prison. After all he did, those guys still brought him there instead of executing him.


    The man wasn''t sure the prison had been enough to prevent Matthew from controlling his people.


    Someone must have escaped, many likely joined the crystal cross gang, to which they were already affiliated through Matthew''s organization.


    But after he destroyed the Crystal Cross Gang, there would be no one left to call the shots.


    Erik ced thest stone on the underworld''s tomb when he killed Shade. If before there could have been someone still having control on the reins, after that, there would be no organization holding the crime lords together.


    The problem was whether Matthew was still there. Volkov would for sure have jumped at the chance to have him released, especially after the Crystal Cross Gang ceased to exist because of Erik.


    A noise caught Mira''s attention.


    "Quick, hide!"


    Erik crouched lower behind the thick trunk of an old oak tree as Mira''s warning carried through the forest.


    The clones shapeshifted into human form, hiding within the underbrush.


    Amber and Emily dove behind a fallen log and June scrambled up a nearby pine, blending in with its dark boughs.


    Mira slid down next to Erik, her back pressed against the oak''s ridged bark. In the distance, the sound of voices floated nearer.


    Boots crunched leaves and twigs, apanied by the jingle of armor and equipment.


    A patrol of city guards came into view, four men marching abreast, scanning their surroundings vigntly.


    One pointed to a set ofrge paw prints in the damp earth. In their opinion, a group ofrge thaids was roaming around. The problem was that they knew the prints belonged to Erendus.


    Though they weren''t surprised. New Alexandria knew certainly that the monsters from the Eldraith mountain range were moving, and that this pushed all the other thaids outside of their territories. An Erendu here, or a pack, wasn''t unthinkable.


    While Erik had already thought about this, which was confirmed by the patrols'' looks, Mira and the others didn''t.


    "What do we do?" Mira asked in hushed tones.


    "Stay still. If they find us, they will call for reinforcements. If they die, no one will reply to them, and reinforcements will arrive. They will learn there are intruders'' either way, and we can''t allow that."


    But Erik had many thoughts in mind. This patrol was awfully close to the barrier''s breach. What if Volkov found it and closed it?


    If that happened, Mira and the others would have no way to enter the city. He would be forced to go in alone and find a way to make them enter.


    But that would not be easy. The question itself was IF it was possible to make them enter. Maybe Fischer had a secret passage that they could use, but what if they didn''t?


    They had thest time they arrived, but what if it had been found?


    The group observed as the patrol started searching around, moving further away from Erik and the others.


    <Well, at least luck is still on our side. >


    Once the voices faded into the forest, Erik risked a peek around the tree''s wide trunk. Seeing no one, he gestured for the group to reassemble. The clones turned into Erendus once more, kneeling to allow Erik and the girls to mount once more.


    Their journey continued onward, more cautiously this time. Mira nced back in the patrol''s direction, wondering how often such groups went out and how long they would need to avoid


    them.


    But for now, they pressed on deeper into the forest, keeping their distance from New Alexandria''s looming walls and shimmering barrier.


    ...


    ...


    After hours of weaving among the trees and avoiding patrols, Erik spotted the shimmering barrier-a semi-transparent wall that separated the outskirts of the city from the deep


    woods.


    There was a small space where a tree had fallen to the ground. The breach was there, but the tree shouldn''t have been.


    The only problem was that for Erik to find the breach, he had to feel the barrier with his hands. He jumped down from June and approached the barrier, using his hands to check whether the barrier was still there.


    He reached out, his hands moving through the air, tapping and feeling for the unseen wall. His fingers stretched wide, trying to touch something, anything that might give away the barrier''s presence, or better, to touch the empty air.


    But there was nothing-not yet, at least.


    Erik gave a quick nce behind the barrier. He could see the sprawling camps behind it; they


    were the same.


    The scorched earth had already healed a lot since thest time he had been here. New nts took the ce of the old ones, but they weren''t as tall as the wheat fields that sprawled around here years before he left the city.


    After having touched the barrier for a while, Erik finally found the breach. He breathed a sigh


    of relief.


    "It''s here," Erik said.


    "Did you use this to escape the city back then?" Amber asked.


    "I used this also to sneak out of the city and hunt thaids before and after going to work."


    "You went hunting thaids when you were 16?" Amber asked.


    "Of course I did; you know how the biological supeputer works."


    He waved the others forward and slipped through the barrier one by one, Mira, Amber, and Emily following close behind, andst, the clones. They were still naked, the girls now used to it. Even Emily was used to seeing them naked now.


    "Dress up; we can''t let people see you naked. If there are any, of course."


    Thest thing they wanted was to attract unwanted attention. Not that they wouldn''t get it if


    someone saw them. Emily, Amber and Mira were too beautiful, and the first two were even famous in New Alexandria.


    As for him, Erik was sure the city was stered with posters showing his photo here and there


    around the city.


    The three girls handed clothes to the four clones, and they dressed up.


    The group observed the sprawling farming campsid out before them.


    Most of thend had once been ttened or scorched by battle, but now fresh growth was


    flourishing.


    Wheat stalks swayed in the breeze, having reimed much of the earth. Young crops dotted patches of freshly tilled soil.


    In the distance, Erik could make out roads snaking their way through thendscape.


    Those roads had led him to and from Mr. Fox''s farm, where he had worked for the past few


    years. Yet now, he had returned with a singr purpose.


    Erik''s eyes scanned the camps for any signs of movement. All remained still and silent;


    nothing stirred among the slowly regrowing vegetation.


    Peaceful green, dotted with yellow flowers, stretched as far as he could see.


    Hispanions waited behind him, watching Erik survey thend before them. Emily spoke


    up first. "It looks so green again. Do you think the people will return?" She knew what happened here. The Heniates'' parasites ravaged the city, reaching the outskirts.


    Erik pondered her question but did not answer. He didn''t have an answer for that.


    For sure, Volkov seized most of the Stone''s family assets, and they had most of the farming


    sites within the nation, so at least someone was tending to the underground fields and


    replenishing the city with food.


    But as for the smaller farmers, Erik did not know. Were they still alive to begin with?


    Instead, he focused his gaze on the dirt roads in the distance.


    Erik turned to the others. "This way," he said.


    "Stay close." They set off down the camps, walking through the foliage as they began making


    their way deeper into the city.