The hasty escape that followed was tense beyond belief. An uncomfortable and stressful silence dominated the inside of each and every vehicle, partially due to Wallace ordering them all to keep quiet without explaining much, and partially because it truly was an anxiety-inducing situation.

Fortunately, as the minutes turned to hours, the feeling of imminent doom slowly dispersed, allowing them all to relax somewhat. After that, and much to the remaining members of the squad’s surprise, the captain filled them in on everything they saw inside the village.

Now that they felt the danger had somewhat passed, the experience they had and the things they witnessed finally started to sink in. And, inevitably, questions started to arise among the members of the group.

“…So, am I the only one wondering what the hell we just saw?” One of the squad members asked.

“No. You are not the only one.” Another squad member from another car replied through the radio. “That… that was inhuman. I mean, that was some really fucked up shit. I can’t stop thinking about how those poor people were left. Why pile the bodies that way, why go through all that trouble, if they were just going to leave them like that?”

“Maybe they were trying to hide something?” Another man ventured a guess. “Like, maybe they messed with the area and the positioning of the corpses so we couldn’t find out anything important?”

“And why all the heads were burst open like that?” A woman said with clear disgust in her voice. “I understand taking preventive measures to stop a corpse from turning into a zombie. I really do. But that… that was a bit excessive wasn’t it?” She said without confidence.

“I agree. That was some messed up shit. Who could have done something like that? There were kids there, for Christ’s sake! Children! As if murdering them in cold-blood wasn’t enough, they even desecrated their bodies!” A man said, the anger leaking from his voice intensifying with every word he spoke. At the end, he was veritably fuming, enraged by the treatment dispensed towards the defenseless of the now defunct village.

Only the calming efforts of his companions prevented the man from start screaming from the top of his lungs, so irate he was at the injustice and wickedness. Though they felt safer now that they had somewhat distanced themselves from that cursed place, it was better to not draw attention. Even if the roaring engines of their vehicles was not doing them any favors in that regard already, shouting out loud definitely would not help their case.

Danny felt the man’s rage as well. However, differently from the loud squad member, he kept his silence, bottling it all down within himself. In fact, both of them were not alone in this rage. Most of the security team, if not all of them, felt some measure of anger boiling within them. They were all disgusted at the indiscriminate cruelty and wanton slaughter that took place there. The only difference was that they were better at reigning in their mood then the indignant man was. Throwing a tantrum would not change anything after all. It would not bring all those kids back to life neither would it erase the painful experiences those poor souls had gone through.

Danny watched the following discussions among the group with a calculating eye and a measured silence, only offering his input every now and then when asked. He thought that now that they had witnessed such a scene, now that they saw how the corpses were treated, particularly how their skulls were cracked open and the mangled corpses left behind to rot, it would be only a matter of time until they discovered the existence of the crystals.

Even if they hadn’t connected the dots yet, with so many people discussing the events at the village, it was bound to happen sooner or later. Although it was sooner than he expected, the existence of the soul gems was never going to remain hidden forever.

‘I have to think carefully how to deal with the revelation and its fallout.’ He mused silently.

Hank was a shrewd man. Once he learned about the crystals, he would no doubt suspect that Danny knew about them but kept quiet. Given how the now dead villagers had been handled, it was unquestionable that the shiny stones were valuable, but the why of that would take some time for them to figure out.

Anyway, that was something for later. Right now, they had to focus on returning to the settlement and warn them of the danger.

Tuning back into the conversation, he noticed the sun was already beginning to set, and the group was talking about setting camp.

“There’s no cover around these parts. No building we can use for cover. I think we should press on for a little while longer. Even if travelling during nighttime is dangerous and normally something we should avoid, given the circumstances, I think setting camp on open terrain is even more so. What if we get spotted by whatever attacked the village?” One man defended his point passionately.

“That’s exactly why we shouldn’t keep going! If we keep driving after dark, the headlight will give out our position to anyone watching. We would be totally exposed!” A woman countered through the radio.

“We can turn off the headlights and cover the rear ones if we must!” The man countered, insisting on his viewpoint.

“Are you insane?! Driving in the night without seeing where we are going, are you trying to get us killed?!” The same woman protested.

Preempting the devolving of the discussion into a back and forth of throwing insults each other’s way, Wallace interceded, calming everyone down and steering the conversation back to what mattered. “Now, now. Let us all take a step back and take a deep breath. Flaring up on each other’s face will not help anyone and we can hardly afford it given our situation.” He said and paused for a moment, letting his words sink in.

Seeing that no one objected, he nodded his head with a smile, proud of his teammate’s ability to things clearly and let go of their pride in favor of the big picture.

“There’s no obvious choice here. There are risks no matter what we choose to do, but we have to make a choice now either way….” He said and turned to Danny, his preferred go-to way out whenever he encountered such things. After all, weren’t they paying him exactly for that reason? For him to lend his assistance and expertise in those instances?

“What do you think we should do Danny?”

Considering both their options quickly, he replied. “I think we should set camp in the open while we still have light. If we don’t make a fire and do not set any lights, we can probably remain hidden even out in the open. Travelling at night with no lights to guide the way would be too risky. We can’t afford to damage our vehicles right now. If we lose our way of transportation, it would take forever to guide everyone back to the settlement. Not to mention how dangerous it would be to escort the civilians safely without a place for them to hide in.”

By now, most people respected the mercenary’s input and ability, so there had been no objection to his suggestion. Seeing that the matter was pretty much settled, the captain nodded his head before saying, “Well, it looks like it’s decided then. Let’s look for an appropriate spot to stop then and set up camp.”

Soon after, the group was already fixing up the tents they had and organizing the night watch shifts. Once more, Danny was exempted from the responsibility. The goodwill he had earned with his actions was still there, and the others were unwilling to let him help.

Shrugging his shoulders, he looked for a place out of the way to sit down before watching with a careful eye as the rest of them arranged everything, looking for noticeable weak spots in their defenses and potential liabilities. However, he was clearly not needed as the squad obviously knew what they were doing. He could not find any glaring flaws or easily exploitable weaknesses in their preparations.

After the rations were distributed, and after he ate his last crystal of the day, Danny went to his bed early, declining the offer to mingle with his companions for a little while longer. He laid down on his sleeping bag, songs playing softly in his ears as he held his treasured tape player on his hand. Staring at the clear and star-filled night skies, his head was filled with thoughts.

Eventually though, his mind calmed down and he was taken over by sleep.

***

The following days of their trip went without a hitch. The squad members kept discussing the events at the bloodied village, speculating wildly about the reason behind such an attack, and who could have been responsible for such a merciless slaughter.

Danny kept his cool, offering his opinion here and there when asked. The others didn’t think there was anything strange with his attitude as they were already used to his reserved personality and were well acquainted with his reputation at the settlement of being a loner.

He did not even blink when one person suggested that whomever killed all the villagers had done so in that way because he or she wanted the brains of those people for some reason. That person had no idea how extremely close to the truth they had struck, but his “outlandish” idea was soon shot down unanimously by the others for being “absurd”. After all, why would anyone want someone else’s brain?

The civilians in the diplomatic team had nothing to offer regarding the events as they were kept in the dark entirely about what the team found inside the village. Both the small squad and Danny himself felt it was not a good idea to reveal the truth to them. It would only serve to incite panic and make their jobs of protecting them all much harder. Unnecessarily so.

Time passed that way, and a few days later they were back into the vicinity of the settlement. The majority of them sighing in relief for having made the trip back safe and sound and for not encountering whomever was responsible for the cruel massacre on their journey back.

However, as they came closer and closer to the camp’s perimeter, they finally realized that the usual sounds, which were carried away by the wind, of people living and laughing inside the safety of the settlement’s walls had been replace by screams of anguish and terror.

Something had gone horribly, horribly, wrong.