RB Chapter 94 [The Collective]

"Eeeeek!"

"Eeeek!"

"Eeeek!"

Such screeches were heard by the group coming from above. They all tacitly formed a circle around Chloe and Eric with their gazes trained above. The width of the banana leaves and the proximity of the plants to each other made light from the sun almost impossible to reach the ground, except for a few sporadic beams. The ground was cool and humid, with many rotting leaves dotting it.

Monki, had his staff diagonally in front of himself. He was gripping it so tightly that his knuckles were white. Due to his genes, he could distinguish the different calls, coming to the conclusion that this troop surpassed 100! He was praying for the monkeys to turn out weak.

"We might have went out of the frying pan directly into the fire." He tried to joke around but he couldn't lighten the atmosphere at all. Monkeys were making their way towards them. They could hear the rustling of the leaves as they converged towards their position

Eric was still unconscious with Chloe cradling him. All of them had been following his decisions, but now that he wasn't available, they were on the verge of panicking.

Chloe was the one who was seeing that as she was in the middle. Though Mugumivu appeared calm, a faint wrinkle marred his forehead. The others had their legs wobbling causing her to wonder whether they will even be capable of fighting.

'They have commendable willpower.' She nodded.

"Humans! This is our territory! Its off limits to any other creatures! Trespassing means death!" A high pitched voice came from above but they didn't know where.

Shadows appeared and attached themselves to the various stems around them. They were roughly the same size as them.

Using the little light in the area, they made out yellow beady eyes and bright yellow fur. The yellow beady eyes were staring at them menacingly making their hearts to palpitate. All of the monkeys had calm eyes as if they were emotionless causing a feeling of terror to rise up.

"We were being chased! We entered by mistake...could you let us walk out peacefully? There is no need for a battle!" Miss Njibwa shouted. Her face was flushed and her legs were on the verge of giving way, but she didn't want to die! Reasoning with these creatures was the only way to fight for survival!

'Thank God there is one with the gift of speech!' That was the only positive point she saw in this situation.

When she asked, everything became silent, even the screeching monkeys. A gentle breeze appeared caused the leaves to sway. Their yellow beady eyes were all focused on them. They felt as if a god like being was scrutinizing their every action, no matter how minute! Their breathing patterns, their current expressions and even their heartbeats! Everything was in its grasp!

One second passed, then another, and another until a full minute passed.

The silence only added to the pressure the group was facing.

A bead of sweat formed and rolled down someone's cheek, ultimately dropping to the ground and splattering. It was all too loud in this silent environment! Miss Njibwa almost jumped but a reassuring hand was placed on her shoulder causing her to calm down. 

'At least I am not alone! I have Sally and the others on my side!' That alone caused her fear to abate somewhat. Everyone was waiting, the next words were going to decide whether they lived or died! Their hearts were increasing in their beating with every second that passed. If this continued, some might even faint from high blood pressure!

"Attack." A calm voice came from above causing the expressions of the group to shift in a myriad of forms.

"Head deeper!" Chloe's voice came from the middle. She was the first one to act! She picked up Eric and fastened him to her back, she made his arm as and legs reach the front and tied them together! All that was done at such a speed, that everything appeared as a blur to the normal eye! A faint blush appeared on her cheeks when one of his fingers grazed her mound of flesh, but it receded in favor of the situation at hand.

The others didn't even question anything or hesitate, their bodies moved instinctively and they all dashed deeper. Of course they were still trapped in an encirclement, but they had the thought of breaking through! No hesitation was needed!

Monki took the lead! His staff swirled around in his hands. A monkey launched off from the stem front left of him and reached him near instantaneously! Its claws gleamed as it prepared to slash at him! He didn't dare underestimate it! He moved his staff horizontally to the right and swiped with it! He put in a lot of force causing the air to compress at its length! A sonic boom was even created due to the speed!

The monkey sensed a trace of a threat and turned its hands to its left side to block. 

(Boom! Crack!)

It didn't even have time to scream as the bones in its hands broke and the arms separated causing the staff to continue to its shoulder! The staff acted like a sword and sliced through the entire chest separating it from its body. The two pieces of the body were then hurled and crashed deeply into the stem of a banana plant on the left!

Monki was so shocked by the turn of these events that he almost stopped!

'They are this weak?'

"Continue!" Chloe shouted from behind him. She was carrying Eric on her back. She had made the decision to head deeper because she trusted Eric. If the person who had thrown that stone could kill them all, then, their safest bet would be to continue deeper into this plantation. And these monkeys appeared to be weak.

"Why do these monkeys have such weak bodies?" Monki asked, having taken down more of the monkeys. Even the others were puzzled, these monkeys were clearly too weak to be of any threat to them!

A monkey pounced at Dora, who was on the right side of the group only for its body to separate into multiple pieces which she dodged causing them to splatter on the ground. Her nails had lengthened to about  half a meter and they were so hard and sharp that they could cut through the monkey's bones! Sally and Mugumivu were punching and kicking. A so Glen punch or kick took the life of a monkey silly enough to take the blow head on!

"Something is wrong!" Miss Njibwa who wasn't fighting and was protected in the middle said after observing carefully. Her eyes were darting around from monkey to monkey. Since she was being protected, she didn't want to become a burden. She wanted to at least contribute to the group.

"These monkeys aren't showing any fear!" She shouted.

"Now that you mention that..." Chloe also noticed it. Their eyes were too calm! Even when they took a fatal blow, at most they would screech out in pain, but they wouldn't lose that calmness!

"They are creepy!" Monki scrunched up his face.

"They are like A.Is!" Sally said.

'They are drone-like, its as if someone is controlling them!' Small left that unsaid as she herself wasn't sure about that conjecture. 

"Have you noticed? We have only moved a little bit!" Miss Njibwa made another observation.

"Are they trying to keep us here? But for what? They are only losing their lives!" Mugumivu said as his leg cracked the bones of another monkey, hurling it away like a ragdoll.

--------

"This monkey, 'The collective' is troublesome!" One of the savages outside the plantation commented.

"Yes, among all the energy channelling beasts, its the hardest to deal with!" Even the Savage with the spear strapped to its back nodded. This monkey was the source of a myriad of legends in their village. 

Someone had once said that maybe all the monkeys were one single organism, another had said that all the monkeys were probably being controlled by another powerful creature. But they had yet to prove those two theories! Since it was more like one organism, they had termed it, 'The Collective'!

"Are we continuing?" The one who was called Ntusi asked. They had been hearing screeches and explosions constantly.

"That beast has never allowed anyone to reach the center of the plantation. I wonder what's there?" The spear wielding savage strokes his chin. His eyes had lit up. He had just come up with an idea.

"What about those people? We should have revenge for our clansmen!" One of the other two shouted. He was clearly agitated.

"Oh!" A chill ran down his spine when the spear wielding savage turned his gaze towards him.

"I, Fumu, hate being ordered around the most!" The spear wielding savage said before appearing in front of the one who had been agitated and slicing down with his palm! A spray of blood came out and an arm fell to the ground.

"This is punishment." Fumu said. He had hacked off the other's right arm.

"Thank you for being merciful!" The savage said with sweat beading his forehead. He was in pain, but he didn't dare cry out!

"Since these outsiders are distracting The collective, we will enter the forest and try to head towards the center. Is there anyone who is against it?" His predatory gaze roamed them, causing them to shiver.