Beast Soul

Chapter 120 – Change In Plans

Alphonso looked around, trying to find where the monster might've gone, but the cavern was simply too big to pinpoint on location. "Where could he have gone?"

"I got this!" Max said as he lightly pushed Alphonso's shoulder, signaling him to move out of his way, which he did. Max then knelt down and touched the soil and then closed his eyes as he tried to concentrate. Alphonso waited for Max to open his eyes, tapping his feet as he did so, and after a few seconds of silence, Max opened his eyes, and he got up from the ground.

"What happened? Did you find out where they went?" Alphonso asked instantly, not even wasting a single second with his questions, and Max pointed at a small dirt road and opened his mouth to speak. "They went that way."

Alphonso turned his gaze to look at the path that Max was pointing at, and he squinted his eyes. "Are you sure about this?" He asked after turning his head around and shifting his gaze towards Max, who nodded his head in response. "I am. The scent is much clearer."

"The scent?" Alphonso raised his eyebrows, intrigued by Max's words. "That's how I find out the location of monsters and humans." Max spoke while scratching his cheeks, as he had felt the need to explain his tracking process. "It's because of the enhanced scent identification."

"Huh…" Alphonso nodded his head as he spoke, and Max asked, "What? You look disappointed. Is there a problem?" 

"No, it's just…" Alphonso shrugged his shoulders and waved his hands around. He let out a sigh as he continued, "It's just- I thought that it would be a bit cooler than just.. you know, smelling."

"…. Right.." Max didn't reply immediately and instead took a good look at Alphonso before letting out a snort and he walked past him, heading towards the location where Gerald is supposedly being kept. 

"What? I just said what I was thinking, alright?" Alphonso rolled his eyes before following behind Max, trying to defend his words as the two of them walked. "And you've got to admit, smelling the scent of a monster does sound kind of… funny."

"Oh yeah? And what did you think tracking was going to be?" Max said with an annoyed tone as he walked in front, not even turning around to look at Alphonso as he spoke. 

"I don't know… Maybe something a bit like sonar… Something cool, I guess!" Alphonso clicked his tongue, as he came to the realization that his words were only making things worse, and he stopped speaking.

"Let's just go…" Alphonso said in a defeated tone as the two continued moving forward.

The two boys passed through a narrow passageway through the large cavern and reached another wide area which made them stop in their tracks and stare at it with widened eyes.

"What the hell…" Alphonso whispered softly as he stared at the countless large egg-shaped objects that were lined up inside the area. "What are those?" Alphonso turned to look at Max, who shrugged his shoulders in response. He too had never seen anything like it before.

"Are those… monster eggs?" Alphonso murmured under his breath as he rubbed his chin, staring intensely at the eggs with a look that consisted of a mixture of disgust and intrigue. "Do you think that Mr. Carrick, or whatever the hell is pretending to be him, laid those eggs?" 

"You do realize that I'm totally new to this sort of thing, right?" Max said with an expression of annoyance on his face, and Alphonso shrugged his shoulders. "Hey, In my defense, I just figured out that you track monsters like a police dog. I have no clue what you're capable of, alright? For all I know, you could have the memories of a thousand year old metahuman locked inside your mind."

Max snorted back in response, after which he crouched down and hid behind the rocks before making his way over to the other side of the large egg filled area, circling around the place without actually walking through it. 

Alphonso decided to follow Max's actions and crouched down before slowly moving towards Max while making sure that he remained hidden behind the rock formations.

"Where the hell is that monster?" Alphonso said as he tilted his head and looked around, trying to find out where the monster must be hiding. 

"The scent is pointing forward.." Max whispered softly as he pointed his finger straight forward. He then squinted his eyes and paused for a second before continuing, "…So I'm assuming that we must head in that direction."

"What? What's the matter? Why'd you hesitate?" Alphonso seemed to have realized that Max was a bit hesitant with his words, and so he decided to question him.

"Nothing.. it's just that…" Max scratched the side of his ears and thought for a few more seconds before continuing with his answer. "It's just that the scent trail has been a bit too clear. I don't know why, but I feel a bit uneasy about the whole situation."

"How do scent trails usually work?" Alphonso asked Max, curious as to understand what exactly was bothering him about the whole scent trail. 

"They're usually pretty clear, but not this much…" Max didn't know how to explain this to someone who hadn't experienced the phenomenon yet, and in the end, could only give vague explanations.

"Alright, I am not sure what you're talking about…" Alphonso said as he listened to Max's words and he placed his hand under his chin. "But I think the gist of it is that you think the scent trail might be a trap, right?"

"It could be. I'm not too sure about it," Max replied while clearing up his feelings about the whole situation, and Alphonso nodded his head. "Is there any other path inside the cavern that we can take other than the one consisting of the scent trail?"

"You mean to get to Gerald? I'm afraid I can only sense one scent trail down here. So I don't know where the other ones might lead." Max replied, and Alphonso shook his head. "That's not what I meant. I'm asking whether there is another pathway that we can take from here other than the scent trail covered one. It doesn't have to lead towards Gerald."

Max nodded his head before turning around to face forward and focused his gaze, utilizing his enhanced abilities to see further into the distance, and he said, "There might be another route that we can take. It's a small opening. A crack that was formed inside the cavern."

"Perfect. That'll do." Alphonso said as he patted Max's shoulder. " I'm assuming whoever set the scent trail is probably also keeping an eye on us using the trail itself. So that b*stard probably wouldn't like seeing us divert from the intended pathway."

"What about Gerald? Won't he be in danger?" Max looked at Alphonso and asked with concern in his words. 

"That b*stard probably set up the scent trail on the assumption that we might come looking for Gerald, right?" Alphonso said. "He'll definitely continue to keep him alive if he's this sneaky. At least, that's what I hope."

———————

"Hm?" A transformed Mr. Carrick squinted his eyes and scratched his neck as a confused expression appeared on his face. 

"They diverted away from the scent trail?" Mr. Carrick whispered softly under his breath as his nose twitched. He then began walking left and right, mumbling to himself, and Gerald, who was hung upside down, watched the monster in human form with curious eyes.

"Did that b*stard just say they diverted away from the intended pathway?" He murmured to himself and raised his eyebrows. 

'They must've probably figured out that he'd taken me as bait!' A faint smile appeared on Gerald's face. 

"You look excited!" His faint smile was instantly replaced by a look of terror as Mr. Carrick's voice was heard from behind Gerald, who flinched and caused his body to rock back and forth because of the motion.

"You think that your friends are going to get away?" Mr. Carrick grabbed Gerald's legs and gripped it tightly, stopping his body from moving around. 

"We'll see about that!" Mr. Carrick said with an angry voice, and Gerald gulped down the saliva in his mouth.

——————-

"A secret passage, huh…" Noah whispered under his breath as he stared at the opening inside the bathroom, rubbing his chin as he inspected it.

"What do you think?" Harold asked as he stood behind him, his voice filled with concern as he spoke. "Did they go in there? Do we have to go inside?"

Noah scratched his cheeks and then took a deep breath. "Well, the scent does head in this direction…" He turned around and looked at Harold as he spoke, before continuing, "What do you say, then? Are you going to wait here, or do you plan on following me down there?"

"I…" Harold stared at his hand for a few seconds before replying, "I'll follow you!"