They lay there, waiting in the dark for hours without sleeping. Fearing that the monster was still waiting for them outside, even as the stench of blood flooded their nostrils. Despite that, they stayed still, thinking back at how the horror killed the entirety of the Disposal Unit without breaking a sweat, and how it made no sense that their encounter with it was easier than what it could pull off last night. Curly and Ben had a lot on their minds, and they both knew they had to talk about it, about what they needed to do next.

  Then, morning came. The hot sun touched the vast land of sand and stone. Covered in blood and bits of gore the monster didn’t bother to take to feast on later on. Benjamin and Curly crawled out from under the Disposal Unit’s armoured car and grabbed their rifles.

  ‘I know what you are going to say.’ Curly growled. ‘You perhaps think it is a good fucking idea to go after that thing!’

  Yet, to his surprise, Ben shook his head. ‘I am not going to lie. I don’t think we can. What we saw happen is beyond our capabilities. There is nothing we can do to it. We can’t make it bleed; we can’t hurt it besides temporarily wounding it. What can we even do to fight it? I thought I had it down pat, but… I’m wrong. So, so wrong.’

  As Ben sat down, rubbing his head, he pondered what his next move could be. Curly walked around, trying to pop the hoods on the armoured cars to examine them and determine if they were operable. Only to see that the electronics were damaged beyond use, showing similar signs of damage to the ones in their Humvees. Only that time, they didn’t have the safety of the village they could recover and wait at, and they had no means to safely go anywhere without being ambushed by the Jinn.

  ‘Well, we’re fucked!’ Curly shouted after kicking the tyre of one of the cars. ‘We can’t leave. The team who were supposed to take that cunt out are all dead. And we are the two useless motherfuckers alive in the middle of bum-fuck nowhere! We need to think of something, I will not stay here to rot!’

  ‘Then what do you suppose we do? We both know we can’t sit here, and there is nowhere to run. We only have one option,’ Ben pointed to the trail of blood which led to a mountainous region. ‘And that option is after him. I won’t beat around the bush on this one, but that is my choice.’

  This story originates from Royal Road. Ensure the author gets the support they deserve by reading it there.

  ‘We don’t have any way of killing it! Besides, do you even know why it went Super Saiyan on our asses?’

  Ben shrugged before he got back up to grab whatever would be useful to him. ‘Maybe the nanobots become more active when they detect multiple threats, granting the user additional abilities or something like that. I don’t know. All I can tell is he is deadlier when more people are present. It might explain how we can easily take it on when there are only two of us.’

  ‘And how can you be sure? That is a risk I’m not comfortable with.’

  ‘I am sure because… I’m.’ Ben paused, realising that Curly was referring to himself as if he were going to join him in tracking down the monster. ‘Look, Curly. I don’t want to lie; this is just a suicide mission at this point. I don’t want to put you at risk, and I have no hope that we can kill it. You don’t have to come. I will not guilt or fault you for it. This is just the last thing I want to do because I will die out here. But I want to die doing something, even if my efforts are pointless and the end result would amount to nothing.’

  ‘And die of thirst out here?’ Curly picked up a rifle utilised by the Disposal Unit to replace his M4. ‘Look, asshole, I am in agreement that there is nothing we can do besides that one job that is ultimately hopeless. I just don’t want to hear you trying to moralise the mission and make it about glory or something similar to that bullshit. But I will give you credit at least. It is good to hear that you are not doing that.’

  Ben shook his head, trying his best to hide his laughter. ‘You are some work, Curly.’

  ‘Please, if we are going to die. Just call me Zack.’

  ‘Alright, Zack, in return, you may call me Ben. There is no point in addressing each other’s ranks if these are our final moments here.’ He reached his hand out, which Zack shook in delight. ‘So, ready to die young?’

  Curly smiled. ‘Lead the way. I didn’t join the army to travel around the world and live a happy life.’