(BL) Hunting The Field Guide novel Chapter 105

Chapter 105: Anticipated, but delayed

Brent came back shortly after that, and Kellen spent most of his time responding to any questions he thought he had the answer to. But at one point, when his mother had stepped out to answer a personal phone call, he sat in the seat next to Brent and looked around the room.

"We aren’t having our lesson today, are we?" Brent asked and Kellen sighed. They still hadn’t been able to identify one of the body parts, which meant that they were asking for help from all of the Guild’s top scientists. Maeve had been called to the conference room, since she would probably be a good fit to head for the front lines. _{ƒree𝑤ebnσvel.com}

Gunther was on his way back with the older new recruits he’d gone out with, cutting their trip short. Kellen was pretty sure that the group had no idea why, and that they were going to arrive pissed only to find out the truth.

Casper was running around like a chicken with it’s head cut off, trying to keep everyone together, while also managing his own work. Kellen hadn’t had time to chat with him about it, but as the clock ticked ever nearer to noon, Kellen knew that Brent was right.

"I think we should cancel and delay it till Friday. That gives everyone a few days to sort out what is actually happening with the gate, and we can rebook the areas we wanted to use for today." Kellen and Brent looked around the room. "I don’t think anyone would be excited right now to start their training to be a Field Guide with one having potentially lost their life." Brent snorted. He crossed his arms, his face serious.

"There is no ’potentially’ Kellen. There is no way Carter Scott made it out of that gate alive. He’s only half of the Field Guide I am, maybe a sliver of the one you are. He’d need a miracle to survive in there." Kellen hummed quietly, not fully agreeing with him, nor disagreeing either.

"If they can’t match his D.N.A. to any found, they are going to have to declare him M.I.A. When the next scout team goes in, they will have to look for him." Kellen said, and Brent snorted again.

"Don’t make me laugh. No one would risk their life to search for another lost in such a dangerous gate." Kellen cleared his throat at Brent’s tone, and Brent glanced at him. Kellen raised an eyebrow.

"I have, and I will do so again. Who do you think did the most search and rescue time outside of Ms. M?" Brent rolled his eyes at Kellen’s words.

"Yeah, but you have a hero complex. You want people to like you and think you’re a good person. I’ve never had those thoughts." Brent shifted slightly, and Kellen stared at the other man.

He had a feeling Brent was lying. He knew, because there were several times he’d seen Brent desperate to save others while in the gates. If he was as bad of a person as he was pretending to be, he never would have had the expression that was etched into Kellen’s mind. Such deep, deep, concern. His face torn, his eyes watering, and his voice loud and aggressive as he called for them to move.

Brent was the kind of person, who would give you his arm if he thought you needed it, but he would never acknowledge that he was the one who gave it. He was foolish like that, and it was one of the reasons Kellen had kept him by his side. It was also one of the reasons that had him worried if Brent was actually his friend, or if he even liked him. He was a nice person, he could be lying.

Kellen’s Mom came back at that point, this time being trailed by Kellen’s Father, who gave each Guide a warm hug, and a big kiss on the cheek. Brent was flustered at the treatment, while Kellen took the affection with ease. He would never take for granted the way his parents treated him, and enjoyed taking pleasure in it.

When the Captain came over to say hello to Kellen’s Father, he got the same treatment, along with scolding about how deep his dark circles were. The way the Captain laughed at the parental affection made Kellen’s chest ache. He had no idea why, and rubbed the spot tenderly, his expression soft as his Father pretended to hold the Captain by his ear to give him a proper scolding, and the Captain’s expression was open, and happy. When his gaze met Kellen’s, it didn’t change, and Kellen swallowed.

He spun, going to find Casper to talk about the plan he had discussed with Brent.

It was easy to get Casper to agree to the Field Guide’s plan, since he was also of the same mind. It just wasn’t feasible, with everything going on, and with Gunther away, for them to manage everything on their own. The Captains were going to need their higher ups help, and with Kellen only being a week into the Guild, he couldn’t do much, but he was still helping where he could.

He was a support beam during a time where no one knew what was going to happen next. It wasn’t lost on Kellen that Casper, Hill and even the Captain came to him to chat about their concerns with the gate when even Kellen wasn’t sure what was going on. All he’d had was a bit more information then the regular population.

That was it.

But somehow, that was what Casper said was needed. Casper got his assistant, Guide Anderson, working on rescheduling the training lesson, and it seemed like a burden was lifted off of his shoulders.

The two of them had taken a break from being in the stifling conference room and had gone down to the coffee shop for a much needed caffeine break. Kellen was on orders to pick up caffeine for the others on the way back up, but for now, he sat across from Casper near the windows in a set of soft, worn couches.