(BL) Hunting The Field Guide novel Chapter 81

Chapter 81: Missing in action

Monday morning rolled around and Kellen started the day off right with a nice breakfast, tea, and some simple reading from Hill’s suggestions. Taylor had messaged Kellen already to ask him to come in whenever he was available. He planned to go once his day started because he had a feeling he knew what it was about.

The two of them had gone through a whole week of monitored guiding with Taylor, so had a strong prediction that was what she wanted to go over. Kellen was excited to go over what she had found. He was most excited to go over the spreadsheet she had no doubt made and look at the graphs if she had any as well.

Kellen planned to stop by Casper first, since the Guiding Division was on the way, then check in with Taylor. While Kellen knew where storage was, and how to access it, he didn’t want to step on any toes. Casper had been here first, and would probably appreciate it if Kellen touched base with him first. Even if Kellen did the ordering without him, it was a courtesy thing. Kellen didn’t want others to think that he didn’t respect Casper, who had come before him.

Kellen had a little pep in his step as he got ready for work. No one knocked on his door, no one bothered him, and once he had cleaned up from breakfast, he slipped off his inside slippers, pulled on his shoes, and headed on his way.

The trip down to the gym floor was quiet, with no one getting onto the elevator with him. He once again wondered if anyone else actually lived in the upper part of the tower or if it was just him, the Captain, and now Brent. He didn’t let him bother him though, as he had other things to worry about. With Brent finally here, Casper could finally put out an actual call instead of the tentative asking if anyone was interested in being a Field Guide. Kellen also knew that they had a couple of Guides who it wasn’t so much of an ask, as it was necessary for their next move in the Guild.

When he passed the gym, he noticed that none of the recruits were in the gym. It surprised him, but not enough for him to question it. He made his way quickly to the Guiding Division, the second set of elevators filling up as he went down. He got off at the right floor, making his way towards the door. It seemed that the Guiding Division was gearing up to have a busy day already since there were quite a few Guides and Espers about. Most gave Kellen a nod as he passed, and once he was scanned in, he headed for Casper’s office.

Casper was inside, his head down, going over smile files on his computer. He was frowning, a rather serious look on his face so early in the morning. Kellen thought about teasing him, especially since he’d left the door open, but chose not to. It was better for him if Casper thought well of him, especially after the weekend. He hated crying in front of others, and he had a strong image to maintain. Not only as the new pair of the Captain of the Guild, but also as the new instructor of the Field Guide course. He couldn’t have it spread that he had no friends and that he’d cried like a baby on the weekend in his younger sister’s arms.

"Good morning Casper. Did you have a good weekend?" Kellen asked, and Casper glanced up from his screen.

"Ah, good morning Kellen. I had a good weekend. It’s today that might not be so good." Kellen frowned and he sighed. He gestured for Kellen to close the door behind him. Curious, Kellen did what was asked of him, before sliding his bag off of his shoulder onto one of the couches and approaching Casper’s desk. Casper spun the screen towards him, but before Kellen had a second to process what he’d read, Casper spoke. "The scout team that the D.E.C. sent in hasn’t returned yet." Stunned, Kellen turned his wide gaze towards Casper’s serious one.

"Who was in the team again?" Kellen asked, and Casper scrolled down the screen. Kellen looked over the team, and his heart jerked. Carter Scott, the Field Guide Kellen had joked was going to replace Brent if had said no, was the one who was supposed to support the Espers who went in. It was a small team of four, and the three Espers sent in didn’t work exclusively for the D.E.C. They were good at their jobs. Kellen had worked with them before. It was almost unheard of that a simple scouting mission failed like this. It had already been 48 hours. The others must have known about this already. The Captain most definitely knew about this already.

"What is the Guild doing about this? What is the D.E.C.’s response?" He asked quickly but Casper sighed, taking his glasses off and rubbing his face slowly.

"The D.E.C. is saying that because it’s an anomalous gate, it’s going to have anomalous responses. They don’t want to send in another scouting party, and we don’t either. Not until we get a sign or something from the gate itself. But, the Captain is preparing for the worst." Kellen’s frown deepened.

"If we have to give up the gate to the D.E.C., I don’t feel confident that they’d be able to handle it either. Not with this response. I know everyone they hired to do the first check, and they were all exceptional at their jobs. If they don’t make it out, even a percentage of them, we should back out from owning the gate too." Kellen sighed. "I wish Brent was here so that he could give me a briefing on what the front lines felt like while he was still there." He muttered and Casper shook his head.

"Brent wouldn’t have had the clearance to be near the gate at the time." Kellen raised an eyebrow, looking at Casper.

"Do you think clearance issues have ever stopped Brent? I’m pretty sure he’s slept with every single person on the front lines who said yes." Casper blinked, before he shrugged.

"Then maybe he might be able to give us some insight. Because of the negotiations, all of the Captains who would normally be there were sent back to the city. It’s causing problems now, and I know that the Captain is negotiating for at least one Captain to get their feet on the ground." Kellen nodded, reaching out to scroll through the briefing on the screen.

"Do we have photos of the gate’s progress?" Kellen asked, and Casper frowned.

The image that popped up was eerily similar to what they had seen from their photos. The difference with this gate was that it was in the desert, not the forest like theirs. But something was clearly wrong here. The gate was smaller, but still just as vibrant. It swirled with the same toxic tone to it that their gate did. Craggily twig trees popped out of the sand, with rotten, acid pocketed rocks and dusty watering holes. The liquid, if there was any, was the same shocking shade of sky blue. The reach of this area was gigantic, and as Kellen flicked through the album of photos, it became clear to Casper why.

The gate had exploded.

Large metal gates had been put up, sectioning off the gate from the outside. Undead slowly slammed against it, along with other monsters. They were lower level monsters, and should have been easy to deal with. It was what the eye couldn’t see that made this gate so dangerous.

That made the gate that had shown up in their area so dangerous.

"Gate 713 is the first Gate to show up that had poison infused throughout the whole Gate. It even began to leak outside of the gate as time went on. No one was able to find a counter to it, and so they weren’t able to destroy the core. So it exploded. The whole area had to be evacuated, and even then the poison coming out of the gate cleared at several towns around it. Not too many people died in the gate itself, but the death toll from this gate continues to climb. And we now have one in our backyard." Casper covered his mouth, shocked.

"How the fuck did we overlook this?" Casper asked, and Kellen’s jaw hardened.

"It is a surprise, but I don’t blame anyone. The only reason I have this information is because my Mom helped the Ramses Guild, the Guild who bought the Gate, deal with the fallout. We need to get into contact with them. Casper, I still have to go meet with Taylor about the Captain and I’s results. Can you call the Captain, or Pamela, or anyone and make sure we do not sign the agreement?" Casper nodded, already pulling out his cell phone.

"I’ll deal with this until you get back. Bring Brent with you when you come next time." Kellen nodded, his heart racing in his chest. How had this escaped his notice? Why had he never asked for a photo of the gate until now? And why didn’t Brent say anything was unusual about the gate?