Strongest Nova: Path of Vengeance

Chapter 282: Run

"Everyone, up!" Stanley went to help everyone get on their feet before looking for things they had to carry away. There wasn’t much except for the weapons which everyone slept with.

Red was already outside the cave and her frantic voice mixed with Stanley and White’s voices.

"Quick!" she shouted.

Green went out and he couldn’t help but feel dread deep inside him as well.

Stanley pulled the old woman Yellow to her feet and dragged her outside. Yellow had been curious why they were all so worried when she noticed what was outside that made everyone so scared.

The wall that covered the island, that determined the radius of where everyone had to stay inside was rapidly getting close and would reach them within minutes if not seconds.

Red, White, and Green had already started running, so Stanley pulled the old woman with him.

The terrain wasn’t as good to run in, but they did what they could. Stanley pulled the woman hard, making her run faster than she could physically. There were times when the woman slipped and was going to fall, but Stanley just kept on pulling her, not letting her fall.

They soon caught up to the other 3 and White came to Stanley’s other side to help the woman run faster.

"Red, help her gain speed or stamina," White shouted at the girl who ran ahead.

"I can’t," Red shouted back. "I gave Blue night sight and it still hasn’t gone away."

"Dammit!" White grunted.

"It’ll be fine," the old woman said while trying her best to run.

Stanley turned around to see where the yellow wall was and his eyes nearly popped out of his socket when he saw that it was so much closer than it had been just a few moments ago.

It was closing in rapidly. Had White not gone out, they would’ve most likely died in this. That was lucky.

"Run faster!" Stanley shouted. "It’s right behind us."

Red and Green turned around to look and gasped when they realized Stanley wasn’t lying. They were now running even harder than before.

"Dammit!" White shouted while running. "How many people died tonight? How is it closing so fast?"

The radius of the barrier was reduced for every death, and the speed was dependent on the number of deaths as well. For the barrier to be closing in this quickly, many people had to have died.

"It still coming," Red shouted after a bit more. "It’s faster than us."

Stanley looked back and frowned when he realized that it was true. The barrier was now no more than 20 meters away from them.

The old woman stumbled again and Stanley pulled her up, running without stopping. The woman grunted in pain as thought Stanley had pulled something in her shoulder, but this was no time to care about that.

He could see the path ahead of him, so running was easier too, and thankfully they had come out to an open field. Stanley could see some reflections on the ground not far ahead too.

"There’s water ahead," he shouted. He had never been to this side of the land, so he wasn’t sure what the water was, or how dangerous it was. It could be a small puddle in the middle of the forest or a deep pond.

Either way, getting into the water was just death surely. Just the coldness of the water without fire to dry them off would be bad.

"Go left!" Stanley shouted. "We can’t go into the water."

Running anywhere but straight was already a bad idea, but getting into the water was most definitely a worse one. The group was now left wondering what they should do.

"No!" White shouted. "Going around the water will take too long. We’ll die if we go there. Go into the water and we might survive. It must be the same creek we fill the water in, it can’t be too deep."

Stanley frowned. If it was him alone, he could do whatever he wanted, but in a group, he had to listen to the others.

"How about we—"

"Argh!" White’s sudden grunt put a pause to whatever Red was going to say. She turned around to see what was happening and gave a loud shriek.

Stanley looked back too and saw White on the ground, having stumbled on a piece of rock. Behind him, the yellow wall illuminated the field close to them as it was less than 10 meters away from him.

Stanley and the rest slowed down a little and Stanley even considered helping the man, but it was too late. It was a callous choice of theirs, but one that they needed to make for survival.

Each and every one of them knew that it was wrong of them to not even try, but the need to survive made them not act.

They turned around and ran. Even as White’s terrible screams filled their ears behind them, they ran.

Stanley was too stunned to feel anything at the moment. He could hear the crackling that only came from the wall contacting a human body. He turned back one last time to see White getting devoured by the light, his body charred and burning beyond the wall that had now returned to normal.

The man had died so... easily.

The wall was close enough that it illuminated the path ahead, and Stanley could see that the water was indeed from a still creek in front of them.

"Go straight," he said, his voice already affected by the emotion he felt. The others said nothing and continued running.

They crossed the creek and made it into a smooth land where they could run without trouble.

They continued running until they arrived at a forest with the wall right behind them, and at that point, the short man at the front fell as well.

Stanley instinctively tried to grab him with his free hand as he ran past the short man, only to remember his left hand didn’t work.

He ran right past the man and let him die as well. His crackling body made a horrifying sound behind them and somehow that was stopped

Stanley felt his throat go dry at seeing the two dead back to back. He didn’t know what he could have done though. And there was still the matter of his own survival.

Red was slowing down, and the woman he dragged was no longer capable of running as well.

"I’m... tired," she said. "Let me go... and save yourself."

Stanley grumbled. No, he was not going to leave someone else behind and run for his life. He pulled the woman closer and grabbed her by her waist, carrying her.

"Red! Grab me," he told her. "I’ll carry you."

Red looked to him on the right and looked perplexed. However, she had no choice. The wall of light still chased them, so she had to do what she could to survive there.

She grabbed Stanley’s dead left arm and held on tightly.

Once Stanley was sure neither of them would fall or slip past him, he increased his speed even more and ran away from the wall at a speed that surprised both women.

Within a few minutes, all 3 of them were a safe distance away from the wall and still on their way away from it.