District 42-Chapter 112: The chase part 2

Just when Casper finished taking his report from Ragnar, he organized the formation of his group. He couldn’t let the prisoners so crowded as they were now. If a Ridire came with a specific device or weapon that could affect a long-range, they would all be wiped in a matter of seconds.

Just the protocols weren’t enough. He needed to change everything and make them act like soldiers if he wanted to make it in time to gather all the groups.

It was frustrating that he could not take action on the other prisoners who were still spread in the other parts of the prison, but nothing was helping it. The only way was to trust them, even though they were starting to discredit him.

"Ragnar, something strange?"

"No. Not an only mean thought as far as I can notice... But I don’t know exactly how accurate I am now, or how much I will endure it. I am really at my last energy reserves..."

Casper bit his own tongue, preventing himself to complain or yell in frustration. As time passed, more and more disadvantages were noticed by him.

The lack of quality resources, the weaknesses of the prisoners, bad distribution, stronger enemies... It was just too many things to keep in mind and administrate. It was like lead a squad that was destined to fail.

His actions could seem dumb to others, but when he found himself without any other outs, he needed to resort to unorthodox ways to fool their enemies and turn the table.

Just as he was worried about what to do, and everyone finished gathering in small groups and create some distance from each other, he heard someone screaming in the groups on the rear of the formation. The sound of guns firing, and explosions as well could be heard through the corridor.

Casper’s sense of danger raised to the max when he heard a bullet cut the air just beside him.

"Forget the jog, run for it now! Don’t fire back!" He shouted, sprinting forward.

"If those guys are arriving from our back, it means that they are the chasing group from Freygar!" He thought the obvious, maybe hoping that it could somehow help in something.

When humans are passing through hard times, they can have the weirdest ideas.

While running, Casper changed his attention from his front to the situation behind him from time to time. He was willing to see how his comrades were doing. If they could let their despair aside and focus on survive, it would be easier for them.

Nonetheless, as he thought, they did not keep running for their lives.

When someone knew how to use a gun, and had this gun in their hands facing a dangerous situation, most likely they will try to use the gun. And that’s what they did.

As Casper glanced behind, in the rear of the formation, all the prisoners in that position were trying to retaliate against the warriors.

Their imprudence had affected some others, who stopped to run to fight back as well.

"Don’t be idiots! Don’t come back to help, keep running instead! You all will surely die!" As he finished his scolding, he needed to stop to run when one of the Ridires pointed something at them. It was a flamethrower, but more potent, with a simplistic design, consisting of a cylinder in his back and some tubes connecting to a barrel above his hand.

The flames came dancing towards the prisoners with a speed that was out of this world. They spread for several meters, engulfing everything in the way and covering the corridor from top to bottom.

The prisoners had not even the chance to scream, as the flames could in seconds turn their bodies into ashes.

As Casper kept looking at that martyr, he felt the air leaving his lungs and the strength leaving his legs. His surroundings spun for a moment and he nearly fell.

Around him, the prisoners were running. After seeing what happened with their comrades, they wouldn’t stand against the Ridires anymore. Some of them even left their weapons behind to be able to run faster.

Casper gave a step towards that firewall... and another one.

Suddenly, as his mind started to fool him, he saw a woman standing inside those flames. Kind eyes, that shone like diamonds. A sweet smile.

However, she wasn’t giving a good feeling to the soldier. He never saw such kindness and purity mixed with... with that sadness and angry aura.

More people appeared there: a young man and an elder.

They were all with arrows stuck in their bodies.

Then, even more showed there. All the prisoners from his group that just died.

And among all of them, someone that he couldn’t forget. That black woman, with curly hair, imposing aura, and foxy eyes.

"Hey... Don’t kid with me..." He muttered, with an agonized voice. "Get the hell out of my freaking mind!!" Those people began to scream as the flames advanced, covering his body as well.

After he shouted, the soldier felt someone pulling him by the hand, running like a cheetah and nearly dragging Casper with him.

Surprisingly, Ragnar could find the strength to do it, although he seemed on the verge of fainting at any time because of the huge effort.

"Don’t die, you idiot! It’s hard to admit it, but even when you are in your incompetent days, we still need you to run away from here!" The man scolded him, inside his head.

The shock left Casper’s mind after some while, and he started to run by himself afterward.

"Where are the other prisoners? Why we have these few people with us?"

"I controlled some of them to make them change the course. With this many of Ridires here, we can’t keep up. Separated we can go faster and confuse them or something."

Casper got surprised with it, it was a good judgment. He was going to compliment him for this but got stopped before it.

"It was your idea. When you were kind of hallucinating looking at those flames, his mind was still operating. You kept reasoning subconsciously even in that state."

The soldier fell silent. He did not know what he should think about it. It was amazing, indeed, but still... disturbing somehow. Suddenly, he felt tired, maybe because he realized that, since he got enjailed, he didn’t stop thinking in a single minute.

While he was immersed in these thoughts, Ragnar slowly started to lose the firmness in his stride, tripped in his own leg, and fell to the ground, totally worn out.

Casper stopped his sprinting, the smooth floor of the prison made him slip and nearly fall to the ground. He quickly got Ragnar and put him on his back.

"Sorry, man. I can’t feel my legs anymore."

"Don’t worry. It’s miraculous that you still can talk like this." He did not lose time and ran with the other prisoners. His pace was decreased because of the new burden, but he could catch up with them.

"We are still being chased..." Ragnar warned.

"Hey, don’t push yourself this..."

"Shut up. The quirk is mine, and the body as well..." He snapped. "Anyway, they are still chasing after us. I can hear their thoughts. And we aren’t the only ones. The other groups were not caught yet, but they are being chased as well."

Casper pondered about that situation. There was nothing much they could do. The only option was to keep running and get together as soon as possible.

"Say it to them: Increase the pace even more. The Ridires are concentrating behind the formations. Fight back is a waste of resources, time, and energy. That’s it."

Since Ragnar was prepared for this, Casper decided to use him the maximum he could. If that power was so convenient, there were a lot of uses for it.

"Also, try to find that traitor again. I need to know how far away we are from the west and south groups. And keep reporting me about the advance of the Ridires as well." Tired, and bothered as always, the tattoed telepath said a weak "yes" and began to concentrate.

Since the prisoners were moving towards the north, Casper was hoping that they would catch up with the west group first, then the south, lastly the north.

It took a long while for Ragnar to start to give the reports to him, and also to communicate with the other groups about what Casper said.

However, soon, the tattoed man got agitated.

"Hey, Casper... I think there is something wrong..."

The White warrior looked briefly at him, suspicious and worried.

"What’s up?"

"Wait a minute." He shut his eyes again, focusing... But wide opened after some while, looking frustrated.

"There is something wrong with the west group! They aren’t increasing the pace, and the Ridires are catching up with them!"

"What!? They aren’t following the orders? What’s going on?"

"No! It’s not them. My telepathy... It’s not... It’s not reaching them!"