Fairy Bunking Chapter 3: All Out

Ubermensch raised his visor and looked at Apraxia, and his eyes intentionally drifted down to Apraxia's brightly colored vest. "Oh yeah, they saw us."

"That bird threw off my camouflage," Apraxia explained.

"No, I don't think that was it," Ubermensch said and held his armored glove next to the pine. The metallic sheen flattened and became a sullen green, matching the pine needles. "Camouflaged, not camouflaged" he spoke while moving his hand away from the branch. "Camouflaged, not camoflauged."

Perfidious bit back a giggle and picked up a pine needle, holding it up in the air. "Not camouflaged," then next to Apraxia's vest. "Still not camouflaged."

Apraxia snatched the needle from Perfidious' hand. "I understood the concept the first time. My camouflage was natural, and did in fact exist until that robin showed up. You know, fairies are supposed to blend," he added, sitting up. His posture was quite effeminate.

Ubermensch snatched Apraxia's collarr and pulled him down. "Take a moment and tell me what you think all of those little things are in the clearing." He pointed towards the enemy. "And if they have even a remote semblance to the enemy, imagine what will happen if you're in their line of sight."

He shrugged, though gave in and lifted his head over the relative safety of the pine needles, peering into the distance. "They look like a bunch of black specs, probably insects, hovering around an animal carcass."

Ubermensch pulled Apraxia down behind the branch again and looked directly at his eyes. "While I would certainly like to believe those are swarms of flies, mosquitoes, bees, and the what-not, they aren't. " Despite his irritation, his voice was even and calm. "Given that we're out of our own woodland, it's a long way to safety. Try to keep that in mind before setting out to get us killed."

"Hey," Perfidious prodded Ubermensch. "Is the swarm of insects moving towards us?" He put his finger to the rifle trigger and tried to sight in on one of them. "Hey, those little buggers move fast, too."

Starting to roll his eyes, Apraxia's look of disdain melted into sheer terror. "Do insects take their nibblets of food, carcass still attached, back home with them?"

The three fairies fell silent as they witnessed the massive object that was Apraxia's supposed animal carcass slowly float towards them, ensconced in a porous cloud of floating black blobs. Apraxia was the first to move. He sprung from behind the branch and started running away from the swarm.

"Maybe he's right this time," Ubermensch murmured, and pulled on Perfidious' arm. "We'll fall back."

Apraxia didn't make it more than a few dainty strides passed the hollowed log before slipping in an oily substance and sprawling face down in rank mud. "Ugh! What?" He scraped the disgusting muck from his face.

"Toxic dump," Ubermensch said as he hauled him up. "Don't eat any of it."

"Leave it to humans to dump their waste on the highest ground so it has ample opportunity to drain into everything below," Perfidious said, and finished with a snort.

"It had better not be nuclear," Apraxia grumbled.

"It's chemical waste from a textile plant," Ubermensch said.

"And you know this because?" Apraxia challenged, struggling to keep pace with Ubermensch as he raced ahead.

As he ran, he pointed towards a distant, hulking square that once was a human building, but was now burned-out and overgrown. "Because I can read." And, quite clearly, a human sign had fallen to the ground and bore the words 'textile plant'.

The three fairies dashed towards an outcropping of dandelions, Ubermensch pushing Apraxia forwards while Perfidious lagged behind, glancing over his shoulder, and calling out updates. "They're definitely following us, and they're gaining."