Chapter 274: You’ve grown so much, Jacob. Did you forget about me? Can you not see me? I can see you. I am always watching.

Slimo barked orders out at the group as Lidia laid against Sheeby.

"Jacob, get to it on those rations! We have very important assets we need to protect! Sarah, great job on that stew the other day, I’m very sure the baby loved it! Maria, keep us updated on any creatures you see! Squabee, uhm..."

Slimo looked Squabee up and down.

"Just... continue doing whatever it is you do!"

"Hey! I’m useful! All of you would have been toast without my help before!"

Slimo ignored her and patted Sheeby on her scaley nose.

"Listen girl, I know you probably hate me and probably want to eat me because you’ve already tried to three times by now, but Lidia is pregnant. I need you to help me protect her!"

Slimo started making a round-belly gesture around his stomach hoping Sheeby would understand. However, Jacob immediately ruined Slimo’s hopes.

"You do realize we killed her mom when she was pregnant with Sheeby, right? And that also means you fought her mom while she was carrying her."

Slimo punched Jacob in the head.

"Why would you say that?! And it’s not like I knew she was pregnant! I would have pulled my punches a lot more had I known that!"

"Pulled your punches?! You’re totally lying!"

"I seriously would have pulled them! I mean, it was trying to kill me, so I still had to defend myself anyway!"

Lidia laughed brightly, her skin shining in the starlight above them.

"You all don’t have to treat me any differently right now! I can still move around great! Besides, this thing will take months to grow inside of me. We have plenty of time to worry."

Slimo held on to Lidia’s stomach and started to sing a weird tune. Lidia looked down at him while raising an eyebrow.

"Uh, my love? Respectfully, could you stop clinging on to my tummy?"

Squabee kicked Slimo away, sending him crashing to the side.

"Yah! You’ve had plenty of time to talk with the baby! I’m sure it misses Aunt Squabee with all its little heart!"

Squabee shoved her face against Lidia’s breastplate and spoke with a muffled voice.

"I’m here for you now little one! I can’t wait to spoil you!"

Sarah slammed Squabee’s head with a spoon causing her to stumble backwards.

"For the love of everything, just give Lidia some space."

Slimo tackled Squabee to the ground once she reeled from the first attack.

"You won’t take my daughter from me! I’m going to be the one to spoil her!!"

Squabee kicked Slimo in the groin, sending him stumbling over in pain.

"Daughter?! Excuse me, but I thought we already established it was going to be a boy! I already started picturing the fun toys I was going to make him."

Sarah rubbed her face.

"Who the hell cares what it’s going to be?! As long as it’s a healthy child that’s all that really matters in the end."

Squabee and Slimo stood up slowly while giving each other mean looks. However, Sarah couldn’t help herself and voiced her opinion.

"However, I heard eating a monster meat diet increased the chances that it will be a boy."

Slimo screamed and tried to go after Squabee again, but as luck would have it, he ended up slipping and face-planted into a pile of mud. Squabee planted her heel on his back and flexed her muscles while roaring.

"YEAH!! WE WIN!! Luck is always on my side anyway!"

Lidia couldn’t help but laugh at the sheer absurdity of the argument they were having.

"I guess there really is no way to tell until I have the baby."

Sarah smiled and looked at Lidia curiously.

"Do you have names picked out for it already?"

Lidia nodded.

"I’ve already decided that if it’s a boy, I want Slimo to name it and if it’s a girl, I will name it."

Squabee rubbed her chin.

"What if you have twins? Or better yet, triplets!"

Slimo’s face turned green hearing those suggestions. He started muttering under his breath while Squbee was still planting her heel on his back.

"Please don’t suggest that. I think I’m going to vomit."

Jacob smirked and walked with Maria in hopes of finding some more last-minutes supplies before they started their journey towards the jungle once more. It was likely they would have had to make a few more stops before they could make it after seeing that the last trip hardly brought them closer. He grabbed a few miscellaneous plants in hopes they would make good remedial equipment if they were to somehow find a doctor. He looked down at his fist as he grabbed them. It was still deformed from when he punched the ice in his frustration of escaping Zalo. He sighed deeply and looked at Maria.

"I can’t believe she’s actually pregnant. Her powers are also crazy as well. I wonder what a Serpentine is?"

Maria nodded.

"It’s probably the equivalent of a Zalo for her light powers. Even so, I find it even crazier to believe that Sheeby is a part of those Luminators."

Jacob smiled and looked towards the overgrown forest out in the distance. A strange fear slowly gripped his heart the more he stared. Everything began to become quiet around him. There was something there, hiding in the darkness of the brush. He didn’t see it, but his body could feel it. He was being watched. His eyes focused more on a certain tree. It was as if his eyes were helping him guide his vision towards the source. His arms started to shake, something was terribly wrong with that tree, and with the thing peeking out from behind it. That’s what it was. There was a humanoid figure standing completely still behind the tree, only half of their body was revealed. It was wearing some odd attire Jacob had never seen before.

The jacket was sharp and sleek with one button tying itself together in the middle. Its pants were just as pristine, sharing the same color as the jacket. There was a white shirt underneath the jacket with a collar that held some strange fabric in place around their neck. The fabric appeared to wrap around the neck and hang down over the chest underneath the jacket. The only thing that didn’t make this thing look human was where it’s face and hands should have been, there were bandages wrapping them. It shouldn’t be able to see him through those bandages. It had no eyes. He couldn’t tear himself away.

’I’ve... have I seen this thing before? What is that?’

Its ominous presence was overwhelming Jacob’s senses. Without realizing it, he began to hyperventilate. Screetching rang through his head. There was no pain, only terror. His mouth opened, nothing came out. It was watching him. He couldn’t do anything about it. It was watching. Always watching. It always had been.

"Jacob?"

Maria grabbed on to his shoulder. He shot his head sideways and stared into her eyes. They were full of concern and worry. Her hand caressed his sweaty face.

"Is everything okay? You’re starting to freak me out."

Jacob looked back over at the tree line. The figure he saw was gone, but the gaze he felt was still strong in his mind. He lifted his finger at the tree line.

"You didn’t see that? Didn’t feel that?"

Maria followed his gaze and finger towards the trees.

"Jacob, there was nothing there. I tried looking for what you were staring at, but all I saw was the trees."

Jacob panted heavily and wiped his forehead. He couldn’t believe how out of breath and sweaty he was. He didn’t even realize he was panicking so much. He calmed his heart before looking back at the trees.

"I... thought I saw someone."

"Someone? There was another person?"

Jacob hesitated.

"I’m not sure. It just felt so... wrong. They were wearing these weird clothes I had never seen before and their whole body that was revealed was bandaged, including their entire head and neck."

"How big was it?"

Jacob shrugged.

"I don’t know. Human-sized? Not giant if that’s what you were wondering."

Maria laughed.

"Human-sized is okay. We can handle human-size threats very well."

Jacob coughed and smiled to himself.

"I guess you’re right. Sorry about that."

Maria grabbed his hand.

"I’m just making sure you’re alright. Let’s get back to the others. I don’t want Slimo freaking out about us being late or something. He’s been so on edge ever since the big news!"

Jacob laughed.

"I don’t blame him. I would probably be the same if that was us."

Maria blushed and started leading Jacob back. Jacob turned his head to get one last look at the forest. There truly was nothing there. However, he knew that he did see something in the first place, he knew that there was something there the first time he had looked, and that was all thanks to the power of his eye and a single name appearing next the figure once he had seen it.

Name: The Watcher

There was nothing else. Just a name. No power, no description, just a name and an ominous feeling of dread flooding his soul while looking at it.