(BL) Hunting The Field Guide novel Chapter 296

Chapter 296: Plan B does not stand for Plan Bree

When the door opened to the conference room, both Brent and Rhys reacted. They’d been leaning against the far wall, watching the door intently. They straightened as soon as it opened, Bree stepping out first. Only Esper Blake remained still, her expression unreadable.

Bree turned to face Kellen, her expression still a little confused but her eyes brighter. It was clear she’d been crying, her grey eyes in sharp contrast to the puffiness around them. Kellen reached out, ruffling her hair as she looked up at him.

"Thank you, Guide Woods." She told him, sniffing and Kellen smiled down at her, his gaze warm.

"Don’t hold that in, alright? I’ll always listen to you. My door is always open." She nodded, her expression firming as she nodded. She glanced at Brent, giving him a shy wave before nodding to the two Espers and racing away. Kellen leaned against the doorframe, sighing as he did so.

Brent approached first, his expression clouding over.

"What was that about? Was she crying?" Kellen nodded. He glanced at the two Espers who had better hearing then either Kellen or Brent.

"Did you two hear?" He asked and Esper Blake shook her head. Rhys shook his head too.

"I try not to listen in on others. One of the first things they teach you in Esper school." Both Brent and Kellen stared at Esper Blake.

"Is that...real?" Kellen asked and Rhys chuckled.

"She’s basically right. For everyone under S Class, they treat you like a normal civilian at first. For me? They just told me to mind my manners. Don’t worry, I didn’t hear anything. I thought about other things while you two were talking. It seemed rather serious. Is everything alright? Is she okay?" Rhys asked, genuinely concerned. Kellen stared down the hallway, where Bree had run off to.

"Well, we have a small problem." He started and Brent straightened.

"What is it?" He asked, worried.

"She doesn’t want to enter the gate anymore." Kellen said, his tone serious. "And I’m not going to force her to." Brent blinked, and Kellen watched as two of the three seemed shocked. Esper Blake kept her cool. She turned out to be actually quite good as a bodyguard, when he hadn’t painted a target on his back.

"She doesn’t...wait, she was supposed to go into the gate? Like, the new one? Right away? After what happened to Carter?" Brent swallowed. "May he rest in peace." Kellen nodded.

"She was. This was before we knew that it was a poison gate of course, but it seems like that idea has not changed. When she saw the press conference, she freaked out." Rhys held up his hand.

"Let’s step back into the room to continue this conversation. There are big ears in this Division." Rhys told them and Kellen nodded. Rhys slipped past him, taking Kellen’s hand in his to help him into the room. No one sat down as Esper Blake closed the door behind them. Brent went to lean against the table, his legs crossed as he crossed his arms.

Esper Blake remained near the door, her expression somber while Rhys looked...resigned. Kellen ran his hand over his face.

"Why didn’t you try to convince her?" Brent asked, curious and Kellen scrunched up his face.

"What was I supposed to say? It’s for the greater good? She cried saying she didn’t want to die, Brent. I’m not such a fucking monster that I’m going to ignore a fresh faced newbie crying about their mortality. We both know what makes good Field Guides. She’s too fresh. Hell, all of them have too much fucking light in their eyes to be great Field Guides." Brent winced, his expression pained as he dropped his head.

Silence hung in the air as everyone grappled with the words Kellen had spoken.

"Fuck." Brent exclaimed into the calm air. "So? What do we do then?" He asked and Kellen sighed.

"We...figure it out. We’ll need to find another Field Guide, and it can’t be any of the others we’re training. Bree was the only one I felt comfortable going because she had some, if any, actual gate experience. The rest are babies. We’ll need to see if anyone else on the front lines wants to do it." Kellen narrowed his gaze at Brent. "And it can’t be me or you." Brent pouted.

"Fuck. You ruin all of my fun." He muttered. Kellen didn’t believe him because it didn’t reach his eyes. He was joking, but his expression was too serious.

"Kellen, we don’t really have...other options." Rhys told him slowly and Kellen sighed.

"Well too bad. Find some. I’m not forcing her to put her life on the line when she doesn’t want to. The first scout team is always voluntary. Since that’s been shot, we’ll need to up the ante. Make sure that the reward is worth it. We also need to up the survivability rate too. 20% is too low, so all I can do is hope and pray that Sakura’s team can get an antidote." Brent sighed.

"That’s like a fucking pipe dream, Kellen. Even if he’s a damn wizard, that’s an insane hope. Even for you." Brent told him, and Kellen shrugged. Brent knew who Carlos was, had tried to guide him. Hadn’t worked, but he’d kept him safe the same way Kellen had. Rhys was frowning, rubbing the hand he held in his hand.

"It’s...impractical simply because it hasn’t been done before. If I’m honest...I don’t think we’re going to be able to avoid Guide Matheson going into that gate. I’ve...already seen it, Kellen." Rhys warned him and Kellen twitched.

"Well, she’s not going if I have a fucking say in it. I’ll fight all of the Captains if I need to, and that includes you, Rhys." Kellen warned, and Brent whistled. Rhys chuckled, a smile touching his lips as he looked down at his pair.

"Don’t worry. I’m not going to get in your way. I know better. I’m just...I want you to be prepared in case something happens and Guide Matheson doesn’t have a choice, alright?" Kellen’s stomach clenched and Kellen frowned.

"Are you so certain it’s going to happen?" He asked and Rhys sighed.

"Believe me, I don’t want it to happen either. I just want you to be prepared. That future...hasn’t changed for a long time." He told him softly and Kellen closed his eyes.

"Fuck. Alright. Brent, hopefully soon the other Guides will be coming in, reducing your commitment to guiding Espers. Once that happens, make sure that you reach out to people on the front lines. I might even have you go down and try to recruit people." Brent snorted.

"Oh, please, I shouldn’t go. You should. You should make it a date. I admit, I wouldn’t like to be left alone with the babies, but people take you way more seriously, especially now that you’re an A Class. Just thrust your big Captain at everyone and they’ll fall over to help." Kellen wasn’t so sure.

He had a feeling that the other Field Guides, the ones who had close to the same level of experience as him would know better. The unfortunate thing is that they did need someone a little less experienced.

Kellen when he’d first arrived on the front lines would have been the first in line to go into the gate. No one would have been able to convince him not to, even after the first scouting party had ended up the way that they had.

They needed someone gullible. Young. And without too many people to miss them. They needed a whole party like that.

"Yeah...wait, are you suggesting I seduce someone into doing it? Kellen, I’m not going to do that. I’m not that good of a lay." Brent scowled at him and Kellen flushed before he swallowed.