The Seekers Part 3: Escape

The woman awoke to the sound of multiple footsteps. They were in a hurry too. Immediately awake she hid just behind the cave’s entrance. Once the Fallen were far enough away she bolted into the opposite direction. Quickly, the Huntress ran down the side of the river towards the tree line. It was her best bet at concealing her movement. The rout was tricky, the range was snow caped and the river’s edge was not without obstacles. Jagged rocks and sporadic ice plagued her path. She raced the water making a game of it. Just as she reached the base the Huntress matched the currents speed as she drew closer to the edge, a fatal mistake. The woman slipped on a patch of ice and tumbled down with the river. Her momentum skipped her across the water and onto wooden debris. She landed hard and a stick impaled her left leg. The huntress quickly muffled her scream of pain and rose to limp towards the woods. Her Ghost appeared from thin air. “I can heal that but you need to be immobile.” “Can’t… Have to keep going… I think they heard me.” “Let me put it this way then.” Poco realized over the last few days just how stubborn this Huntress was. “You can either keep limping slowly away from our enemy, or I could heal you behind this next tree and you can start racing the water again.” The Huntress shot a glare at her ghost. “Fine.” She said sharply as she quickly pulled the stick from her thigh. Even with her helmet on Poco could still feel the intense glare directed towards him. The Ghost shined a bright light on her and in seconds the wound disappeared. “See, why do you ever doubt me!?” She didn’t like the Ghost being so smug, but he was right. The huntress once again picked up her speed, but this time she broke away from the river. The woods were becoming thicker now and she was struggling to keep up her speed. She slowed her pace and gingerly trailed the edges of the trees making sure her silhouette would not be too noticeable. Her motion tracker picked up activity just ahead. Something was in the distance, and it was hostile she decided. The forest broke into a meadow and the Huntress stopped in her tracks. Several Dregs blocked her path as they spotted the girl running out of the woods. They were the only ones of the Fallen that had just two arms while the others sported four. But even though they were the runts of the race, they were still vicious. The Huntress only had her knife, but it was enough. The first Dreg rushed at her from the front, with one swift movement the Huntress leaped into the air and struck her knife in its back with one quick flick of her wrist. She landed just past the corps of the small foe and immediately recovered her dagger. Another rushed her from behind and jumped at her throat. The woman grabbed the Dreg by the back and in one swift motion cut its throat and threw it at another foe approaching to her right rendering it unconscious while the other bled to death on top. Two more came, this time from her sides. One went for her legs while the other jumped for her throat. With one lightning quick snap of her wrist the Huntress landed her knife in the head of the Dreg running for her legs and then immediately followed through with a kick under the second in the middle of its jump sending it skyward. She recovered her knife and sprinted towards the opposite side of the clearing towards the woods once again. “That was awesome!” The ghost stated excitedly. Zvika smirked as she sprinted further into the forest, happy that she finally did something to impress the damn thing. The Huntress heard the Fallen sporadically around her now. The Dreg slowed her down and now the enemy surrounded them. She noticed lights in the distance as well. Are they shooting at her? No, it was large orange splotches in the distance. They were torching the forest! The fire was fast upon her, burning trees and branches fell blocking her path every which way. It was taking all of her concentration to resist the flames, let alone dodging the burning debris. The fire killed her shield fast as she sprinted as fast as she could. Just when it seemed like the fire would not end, the Huntress burst out into another clearing, this time the clearing was next to the river. Zvika dove into the water to douse her flames and hid from her enemy. Now out of immediate danger, she realized the flashing red warning on her visor indicating an immediate armor breach. As she surfaced, Zvika took another look behind her. Did the Fallen see where she went? There were no signs of them following. She couldn’t believe her luck! They must have gotten caught on the other side of the fire. Poco materialized after the coast was clear. “Whoo! That was exciting.” The Ghost was clearly enthralled by the ordeal of events. “Most of the time it’s quite but you attract some weird stuff. I mean it’s not bad, really it’s entertaining. My last Guardian died by falling off a cliff and I couldn’t find him so this is a huge improvement.” Zvika, wide eyed, turned toward her Ghost now realizing the true reason he seemed so lost. She decided it was best to keep he thoughts quiet as the Ghost continued to enjoy the situation. The signal was strong here and she was able to decipher the code after her scuttle with the Fallen. It was an encoded message from her brother. He’s alive! The Huntress quickly made her way to the rally point after sending an encrypted reply. She couldn’t wait to finally be face to face with her own kind again.