A Chapter 21 Separation(6)

  19th Blue, 2043.

  Deep within the Endless forest

  Ril Milena(POV)

  Was I tired? Yes, I was! It wasn't something that my body could hide even as I leaped along the root network, desperately urging my straining muscles to take me a little bit further. Yet clearly, the forest had decided to become my enemy.

  One of my feet snagged upon a root because of my inattention, plunging me face first into the dark muddy soil. I winced upon feeling a pain in my rib. It seemed that I had fallen onto something hard. I would have wished to take a second, or a few, just to lie there, and savor the pain, yet the situation demanded that I left the ground, so, I rolled onto my feet, and continued running. Before me, Raiden looked back, his face filled with concern, but I mustered a smile of reassurance back, though I didn't know if he managed to purse it since my face was probably caked in mud, blood and sweat. The blood wasn't my own, no! No matter how much I had fought to dodge the jets sprayed upon the death of the monkeys, some had still found their way onto my body. And now, my uniform was sticky, yucky, and most of all, the smell was capable of killing me.

  Gunfire was raging behind me. Except for a single cartridge, all of us in front had opted to donate the others to Chief Lutalo and David. A pulse of fear coursed through my veins at this moment, even as I ran. Why? We had split into two groups, with I unintentionally finding myself with the six from Lutalo and Mpale States.

  It hadn't been deliberate, instead, the heat of the battle had made the decision for us. But, I hadn't missed the creepy grin that planted itself upon David's face every now and then, when our eyes met. That had made me wish that I could go back in time and slap the past me, who had arrogantly thought that she wouldn't be forced into a situation where the man could endanger her life! How naive I had been!

  How long had we been running? I couldn't tell, because I hadn't gotten the chance to check my timepiece. Vigilance was the name of the current game, where a slight misstep might leave you vulnerable to attack. Though that Monkey king had chosen the other group, something that elicited a pang of worry for my mother and Luthor, our situation was also quite perilous.

  "Focus! Ril!" I mumbled to myself, scanning the surroundings. We had chosen to arc around the direction the monkeys had come from while also searching for anything that could shelter us from their onslaught. Yet, so far, nothing of the sort had registered. I really really wanted to find a place of refuge. My body was so tired that it had surpassed some threshold I didn't know about. I was certain that the very moment that my mind dropped it's vigilance, and the adrenaline stopped, I would collapse like a puppet with its strings cut.

  "Raiden!" called out Snow from the front, with the other man nodding in understanding before dropping his speed. I passed by him, instantly understanding that the time had come for a switch. The number of cartridges made it so that those preventing the monkeys from harassing the rest of us, would never run out of bullets, but that didn't mean that they didn't tire. So, shifts were the most logical decision. Though, even as my feet crossed the tree network, my heart, which had been pounding in fear, terror, and many other influences, couldn't help but skip a beat at the thought that David was going to be running alongside me.

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  Many might argue that nothing could happen in this situation, but I knew the truth. If It would get the monkeys to stop chasing us, he wouldn't hesitate to abandon me, not to mention the fact that I had been very proactive in pissing him off before.

  I clutched my gun, squeezing it with every ounce of strength I had. It was going to be my lifeline, my barrier towards the man's crazy tendencies. Though, he too possessed one, that didn't diminish the fact that mine was working very well.

  Every thought was banished from my head as I waited for him to appear. He would, that I knew because it was an observation. Every single man that had had their ego bruised by a woman would be drawn to that particular female, whether for revenge, or interest.

  "Should I carry you, princess?"

  Just like I had predicted, his voice entered my ears before I even saw the man. When he reached just beside me, easily keeping up with my sprint, as if he was machine inside, directed a grin my way. Had his crimson eyes turned a darker shade? Or I could have been hallucinating. I didn't dignify his question with a response, instead focusing my ears onto the surroundings, where the most prominent sound came from gunfire and the shrieks of the monkeys, either the howls of the dying, or intimidation.

  Their numbers were shocking! They must have been in the thousands because I was certain that hundreds had already met their ends at our firepower! The spray of gunfire was preventing them from encircling us, but that was just a temporary measure. With every monkey that was ended, their hatred grew. From the beginning, fear had never manifested in the troop, something that terrified me.

  "Come on, humor me! I am currently the happiest man in the world!"

  The sick curvature of his lips made me recoil with disgust even as I tried to pull more juice out of my body such that I could try to leave him behind, no matter how futile that dream was.

  "Do you know how joyful I was when the heavens answered my nonexistent prayer to throw you into my group?"

  "David, you shouldn't try anything. I will end you if you so much as touch a hair on her." warned Snow from the front, eliciting a swell within my heart.

  "Well, I haven't touched her yet, as you can see." he said, entirely unfazed by the woman's threat.

  Before I could react, saliva escaped my lips with a gasp as I felt a powerful blow to my back, one which rattled my spine and sent me sprawling towards the front. A curse, maybe a scream, struggled to escape my lips as pain rippled from the struck area.

  I had thought myself vigilant enough! How could I have missed his blow?! Or could it be that my body and mind had been too tired to react?! My eyes lit up with a glow as I caught Snow reacting, her hand raising the gun in our direction.

  Hah! He should have shot me with a bullet! Now, he might even die faster than me!

  Her muzzle lit up as an orange glow flashed. Even with the pain, and the unexpected attack, I still made sure to land on my feet, rolling on my back, and spinning on a crouch to aim behind, only for my heart to skip a beat at what I was seeing.

  A scaled head had been cracked open with bullets, peeking out from a nearby bush. David gazed at it in excitement, before he started sprinting towards me. I hurriedly banished my shock and shame, rejoining the formation.

  I shouldn't have been embarrassed at my thoughts. The man was suspicious enough, and most of all unpredictable. It was only natural for me to think that he had finally lost it and decided to kill me! Yet, he had been saving me from being bitten! That was as incredulous as this entire pursuit being a dream!

  What was running through his mind? The snake's unanticipated ambush would have been the perfect excuse to have me die!

  "You can't fathom my plans?"

  A question caressed my ears, whispered close enough that my heart leapt to my throat, and I pumped a lot of force into my next leap, missing the next foothold, and landing on the dark soil, almost slipping within the mud. Hurriedly gathering myself, I jumped onto another root and resumed the retreat.

  "I must say though, you are interesting. I had thought you were one of those weaklings who would never survive on a battlefield, but color me impressed!"

  I wondered whether that was a compliment. Yet that didn't detract from the fact that he was still pestering me. He was being an annoying fly. I wanted him gone!

  "My company has kept you from fainting." he pointed out, and I ground my teeth.

  He was right, and I couldn't even come up with a reason to refute that statement! It was infuriating!

  "I... Am waving the white towel." I said in between breaths.

  "I had been thinking you had lost your voice at some point!" he exclaimed, earning my best impression of a glare, eliciting a cackle from him.

  "Mommy is no longer here to save you, little girl. Throwing in the towel this fast is unbecoming. Struggle more! Fight more! Provoke me more!"

  I flinched as his voice got progressively louder until he was practically shouting with the last one.

  "I am tired. Not in the mood." I said, letting the lethargy take control of my tone.