Screams of the Wicked

Evelyn wiped to no avail. The blood on her clothes had spread further with every wipe and the water really only made it worse. Her sleeve used to be a pure white, now it was a scarlet red. She eyed the gun she left atop the container where she had gotten the canteen from. She had been 19 years old the last time she held a gun -- her dad's old hunting rifle. To her that was 10 years ago, but it had actually been 20, she'd just spent 10 years in cryo after all. Evelyn chuckled to herself. She chose to become a doctor because she promised herself she'd never pick up a gun anymore. Now here she was, using a gun once more.

"Hey. You doing okay?"

Evelyn flinched, dropping the canteen and almost pulling the gun on him. Mason.

"Dammit Mason." she sighed heavily.

"Sorry."

"How's our once-nearly-dead patient?" she asked.

"Taking charge of the situation. Surprising no one."

"I mean he had a gaping wound on his chest and walked it off in minutes. If they DIDN'T decide to follow his lead I'd be concerned."

"What about the rest of the Stalwart crew?" she asked as she motioned him outside and she followed.

"They don't want to risk going outside. That Dutch guy said we'll just be open targets." he explained.

They reached the a door near the end of the corridor and it slid open as they walked towards it. Behind the door were the rest of the scientists, some she knew others not much, and the mercenaries. In one corner of the room was 'Dutch', the man with most of his chest missing but made a miraculous recovery, he was talking to the rest of the mercs but she couldn't make out what they were saying. They were speaking in real low voices so the only way she'd find out is if she joined in on the conversation. Her mind told her to let them plan whatever they wanted, but her gut wanted to butt in and turn down any idea that would get more people killed.

"Hey."

Evelyn jumped and let out a small scream, getting the attention of everyone else in the room. The one that called out to her was Marcus, still in a sort of daze. His armor was loose, his helmet gone, and his gun was limping on his hand. Evelyn instinctively reached out for it and took it from his hands. Marcus didn't try to stop her, he simply stared blankly at absolutely nothing.

"I swear, everyone is out to jump scare me today." she tried to joke. Marcus didn't react, instead he surveyed the room but Evelyn could tell he wasn't all there. She strapped the gun around her shoulder and led him in the room. It was as if he were completely catatonic. She was worried for sure but they had bigger problems at the moment, a temporary fix would have to do to get him out of his trance.

"Yeira." she called out as she made Marcus sit on the ground with his back against the wall.

Evelyn turned around and almost jumped at the sight of Yeira, she hadn't heard her walk up to her. 'Everyone really is out to scare me today.' she thought to herself.

"What's wrong? He okay?" Yeira nodded at Marcus.

"He's... not okay. Look, I'm not a psychologist, this is beyond me. The best I can tell you to do is to talk to him." Evelyn said in a low voice. "You guys are old friends right?"

"Yeah but I don't think anything I say will matter." replied Yeira. She glanced at Marcus and pressed her lips in frustration.

"I'll... see if I can scrounge up some good memories." said Yeira, with a hint of regret and worry behind her voice. With that she walked up to Marcus and sat next to him and started to talk.

Evelyn smiled a little, not out of relief or happiness, instead it was a smile of... hope? She couldn't explain the emotion behind her smile. 'Hope' was the closest thing she could think of. Evelyn handled the gun she had taken from Marcus. It was an M39. Last time she saw one of these was in her dad's gun cabinet. She turned it to its side to look for the safety; it was off. If Marcus had gotten a mental break or even if Evelyn had accidentally scared him in any way when she removed it from him, it could've ended pretty nasty. For now she clicked the safety on. She removed the magazine and inspected it; half of one. Marcus only burned through half the mag while he was out there. That or he did actually burn through his ammo and this was all that was left.

She chose not to think about it and instead put the magazine back where it belonged. Before she set it down she pulled back the bolt and removed the cartridge from the chamber and put it in one of her pockets. Once she was done Evelyn sat down and set the gun on the ground next to her.

Yeira was still talking to Marcus. There had been no progress with his situation and she really couldn't question it. She just saw a man's head get blown to bits and whatever it was that Marcus saw most likely would've been worse.

"Should've settled for being a veterinarian." she mumbled to herself. She chuckled for a brief second, thinking that she probably could've evaded all this had she chosen a different career path.

Her brief moment of relief was interrupted suddenly. Out of nowhere there was scream, no, a wail, and it wasn't human. It sounded muffled so it wasn't one of theirs. That means it came from outside. She looked behind her and spotted the mercs taking a look outside. Evelyn instinctively readied the M39 and put a cartridge in the chamber. 'Hope the old man's tricks are good for something.' she thought to herself. The thought was quickly followed by anger but it also eased her. She may have hated her father for training her the way he did, but now? Now it was most likely her saving grace.

---

Agile Blade pulled out her weaponry out of fear. A Yautja had suddenly cried in pain, but whose was it? The Bad Blood? One of the other initiates? Or maybe one from the heretic clan? She held her knife at the ready and her combistick rested in her right hand. She didn't want to bring any attention to herself so it was still in its base form. As useful as it was, turning the combistick into its spear form made quite a bit of noise. And with three factions currently at each other's throats it wasn't a risk she was willing to take. She chose not to use the shuriken for the same reason. It's blades would make a distinct sound when they were pulled out and it would probably also get her unwanted attention.

She sifted through the mask's many forms of vision. Not a single thing in sight. Agile Blade began to question the sudden attack on the humans and the reason the heretics were on the planet.

She'd heard from Naithei that the heretic clan, like regular Yautja, have hunting parties. But unlike the regular Yautja, they didn't hunt their prey in their natural habitat. The humans that were on the planet clearly weren't part of their plan. Not part of any faction's plan really.

Currently there were two things she knew for certain. One: two humans were dead, although she could only assume they were both killed by the heretic clan. Two: not a single Yautja was taking action against the humans since the second attack. This meant that they either lost interest in them or they were waiting to see who was going to make the first move. Agile Blade guessed it was the latter. The heretics and Bad Bloods weren't all too different. They both kill just about anything, but the heretics show SOME honor. They hunt and kill warriors whereas Bad Bloods will kill anything as long as they get their fix.

Agile Blade chose to retreat instead. They could fight it out if they wanted to. If she made a move against any of them the remaining faction would make a move and finish off whoever won.

As she backed a way, she came to a sudden stop. She felt warmth behind her, flesh, metal, and heard the distinct clicking of a Yautja. Agile Blade swung her arm around, full force with her knife in an attempt to wound her opponent. Her attack didn't connect. Agile Blade sliced at nothing. In a fit of fear and anger she de-cloaked herself. She was now visible to her attacker. She extended her combistick and stuck it to the ground and stood there. Her just standing there was basically screaming "kill me I'm right here", yet she didn't falter. Agile Blade decided that she would tale the challenge. If she died right here and right now she'd at least die knowing she faced her death like a true Yautja warrior.

On the ground beneath her three dots suddenly appeared in the form of a triangle and it moved slowly towards her. For some reason her body wouldn't listen to her. She should be evading it right now, trying to track its trajectory and attack her would-be killer. Instead she stood there, frozen. Afraid. All this time training to kill and believing that she could face any trial, and here she was. Completely and utterly afraid. The dots then made their way up her legs, her torso, amd finally her head. She commanded her body to move out of the way but she couldn't. Now she was going to die without even putting up a fight. She was sweating profusely under her mask, tears slowly coming out of her eyes.

Agile Blade decided to accept her fate. But rather than coming face to face with a plasma blast she found that she was still alive. In front of her the trees began to distort. A figure was approaching her slowly. It de-cloaked, its body slowly revealing itself. Agile Blade bent her head upwards in order to be able to look at the figure in front of her. It was the tracker, one of the other initiates that had come on this hunt.

She returned the combistick to its original form and holstered it. She slowly released a sigh of relief under her mask, she wasn't going to die just yet. The tracker walked past her to get a better look of the human ship.

Agile Blade quickly looked him over as he walked past her. None of the equipment was his, save for his mask and his wrist gauntlet. The mounted weapon on his shoulder, his plasmacaster, caught her attention more than anything. It wasn't the regular Yautja design, so the scream from earlier hadn't been the Bad Blood nor any of the other initiates. That meant it had been from one of the heretics. The Yautja in front of her, despite his small size and specialty, managed to kill a member of the heretic clan and took his equipment.