Deadly Escape

A fleeing hazy figure sprinted across the sandy desert, releasing a mouthful of hot air as his heartbeat raced violently while holding two others close to his body.

With a little shift in his movements, he dodged the surrounding scorpions near his legs and smashed the nasty bug to a pulp by stamping forcefully on it, with blue blood splattering on his shoes.

As the scorpions in the nearby area saw their brethren being slain left and right, they retaliated. And not a second later, they began making popping sounds while simultaneously jumping forward at breakneck speed, their stingers getting close to the heel of the figure in question.

During the same period, a vicious vulture assaulted the human who is actively fighting for his life. Having observed that the humans from before have either been reduced to a few and ran away in various directions, or have already been stabbed to death and devoured by the numerous scorpions, he quickly became agitated upon discovering that he has no prey left for him.

Furthermore, his brethren had already had their respective meals, and this vulture, who was smaller than the others, was still hungry, so he swooped down on this human, who was now breathing heavily and seemed to be on his last breath.

"Sophia! Again, block it in the back! It's coming back!"

Upon seeing that the ferocious vulture is once again swooping down at a high velocity to claim their lives, Bryan Godfrey roared, while simultaneously turning his right leg into propelling his whole body, using the carapace of a now-dead scorpion near him, to propel himself into the air.

Whoosh--!

"I can see him! Just keep going, I've got this..."

After hearing that cry, Sophia's right arm, which had her sleeves ripped to pieces, now has a black arm-guard that can be seen affixed to it, with a couple of scratches in it, clearly having been used as a shield previously, and upon seeing that the speeding figure is coming fast, she buckled her legs tightly around Bryan's hips and braced herself for another strike from the vulture that had descended from above.

Yap, yap.

Peng—!

Sophia's right hand vibrated as she fiercely stared at the vulture while groaning lightly from the sudden pain.

Using the momentum from the impact, Bryan then glided smoothly into the air, landing just a few meters distant from his original location. As another scorpion watched his end as a giant foot the same size as his body stomped on him and obliterated him in an instant.

As he was about to continue on his way, a searing pain erupted on his heel, as the scorpion, which was considered to be dead, stuck its stinger into his heel, clearly intending to take Bryan down with its dying strike. And Bryan was taken back by its tenacity.

"DAMN!"

Realizing that his target was harder than he had anticipated. The vulture then let out an angry yapping sound, indicating that it is about to inflict another strike on the victim...

Unexpectedly, as his claws moved closer to the group, the sound of an outraged voice could be heard.

"Damn bird! Do it, Sophia!"

Bryan came to a complete stop and immediately sprang to his right, taking tremendous steps, in order to avoid the incoming assault.

Sophia, who was clinging to Bryan's back for dear life, threw a handful of sand in the vulture's face as it swooped down on her.

That sand was taken by when Bryan used the inertia from earlier, as he kicked the sand to forcefully goes upward which Sophia immediately grabbed a handful of sand using her left hand.

The strategy was already in motion since they had discussed it prior to the vultures' most recent attack on the trio.

Yap?

The nasty vulture, which was presently swooping down with all of its might, was taken completely by surprise by the unexpected sand, resulting in it slamming forcefully into the sandy ground.

The vulture quickly wailed out tragically when it realized that his wing had been gravely injured by the fall while skimpering away from the sand, as its senses were ringing with danger, as the surrounding sand beside him was quickly going in its direction.

After a while, hissing noises can be heard as the surrounding scorpions sprang out of the sand and into the delicious fat meat ahead of them.

The vulture fought back viciously as it pecked the scorpions one after the other, but soon enough, its strength decreased and its wails gradually came to a halt, upon which the scorpions flee into the sand, pulling the carcass of the vulture with them.

"Did we manage to kill him, Sophia?" Despite the fact that his body was in excruciating agony and his muscles were spasming lightly, Bryan's worried voice could be heard above the clamor of his gritted teeth as he continued to move forward.

"Yes! We did it! That bird died! Fuck! Back there, I thought we were done for." Sophia was overjoyed, and her heart was bursting with excitement as she embraced Bryan's back joyfully.

When she heard Sophia's ecstatic shout, the young girl who was being carried by Bryan automatically tightened her grasp on Bryan's chest, and sobbing ever so softly in his arms.

"Just keep moving!! Not until I fucking see some shade, I won't stop running!"

With an agreeable hum, Bryan continued running full speed onward, ruminating and exerting his whole body to its limits as he did so, believing that the situation was still quite perilous in this portion of the area.

Because of the intense conflict and the blood-curdling wails of the humans, not only will dangerous predators approach shortly after hearing the screams of the people, but the scent of blood will also make them even more bloodthirsty, knowing that delectable flesh is just ahead of them.

"Why don't you take a break, for the time being, Bryan? We're already out of danger's way..." Sophia whispered something gently.

However, she was dismayed when she did not get even a single noise of approval from Bryan, and instead, all she received was a single grunt from him.

She stayed silent and sighed before scanning her surroundings for any hints of a possible location to rest her head for a while.

Shortly after, Sophia saw a hazy silhouette of an arc-shaped rock at the far end of her right, and he exclaimed with delight as he eagerly patted Bryan on the shoulder.

"Bryan! Look over there for a moment! Let's take a break there for a while."

After seeing the arc-shaped rock, Bryan, who still maintains a sliver of consciousness, felt the burden in his entire body lifted and suddenly fell unconscious as his whole body crashed onto the sand, with his last thought being,

"Took you long enough..."