Follow the blood, cover your eyes

After a few minutes of standing there, Ender eventually gave up on hoping Terrence would return and started scouting through the area. He decided if he was placed in the situation of meeting a cryptien, he would have to kill it from a distance, since he had no close-range weapon on hand, nor was he good with any such weapon.

He glanced behind him and frowned at all of the blood splattered on the dirt. He despised it, no matter how old he got, how many times he saw this, it always made the red-head sick. He took a deep breath and kept walking. "This is why I never wanted to go to war," He mumbled, subconsciously moving a few branches out of his way. "Guess the battlefield is where I was supposed to be regardless, huh."

The ginger shook his head and listened to the sounds around him, clutching onto his crossbow. It was quiet again, too quiet. He only heard the forest this quiet when-

A roar bursted through the trees, and to Ender's dismay, it came from behind him.

Panicked, he focused on the area a few meters in front of him before teleporting, saving him from the cryptien's claw. Once he was out of it's range he raised his weapon and pointed it between it's eyes. But the monster gave him no chance, already running after seeing him in it's field of vision. The red-head had no choice but to teleport again, this time behind it before he was crushed.

Unfortunately, the beast seemed to understand where he was going, looking right at him with it's cold, beady eyes, it's face slowly distorting into a mouth as it tried to swallow Ender. He ducked and rolled to the side, before bursting into a sprint, glancing behind him in both frustration and fear. This was the first time he had ever faced a cryptien that could counter his moves, and he didn't enjoy the feeling.

For now, he had to get as far away from it as possible and find Terrence. Hopefully he wasn't in trouble like me, he thought as he teleported farther and deeper into the woods. After a while he grew tired and leaned on one of the trees, taking a few deep breaths. He glanced around him before sighing. "Shozu will kill us . . ." He mumbled.

He froze when he heard the sound of trees snapping behind him. Surely he had lost the beast a few minutes ago? Ender covered his ears as another roar echoed through the trees, proving him wrong. "This isn't good," He started running again. "Where the hell is Terrence!" He started yelling through the forest.

"Dammit Terrence! Where the hell are you, you lazy ass!" He took a sharp turn and kept running, barely hearing the beast topple across the ground before chasing the ginger again. "You better not be hiding-!" He looked up and realized something. Of course, cryptiens couldn't climb, it's what made higher grounds the best place to kill them.

He only had one chance to teleport somewhere certain in order to kill it as he was nearing his limit, so he had to be careful. That tree on the far end seemed useful. He quickly teleported and gripped onto the branches with his legs while he aimed his crossbow at it's head. "Steady . . ." He mumbled, narrowing his eyes as he continued to watch the beast run towards the tree. "Steady now . . ." He let his finger lightly grip onto the trigger as the monster kept getting closer. "And . . . now-"

Ender couldn't do anything as the cryptien ran head-first into the tree, ripping it right off it's stump. He dropped his crossbow and hugged the branch, watching his weapon fall and get torn to pieces. He laughed quietly as the tree leaned towards the ground faster. "I'm really gonna die this time, won't I?"

He looked around him and grabbed a hold of one of the other branches before safely sliding down. The ginger smiled at himself before running again when he felt a familiar presence behind him.

Was this a normal day for him? No, not really. Did he plan on coming to the forest to begin with? No, he had no choice but to listen to his superiors and go on this suicidal trip. Was he tired of running? Absolutely, he just hoped this would end quickly once he found Terrence. Right, the brunet. He was definitely gonna kill him when this was over.

He yelped when he saw a tree fall right beside him as he kept running. "Focus Ender, we can't kill Terrence if we're dead to begin with-!" He took another sharp turn and looked around for the sergeant so that the monster had something to eat before he finally got help.

Miraculously, Ender found Terrence sitting on a rock spacing off. How the hell was he a hunter? The ginger grabbed the other's collar and forced him to run alongside him.

"What the hell man!" The brunet yelled as he ducked from a boulder being thrown over head. "Why'd you bring that towards me?! I could have gone there if you yelled!"

"Oh I yelled!" The red head argued. "You were just too busy daydreaming to actually hear me, you jackass!"

"Oi! I'm not a jackass!"

"Like hell!" They kept arguing as the two hunters slowly approached the cliff at the end of the forest.

"When this is over I'm beating the shit out of you!" Terrence hollered.

Ender laughed shortly and glared at him. "I'm sure you will, you fat head!"

Before they could continue their petty fight, both of them slipped and started skidding down the steep cliff. The two of them screamed as the cryptien watched him fall down, thinking they would die like that.

Fortunately, there was a narrow path a few meters below, saving both the brunet and ginger from death. The young teleporter stared at the dark trees in the distance below him in fear, and took a few shaky breaths. Terrence, on the other hand, was still screaming. "We're gonna die, aren't we?!" He yelled.

"Please shut up . . ." Ender mumbled, gripping onto the dirt behind him.

"We're really gonna die!" The brunet cried. "I've just gotten used to this, I don't wanna die so soon!!"

A growl from above them silenced Terrence from his crying session. The two of them slowly looked up to see a familiar beast glaring back, with it's dark button-like eyes shining with rage.

"Ender-?" Terrence whispered.

"Yeah . . . ?"

"I hate you for doing this to me."

"Right back at you."