Caught in a Web of Fire (Ze)

I can't even begin to tell you how many times I've been put in a situation like this. It comes with job, I guess. However, it doesn't make these situations any less stressful as it is. Lo and behold, when it comes to mercenary work it is a dangerous game. And the name of the game is "Shoot, Stress, Survive". Sometimes it doesn't include "Shoot", but you still get the picture.

My party and I were still behind cover. Cover that was very much being muddled away by incoming fire. Sparks, dirt, and other debris spewed haphazardly at all of us as we sat and tried to conjure up another plan. I took a deep breath as sent out a sonar to see how many of them were left. Too many was the answer. I checked my surroundings to make sure I wasn't getting flanked. Sure, enough I was.

A large burly one was making his around to our side from left. I watch as he quickly shuffled through the foliage to try to get a better angle on me. Quickly, I draw an arrow. He stopped behind a tree for cover as he noticed that I was aware of him. He peaked to see he could push then retreat back behind cover. I look for an advantage. Noticing his foot slightly sticking out from around the tree, I release my arrow. My arrow finding its place going through his foot and anchoring into the damn soil below. I watched him buckle and fall forward more into my line of sight. I immediately shoot another arrow landing into his brain.

I turn to check on my party. Entire trees were literally falling on the forest floor as plasma and fire continued to rip our cover to shreds. Spradlin and Everest had moved deep into the trees and were hiding behind a large boulder with clones. The boulder was providing a much better shelter from enemy fire then the trees. Which, in the case of the trees, there were a great deal gone for a while away. Fires had broken out and the world was now engulfed a sea of orange.

Chickadee was lying flat on the ground facing the enemy on her stomach. Her eyes were like lasers. Glaring into the eyes of the enemy like an animal of old; waiting.

"How long have they been shooting?" I thought.

They have to run of ammo soon. They been shooting for the past three or four minutes. They've been ammo dumping on us. Thy clearly have the ability to engage, but they're not. Really and truly, they don't have, too. We are surrounded by fire, we are low on ammo, and we had nowhere to go. We were stuck. Plus, they might be waiting for something.

"The trackers," I thought, "Evelyn. Try and search them for any hidden live channels. See if anyone is receiving outward frequencies."

"That could take a minute," She responded.

"We don't have a minute," I said, "We need a way out. Does anyone have a plan?"

I looked towards the others, and they looked at me. They didn't respond. Probably for the best. If I can hack their channels they probably could ours. I could see Spradlin bickering with the clones. Everest was watching their flank so they do get snuck up on. Chickadee was crawling along the ash filled ground as enemy fire continued to spray above her. We needed to get her out of there before she was spotted or worse killed. We needed as many people as we could get.

I checked the enemy side. Quickly, I pulled my head back as its almost blown off. Enemy fire now becomes more focused on my area as splinters and large chunks of wood blow off my cover.

"Sheesta!" I screamed.

I ducked back. I let my weight carry me to the ground as I fall back instinctively. Using my feet to push, I shimmy away from the tree I was hiding behind as the it began to burn and collapse under its weight. I rolled to my feet and try to find more cover; which, to my luck was extremely sparce.

I look toward the burning trees that now face me. We needed a way out. A way to retreat as before we become one with the dirt. I tumble down a small hill and make shelter there. I pat myself down to check for any possible wounds. None. I look towards my party once more. Chickadee had made her was to the others. Good. They seemed to be bickering about something. What? I couldn't tell. If they were bickering over the amount we were getting paid. I'd completely understand. The pre-briefing announcement that I had received labeled this as an in-and-out job. This was no in and out job. We were going to be here for a while.

"Ze," Evelyn cried, "I got into one of their open channels. It's bad. Valck! This entire area has been turned into a wild safari hunting ground. They got damn near half the galaxies mercenaries up in arms on the human coming to this location. Multiple bounties with way better payouts and way better hires. Better gear. Damn near untraceable. Damn near unkillable. We've been conned. Hard. He knew. He knew when he hired us that its going to potentially get this bad. He knew and he still attempted to undercut us with the information given. He basically didn't say anything and compared to the other bounties he basically isn't paying anything either."

I took in a deep sigh and cursed under my breath. Yeah, definitely tried to play us. At the same time, we should have asked more questions. Especially, when it came to the knowledge of finding out that we were tracking a human. Hell, I can't really blame him from a business perspective. The less info, the less they want. The less they know, the less likely they want to back out. But still... I might kill him when I see him.

I check to see how many arrows I have left.

"Five left," I cursed again.

Soon, I'd have to start crafting magic arrows. Something, I'd rather not do in battle since crafting them requires alot of concentration. Concentration that I don't have currently because of the thoughts running through my head. I could take someone's gun. However, for one there isn't a gun anywhere near me at the moment. And two, I their probably still wired to their user.

Alot of the high-end guns the mercs use now can be register to their owners. Meaning that only they can use them. If anyone else tries to use them they will lock. In some case they might explode. In all cases, they have tracking devices built in. So, anyone with a certain code can just find the weapon that you stole. Now, can I hack past all of that? Yes. Do I have the current gear for it? No. Valck! This is what I get for packing lite.

I sigh once more when suddenly I hear a sound. It was loud. It was quick. It was metallic in nature. Thum. Thum. Thum. Thum. Like something was running towards me.

"Fuck!" I shouted.

I knew that sound. I quickly drew my arrow into my draw string and turned to my left, but it was too late. I didn't see all of it. I only say its leg. Large. The size of my entire body. It sweep in for a kick that connected with my rib cage and sent me flying. Spiraling. Falling. I hit the ground with my face as I tumbled down a large hill. My body went limp as it connected with the stump of a tree. My bow was knocked out of my hand. Pain. Relentless amount of excruciating pain raced through my body as I continued connect with more of the environment. My clothes began to rip and tear as thorns and low hanging tree branches tore at my body. My head collide with something hard. My vision went blurry.

"Please stop," I cried.

The world was going dark. The pain was becoming too much. Running water could be heard as tumbled more down the seemingly endless hill. I land in it with a splash. I had come to a stop. The pain was too much to bear. I was losing consciousness. My thoughts were getting simplified as I began to drift.

I had landed somewhere far from where I had been. I could smell smoke. I could smell it was far. The water was lukewarm against my skin. It grew colder as I lay in it. The last thing I see as I fade into the darkness were strange lights. Multiple. Small. Fragile. Beautiful.

"Fireflies," I whispered.

Darkness......