After the trees, the seas | Neteyam

Chapter 2

I was walking in the forest with Lo'ak, Kiri, Spider and Tuk. Lo'ak convinced me to come with them as he reminded me that he would go anyways. I came to the conclusion that it was better for me to go with them and make sure they're not getting in trouble.

"Wait for me" said Tuk as she was behind the group. I slowed down and waited for her. We continued walking in the forest. "Tuk, keep up" Lo'ak said in an exasperated sight. "Okay" she said as she accelerated. "Bro, why did you bring her anyways?" asked Spider looking at Lo'ak. "She's such a crybaby. I'm telling you, you're not supposed to go on the battlefield, I'm telling mom if you don't let me come" he said imitating Tuk, mocking her. I tried to hold a laugh, as Tuk answered him by sticking her tong out at him. "Don't pick on her" Kiri said. "She's not wrong, we shouldn't even be here" I said looking around. "Stop worrying Hayla, nothing's going to happen" Lo'ak replied. We then encountered a kind of plane tangled in some vines. Lo'ak and Spider took a closer look at it.

"Alright, we should go now, we need to be home before eclipse" I said as I started to walk back. I made sure they were all following me. As we were moving forward, Lo'ak stopped and crouched looking at the ground. "What are you doing?" I asked him, annoyed. "It's way too big for a human" he said. I approached to see. It was a footprint. "Avatars?" Spider asked. "Maybe, they are sure not ours" Lo'ak answered. They both started to follow the track. "Lo'ak! Spider! It's not the time to play some detective, come on, we're going home!" I said. "Shhh...I'm tracking" he answered in a low voice. I growled at his reply. I'm going to kill that guy. I had no choice but to follow those two skxawngs. I told Kiri and Tuk to stay close.

My heart dropped when I saw the avatars. They were in front of us at the old shack. Spider and Lo'ak crouched and approached them even closer. I was out of my mind. I grabbed him by the arms. "Lo'ak what in the great mother" I scream-whispered. "Listen to me, you have to call it in" I told him. He hesitated for a while but nodded. I followed him grabbing Spider with me as we returned to Kiri and Tuk. "Devil dog, this is eagle eye, over" he said in the collar. "Eagle eye send your traffic" Jake's voice resouned in the device we had in our ear. "I got eyes on some guys, they look like avatars but they wear camouflage and carry assault rifles. There's.. six of them, over". "What's your position" Jake asked back. "Uh..we're at the old shack" Lo'ak answered, starting to get tense. We were going to be in so much trouble for this. "Who's we?" I crisped as I heard the question. I shared a worried look with Lo'ak as he answered. "Me, Spider, Kiri, Hayla...and..Tuk" Tuk looked at me in worry, I took her hand and gave her a smile, trying to reassure her. "Son, listen to me very carefully, pull back right now. Move, you copy?" he said. "Yes sir, moving out" Lo'ak answered.

"C'mon let's hurry" I said rushing everyone forward trying to get us all out of this. We were all running quietly when all of a sudden, an avatar came out from behind a tree and took Tuk. I took my bow and pointed an arrow at her. I freezed when I felt a gun touching the back of my head. "Put that down" a voice said. We were circled by all these avatars. We were screwed and had to drop our weapons. I felt relieved when the gun left my temple, but an other man came, grabbing me by my queue and forcing me to my knees. I hissed at him. They were violent. I was scared for Lo'ak, Tuk and Kiri. I sould've never let them go on that stupid "walk".

As we were all on our knees, one of them approached Kiri and looked at her hands. "We've got half breed" the man said. I could see that Tuk was terrified, poor baby. I felt ashamed that I wasn't able to protect her, to protect them. The man then turned and walked to Lo'ak. "Show me your fingers" he said to him. He looked at him with sight filled with anger and showed him his two middle fingers. "You're his.. aren't you?" the man asked Lo'ak with a smile as he hissed at him. "Yeah, you're his, alright" he said still smiling proudly. He then turned to me. I didn't move when he came towards me, I simply raised my eyes to look at him. "That's some killer eyes you got there" the man said laughing. I was boiling from inside. His eyes came to settle on my hands before returning to my face. "You don't seem to be a Sully though" he continued, amused, as I growled at him. He turned back to Lo'ak. "Where is he". He didn't answered so he pulled on his queue, his face expression turning to anger. He wasn't messing around anymore. Lo'ak screamed. "Stop it!" I shouted as the man tighten his grip and prevented me from moving. Then the leader turned to Kiri. We were all begging him to leave her alone. "No! Don't touch her!" Spider screamed, making the man turned to face him, leaving Kiri.

"What's your name kid?" he asked him. "Spider, socorro" he answered. He ordered the one holding Spider to let him go. "Miles?" he asked. "Nobody calls me that". "Well I'll be damned. I had figured they send you back to heart". "Can't put babies in cryo dipshit". He walked and called his crew, saying to come pick them up and that they had valuable prisoners. I started to panic, no way we would get on this ship.

The eclipse had set in and we were now all tied up, down to our knees, waiting for this stupid ship. It was now raining. I tried to figure out a way to get us all out of here, but there weren't any. They all had guns, trying to escape would be suicide. I looked down on the ground. It was over. Then a sound made my ears twitched towards the forest. I looked at Lo'ak subtly. He shared a small nod. I smiled a little as we heard an other one. It was them, the Sullys. Suddenly, the man that was holding Kiri and Spider collapsed after being hit by an arrow. I recognized Neytiri's arrows. Then everything happened so fast, Lo'ak bit the man that was holding him, and so did Tuk. I took all my strength and nudged the one behind me in the stomach, as he crouched, letting go of me. We three took the opportunity to run away. As we were running, I got grabbed by my queue and brought close to an avatar. "Where do you think you're going beautiful?" he asked laughing. "Leave me alone, you piece of shit" I screamed trying to escape. Lo'ak stopped and was about to come back for me. "Lo'ak no!! Run!" I screamed at him. He hesitated, overwhelmed by the situation, not knowing what to do. I hissed at him. "RUN!" I continued. "Shut up!" the man told me, pulling on my hair. I groaned in pain, but I saw him run, after having given me a sorry look. He had to protect Tuk, he couldn't do anything for me anyways. "Colonel, I managed to catch one" he said as he brought me back. "Stop!" I screamed as I tried to fight back. "She was ab-" he couldn't finish as an arrow hit him on the chest. I looked up and saw Neytiri, telling me to run away.

I didn't wait any longer and started running in the woods as the gunshot continued. I could hear some man getting closer behind me, when a hand was pressed on my mouth and I was pulled under the arms of another of them. I debated the best I could even though my hands were still tied together in my back. I tried to scream when I heard his voice. "Shhh, Hayla it's me". I quickly turned around to see Neteyam. I immediately felt a relief and a smile formed on my face. "C'mon turn around, quick" he said. He cut the straps that were holding my hand together with his knife. As soon as I was free, I turned around and wrapped my arms around his neck, holding him tight. He hugged me back and I could feel his arms tighten around my body. "We need to go before they catch us" he said smiling after gently pushing me ahead.

We caught up to the others. Neytiri was holding Tuk in her arms with Kiri and Lo'ak. They were all safe. Jake came to us, looking at us from head to toes. "Are you okay?" he asked us both. We both nodded silently. He took us in his arms. As he let go, I saw Lo'ak looking at me. I hugged him and he hugged me back so thigh I could barely move. "You did the right thing Lo'ak" I smiled at him, but he wasn't convinced. "For once, you actually listened to me" I added. He laughed and it made the others smile. Neytiri then came, hugging me and Neteyam, my eyes went full of tears as I couldn't hold my emotions anymore. "Thank you great mother" she said. As I was about to go to Tuk and Kiri, I noticed that someone was missing. "Where is Spider?" I asked. "They took him!" said Kiri crying. I took her in my arms trying to comfort her. "Spider is a tough boy, he'll be okay" Jake added softly "We're all going to be okay".