The Hunter's Song II: Lost Blood

Ch 9: Survivors (Arctic Haze)

"There!" I panted, out of breath.

Lor shoved aside a curtain of dead vines covering the rock face, revealing a small cave behind.

She was carrying a limp razkur in her arms and a male Zhaguai slumped over her shoulder while I carried First Thunder hobbling against my shoulder.

My hands and ears were trembling. Adrenaline could no longer override my exhaustion.

"Are you sure we weren't followed?" Lor gently lowered her barely living cargo onto a dry stone slab protruding from the wall.

"No," I helped First Thunder take a seat on a flat rock.

"We heard nothing for miles," First Thunder straightened his wounded leg and winced as he sat down. "But that doesn't mean they weren't watching."

Lor let out a long breath. We were helpless, and only five of us remained.

"Here," I handed her the canteen clipped to the utility belt slung over my chest. "Drink."

She shook her head but gave in when I shoved it at her.

The cold moist cave was littered with murky pools of water and babbled with soft ambient random drips echoing from the darkness further within.

I stripped out of my torn lab coat and ripped the fabric into long, thick ribbons.

"Let me see your leg," I crouched next to First Thunder and began bandaging the open wound on his thigh.

I could feel Lor's eyes burning into my exposed skin showing below my black t-shirt sleeves.

She noticed...

My throat felt dry, and I wanted to vomit.

Of course, she noticed! You do a shit job of hiding it!

Just before that corrupted Zhaguai started eviscerating our last surviving crew members, Lor spotted the one compulsion I've never been able to escape.

They're all dead...

I took a breath to steady my hands.

Lor managed to deliver a mortal blow to the corrupted Zhaguai, but not until after he slaughtered nearly everyone and we didn't stick around to confirm that he was dead or if any of the bodies were free from infection.

We only had time to gather the living along with a few lightweight items before going on the run.

"We might be infected," First Thunder was the only one of the injured three who was still conscious.

"Your personal shields are intact," Lor assured him.

But none of us were confident that the flimsy devices were safe to trust.

"We're close to the shuttle," I finished tying off my last knot, then slid on a razkur-sized helmet to confirm our position on the virtual map. "We might see it if we climb the wall of the cave entrance."

"Here," Lor passed out rations. "Rest, eat. I will scout the terrain ahead."

I was too tired to argue for her safety.

This is the horror that the citizens of Thorngate endured for a thousand years...

Or maybe this was only a fraction.

I was born to a family of engineers and physicists, but the mystery of Thorngate and Menthla's past drew me underground. As a youngling, I was raised on tales of my most renowned ancestor, a prodigy electrical engineer who had her career cut short by the tragedy of Thorngate. It was the catalyst for my passion and the root of my foolish belief that knowledge of the past might better inform us of the path ahead.