Thunderjaw Heart - Horizon Zero Dawn Fanfiction

When Hunting goes wrong...

She was wandering in the forest, alone.

She somehow managed to lose herself in the woods while hunting. Rost was nowhere to be seen, meaning she was in trouble. She usually knew how to find her way back home but she had just gone too far. Calling him was not an option, the machines would hear her. She turned her focus on to find a path.

Aloy sighed and kept walking.

_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

Somewhere else in the woods, another girl was trying to find a path just like her.

This one was also hunting. But she was not walking, hell no ! Riding a tall machine, she stretched her bow. She used the metallic spikes of the beast to contemplate the graceful Grazers down below, the evening sun glittering on their blaze canisters and casting golden lights on the grass. They did not care about the work of art they were creating and stomped on the light, searching for the juiciest blade of grass to chew. She could almost forget which components she was hunting for.

Kïma sighed and aimed an arrow at one of them, closing an eye and mentally apologizing for disturbing their peace.

_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

After walking for several minutes, Aloy arrived in a clearing in the middle of the forest. All the trees were cut, leaving a fresh scent around them. The young huntress did not care about the smell. She was trying to figure out what kind of machine would be able to do such a thing, as it was probably no human work. Watchers, Grazers and Scrappers were way too weak to cut so many trunks. Crouching in case the being that made this was still around, she used her focus to try and decipher tracks that could help her identify the culprit. 

She frowned when she recognized human footsteps following the machine's ones. Did the robot hunt these people ? Or did these people hunt the robots ? Hard to say... But in any case, these people were in danger.

Leaving the safety of the bushes behind her, she ran behind the paths, hoping to find them while they were still breathing.
She had almost reached the end of the clearing when something wrapped around her ankle, stopping her dead in her tracks. She hit the ground with a groan and tried to get up but the root held on.

Annoyed, she sat up and attempted to get rid of it but noticed it was no root. It was a wire, knotted with a rock and a piece of tree, placed here on purpose. She stopped moving and examined her surroundings when she heard twigs cracking nearby.

She finally saw them, coming out of the woods. Those Bandits Rost warned her about. Hard to miss, with their torn pieces of fabric and scrap hats. Not to mention their smell...
A dozen of them. She could not beat them, especially now that she was trapped. What seemed to be their chief was just staring at her, an insane smile on his face, offering a breathtaking view of his yellow rotting teeth.

She sighed again, raising her hands and rolling her eyes, more and more annoyed. Today was definitely not her day.