-Endless Summer-

- IX | Out Of The Frying Pan, Into The Inferno -

C h a p t e r  N i n e
O u t  o f  t h e  f r y i n g  p a n , i n t o  t h e 
i n f e r n o

Silhouetted by the moonlight at the edge of the mountain, Estella squared off against the colossal crab.

She ignored your protests, laser focussed. The crab scuttled towards her, claws raised. A massive pincer snapped at her and Estella dived, rolling around it's side. She let out a cry of determination and stabbed forward with her spear, but the crab knocked it out of her grip. Estella teetered on the edge of the cliff, barely keeping her balance.

The crab charged once more.

"The hell are you doing, Katniss, move your ass!" Jake roared at Estella, who dived aside at the last second, vaulting over the crab's shell, narrowing threading through its slicing pincers.

She snatched her fallen spear from the ground and thrust it at the crab, but it had already spun around and caught the wood and metal. Estella pushed forward, obviously using all of her might to shove the crab off the edge, but it's sharp legs dug into the earth.

"This chick needs a little help!" Zhara shouted, and your eyes landed on Furball.

"Furball! Hit it with an ice blast!" You shouted, your mind flashing back to the way that the crab's pincers had shattered the ice as easily as if it was a cobweb. "Aim for the ground!"

Furball breathed a blast of cold, this time under the crab's feet. It formed a slippery sheet of solid ice. "Now!" You yelled at Estella, and the warrior nodded once before forcing the spear forward, sliding the crab back off the ice.

It tipped back over the edge of cliff, plummeting out of sight into the darkness below. Grace let out a cheer as the group sighed collectively in relief. Estella glanced back at you, wiping the sweat from her brow.

"Quick thinking there. Now... one of you wanna tell me what the hell you're doing off resort grounds?"

You quickly explained the situation to Estella, who shook her head with narrowed eyes. "You shouldn't have left. I told you to stay put." She hissed angrily, narrowed eyes fixed on you.

"It was worth the risk." You snapped back.

"Was it? If not for me you'd be dead right now."

"But we're not, are we?"

Estella paused and stared at you, her lips quirking into a smirk. "...no. Not yet."

"Estella, how did you find us?" Grace asked as Estella twirled the spear between her fingers and scoffed.

"I just went towards the sound of you lot screaming bloody murder."

"Fair enough." Michelle nodded understandably.

"So, Sarah Connor, you gonna tell us where you've been the last two days?" Jake asked, and Estella turned her glare upon him.

"No."

"Cool. Good talk." Jake surrendered and backed away.

She turned away from you without another word and headed down into the rainforest. "Where are you going?" You called after her, raising your eyebrows at her abrupt goodbye.

"The crab survived. It will be coming for you. I'm going to hunt it down and finish it off. You're welcome." Estella nodded curtly at you, and just before she disappeared into the darkness below the jungle canopy, she looked back over her shoulder and met your gaze. You remembered your dream.