Pirate Assassin

Page 39

Night fell on the Second Planet and the teams set off. There was a light breeze which helped them conceal their movements by the crackle of leaves here and there. Elyss was taking point, followed by Corby then Carvin. Zack being accustomed to the darkness brought up the rear. They must have walked in utter silence and darkness for a few minutes when.... BANG. The team twisted their heads around to see a bright flare over a forest basin. There were the sounds of shots and shouts but just as soon as it started, it quietened. The flare still burned brightly, though, making the silence very unsettling. Elyss glanced around carefully before thinking to Zack, "What the hell was that?"

"A skirmish probably. But by whom? And how many people? Any casualties?" and his thoughts began racing about forming plans, creating responses as well as assessing damages for certain attacks. Unknown to him, Elyss always admired the way he noted all this information. What strength he didn't have, he made it by sheer intelligence. A thought crossed her mind. "Do you want me to recon?" Zack shook his head.

"Too risky. We have to stay together."

"Can't we all go together then?"

"No. We need to stay firmly in control of our boundaries. If we run towards the place, we have no idea what's up ahead."

"Neither do we here." she retorted.

"True, but we have everything thought out if something happens now whereas if we start running headlong over there..." Elyss had to see the point in that and signalling the two behind her, they trudged on.

The flare eventually gave out and the team were back in complete darkness. Elyss' and Zack's senses were strained to the maximum. Suddenly, Elyss heard something and motioned for the group to get down. They dropped on their knees as she went a few paces ahead, her feet not making a sound on the forest bed. Her ears pricked up at the sound of breathing. Panicked breathing. This was no time for sudden movements. "Hello? Hello?" she whispered. "Friendlies incoming. Hello?" She heard the click of a rifle as the lever was pulled down. "Friendlies incoming!" she hissed softly. A male voice answered, "What's our squad leader's name." Elyss paused, then decided to go for broke. "We mean you no harm, I swear. I'm on Zack's squad." There was a brief ripple of unease but it was stilled. "Okay, we'll trust you. Bring the rest of your squad up." Elyss creeped back and told them what had happened and soon they were sitting in a hollow underneath a rock outcrop. Their squad leader, who introduced himself as Parya, was unfamiliar. When Zack questioned him, he found very unsettling news. "We're Konn's troop. He's out. There was a huge panic at the forest basin. So many sounds around... Our flare man panicked and fired." Zack took a deep breath, "Nothing happened." Zack exhaled in confusion. "Initially. Then the other teams rushed in, drawn by the light. There was a crazy firefight but that was Ocelot's plan." Zack's team looked at each other in shock. "He ambushed us," Parya said sadly, "ALL of us. We are the only ones left. Just six. Everyone else is eliminated. I don't know if we can... What was that?" he jerked his head around. He was trembling as the entire group by the hollow fanned out slowly. "Carvin!" Zack hissed. "Set up some charges. NOW!" Carvin nodded and frantically dug his backpack for some and that's when all hell broke loose. One of Parya's team cracked and stood up, screaming and firing wildly into the darkness. He was shot in the chest. "HUDDLE UP!" Zack bellowed as shots streamed all around them. He threw himself flat on the ground and fired carefully at where he saw lasers bursting from. He was rewarded by a few grunts and the sound of a crashing body but as he looked around, he saw that only Parya and one other was still up. Zack hurriedly crawled to Corby and Carvin and whispered, "Dummy!" before lying face down. The two got the message and emulated his actions. He thought to Elyss, "Get out of here! If you do the same, they'll notice you for sure as not being in Parya's group! You have to hide!" Elyss was very reluctant, firing a few shots still, but finally melded into the darkness. With a grunt, Parya fell to the floor and the hollow was silent.

Zack felt the light, rather than saw it and prayed that they didn't know the exact number of Parya's group. He heard the crunch of dried leaves as they examined the bodies. "I think we got'em all."

"Don't you think it's kinda strange that there were this many who escaped? Last I checked, none did!" Zack felt sweat form on his back.

"Well looks you were dead wrong, now weren't you?" a voice sniggered.

"Yeah, let's go. We still have one more team to catch. Didn't see that new kid's team, what was his name?"

"It was Zack Ying," a female voice answered, "and how the hell would you have known if he was there or not? It was chaos in there..."

"I heard Elyss Masters is in their team. It'd be pretty obvious, what with her blue hair and all."

"They say she can vanish though. What if she's right behind us or something?" a nervous voice queried but they all laughed.

"You've been reading too many ghost stories," and Zack heard the laughter die away. Zack waited for a while, in case they came back. When it was evident they had gone, he lightly touched Carvin and Corby and notified Elyss. She wasn't happy. "I could've helped them! They didn't need to be eliminated! We could've saved one or two!" Zack looked at her and said steadily, "Even if we did, the cost would be too high. We are only four. If even one is out, imagine the state we'll be in in the final round." Elyss shifted uncomfortably. "But still..." but Zack stopped her. "They didn't have a chance, Elyss. Even if we saved a few, there'd be no way their team would pass," and Elyss finally nodded. "So what do we do now?" Carvin asked. Zack looked in the direction the attackers had left in. "We follow them."

How Elyss found tracks, they would never know, and she did in almost total darkness. Corby loosened his cutlass sheath and Zack had his rifle ready. Carvin had a charge ready in one hand but in all honesty, he hadn't the least idea how to use it. Nonetheless, nothing happened as time passed by. It must have been close to two in the morning when they heard voices and they dropped to their bellies and crawled forward. "Man, Ocelot's going crazy trying to find Zack's team," a girl said.

"Yeah," another replied, "He's positive they'll be coming in from this side though. He's setting an..."

"Shhhhhh!!" the first girl seethed, "You want everyone in the jungle to hear you??" Zack was under the impression that the second girl shrugged.

"Zack's team is so not coming through here. He's only got a team of four! He'll be spending his time surviving, not picking fights!"

The first girl sighed. "I guess that's true...."

"Of course! Ocelot's just paranoid," and they started gossiping. Zack tapped Corby on the arm. He had seen the flowing, swaying movements of his swordplay. When the two girls awoke later on, they wouldn't even know they were knocked out, assuming they had just fallen asleep. Corby glanced left and right. "Probably watchmen..eh..women. That means their camp must be within earshot for alarm." Zack nodded. "They said an ambush is going to be set here. Let's clear out." They propped the two girls by a tree, as if they fell asleep on duty and followed a trail back to Ocelot's camp.

"There must be around fifteen people in the camp," Corby whispered. Zack examined the camp. "Carvin, do you have remote detonators." He nodded but said, "Only one." Ocelot had picked a good place to build a camp. It was located at the fringe of a particularly thick plot of shrubs and overlooked a clearing. If Elyss hadn't found the trail, Zack knew without a doubt that he wouldn't even have known if he literally stepped into it. "Elyss, can you lead Carvin to the opposite side?" then he addressed both of them, "You have to lay your mines as close as possible to the enemy camp. Put other mines near your detonating bomb so that when you blast it, it'll make a chain reaction." They nodded and went off.