Transcendence ✹ Septicgab

Seven

According to Ethan's plan, we had to move with them, pretending we weren't aware of their true intentions. The following morning, the five of us grouped up again, making sure to talk quietly around the others. Gab wasn't acting like herself since hearing her best friend say things like that about her.

"Hey," I said softly, wrapping my arm around her. "It's all going to be okay."

"Why do you keep saying that?" She pushed me away. "Everything is going to shit, Seán.." Gab was crying hysterically.

"Breathe," I said, holding her face between my hands. "No matter what... I will be here for you.. If we lose each other, I will find you.."

"I can't keep living here. We can't just stand around and wait for death to come for us.." She had calmed down a bit. Ethan, Amy and Mark listened more attentively. "If we die here, there's a fifty percent chance we won't wake up again."

"Yes, but.." Ethan said. "There's also a fifty percent chance we will wake up."

"If this is how this world works, we need to stop fighting hunters, and progress.." Mark said. "Sitting around is just gonna make us lose the last bit of sanity we may have."

"So what do you suppose we do?" Gab asked him.

"We leave. We leave when they aren't aware, we run, and we continue fighting our way through this hellhole."

"What.. What if they find us again?" My girlfriend was starting to shake with fear.

"Gab.. Gab, breathe.." I wrapped my arms around her. "I'm not going to let a thing happen to you.."

-

The plan carried on throughout the next week, but as we made it to the forest, we had a wrench thrown into our original plans when Amy saw something unusual.

"Guys..." Amy alerted us to something moving alongside us through the woods. "Could be a henchman... or some sort of creature..."

"Or another hunter," I said, seeing the sunlight cascade off a reflective item. "The sun doesn't bounce off just anything like that.."

"Do we investigate?" Ethan asked. "We're going to have to bolt at some point... No problem if that point happens to be now."

"Shit.." I said, and we hid in the foliage. "I think I know him.."

"Great.." Gab said. "Let's hope another one of your friends really knows you... unlike that psycho.." She looked off at Christine, who was foraging for food. The shadowy figure slipped past her as she reached into her bag.

"There!" Mark pointed. "Wait.. Is that.."

"It can't be.." Amy said.

"He is a gamer.." Ethan said. "And.. as far as we know... that trend seems to be the way things go here.."

"So what do we do?" Mark asked.

"We can't all charge at once. He could be a lot more skilled.. and next thing we know... we're all dead," Gab said. "The evasive maneuver we used on these two... Is that reasonable to do?"

"We have the numbers.." I said. "But.. Them.." I looked at the three hunters. "We need to abort first.. then find him... Cause... if we're lucky.."

"He could know a lot more about this place," Amy finished my sentence. "E.. What's our next move?" Ethan rolled out his written plans. "Where do we go from here?"

"We've all defeated Amelia... correct?" Everyone nodded. "We're headed in the right direction for Hemwick.."

"Wait... Is Hemwick... Full of witches?" Mark asked, and Ethan nodded. "Yeah, cause that sounds so safe."

"Let's just hope we can evade them... I don't know if the five of us can take on their weaponry.... I've been here long enough to see things... I never wanted to see.."

"You've been up this far?" Amy asked.

"Once.." Ethan sighed. "I.." He started to cry. "Oh my god.. No.."

"What?" Gab asked.

"Ethan, what is it?" I laid my hand on his shoulder.

"I.. I remembered.." He said. "When.. When I first came here... I was with someone.." We all looked at each other. "Her name was Mika.."

"Did she..?" Amy asked.

"I.. I don't know. We were separated.. and I never saw her since.." He was distraught.

"When I found Ethan, he didn't have anyone with him," Mark said. "So.. it must've happened pretty early on." Ethan nodded. "Who was she?"

"A friend.." Ethan closed his eyes. "She.. was so beautiful. If I could've just said that to her... before I lost her.." He tried to snap out of his depressive state to continue laying out his idea for our evasion. "Whoever that hunter is," he gestured off to where a mysterious man leapt into the trees. "There is a ninety percent chance we can't trust him.." It was as if he had managed to completely forget what he had told us about his former fighting partner.

"I recognised him," I said. "He's a friend. He.. He's like us.. And if I know him well enough, he will remember who we are and be welcoming."

"Seán seems to have a pretty strong track record for finding new allies," Gab said. "I mean... He won me over... He recognised you two.." She gestured to Mark and Ethan. "I say we trust him." I smiled. A millisecond later, a loud bang came from the distance. We looked around for Christine, Felix and Marzia, but they had vanished. I saw a glimpse of flames bouncing off a sharp weapon.

"Robin.." I muttered under my breath. "Guys, listen.." I pointed. "He went that way.. It is him." We chased after the hunter and wound up catching him in a cavern nearby.

-

He stood with his back facing us as he whipped his blade back out. I had my axe at the ready, Gab drew her blades, and everyone followed subsequently.

"Who do you think you people are?" The man said. "A bunch of badasses? Please.. I've been here for ye-"

"Robin.." I said, interrupting him. He slowly turned around. "It's me... Seán.." Robin's eyes widened. "Do you know who I am?"

"I was hoping to not see you here," he groaned. "Hey everyone.." Everyone out their weapons down. "What the hell is going on here?"

"We don't have all of the answers yet.. but we've found a connection between everyone here..." Ethan said, then continued to explain.

"Shit.." Robin said. "You guys got into it with Christine, didn't you?" He could tell by our terrified and worried reactions that we knew who he was talking about. "Shit... I scared them off.. didn't I?"

"That was you?" Amy asked. "You made that loud noise?"

"Yeah.." He sighed. "I tried to shoot at them, but I missed...." We all stared blankly at Robin. "I missed horribly."

-

Ethan filled Robin in on our plan, and once we knew the three hunters were nowhere near, we went back on our path to the next fight.... the witch.

"We should be here," he said as we made it to a stairwell. "Is everyone prepared?" Amy reloaded her gun, Mark unsheathed his sword, and Robin set his blades ablaze with fire paper. Ethan used a bolt paper on his cleaver, and then checked his stockpile of vials. Gab whipped out her blades and looked at me nervously.

"Seán," she said. "I.. I never want to lose you.." Her eyes were misty. "And... if one of us ends up.. dying he-"

"Gab," I said, pulling her into my arms. "I won't let that happen.."

"What if you can't stop it from happening?" She teared up more. "What if... I'm gone forever?"

"Then I'll see you again... after forever." I softly wiped away the tears that fell from her eyes. "I promise."