I shudder at the reminder of the furry worms on skeleton legs. After seeing their teeth, I think I would have a better chance with a piranha, but Zeke does have a point. We’re getting nowhere with this stuff.
“Maybe we should find shelter and let this pass. It looks like it’s going to storm anyway,” I suggest.
“What’s that?” a feminine voice screams off to our right.
We turn as a group to find a team of six women, all dressed in dark green and black fatigues, about twenty feet away, scrambling backward and tripping over themselves frantically.
“Wait, I don’t see it,” one of the redheads cries out.
I scan the area right in front of them, but don’t see any visible predators or other enemies pursuing them.
“There it is,” a brunette woman points down at the ground.
The redhead next to her screams as her skin and hair quickly blacken to the color of her outfit, before cracking and floating down like ash to the ground. Her screams never stop, I realize, because it’s carried on from her other teammates as they follow in her demise. Piles of ash just fall to the ground as I back up away from the site.
“The Sulks,” I whisper.
I hope it’s full, or it’s picked a new target that is not us.
“I suggest we head this way to try and find shelter. Keep your eyes on the ground,” Knots says.
There’s no reason to argue, so we agree to look for shelter and keep an eye on the ground, and after about thirty minutes, we come across a promising area to rest and maybe get some fresh water.
“Is that a glen, a swamp, or a pond?” Zeke asks, coming up beside me and leaning against a tree. He peers over my head as he looks between the break of trees, seeing the cropping of rocks across the way.
“I’m not sure what’s on the ground, but I’m more interested in that cave I see up there.” Knots points. “I think I see an opening, which we might be able to use to bunker down in before it rains.”
“Well, I for one am ready to get out of this mist,” Lynx complains, stepping up and out of the black mist onto a stump. It only lasts a few seconds until the mist follows and seems to cling to his boots. “It’s like a stage-five clinger who’s finally ready to lose her virginity, and you're the only male around.”
“No one would be that desperate to cling to you,” Knots snorts. “Don’t flatter yourself.”
“Hey! I thought you guys made up?” I ask, motioning between the two of them.
“Just because firewood deserved to be dusted off every once in a while doesn’t mean I can’t burn it,” Lynx replies with a smile and jumps down. “Now, ladies first,” he says, bowing and swinging his arm out wide for me to lead.
“You asshole.” I push him, and he stumbles in front of me.
Click.
His eyes go wide as he freezes.
“Um, guys. I think I stepped on something.”
“Ya think!” I hiss, but before I can do anything, air is jolted from me as a force hits me, knocking me to the ground and falling with me.
I quickly push my curls out of my face to see Ryker’s beautiful face staring down at me.
“Ryker?”
“Sorry, Goddess, but I wasn’t about to let you be skewered.” His labored breathing blows into my face as his eyes dart to the tree behind me, where there’s an axe embedded.
“Fuck!” I whisper.
‘Cyanide. 9 O’clock,’Knots yells.‘Archers in the trees.’
Well, at least I know who’s trying to kill me.
“Stay down,” Ryker tells me before he rolls off of me and disappears in the fog, which is now up to our thighs.
