The ground below them was wet and muddy, each step giving their bodies the chance to slip and not get the opportunity to recover; still, they ran like hell. The thing running behind them was slowly catching up, getting faster with each step.
' Fuck, Fuck, Fuck, how long has that thing been following us?'
Zuno's naturally pale face got even paler; he looked like all the blood had been drained from his body. He and the others continued running with all their might, but with the girls lagging and that thing slowly catching up to them, it was only a matter of time... No, it wasn't Zuno wouldn't allow himself to live with losing a teammate... a friend the first his first mission, he had to do something and fast, but what would that be?
As Zuno ran, his pace slowed down bit by bit, eventually until he was beside Claire and Sarah. His hands gripped his rifle tightly.
" I'll distract it... when that happens, turn around and shoot it, there's only one, we should be able to kill it. "
While Zuno told them this, they knew that this was their only choice; it was either killing it right now or it would catch up and kill every single one of them. Zuno stopped in place, and his body did a complete 180, his arms raising his rifle as he did so. The thing didn't slow down at the sight of a weapon; there was only one choice left, or he would be the first to fall.
He fired two shots towards the beast, with each trigger sending his shoulder back with intense force. The first shot hit the side of its torso, sending flesh soaring back and splattering onto the nearby trees, while the second shot missed entirely, sending a mass of soil into the air. The damage to its torso didn't slow the arachnid down, with its body slamming into Zuno as he let off the third shot towards it, sending Zuno pummeling into the ground below him.
As his body hit the earth and another attack from it surely would come after the first, Zuno felt as if his life flashed before his eyes as it sent down the killing blow with its black claws, but as it did so, a flurry of firepower boomed towards the monster, with each bullet hitting it, mangling its body beyond recognition, dark black liquad splashing onto Zuno, bathing him in it as the body of Arachtoid, dropped and became one with the earth.
Zuno continued lying on the ground, his body frozen with fear and adrenaline from that near-death experience. Is this what they would have to deal with this whole time? They were lucky it was just one of them this time, but if there were multiple.... did they even have a chance to survive?
Zuno's body stayed frozen on the ground as his squad ran towards him, checking to see if he was still alive, Derrick being the first to get close to him as Claire and Sarah stood close by, their weapons still steaming from the shots they fired.
" Are you hurt anywhere? "
Derrick muttered as he grabbed Zuno and placed him on his feet.
" I'm fine..."
Zuno said, his voice still shaky from the adrenaline coursing through his veins.
" Well... I still have to check. "
Zuno stayed still as Derrick did a blood sweep around his body, finding no results, and deeming he was okay.
" Alright.. we have to keep moving, that gunfire might've alerted more…"
Derrick grabbed Zuno, putting his arm around his shoulder as a crutch. Except for some bruising from the force of the hit, Zuno was completely fine, but the mental damage from almost dying was the reason he needed help to walk.
The squad's journey continued, slower than before, as they were still recovering from the recent battle. The whole thing was strange, why was one of those things still some distance from the frontlines? Was the information they were given false? Without an outlet for his questions and emotions, he started to pester Derrick with even more questions.
" Aren't we still some distance from the front?... Why was it out here? "
Zuno mumbled to Derrick, releasing his arm from his shoulder, and continued to walk on his own. Derrick probably didn't know the answer to this question but Zuno felt like he knew something… something he wasn't telling the rest of them.
" I don't know… probably doing the same as we are. "
Derricked answered, his voice sterner than before, as he slung his rifle from behind his back and held it in his hands.
This answer was enough for Zuno, even though the arachtoids had a similar intelligence closer to an animal a actual human, they still had a mind and a goal.
He theorized that both sides were out there, looking for something but what was it? What was so important to find that both sides of the war were trying their hardest to find it, couldn't they just move their force through here and take this area instead of sending one arachtoid to search for it? Why were they being so secretive…
" We should probably find a place to lay low until tomorrow. "
It was about midday, and there was no actual reason to stop, but the Squad was slower than before, exhaustion close to consuming them, and with the recent fight, they needed a break. They gained some distance from where it happened so the chance of another arachtoid finding them was low.
***
They continued walking for a couple more minutes, looking for a defendable spot to rest until they reached a large tree, larger than the rest of them, and with a gap in its trunk that they could fit into. Derrick was the first to enter, clearing the trunk to make sure nothing was inside before coming back outside once he concluded it was safe.
Zuno entered the trunk with Claire and Sarah, while Derrick stayed outside of it, as Sarah entered, Derrick muttered something to her before leaving the base of the trunk and walking into the wilderness.
Inside the trunk was dark, barely any light was allowed to enter with the only source of it coming from the gap they entered. They were surrounded by soil and roots, the soil was cold and hard, nothing like it was outside of it.
After a couple of minutes Derrick returned, with twigs and branches from nearby bushes in hand, he stepped inside placed the branches inside the gap, removing the only light source they had but shielding them from anything being able to look inside.
Zunos' body relaxed for the first time in hours, his eyes slowly succumbing to the exhaustion, after a couple of minutes, his body went limp and his breathing slowed. He was asleep.