Chapter 43: Breaks the Deadlock
CLICK. CLICK. CLICK.
“What the hell is going on?!” shouts Falcon, but nobody answers.
Attempting to balance himself as the ground beneath him keeps shifting, Falcon recognizes that one end of the path elevates higher as the other end slowly drops. Then, noticing Forest almost caught in a trance, Hunter barely manages to stay on his feet.
Frantically checking over his shoulder over and over, Hunter discerns that the boulders have begun to tip over the edge of the slope, causing them to fall and start gathering momentum.
Shit… I’m a dead man!
Snapping back to reality, Forest finally breaks out of his daze and stutters in a frenzy of panic, “Falc! We- we- we need to go…. Now!!”
Not wasting another moment, Forest's body is swept with fear and adrenaline, his legs moving on their own as he starts booking it down the path to the next turn. Falcon follows suit without question, and Forest knows he doesn’t need to look back to know that Hunter is bringing up the rear.
“Falc! Which way should we turn?! Right or left?!”
“We need to take a right. The left leads to a dead end!”
Both guys attempt to slow down their momentum to make the turn, but the steepness makes it next to impossible. Glancing at the ground, Forest’s teeth gnash together.
If I try to stop completely, my body will fling me forward. And that’s it. I won’t have time to get back up before I get smothered!
“Forest! The wall! Shift your body and brace for the wall!”
Forest looks back up to see the wall just a few feet ahead.
Shit!
Instinct taking over, Forest adjusts his body side on, bracing for impact. Meanwhile, Falcon has angled his run in preparation. As Forest thuds into the wall at full speed, Falcon jumps and runs over the top of him along the wall for a few steps, letting his momentum and body do the work for him. Grimacing in pain, Forest realizes the path ahead of them is level.
As he takes a step forward, an arrow suddenly whizzes by Forest’s stomach, implanting itself into the wall he just collided with.
Stolen content alert: this content belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences.
What the hell just shot at me…?! Was it Crow?!
Falcon grabs Forest’s arm and drags him to my feet. The two resume their desperate excursion down the following path to safety. Another arrow flies by, marginally missing Falcon’s legs as it burrows into the ground before them. Sprinting past the arrow, Forest glimpses back, trying to locate where the arrow originated from. After scanning for a few seconds, Forest barely sees through the thick vines that a small compartment has opened up near the very top of the wall.
So that’s where they’re shooting from…!
CLUNK! TCK, TCK, TCK! SHING!
Another arrow shoots out.
That’s coming at us from a higher angle…!
Forest yells to Falcon, “Duck!! Duck now!!”
Both duck as the arrow whizzes by Falcon’s head.
His breathing growing erratic, Falcon struggles to keep up at the same pace and slows to a stop to rest. Forest does the same as he transfers his focus to the wall to their right, noticing a compartment above them also beginning to open up. The ground below them then starts quaking as it morphs into a downward slope like before.
Here too… we make one wrong move, and we die! Great, just great. This could’ve all been avoided if Hunter just listened to me earlier! Shit. That dumbass better still be alive behind us!
“Falc… you good to go? We need to move again!”
With his breathing returning to normal, Falcon nods.
Hunter then yells behind them, “What the hell are you two stopping for?! There are more coming!!”
BOOM! CRACK! BOOM!
The boulders begin slamming against the wall behind them as Hunter, now caught up with Forest and Falcon, puts his hands on his knees, panting.
CLINK!
The compartment above us is already open?!
Detecting another arrow firing toward him out of the corner of his eye, Forest lunges left and barely dodges it. Tumbling over, Forest looks up to see the boulders begin to tip once more and resume their assault.
As Hunter starts running again, Falcon and Forest do the same.
CLINK!
That came from the left… shit! We’re going to be caught in the crossfire!
“The arrows! They are coming from the top of the walls! Keep an eye out for them!” yells Forest.
Hunter narrowly swerves an arrow as he shouts, “Figured that out a while ago, genius! Can you two catch up with me already?!”
Focusing on what’s ahead, Falcon and Forest realize the path is forced into a left turn. And that turn is coming up fast, very fast.
Hunter yells back, “You two better not die on me now! Just keep running! We’ll make it through this!”
He may be right, but realistically, how long or far will we have to run for this to stop? We can’t run forever…
Clenching his teeth as another arrow misses him by inches, the arrow burrows itself in front of Forest. As he runs by it, Fores tries to start thinking up possible solutions. Still, his mental endeavor is proven futile as he’s unable to think of a solution quickly.