Running blind through an alien forest was a bad idea at the best of times.
*CRACK*
A lightning strike tossed up the copse of trees like a child's hand destroying a sandcastle. The trees disintegrated like ash in the wind.
"Holy Shit, what did you do?"
"Duck!"
McGee pulled Galligan to the ground as a tree bounced over their position, showering them with dirt.
"It's a rooster, you cockwad!"
By all the gods, McGee didn't know what the hell angered the massive chicken, but it had woken up with a furious cry, started calling down Thor's thunder and slinging lighting with deadly accuracy from several leagues away. It had fried a pack of boars like they were barbecue and had created literal fucking canyons alongside their running path. The sky was being ravaged by thunderclouds as the earth became irreparably scarred.
There was no reason for it. They had not done a single thing wrong and yet heaven had decided to unleash its fury on the unfortunate transmigrators.
The packed earth felt solid under McGee's footfalls as the air in his lungs heaved. The scent of ozone was heavy with ash, sweat, and charred meats.
*CRACK*
Galligan shoved him out of the way. They rolled down a bumpy slope, hitting several branches and setting loose an avalanche of gravel. They stumbled to a stop.
A stampede of mad, drooling deer with carnivorous teeth threatened to trample them.
McGee lifted his rifle and fired. The lunging beast took a bullet to the face and kept charging. He fired a few more rounds as he heard Galligan doing the same on his flank. The first one finally dropped when its brain oozed out its eye socket. A second one was nearly on him when a lightning strike sent him careening into a large rock.
The next several moments became frantic as McGee vaguely registered being dragged to safety between the flashes of gunshots and lightning strikes. McGee was back in Trinidad. Mortar fire tearing apart his friends. Brooks was calling his name.
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"Get up! We are leaving!"
The ringing in McGee's head cleared enough to see the doe barreling toward Galligan's back. He stabbed the smaller deer that nearly chomped Galligan's leg off. Blood caked his knife as he twisted and pulled.
Breathing hard, they backed up against a steep drop. McGee spared a glance behind him and sucked in a breath.
They'd made it to the structure they saw earlier, but there was a war going on in the courtyard below. Men fought on the ground, on the roof, in a koi pond, some rolled down a set of stairs and out of view. Bodies lay unmoving in the courtyard while others cried out trying to crawl away. They term 'Shitstorm' came to mind.
*CRACK*
Lightning descended, carnivorous deer evaporated, the ground fell away, and the dynamic duo were falling once again. McGee managed to get some footing and jump onto the roof of the closest building, causing a pair of grizzled men to startle at his presence. A man with a long beard wore white and green robes with the symbol of a fist embroidered on it, and the second, a severely balding man, wore deep umber robes decorated with red flecks. The red seemed to be concentrated around the old man's boot. As if he'd stomped someone's head like a water balloon.
"Cooter!"
With no time to spare, he ran between the two stunned fighters, measured the distance, and jumped down to help Galligan who was holding back two men wielding goddamn swords. One umber-robed man noticed McGee joining the fight and used some kind of Force Palm to wrench McGee's weapon away. The martial artist still got the wind knocked out of him by a flailing redneck.
"I'm done with falling today, thank you."
The man barked out some obscenity and performed a flying leap kick. Cooter ducked in surprise. When the man landed, twirled majestically, and posed with his double-edged sword, Cooter answered with good-ol-american-made gunpowder.
*Bang*
The martial artist stumbled and snarled, shrugging off the bullet.
*Bang*
The swordsman didn't slow his charge. Cooter gripped his weapon in both hands.
*Bang-Bang-Bang*
Two shots to the leg and a shot to the shoulder brought the foe to his knees. Cooter sucker-punched him into unconsciousness. Clenching his fist in pain, he moved to help Galligan and stopped. The size of her opponent was twice Cooter's and she had him trapped in a choke hold. The drooling man made a distinct thump as he was forced to sleep.
"That still only counts as one."
Galligan panted heavily, blood dripping from her forehead. She turned around and scooped up a small form. There was young girl, maybe 5 or 6 years of age dressed in white robes. Her hair had two Chinese buns decorated with green bows.
"Galligan. Put the girl down."
A pair of voices from above chimed in.
"Mei Hua! How did you get here?"
"You should have known the consequences. Bringing a child into a Sacred Realm. Tsk."
The two wizened men from the roof dropped down effortlessly. The remaining combatants fighting in and around the courtyard broke off to stand behind their respective elders, gathering their breath for an epic conclusion as the sky rumbled ominously. Between them and backed up against a wall were McGee, Galligan, and an out-of-place little girl.