With hard eyes and keen focus, Zoel scrutinised the area around her. She'd run out of unique species of tree to count hours ago, flowers and other plant life even longer ago. She feared that now she's also exhausted the different bird species in the area—anything to keep her mind distracted from the monotony of walking and from darker thoughts best left unvisited.

"Are we nearly there yet." A nerve-grating voice called out from behind her. "I'm so bored. I don't think I've ever walked so much in my entire life." Zoel turned, faced and glared.

Hanju smiled back with the grin of a fool plastered across his face. The team had been traipsing through the forest for what did seem like a long time. However much it pained her to accept, in truth, they were only a few days into their return journey and had a lot further to go. She turned back but not before giving him a quick two-fingered salute.

Zoels back ached, and her legs burned, and to top it off, the throbbing pain in her ear had come back worse than before. She didn't need Hanju being infantile. The scree underfoot skittered beside her, and down the slope of the hill they'd crossed. Zoel and Hanju were currently carrying the litter. How he could concentrate on his footing and still manage to wind her up, she didn't know. They'd been taking turns carrying the litter, and she'd be replacing Hanju shortly.

The litter still carried a sleeping Nami. Rather than recover, she seemed to get worse with each passing day. Now all she did was sleep. Sleep and occasional seizures. The few hours she was awake were mostly silent, and when she did speak, she seemed confused and dazed. Zoel found it hard to deal with. Fortunately; she was currently asleep.

Zeol was seriously concerned, and the rest of the team seemed to share her fears. She could tell they were all putting on brave faces and burning through their stoic reserve; she certainly was. She glanced down to where the scree had slipped down the slope. A tumultuous section of the river lay at the bottom. Despite the added danger, squeezing between the river and the forest was helping with their pace, although it was still far slower than anticipated.

Zoel was still hoping the unit leader would find them. She sent up flares daily, but they had yet to come across any of the others.

"Watch out, Zoel!" Zhaou caught her attention just as the rock under her foot rolled out from under her. He grabbed the litter just as Hanju dropped it and reached for her.

The rock took off down the slope, disappearing from sight as it careered through the underbrush. Zoe skittered to the floor, rolling but stopping herself before she followed the rock down.

Her weak knee smashed into a hard rock ground. She stifled a yell and felt the squeeze until her teeth creaked.

She stilled, slowly rose, and returned to the trail, holding her knee all the while. She could almost feel the bags of her eyes grow heavier. She was exhausted but undeterred. Nami, however, had been badly shaken.

She tossed and turned and writhed with vague half-closed eyes. She moaned, groaned, and wailed into the thicket. A deep reverberating groan called back.

The team stopped silent.

Yol'Jung reached out and clamped her hand over Nami's mouth to quieten her. It was rough treatment, but they very much did not want to be heard.

Hanju looked around, faced her with wide eyes and whispered. "Shit. Zoel, that sounds like a Gybtah."

"I know what it sounds like". She held a finger to her lips.

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Gybtah were neither carnivores nor prevalent in the forest but were fiercely aggressive during the roar. They'd fight anything that challenged the territory. Their serrated razor antlers, massive weight and thick hide made them dangerous and almost impossible to take down.

Gybtah had no claws or means of climbing. Zoel looked towards the treeline for low, strong branches but found few. The river stone was too loose for trees of any size to root themselves to. Although, trying to drag Nami into the low canopy had little chance of success anyway.

She knew her best option was to avoid it and wait for it to leave. The other option was to tire it out. Bate it into attacking each team member just before it reaches its target. Once tired, they could just outpace it. The plan was risky, and the consequence of failure she didn't bare to think about.

They had to succeed.

She clapped her hands sharply. The team's focus was now on her, their faces fraught with barely constrained panic. With a few hand gestures, she had Yol'Jung drag Nami down the banking. With a few more, the rest of the team had their orders; draw and disengage.

They each gave a silent affirmation.

Yol'Jung had tried her best to keep Nami out of sight. They'd hidden behind the girth of a fallen tree in the depression it had gouged. Halfway down the slope and under the cover of the tree's few remaining branches, they were well hidden. Jung was huddled down but waiting and ready if it approached them. Zoel could only just make them out, but she already knew where to look.

They'd hidden just in time. The beast staggered out of the forest.

When it appeared, they were all still and deathly silent. Despite its lean appearance, Gybtah were deceptively massive, easily ten times her weight. Its head was adorned with a wicked crown of serrated antlers, and its whole body was covered in bizarre-looking yet usually near impenetrable hide.

The dark, hardened skin folds form armour like the rings of banded mail. What stuck Zoel as unusual was the snapped-off branch stuck out from between the folds of its neck and the thick blood that oozed slowly out.

She refocused her attention. It had ambled out further from the forest threshold. She caught its eye and, in it, a shimmer of realisation. The beast had perceived her and the team; it had found something. An outlet for its anguish.

With a limp, it moved closer, stepping lightly on its front right leg. Zoel signalled to the team.

Everyone nodded other than Hanju; he signalled back with a countdown and grabbed a fist-size rock from the ground. On reaching zero, he launched it at the Gybtah.

It cried a shrill and cutting bleat and bolted towards him.

Zoel watched it charge him down. She knew the plan; it was her plan. That didn't make it any easier. It was nearly upon him.

Time slowed, and her heart hammered through her chest. At the very last moment, he dove out of its path and behind a spindly tree.

It followed his movement and careered off the tree, bouncing away but obliterating it as it did. Hanju, not expecting it to commit to the charge, was flung away and to the ground.

Zoel hesitated. He rolled back to his feet and glanced in her direction. She cursed at herself and hurtled a rock of her own.

In an instant, Hanju was forgotten. It turned and stared and bleated at her. A raging, deep warbling bleat. It perceived its territory as contested, and challenge had been given. It held her gaze, its beady eyes more sparkless than even her father's sculptures.

Zoel looked away first, breaking eye contact. She glances around to check on the rest of the team.

The beast wiped and lowered its head, its razor serrations slicing the air. It began its second bout.

Zoel steadied herself, preparing to move quickly when the very last moment presented itself. If she lured it close enough, it would hit the scree slope. Once on the slope, it was as good as in the river.

It moved slowly at first, then built up speed until its charge was rapid, even more so than before. Each impacting hoof she felt through the ground. Rather than tiring, in its rage, it had found a potent new energy.

It thundered forward. Any moment it would be upon her.

She lept. The inconceivable happened. Her creaking knee flared in white hot pain and buckled beneath her. She collapsed, her momentum spinning, then rolling her as she met the craggy ground.

She rolled away, but not far enough away. The beast's head whipped towards her, and her stomach dropped.

Her knee felt fine; for a moment, nothing hurt. The only sensation was that of a slick moment.

Time slowed as nausea assaulted her; the feeling of serrations sliced through her arm.

The muscle was sliced, and the tendon twanged as it coiled under her skin. Her arm fell limp, and all warmth drained from her body.

Her vision darkened and blurred. She glimpsed Philippe and Jun attack the beast's flank before its charge slowed. She came to a stop with her head hitting hard into the ground.

Zoels body convulsed, and her stomach emptied. She shrivelled and curled into herself.