Jack had been walking for nearly an hour when he started to get that feeling he'd had before again, the feeling that he was being watched. He stopped, looking around, but the grass was almost above his head and he couldn't see much of anything other than the blades waving in a breeze. Nervous, Jack drew his pistol and continued walking. He craned his neck, looking over the amber waves. The forest ahead was closer, but still a good ways away. His anxiety was making him wish he was there already, and he quickened his pace a bit.
That was when he heard the first howl. The sound of it chilled him right to his core, and he recognized it immediately. Another pack of those creatures must be close by. Jack froze in place, not daring to make another move. His ears strained as he tried to gauge how close the animals might be to him. The second, closer, howl came a bare minute later.
Jack's courage failed him at that point. He was injured, tired, and hungry, and he broke into a run. He knew it was a mistake, but he wanted to get into cover as fast as possible. The human's footsteps made an incredible amount of noise in the sun-dried grasses. Behind him, over the sound of his running, he could hear the soft rumble of what seemed to be a massive pack.
He looked over his shoulder just in time to see one of them come crashing through the thick plant life. The shark-like snout of the animal was just as terrifying as it had been when he'd first seen one. Stopping suddenly and planting his feet, Jack turned around and raised his handgun. He fired two quick shots, missing both times in his panic-maddened state. The gunfire had the desired effect, however, of frightening the animal, and it whipped around and tore off back the way it had come.
Breathing heavily, Jack stared off in the direction it had disappeared. He willed himself to calm down, for it seemed he had a few minutes while the pack of predators reorganized itself. Taking a new strategy, Jack re-holstered his weapon and dropped to the ground. He crawled away from where he'd been standing for a few minutes, and then went still, waiting.
In the relative silence, Jack heard the demons roaming around through the grass. He resisted the rising urge to get up and run as they circled around his position, and he instead stayed completely motionless. For a long while, Jack caught glimpses of them through small gaps in the grass, their green-black fur standing out like a void against the pale golden color. He scarcely breathed, afraid that even the slightest noise would alert them to his position.
Finally, after what seemed like an eternity, the pack seemed to wander away from his position, some heading back in the direction of the river while other began roaming around the expanse of the field. Taking the opportunity, Jack started crawling again, not yet ready to get back up. He crawled for at least thirty minutes before he felt safe enough to rise, and when he did he walked more cautiously, slowly but steadily picking his way through.
******
Aria finally managed to make her way to where the tall waterfall crashed down into the river. She hadn't encountered any more of those demons as she'd walked, but the Ailian still kept her sensitive ears perked up for any signs of danger, and her black nose was constantly sniffing at the air for unfamiliar scents. Admittedly, there were plenty of these kinds of smells on the uninhabited planet, but she hadn't survived years of war by letting her skills fall by the wayside.
As she got to the riverside, the misty spray of the cold water hit her face, coating her fur with tiny droplets of moisture. The sun was shining through the mist, creating a rainbow that appeared much more festive than Aria was willing to feel. She shook her head, ignoring it, and started scanning the more gently flowing lower portion of the river for any signs of Jack. The water was clear here, not foamy in the slightest, and she could see directly to the bottom of the riverbed. Immediately Aria noticed something that seemed out of place.
“Ke la...,”
she murmured in dread, her eyes narrowing as she saw the dark object lying at the bottom of the river. She paced back and forth on the bank for a moment, debating what to do. She was looking at something that was decidedly not natural, but she couldn't see for sure what it was. If she wanted to know for certain she would have to swim down for a closer inspection.
Setting her pack and her rifle down on the ground, Aria sat and removed her boots, then unzipped her flight suit and stripped it off. She hadn't been swimming in quite a while, unless one counted her bath up atop the mesa, but she knew how. She stood at the edge of the flow, taking a few preparatory breaths, figuring out how best to go about this. Then, gathering her leg strength beneath her, she took a long flying leap out towards the middle of the river, diving in. The water was frigid, and Aria immediately felt her chest grow tight, but she pushed through it and kicked her legs to swim towards the bottom and the dark object she'd seen.
As she swam deeper, Aria could tell that it wasn't a body. The shape wasn't quite right. When she got to it, she realized that it was Jack's backpack. She remembered that he had been loaded down with most of their food supplies, and the heavy cans and packaged preserves had sunk the pack to the bottom. Looping her arm through one of the straps, Aria pushed off from the bottom of the river, starting to feel the pressing need for air as she swam for the surface.
Gasping for breath as her head came back up, Aria pulled the heavy pack behind her as she made for the water's edge. When she was near enough, she heaved the waterlogged backpack up onto the bank and climbed out herself. Getting down on all fours, soaked and chilled to the bone, she shook herself off, spraying the area around her. Standing back up, Aria decided not to redress, and to allow the sun to dry her off. Squatting down on riverbank, she opened up Jack's pack and started to sift through the contents.
Thank gods it not him...,
Aria thought to herself. She'd slowly grown quite attached to her human companion, despite her original resolve to treat him as a prisoner of war. Finding his dead body, she now knew, would bring with it the pain of losing a friend. While she clung to a small bit of hope that no body yet found meant he might be alive, Aria knew that wasn't very likely.
“Friend...,” she whispered, speaking in human to herself. “Is strange...” Aria knew that thinking of Jack as a friend was treasonous. She'd been trained to hate humans, and to see them as her mortal enemy. For the first few days she'd known Jack, she'd definitely seen him that way, and she'd certainly done her best to capture or kill him before they'd crashed on this planet. But after seeing him endure captivity, servitude, and then their cooperative survival with minimal complaint, she'd recognized many Ailian qualities in Jack. Humans, it seemed, were also capable of bravery and fighting skill. He had even saved her life...
Perhaps humans and Ailians were more like each other than either side was willing to admit. In the back of her mind, in a place she was scarcely aware of herself, Aria knew that she and Jack liked each other more than they would admit out loud. You could hardly go through experiences like they had together and not feel friendship for one another.
Most of what Aria found in Jack's backpack was salvageable. She transferred what she could to her own pack, but was still left with a lot of supplies in the other bag. After thinking about it for a bit, she decided to try to take them both. Undoubtedly it would be a burden, but since it looked as though she would have to complete her journey alone she'd rather have the supplies with her than leave them behind. Aria redressed herself and then rigged up the backpacks so she could carry both on her back, leaving both arms still free to handle her rifle. With all that taken care of, she started following the river downstream to search for Jack's body.
Aria walked for barely fifteen minutes before she noticed a large damp patch in the soil on the riverbank, further up than would be expected for normal splashing of water on the rocks. Kneeling down next to it, she examined the ground carefully with her sharp eyes. The soil was definitely disturbed, and it looked fresh. Aria looked up, sniffing the air, but could detect nothing. What she did see, however, was the faint remains of what looked like wet footprints. They looked about the right size to be Jack's. Next to the them, slightly more recent, were the paw prints of the same predators that had attacked them before.
With a surge of hope, Aria decided to follow this new trail. She couldn't imagine how Jack had survived the trip over the waterfall, but that seemed now to be just slightly more than a faint possibility.
******
The sun was almost set by the time Jack got near to the trees. He was again amazed by the variety of environments that this planet possessed. Instead of the wide-leafed rainforest trees that he'd seen at the start of his journey, these were towering conifer-like trees, each with thousands of long, flat needles of a dark blue color. Several meters into the forest the grass grew shorter and then disappeared, choked by the shade from the trees. While Jack was relieved to have almost made it to the shelter, he was far from in the clear. The predator pack was still in the area, and now that he was leaving the thick cover of the grass he couldn't rely on not being found. But with the choice between being exposed to the elements and exposed to the wildlife, Jack much preferred having shelter.
Still...It'd be nice not to have to get through them to get to it...
The problem was that Jack was hunkered down in the last decent patch of tall grass after blundering his way into a group of the demon-like creatures. Thankfully, none of them seemed to have noticed him just yet, and he was currently doing his best impression of a rock as they prowled around. Jack knew it was only a matter of time before one of them stumbled upon his position, so he needed to find a way out of there and do it quick.
Jack started inching his way along the ground, his heart beating harder than ever as he listened and watched for a way out of the pack. The creatures were very intelligent, he remembered, but he'd do well not to overestimate them. They were, after all, only animals. Dangerous animals, but still only animals.
As Jack reached the edge of the grass, he realized he was running out of space, and he still hadn't found a way out. In fact, they seemed to be tightening their grouping, circling in closer. A chilling thought occurred to him:
Do they actually know I'm here?
If that was so, then Jack's situation had become a bit more pressing. They were actively stalking him, toying with him before moving in for the kill.
Well, alright, then...,
Jack thought, swallowing on a dry throat.
If that's their game, I'll just have to strike first.
Standing up quickly, Jack snatched his weapon from his holster. The grass here grew shorter than out in the middle of the field, and only came up to his shoulders. He could clearly see a ring of demons, though the sunlight was starting to fail. Directly ahead of him stood two of them, right between him and the trees. One of them looked right at him, its eyes flashing and its jaws opening in a snarl. Jack raised his weapon and lined up the sights. He pressed the trigger firmly and steadily to the rear, keeping his hands as still as he could.
The first shot rang out, and Jack had the satisfaction of seeing his target crumple to the ground from a wound to its neck. He shifted aim and opened fire on the second beast in front of him, firing three quick shots, two of which struck it in its flank. The animal yelped in pain and took off running, a slight hobble to its gait as it fled. With his path cleared, Jack started running, the rest of the pack in hot pursuit as he fired back over his shoulder.
******
Aria's ears pricked up as she heard the shots. She was looking over the tops of the grass, and her eyes immediately picked up distant flashes in the dimming light. Her heart rate increasing, Aria quickened her pace to a run, making for the direction of the noise and the flashes. She recognized the sound of a large-caliber handgun, and knew that there should be only one of those in existence on this planet.
Jack!
Whatever was going on, it was clear that Jack was alive, and that he was being attacked by something. Aria bared her teeth in a growl. She'd given him up for dead once, and she'd be damned if she did it again while she still drew breath.
As she ran, Aria could sense that she was not alone. She turned her head to the sides as she went, and in the darkening evening she could make out the forms of creatures pacing her. Aria roared a challenge, raising her rifle as she ran. Not even breaking pace, she let off a series of shots at the creatures that were astride her. She heard a yelp of pain as one of her shots connected, and the other demons fell back slightly. Hissing in satisfaction, Aria returned most of her attention to the path ahead, her tail whipping behind her.
******
Jack was almost to the trees, but he was slowing down. He thought he'd killed at least three more of his pursuers, but he couldn't be sure in the growing darkness. His weariness and dehydration was combining to make it very difficult for him to run, and several of the beasts were right on his heels. Jack tried not to think about what it would feel like for those poisonous fangs and tail blades to tear into his skin. He looked back over his shoulder as he ran, and fired one shot. The slide of his pistol locked back on an empty magazine.
“Fuck!” he yelled. He ejected the magazine and reached at his belt for a spare, but his pace slowed slightly as his attention was divided.