Written By: Pillowyspu

Edited By: Epicstu Wyyvernwriter

         Noah paced around the ship for a moment while he collected his thoughts. As El Buitre Muerto dropped into parachute range, he thought about going back into orbit and recollecting his thoughts but a he felt a nagging sense of urgency. He knew even with his advanced tracking skills, searching half of an entire continent on a planet he’d never even heard of would prove to be a lengthy and difficult task. Yet as he drew closer to the planet’s surface, he felt like he had an excuse to be rash. The woman who killed his daughter was somewhere on this planet and Noah was going to stop at nothing to find her.

         “Can you narrow it down any further?” Noah asked the computer.

         “Two heat signatures were last tracked near a waterfall twenty clicks from the region’s only inhabited village.”

“Is it the Woman?” Noah said as he glanced at the map revealed on the ship’s display unit. The grandeur of this planet intimidated him.

“It’s no guarantee it’s them and from there, my tracking won’t be able to help you any further.”

         “That’ll do.” Noah glimpsed at the planet’s surface one more time and thought about the Woman. She looked young – maybe only in her early twenties. He wondered what she was like before she made the heinous decision to take the contract to slaughter his little girl. Where did this woman grow up? When did it go wrong? Did her father love her as much as Noah loved Maggie? These questions haunted Noah ever since he first laid eyes on the mysterious woman. It didn’t matter to Noah – he was going to kill her no matter what it took but it didn’t change the fact that these thoughts raced through Noah’s mind as he prepared to carry out her untimely mortality.

He slipped out of his black suit and put on a Kevlar-infused plaid flannel hunting jacket and a pair of camouflage cargo pants. He traded the hefty submachine gun and dual pistols for a lightweight carbon-fiber bolt-action sniper rifle with a high-powered scope. He also sported a tactical knife, which he slid in a holster fastened to his ankle. He figured anything more would just weigh him down and he knew he was probably due for a long hike through unforgiving terrain.

*      *

       As Nid and the Woman battled the mossy overgrowth for the next few miles, the Woman now wished more than ever she had not lost her tactical gear when she teleported as every inch of her exposed skin was now covered in bug bites and it was just starting to get cold. She was losing the battle with mosquitos and midges as she swatted at the blood sucking monsters that now swarmed in thick clouds as their high-pitched buzzers saluted the early evening.

An awkward silence festered between the two women. That silence was mutual but it clearly bothered The Woman more than it bothered Nid. The Woman didn’t really know how to read Nid and she was afraid of saying something that might set her off. Quite frankly, Nid didn’t seem that interested in talking to the Woman in the first place so instead, the two trudged through the forest deprived of their usual playful small talk. The Woman usually viewed friendly banter as distracting and unnecessary but for some reason, she always felt comfortable around Nid. However, this time she felt like there was something unresolved between her and Nid and the deadening silence began to gnaw at her.

         Nid stopped in her tracks and placed the palm of her hand on the Woman’s chest, forcing her to a halt, “Shh. I heard something.”

         The Woman fixated her hearing on the sound of a child laughing in the distance. Nid took a deep breath as she continued to wade through the waist high brush. She dropped to a prone position and the Woman followed her lead as they shuffled up to a ridge overlooking a dimly lit hollow.

         A humble homestead was situated in the center of the hollow; it was a peaceful oasis of homemade comfort in the center of this dismal boreal rainforest. Outside, a brawny gentleman chopped firewood in the front yard as a simple yet stunning fair-skinned brunette sat on the front porch of the unpretentious Tudor style home. She watched their toddler son prance around the well-manicured lawn chasing fireflies; his chirping laugh was full of joyous youthful wonder and unblemished innocence. The Woman smiled because it reminded her of her and her father. 

         “This is perfect.” Nid whispered; the Woman shot her a look of confusion and concern.

         “What do you mean?”

         “This hollow. Noah’s DNA tracker won’t be able to track us down there and this house blends in perfectly.” Nid gestured at the house, “This will buy us the time we need to fix the portal device.”

         “I thought we were trying to get to the village.”

         Nid didn’t respond. Instead she loaded a .300 Winchester Magnum round into the rifle and cleaned off the lens of her scope.

         “You do realize this house is occupied, right?” the Woman pressed on.

         Nid cocked the bolt of her rifle, “You’re pretty good with that bow, right?”

A deathly shade of grey saturated the Woman’s face as her heart stammered in disbelief, “You can’t be serious!”

         “Darling, we’ve been over this already. There are going to be casualties.”

         “What do you mean, we’ve been over this already? I certainly don’t remember agreeing to that!”

         The Woman’s protest didn’t register with Nid. Instead, Nid zeroed her scope on the father and prepared to pull the trigger, “I need you to trust me.”

         “Trust you? How can I trust you when you’re talking about taking innocent lives without even an ounce of rationale?”

         Nid paused for a moment but continued to focus her scope on the man’s skull, “I’ll take the male assailant. You take out the female. I’ll let you decide whether or not the child lives or dies.”

         “Stop and think about what you’re doing. These aren’t ‘assailants.’ You’re talking about murder!” The Woman began to panic but Nid remained calm. To the Woman, that calmness was deafening, “I’m not killing anyone!”

 The Woman tried to coax Nid away from that itchy trigger but she didn’t get a chance to stop her. Two shots echoed throughout the cavernous walls of the hollow and the Woman watched in utter horror as the man and the woman dropped to the ground as lifeless corpses. Nid loaded another bullet into the chamber and then zeroed her scope on the child.

Acting fast, the Woman pulled the rifle away from Nid and stared into her soulless eyes. A spell of fear consumed the Woman as she realized she just witnessed someone commit murder. Nid attempted to pull the rifle away from the Woman’s grasp.

“You told me I could decide whether or not the child lives or dies. I’m making that decision. Put down the rifle!” The Woman ordered.

Nid bit down on her lip and spat out a few cuss words under her breath but her trigger finger went limp. Nid bluntly stated, “Don’t make me regret this.”

*      *

         Noah jumped from the deck of El Buitre Muerto and dived towards the surface of the planet. Before Noah landed on Olympion’s surface, he sensed an unwelcoming feeling that something was off. This felt rushed. He began to wonder if his taste for vengeance was clouding his judgment. However, as the grotto zeroed in closer, a bolt of newfound energy charged through him. He felt closer than ever to the Woman and while he may not have done his homework, his thirst for blood was unwavering and he felt unstoppable.

         This time, Noah muted his pride and used a parachute. He didn’t want the sound of his impact alerting the Woman to his presence and he used the ride down to study the surface of the region before he ended up submerged in the dense forest canopy. After he ripped the cord and the parachute deployed less than 100 meters from the ground, his eyes tracked the river downstream and he realized that it was really the only way out of the grotto. Granted, if she was as smart as he thought she was, she wouldn’t likely stay on the banks of the river for very long. He checked his DNA tracking device in hopes it had picked up a new signal but was disappointed to find it was still not tracing the Woman’s location.

         Noah landed in the grotto with trained precision. Right before he landed, he immediately noticed two sets of footprints traced the bank of the river downstream. They were fresh. He smiled as he realized just how close he was but as he landed, he began to wonder who the second set of footprints belonged to. His DNA tracker only found traces of the Woman’s DNA in this realm – Nid’s was nowhere to be seen. He took another look at the device and cursed its obvious lack of reliability as he stuffed it back in his backpack and kneeled down by the water’s edge. Noah splashed the icy water onto his chapped face and took a deep breath of that savory mountain air. His nerves tensed.

         Noah rose to his feet and started pacing downstream, closely tracking the footsteps as they led him down the mountain. At first the footsteps were faint but as he continued down the river and the mud thickened, they became more distinct. Something odd caught Noah’s attention. One of the footprints was clearly the impression of a bare female human foot; he wondered why the Woman was walking through this terrain without shoes but this wasn’t his main focus. Instead, he examined the other set of footprints closely and felt bewildered.

“These don’t belong to Nid,” he mumbled to himself.