[5-10] Flights of Fancy (Christa and Red)

[Kenpachi Zaraki]

The trio sat among the foliage, clinging to the trunk of their oaken savior for dear life. The roiling sea of rubble churned beneath their feet, blasting their perch chunky detritus. Though they could barely make out the spectacle of the flow under the cover of the night’s stiffing darkness, the deafening raucous, rumble assaulting their ears. The boughs quaked as the sat, threatening to drop them to their doom. They could do little but dig their nails into the rough bark and cling for dear life.

Red lay flat against his own bough, claws lodged firmly in the cork nearly to the quick. The landslide seemed to have happened all at once; their quick reaction had saved their lives. He had seen Took stall Christa’s fall and fling her to her current perch, allowing the feline the luxury of anchoring himself to the tree. He was the luckiest of the group in this instance, being perfectly outfitted for such a plight. The crimson Prime found himself thinking that this was one of the only times he wasn’t envious of  man’s thumbed hands. He braced against the tree’s wild upheaval, closing his eyelids tightly in an attempt to keep out the cloud of dust generated by the slide. 

The deluge of debris continued for what felt like an eternity, each second threatening to be their last. The light of the scarlet beast’s tail provided the only proof that any of the bunch had remained safe from harm, the dim light muted even further by the fine mist being thrown skyward by the rampant cascade. Nanaki’s muscles ached as he tensed against the reverberations, gritting his teeth hard as he began to feel the very fibers of his muscles began to tear beneath his pelt. It would not be much longer before his sinews would simply give up, dropping him to the forest below. Just as this thought crossed his mind, the rumbling stopped. Seconds later, the area fell dead silent.

“Is that it?” Nanaki inquired, coughing forcefully. Thick globs of muddy saliva dripped from his mouth as he attempted to clear his airway of debris, with mild success.

“I hope so,” Christa responded, turning unsteadily to gaze downward. She had somehow managed to cling to the tree with her lone working arm, though it seemed the action had taken a lot out of her.

“Best to wait, in case we have a second wave,” Took advised, nodding at Christa. She returned the gesture in kind, breathing heavily as she allowed her stiff limbs to relax.

Red, too, afforded his aching limbs the opportunity to loosen up, ever-vigilant and waiting for the dreaded second coming. Moments passed with the trio remaining at the ready, though another torrent never came. Gingerly, Red got to his feet and dropped to the forest floor, his comrades following soon after. 

“It looks like we’re fine for now,” Took commented, returning his voice to a whisper. “With any luck the slide cleared a path for us, but keep quiet in case.” He eyed the feline harshly on the last word, narrowing his eyes for a brief second before turning away.

The blonde and the beast followed in the man’s wake, hoping their guide’s senses were still as keen following nature’s spiteful assault. They made their way slowly through the black veil, Red’s tail providing what meager light that it could. Took could complain all he wanted about his bioluminescence; it was certainly better than groping around the forest in pitch blackness.

”Death...”

Red’s ears perked up at once, his gaze ricocheting feverishly across his field of vision. Another trick of the wind? He dared not make another scene after what had happened previous, lest his outburst spur mother nature into stirring the soil free once more. Perhaps it was just anxiety, his nerves making him hyper-aware to noises that were not there. He attempted to slow his erratic breathing, clinging to this conclusion as he stared down at his paws. 

”Death comes...”

The beast’s heart leapt, hammering painfully against his sternum as he turned to search for the disembodied voice once more. This was much the same as the last, sounding quite like their least favorite executive producer, yet somehow different. Something was the tiniest bit off about the voice’s mocking timbre.

”For all.”

“He’s here!” The beast snarled, stopping in his tracks. Red heard an irritated sigh from the front of the group as he took off deeper into the wood, knocking into trees as he ran. 

“Red!” Christa called, squinting as the feline’s tail began to vanish into the darkness. She grabbed at Took’s arm, pulling him along with her as she made chase deeper into the forest.

“I heard him!” Nanaki roared, panting heavy, uneven breaths as his exhausted body battered itself against trunks and boulders. The voice had fallen silent, though he was sure he had heard the echo from  the north. He felt nausea rising in his gut as his overworked legs stumbled and slipped against the uneven earth.

“Stop!” the gunslinger called in vain after him, attempting simultaneously to keep her voice down and to reach the frenzied beast’s ears. She too was feeling the grip of fatigue on her limbs, pushing hard against her body’s resistance. Somewhere behind her, Took kept the pace.

“Where...” Red asked of no one in particular. He felt his heart rate drop as his breaths became too short and frequent to grant precious oxygen to his brain. His vision began to fade as his limbs slowed, losing their footing and sending him tumbling toward the earth. The burgundy beast landed hard on his side, feeling something hard dig into his ribs.

A moment later the pair of humans were at his side, the sniper heaving labored breaths and she bent to gaze down at him. With blurred vision Nanaki climbed shakily to his feet, turning his head to inspect what had broken his fall. Beneath him was the lifeless corpse of a man not at all unfamiliar. Though the darkness attempted to hide their discovery, some details were unmistakable, among these a tailored purple suit and black Armani Oxfords. The beast’s limbs threatened to buckle as realization swept over him. “That...”

“That can’t be him,” Christa said, her voice catching in her throat. A kaleidoscope of emotions passed across her face as they stared down at the man, silence settling among them.

Karl Jak.

2059 words, both posts.