>>5322805>>5322987>>5323179Shaking your head you increase the pace, leaving the duo a few steps behind. "Stop flirting and save your breath for running." You tell the other pilots, earning a flow of angry grumblings. You focus on following the designated path, the holographic route flowing down the valley. Skirting around a few briar patches and berry bushes. You mind counted the minutes, waiting for another flare to light up the sky at any moment. You hope the others would slow down the Pilots chasing you. Enough for you to make it to the extraction site. Six complains again as the ground starts to turn from soft forest earth into piles of uneven gravel, the girl tripping after running only a few feet into the transitioning area. You slow, not wanting to wound yourself in the unstable section. Thankfully soon after entering the ground began to change again from skittering stones into a steepy rocky incline.
The mounds of dusty gravel sinking without warning to bury your boots as you start to ascend. The speedy escape slows down further as everyone begins to clamber up. Large black boulders stuck out from the earth at odd angles, reaching up to the sky above with curved claw-like peaks. Grim slate scales of some great buried behemoth. Another flare went up, illuminating the cracks and crooks of the hillside. The soft forest floor falls away further and further as you scramble up the dangerous slope. Black spires sprouting from the shrinking earth, replacing the gaps with rich emerald mossy felt. Even through the dive suit the chilling wind stabbed at your back, long icicle talons ready to rip you free from the hillside and carry you away. The steep incline increased until for the last few feet you had to free climb from protruding stone to stone. Two yelps in pain, falling a short distance before catching himself. Six starts to laugh as she pulls herself up over the lip alongside you.
At the top you take a moment, chest rising and falling quickly while you catch your breath. A cloud of condensation collects around you. Your rest is interrupted by a faint echo. Trying to tune in the sound against Two struggling to climb. The noise came again, echoing out from the dark woods. You could only make out the tips of the trees through the claustrophobic fog. You smile faintly while thinking about how the optical illusion appeared to be a handful of miniscule trees littering a snowy slope. But the noise repeated and the imaginary snow turned crimson, a flare streaking up beyond the treetops. An occasional spark spins out when the flare clips stray branches. You couldn't make out words being shouted, but they were echoing out from the thick timberline. "Oh Shit" Six mutters, watching at your side.
