Shena awoke screaming and drenched in a cold sweat. Vomiting water from her lungs in order to switch to breathing fresh air.
She was alive.
The young lieutenant instantly reached for her neck to check that her gills were still there. She sighed in undeserved relief as she felt the familiar grooves she had relied on for so long.
It was only a nightmare.
The Lieutenant scoffed as she stood up, her muscles aching and bruised as they dragged her weary body against the shores of the now calm river away from edge of the water. Soaking wet with her uniform now in tattered bloodied ruins beyond repair. Her face hurt even worse than it did yesterday.
It was mid-day. With a soft breeze in the air causing the leaves of the trees in front of her to begin to rustle gently.
Shena collapsed against the ground. Turning over atop her back and began to stare up at the clear blue sky. Finishing coughing up water and utterly exhausted. Although she knew there was no way she could ever drown in real life. It felt as though she just had. It was a feeling she never wished to experience again.
Her racing pulse slowly began to return to normal after some time laying with arms spread across the warm gravel. She then breathed in the scent of the jungle that surrounded her. It was the same one she had known for months. One of fresh bark and thick vegetation albeit this time without rotting corpses nearby to sour the pleasant smell. But something else was different this time. She sniffed again.
Smoke.
The lieutenant grunted as she tried to stand up to get a feel for her current position. Clutching tightly to her arm which now had a burn mark from the Savanese soldiers rifle. It wouldn't kill her, for it had been cauterized in seconds upon impact. But it hurt like hell.
She looked aimlessly around her current surroundings, nothing was familiar. The river had carried her far down its stream. How far she couldn't tell. Kilometers? Miles? No matter what her guess was, she knew one thing was for certain.
She was lost.
And now all alone. With no one else to rely upon. Not her team. Not command. And not Fereen. From this point on. It was all on her to survive in hostile territory that up until a few days ago's had been her nation's. A nation. Which had left her to die.
Refusing to give back into sorrow, Shena turned her long snout back in the direction of the smoke. Able to see a stream of black fog begin to fill into the clear blue sky above the tree line in the distance.
It wasn't far.
Her order's were to stay and defend the pass. And she might have just followed the river back in order to fulfill that promise. But seeing as how The Savanese army was currently occupied there and that was suicide. She knew that wasn't an option. She could only move forward. She swore she would get home. Somehow. Someway.
Shena grunted as she raised her rifle off her back to hold it tightly in her arms. Monarchy weapons had been specially designed to operate both on land and underwater so the water from the river hadn't made it inoperable. Still. It had seen better days. Just like her.
She reached into her pack resting beside her waist for a fresh bolt carriage. There was only two left. Twenty rounds each. She would have to be careful not to waste a shot. One bolt could mean the different between life and death. Especially now.
Shena ejected the empty carriage from her rifle and slammed the fresh one in with a loud thud. Pulling back the side handle to load the bolt into place with a mechanical clink ready to fire. She then breathed a heavy breath as she limped into the thick endless jungle in front of her. Following the scent of burning wood just beyond the horizon.
The injured lieutenant walked along the foliage covered ground crunching beneath her feet for quite some time in silence, with the bright sun seeping through the tree tops to illuminate her bloodied broken face. It felt warm. It felt peaceful. Her battered weary body wished to stop and rest a while to bask in it's warmth. But she had to keep going.
She emerged briefly out into the open and walked along a fallen log acting as a bridge leading across a small stream with a clear waterfall right above her head. It looked as if the tree had been felled recently. By who she could not know. Whoever it was she was grateful for them making her path just a bit easier.
She stopped halfway across the wooden bridge and raised her canteen under the flowing stream above her splashing against the rocks smoothed by time. Filling the metal container to the brim with the fresh water for when she would need it later. She then took just a small sip, pressing the cold metal against her parched lips. Her mouth stung for a bit before returning to some semblance of normal. She tied of the cap, hung it to rest behind her waist on her belt by its hook and kept on marching. She was making good time despite her injuries.
After half an hour of walking through the thick jungle chasing the distant scent which had only grown, Shenna finally emerged from the thick green undergrowth to be greeted with a small house completely engulfed in flames set at the bottom of a hill. She knelt atop her knees and looked in closer, seeing dozens of people all standing beside the fire watching the building blacken and burning for their amusement. Then to her horror she then noticed a large scorpion class tank sitting off menacingly to the sidelines. Savanese Design.
A tank crew.
Shena instantly ducked back behind cover. Concealed in the dark forest she was hidden from view for the time being. She slowly raised and pointed the tip of her rifle out into the sunlight and rested it carefully against a large boulder to balance the weapon. Pressing her bloody cheek right against the rifle despite the familiar pain. Zooming in the optics to see how many there were far below her.
Six men. All in black.
Two stubby fat Warthogs. Both engineers by the looks of their gear. A gazelle sniper carrying a long solar beam rifle. Two hyena soldiers. And one crocodile tank commander adorned in mostly gold. Most likely the band of ruffians were scouring the countryside to plunder goods and be on the lookout for any remaining royalist soldiers or sympathizers.
Great.
Shena looked to the left and saw a sight that made her grind her teeth enraged. The crocodile tank commander was standing over a man and his wife. Beneath them two daughters. All of them orb weaver spiders.
Shena zoomed her optics in further and saw through the crosshairs that the crocodile was beginning to beat the father's face with the butt of what looked to be a green hunting bow. Definitely not belonging to any of the soldiers. Shena couldn't make out what either was saying. But it looked as if they were demanding something from the spider and his family. Something he wouldn't give up no matter how badly they beat him into submission.
Shena soon knew what it was.
The man began to scream as his wife and daughter's were being dragged away kicking and screaming to be tied together with their own webbing. Spider silk was valuable, especially when it was from women who many believed created softer strands. And she knew they would be sold into slavery for their prized commodity to the highest bidder.
Shena watched in horror as the soldiers began to instead drag the father through the dirt by his arms over to a nearby tree. With the crocodile creating a noose by pulling his golden webbing forcefully from behind his back.
They were laughing. They were actually laughing.
She shouldn't interfere. There was no way she could fight a tank alone. She had no explosive ordinance. She was low on ammo. She couldn't.
Shena slowly wrapped her finger around the trigger. Aiming for the crocodile's head. He had taken off his overly detailed helmet to rest confidently under his arm.
Idiot.
Her heart raced. She had a clear shot. The muscles in her throat tensed as she squeezed tighter and tighter. The weapon fired.
It had begun.
The crocodile dropped face down into the dirt. His men looked at the body stunned and searching in every direction for the source. Shena loaded her next bolt into the chamber. She fired again.
One of the Hyena's spiraled and fell dead right beside the group leaving the other's in growing bewildered terror. It's brother raised its black snout upward trying to pick up a scent. Before desperately shouting for the others to take cover, saying it smelled someone nearby. She loaded the next bolt and shot the other hyena in the back dead as he himself tried to rush behind a wooden fence with the others for safety.
Three left.
One of the Warthog's began firing aimless in every direction. Not knowing what to do. He poked his tusked head above the fence for a peek. The bolt entered squarely in the center of his wide chest and propelled his entire hairy body back against the dirt dead scattering dust.
The Gazelle saw the direction his friend's body had landed and then aimed through his own rifle in the direction the bolt had followed based on its angle. Right toward her.
He was smart.
Shit
Just as the gazelle signaled to his allies her position atop the hill. She began to load the next bolt as he rested his own rifle behind the fence searching through its glowing scope. Shena was now in a race to fire upon the enemy sniper before he could do the same to her. A searing continuous yellow beam suddenly hit just above her head. Trailing strands of smoke from the glowing blast mark now scarred against the tree. He missed. He may be smart. But had been too hasty to fire.
Amature.
She fired in return. Sending a bolt straight to stick out the back of his long orange neck and leaving him drowning in his own blood.
Suddenly Shena began to hear the starting of engines.
She snapped her gaze toward the tank. Someone had climbed inside. "Stupid!" She screamed to herself. She shouldn't have taken her eye off the tank.
The black and gold monstrosity of metal slowly turned its cannon and began to emit black smoke from its searing barrel becoming slowly heated like a hot iron.
It fired right at her with a loud SVRRRR!! sound. The large heated beam instantly sliced right through the thick trees above her in half in an instant, sending scores of leaves and bits of burning wood to scatter and fall everywhere cutting off her escape. Shena had no choice. She would be crushed if she stayed here.
Shena began to run out into the open field with tumbling flaming logs chasing closely behind her. The tank shifted in place and was beginning to target her again. It fired.
She hastily dived behind a heavy boulder barely in time and tucked in her tail behind cover. Hearing the loud screeching beam continued its assault upon her. Beginning to blast through the old stone hoping to cut her in half.
Shena could feel the rock beginning to melt and blacken from the other side. It would take some time to get through. But she was pinned down. She looked right and left frantically. There was no other cover. Just open grassy field's leading down the hill to the burning house. There couldn't be a worse spot for a sniper to be stuck in.
Shena began to panic. Clutching tighter to her rifle as the rock began to crack from the heat being thrust upon it from the other side. Turning white hot. She had to move. But there was no where to go.
Shena' started to run up the hill hoping to escape back into the concealed safety of the jungle. She was wrong. The beam followed her up the hill and slashed against her right leg. Severing it completely from her body.
Shena screamed. Falling on her back and tumbling down the hill to land hard at the bottom. She was hurt. Badly.
As Shena began to crawl away through the grass she could hear the dozens of mechanical legs carrying the tank forward across the ground to inspect her. Savanese loved to make their vehicles resemble unevolved animals that came from their proud homelands. A show of supremacy and sheer vanity to all. The mechanical scorpion shook the earth as it reached out its pincer and clutched tightly to her torso. Raising her entire body into the air with her rifle trapped and pressed hard against her. Her ribs were being crushed slowly. She couldn't breath.
The last soldier. The warthog opened and lifted the hatch of the tank to peek his upper torso above. Snorting and grunting enraged at her lying scarred and bloodied writhing in place raised in the air right in front of him.
"You..Killed my mates." The soldier said furious. The warthog then grabbed the lever inside and turned the turret facing downward to aim right at her. She could hear the driver pressing buttons to set the beam to full power. It would burn her into ashes instantly.
Shena began to panic. Desperate to wriggle free her rifle. She wouldn't die. She wouldn't die. She told herself. But her weapon wouldn't budge. And neither would she.
The massive barrel resting against the scorpions tail began to heat up as it inched closer and closer toward her face sweating from the heat.
A soft twang suddenly emitted in the distance.
Suddenly the smiling warthog she had been terrified of just moments ago had a shocked dumb look consume across his face as an arrow went straight though his mouth.
Splattering blood across Shena's face. Only this time not her own.
The soldier fell over dead at the top of the tank. It's weapon's began to die down and cool. The pincer released her to collapse against the dirt limp across the grass in unimaginable pain. She could hear footsteps rushing over to her. It was the civilians. She turned over sweating and breathing quickly. Able to see the father free from his noose and holding a jade bow in the palm of his hands.
Good shot. She smiled.
She tried to stand on one leg to greet them.
Her weapon started to slip out of her hand and she instead slowly collapsed hard on her face in the dirt in front of the frightened family spreading a cloud of dust everywhere. Passing out unconscious and beginning to bleed out. The battle had lasted only two minutes but to her it felt like it had been hours.
Shena faintly heard the mother cry out to her daughters as her own eyes slowly began to close.
"Nadia! Nya Fetch fresh water from the river!! Hurry!!"
The Mother and Father kneeled down in the grass around her as her vision slowly began to darken.