Wilson quickly tried to release himself from the thin, yet surprisingly thick layer of ice for the second time. The ice was already lowering his body temperature and making him feel numb. He gathered his strength and began cracking the ice slowly but surely. As it turned out, the ice was a lot thicker than it seemed on the surface. Jim, on the other hand remained kneeling and even though he was almost done shaving off the cold snow-reinforced ice from his body, he dared not move. Before him stood the magnificent snow tiger. Behind him were four loud hunters who cared nothing for his life and would not hesitate to shoot him if they as much as thought he was going to jeopardize their mission. So, what could he do except wait? Jim was really unwilling to die. He was still a virgin.
The Snow Tiger definitely did not fancy some hunters ruining his fun hunt. It would have long pounced on the Intruders if it was not feeling wary of those deadly weapons they held. The short, stocky and muscular man that used his awkwardly-shaped metal staff to fire that small metallic pellet at high speed, really gave it a scare. That little pellet carried a lot of force with it, capable of killing it if its head was hit. Fortunately for it, it was both fast and alert enough to dodge in time and escape death. The Snow Tiger was unwilling to stay so close to death but it was unwilling to give up either. I mean, what would the other beasts say if they ever heard that the mighty king of the snow ran away from a fight in winter, on its turf. That is never going to happen. It had to make a good example of these pest-sized humans.
*pew* *pew* *bang*
Three gunshots from two different guns sounded and echoed, having a somewhat rhythmic ring to it. The snow tiger's agility was displayed in full as it deftly dodged to it's left, a bullet nearly grazing its fine fur. It quickly returned back to its previous position and crouched and tilted its massive body at an incredible angle, making the other two bullets miss their target.
Now the Snow Tiger was infuriated. How dare they? It roared and jumped, seemingly gliding in the air for a while, before landing behind Jim and bursting into speed as it made a beeline for the still approaching shorty. Of course, it did not forget to smack Jim in the head, controlling its strength and knocking him out. It did not want to release its prey, but it did not want to kill him yet, either. After all, Tigers are hunters, not scavengers. They love freshly hunted meat, not old meat, cured and refrigerated by nature.
Shorty watched the tiger leap at him and swiftly leaped to the right to avoid a massive left paw swipe. He rolled into a kneeling position and pointed his sniper rifle at the tiger's head. Or at least, where the tiger's head was supposed to be, but who said the tiger would wait. It had straight up ignored him and gone to attack the three other hunters who were staying not too far from one another and advancing at a moderate pace, unlike the maniacal speed of Shorty.
The less attractive lady stopped first and pointed her gun at the tiger, looking through the scope attached to it, but all she saw a blur and it was gone.
"Down!!" Slim yelled. It was a single word, a single syllable, but it got the message across. The less attractive lady immediately bent down.
*Bang* *pew* *pew*
Three bullets rang out. One of the bullets flew just above her, ruffling her hair a little. Less than a second later,
*piff* *piff* *piff*
The first bullet hit a snow ball, both cancelled each other out. The second and third bullets hit the second and third snowballs. These two bullets' momentum was not completely cancelled out, but they slowed down enough for the snow tiger to casually use a paw to hit them away. One of the bullets that was hit away sunk into the thick snow right beside Wilson's head.
"Dear Mother!!" Wilson exclaimed in fear and struggled even harder to break through the ice.
"Damn, nobody said Snow Tigers possess snow abilities." The less attractive lady spoke out. She retreated while trying to trace the tiger's body shape through its blurry zigzag movement.
"It is called a Snow Tiger. That's like a no-brainer." Slim said, cocking his modifed gun to load the tranquilizers.
"Tranqs aren't ready yet?" The more attractive lady yelled as she retreated, taking large strides without taking her eyes off their prey.
"Almost done!" Slim yelled back.
"Hey, Shorty..." The more attractive lady called out at the short, muscular man that was chasing after the tiger with a gun too long for his size, in his hands.
"Told you not to call me that!" Shorty angrily cut her words short.
"Stop chasing and shoot its head."
"Not possible, it's moving too fast."
"Just shoot the body!"
"That will depreciate its value!"
"Do you really not care if someone dies?" The less attractive lady asked.
"You all know my answer to that." Shorty replied as he passed by the struggling Wilson for the second time without a glance. Wilson had immediately discarded his idea to ask for help after hearing Shorty's 'heartless' reply anyway.
*pew* *pew* *pew*
Slim fired at the fast approaching tiger. He missed.
"Not hitting. Too fast. Can't keep up." Slim spoke fast.
"Quick, prepare for melee!" The more attractive lady said, a large, flexible, metallic net had already appeared in her hands as she retreated faster. The less attractive lady and Slim quickly activated their rings which sucked in their guns, replacing them with melee weapons and moved farther to the sides, giving one another more space to maneuver.
The tiger was currently too close for comfort, so Shorty bought them time.
*Bang* *Bang* *Bang*
"Turn your expensive ass around, Tiger. I want a one on one." Shorty yelled at the tiger. The snow tiger, sensing imminent danger, agilely turned around and accurately spat snowballs at the bullets in a rapid succession. The more attractive lady took advantage of this opportunity and threw her metallic net at the tiger.
But then, it disappeared.
Exclamations subconsciously flew out of everyone's mouth....
"Huh??"
"This can't be good."
"This snow tiger has space abilities?"
"Oh F*CK!"
...except for Wilson, who shook his head and finally broke through the ice and immediately ran away from the battlefield, not forgetting to fetch Jim on the way. After all, even though Jim was annoying and cowardly, he still saved Wilson's ass and Wilson wasn't one to forget.