Mark kept waiting for the right opportunity so he could run the last mile that separated him from the forest, and he knew the beasts would not go away until the tank was destroyed, because they were like that, once they spotted you they never stopped attacking until they were dead or you was dead, and for a tank to be destroyed would take a lot of time, the only chance for Mark to survive now was reaching the forest where he could hide and hope to survive another day.
Still with his head just a bit raised from the ground, Mark suddenly saw one of the two guys who were also fleeing drop dead, he still could not hear anything, but he also didn't saw a beast attacking the guy, the only thing that could explain the guys suddenly dropping dead was the sniper inside the tank.
'Those bastards!' thought Mark, already looking at the other guy still running, the guy was running in the opposite direction of Mark, instead of going to the forest he was running back to where they came, but there was nothing to hide there, only rocks.
Mark shook his head in pity for the guy, 'But if the sniper shoots at him, I'm going. I can't wait anymore. Any second still here is one more second closer to death'
'Now!' thought Mark when he saw the other guy drop to the ground with blood gushing from its back,
Mark stood up and ran in the forest direction, he needed to rush while the sniper was still looking to the other side, but the problem was his leg, he ran, but he could not run as fast as before, the leg felt more heavy and the bandages around it made it worst, but Mark forced himself and ignored the pain.
~pant~ ~pant~
Drops of sweat fell from his face as he ran. The backpack jumped on his back, and the rifle shook back and forth in his right hand.
'Faster! Faster!' Screamed Mark on his mind. He needed to reach the forest or he would die.
After five minutes of running non-stop, Mark could finally see a tree line on his front. 'Only a bit more, FASTER!', Mark put all the strength he had and ran as fast as he could. His panting chest was aching, and his legs felt sore already. He was not running for leisure, he was running with all he had, giving every bit of strength and energy he had.
He was a few meters away from the tree line when he suddenly noticed a bright light coming from behind him.
'They used the grenades,' Thought Mark, but he still didn't stop running until he reached the trees. At that moment, Mark felt safe again.
He dropped his body on the ground and kept panting without stopping, while also looking behind at the tank surrounded by the dim lights of the trucks.
Mark could not see everything from this distance. He barely saw the shapes of the tank and a few shots fired at the dark, and because of that, he knew the trolls were dead now.
'I hope those bastards live long enough,' thought Mark, wishing that the guys inside the tank could last at least an hour. That way, they would distract the beasts until Mark found a safe spot to hide.
Mark didn't know how many beasts were still alive, but he was sure that by now only the guys on the tank were still alive. The rest of the platoon was already dead. The entire slaughter lasted less than half an hour, and just by that, he knew the tank would not last long, the beasts would eventually breach the armour and the guys inside would run out of ammo. It was just a matter of time.
'Maybe an hour or two, but they will fall. That's the time I have to find a place to hide.'
The only thing that made Mark felt a bit more calm was knowing that he reached the forest and almost all runners were killed, if not all of them, they were the worst type of beast to fight inside a forest.
~pant~ ~pant~
'Lets go! I can't stop now,' said Mark to himself in his mind. He was tired and injured and his body was screaming for a rest, but once he caught his breath, he ran again.
This time he was not running in desperate mode, but more paced. He would keep running until he reached the deep's of the forest. There he would try to find a place to hide and rest.
Slowly running inside the forest, with the minimal light that came from the moon, Mark noticed several pine trees by passing, small vegetation that sometimes reached to his knees and a few large rocks here and there, that he stumbled from time to time.
...
'I can't run anymore!' thought Mark after a few minutes of running. His body was extremely tired by now.
He looked behind his back and could not see the opening of the forest anymore. 'It must be safe to walk now,' if he could, he would still run, but his body didn't let him
Mark shifted his gaze and looked ahead, but he barely could see anything now. The dense forest dimmed the small light that the moon could give.
'Should I find a high tree or ...' Thought Mark, because inside a forest like this there were few options to hide, he could hide at the top of a tree among the leafs, or he could try to find a cave, but he doubted he would find one here, even more in this complete darkness.
'The problem with hiding in a treetop is the wyverns. It's too much risk to take. Those dammed beasts have extremely good eyes.' thought Mark, already resting a bit against a tree by his side.
That only left Mark with a single solution, the worst of all.