"The cruelest thing one can do to someone is to crush their hope after giving it to them. If I leave you here, I would be doing the same thing. The moment I decided to save you back there, I was prepared to ensure your safety till the end. I don't particularly do things half heartedly. So I will see this to the end. Whether you want to be saved or not, I will save you no matter what. After that you are free to do as you please with yourself."
Zach spoke his mind in order to not make her feel like she was a burden to him.
Luna had been through a lot but no one had cared about her in such a manner before. She was so touched that her tears were threatening to fall but she held in her emotions. She clutched her chest with her left hand in order to calm her beating heart that was making her feel such overwhelming sentiments.
Zach closed the map and got up from the crouching position. He looked at Luna who was still sitting in the same position as if in a trance. She was clutching her chest as if she was feeling unwell. Zach figure that the girl must have been really afraid that he would leave her behind.
"Luna, let's go. We need to get a move on right now." Zach's voice stressed how critical it was that they move.
Luna had some trouble getting up but it was not to the extent that she would need his help to stand up straight. Sitting down for so long had stopped the blood flow in her legs. Once she started walking again, the feeling in her legs returned.
Zach had seen the last position of their pursuers and had taken the exactly opposite direction.
What he had seen on the map had given him quite the scare. The red dots on the map were trying to surround the blue dots from all directions as if to cut all their paths of escape.
That would have been especially bad for them in this situation. Zach couldn't afford a direct confrontation at the moment.
Fortunately he was able to see their movements on the map and could easily sneak out of the encirclement from the tiny gaps. That's why he always urged Luna to move faster when it came to a critical situation.
Luna on the other hand did not understand what the man was doing. Zach would suddenly change direction without warning and would urge her to move faster. She had long since lost her direction and was unaware of where they were headed. She felt as if they had been running around in circles for a long time.
But the fact that their pursuers had yet to even catch a sight of them, Zach surely knew what he was doing. Therefore she followed after him without question no matter how nonsensical his actions might have looked to her.
Zach was growing more worried with time. Their enemies were growing smarter every time he escaped their encirclement. It was as if they could see his movements just like he could locate them at all times.
The encirclement this time had been a huge one. There were even gaps between enemies as they slowly closed in on him. No matter where he decided to breakthrough from, Zach was bound to run into at least one or two of them.
Even a cornered rat attacks fiercely, let alone Zach who had no other option left to him. So, he began preparing himself mentally just in case he had to fight his enemies while trying to protect Luna as well.
The only reason that he had been dreading direct confrontation was that the enemy number was too high. He was bound to suffer even if he managed to take them down and there was no guarantee that he would survive the encounter considering the uncertainty of the whole situation.
As soon as one of the enemies currently engaged in surrounding them witnessed the two moving at a breakneck speed, he shouted to gather all the attention of his teammates.
Zach instead of slowing down only increased his speed and rushed towards the shouting enemy. He had to get past the encirclement if he wanted to have a chance at survival.
He took Luna's hand in his left hand and used his right hand to hold the G17 pistol that was fully loaded with ammunition. Holding the gun in his hand, Zach felt a strange confidence that made him feel slightly more optimistic about the whole situation. The feeling of having the death of his enemies at just a finger squeeze away gave him a sense of security like no other.
Luna on other hand followed him around like a lifeless doll since she was too stupefied to understand what Zach was trying to pull by rushing towards the enemy instead of running in the opposite direction.
As soon as Zach came within fifty meters of the enemy who had been trying to raise alarm, he brought his gun in front of him and aimed at the enemy while running.
There was the sound of a single gunshot that resounded even in the distance and a stream of dark ruby blood flowed down the forehead of the enemy in front of Zach. Unfortunately, the enemy had been alerted already. Before Zach could break past the encirclement, there shouts came from either side behind him as people began to chase after him and Luna with the passion of a raged bull.
In order to avoid being attacked from the back, Zach had no choice but to stop and eliminate the enemies in order to lose their pursuit. He pulled Luna behind him as he pointed the gun towards the enemies in the distance. The gun in his hand was no longer the G17 pistol but the only rifle in his possession.
There were four enemies in total in his field of vision which had been perfected by playing Nebula the whole time. Zach took aim and without any mercy shot with his absolute shooting prowess. Before the enemies could even understand what the thing in his hand was, bloody holes appeared at different places on their bodies. One had been shot in the head while others had their limbs or vital organs punctured causing them a severe injury at the least that immobilized them at least if not crippled.
The wave that arrived later saw what happened to their comrades whenever Zach pointed the long tube in their direction and they figured that the tube was some sort of weapon that fired invisible arrows.
Without taking any risk, the new ones hid behind huge tree trunks and took out their bows and arrows in order to fight a long range battle where risk of death was considerably lower.
From time to time, one of them would poke their heads out and fire an arrow using their outstretched bows. Zach had to take cover before these arrows landed on him.
Breaking into a run, he pushed Luna behind the trunk of an especially wide tree that was enough to hold both of them behind it.
In his mind, he had already memorized the locations of the enemies and where each of them had been hiding. Though things had gone out of hand, and the hiding enemies had the ability to give him some trouble; it was nothing that he couldn't handle with a slight effort on his part.
"Stay here until I come back. Don't poke your head out until I tell you to." Zach told her in a serious manner as he didn't want her to fight in her injured condition.
Luna nodded in acceptance as she watched Zach slip away from behind the tree carrying that strange flashing tube in his hand that produced explosive sounds repeatedly.
"Zach aimed at the ones brave enough to attack him from behind the cover one after the other. As soon as he saw one, he shot with surprising accuracy. His marksmanship was as remarkable as the most professionally trained combat soldiers.
Never letting of any opportunity, Zach shot down as many as he could before slipping back into cover behind another tree by rolling on the ground to avoid the incoming arrows.