I pumped my legs, carrying myself towards the supposed exit of this confined tunnel.

  The old nun had told me to leave, so I had. Guilt and fear filled my stomach like two starving rats biting and gnawing at each other. I should run back, to help her or to take her with me. I should force her to flee with me so that she won’t be in danger. So that I won’t end up back on that ship alone.

  The elf is bad news. The mouthless one is worse. I need to get away from them.

  The fact that they looked so human had distracted me from their true natures. I had been too happy to finally meet another person.

  What if the elf were actually the good guys who held off bandits to allow me to escape? Was I simply siding with the nun because she was the first actual human to show me kindness?

  Doubt crept into my mind, I had no knowledge of anything on this planet. Anyone could be lying to me about anything and I would never know. This tunnel could lead into some dungeon or…

  I cleared my thoughts of such things. I didn’t need to think, I only needed to keep moving my tired body forwards. If this was an ambush then I was fucked, but I had been fucked ever since I followed that old woman into these sprawling catacombs and even that was nothing compared to how fucked my life had been over the last few weeks.

  I lifted another boot and pushed myself faster down the earth tunnel until I began to see a light at the end. I switched my light off and slowly crept forwards, wary of an ambush.

  The sunlight itself was blinding, the sudden exposure to the sun left me incapable of seeing anything. As my eyes adjusted I raised myself from the ground and surveyed the area outside of this cavern.

  The exit to this cave system was placed directly behind a few shrubs. I stepped through, keeping low to hide my silhouette and turned, the greenery turned what was a small cave entrance into a patch of plantlife. There were no obvious signs of the underground network if you did not know what you were looking for.

  I couldn’t spare time to take the scene in though, a dozen messages lit up my visor and I quickly crawled beneath the thick underbrush to skim through them.

  Where is your location?

  What is your estimated time for recovery?

  Why are you not responding?

  Human are you injured?

  Respond human.

  I glanced through the messages before responding to Blue Stripes.

  Found possible traces of advanced technology, stole it, snuck away through sewer system. Could not receive signals as I was underground. Possible humanlike threats to me in the forest.

  I turned to look through the brush once more, options warring in my heart. My breathing had evolved to a ragged panting, my legs shook and the pain from running had turned to a dead numbness throughout my torso.

  I could hide. I could lay still beneath a bush and rest until I could stand without quacking.

  The reason within my mind knew that this method was incorrect. If I was being chased they would doubtlessly heavily search directly outside the exit of that tunnel network. There could be dogs, but even if there wasn’t my suit was too brightly colored to allow me to hide.

  It had been designed to be easily found in the void of space, no one could possibly miss the orange no matter how well I thought I could conceal myself.

  So instead I turned, checking my visor to align myself with my surroundings. There was rough satellite imagery, or rather pictures taken shipside that I could display on my visor and use to orient myself. I turned and physically faced the landing zone despite it being some odd nine miles away with no obvious line of sight.

  Then I began running, no longer was I following the lay of the land for the path of least resistance. I hit a steep hill and threw myself up it on all fours, kicking rocks and brush beneath me in my struggle to surface the slope. I did not pause and simply continued sprinting down the uneven terrain.

  This place was not flat, the thick forest was made up of rolling hills. After each summit was just another valley.

  Though calling it a summit was an exaggeration, I still had trouble actually walking forwards. The dense brush combined with sharp inclines to thirty foot hills meant the footing was treacherous. My helmet somewhat restricted my breathing and the suit itself held onto my body heat. Seconds in and I was already sweating, the scent of my breath and body clung to my face.

  I should have found water, next time I will demand a full gallon to carry around.

  With the threats I had seen in these woods I wouldn’t dare remove my helmet. All it would take was one moment for an arrow to lodge itself in my face.

  I continued my run, extending my legs to push the ground behind me.

  Stolen content alert: this content belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences.

  And then I heard the barking.

  It started quietly, so far away that the natural sound of trees swaying and the sound of my own ragged breaths drowned it out. Slowly it grew, the sound of what must have been a dozen dogs behind me and as they got closer I realized I could make out more.

  I stood next to a tree and leaned against it, listening to the voices. They were surely human, I could hear them yelling to the point they almost drowned out the sound of plants being crushed underfoot.

  They are headed in my direction. Coincidence?

  It was not. These people were after me, though who they were or what they wanted was a mystery. Did they work for the elf? Were they guards? Or was this a new group of ruffians coming to steal my valuables?

  I clutched at my pouches, I would willingly hand over my silver if it guaranteed my safety. But the elven blade was inlaid with precious gems and shined like silver. Surely they wouldn’t let me keep that and I needed it to keep my alien overlords invested in this planet.

  Slowly I raised my head, cresting over the hill just enough to try and identify my pursuers.

  Men in bright green tabards were jogging towards me, I turned to run and fell into the brush with enough force to dislocate my wrist. I cried out before I could stop myself and heard the footsteps getting closer.

  They had been right on top of me before I noticed. Had they snuck up on me or was I too exhausted to stay vigilant?

  I cradled my arm and tried to rise to my feet just to collapse once more. My legs were shaking, I could not continue walking. I glanced around while trying to suck in air, looking for somewhere to hide or anything I could do to help me escape these men.

  Something rushed through the brush, I looked up just in time to see the club.

  ~

  I opened my eyes and went to wipe the sweat from my face. My hand jammed into my face plate with a slight thud.

  “Hey, you’re finally awake. Wasn’t so sure you’d be fine after a hit like that.”

  The voice was familiar, confident and deep. My body shifted and I felt myself collapse into a wall.

  A wall? I turned my head as my vision started to clear and took in the dark wood and painted walls of the carriage I was in. The seat that I was on shifted suddenly again and I was once more shoved to the side, this time however I caught myself. I could hear what must have been horses clambering outside, they must have been running over potholes and throwing me about.

  I cursed silently to myself and tried to stand only to almost lose my balance, something had pulled my wrists back-

  My mind was sluggish, almost numb. Everything came together slowly. I was chained up in a carriage going somewhere, every so often we would run over some uneven road and it would jostle me around.

  There was also someone sitting across from me.

  Not a man, an elf. The inquisitor sat across from me holding his sword in his lap. His pale face stared unblinking at me.

  “You seem a bit more lucid than earlier. You aren’t going to die are you?” He asked.

  “Where am I?”

  “I’m really not supposed to share information with prisoners. But,” He let the word hang in the air, “if you cooperate I can see about rewording our current little relationship.”

  “Why am I a prisoner?” I asked, “What did I do wrong?”

  The elf snorted, “Other than intermingle with cultists and treacherous forest mules? Clearly that suit you have on isn’t human-make. So tell me, why would someone put some kind of advanced gimmick like that on you just to prance you into our territory? Are you some sort of scout or spy? Or did you steal that and think that I wouldn’t notice that wasn’t glass covering your face.”

  I tried to work my mind. The inquisitor thought I was aligned with their enemy. Treacherous? Traitors? This sounded like the elves had some kind of schism. Could I play off of this?

  “I was sent to scout for a important objects sir,” I decided on. “I was sent with a team of others, they wanted me to go into town to ask about the local area.”

  “And who were these others?” He asked.

  “Uh.” A few dozen bipedal insects with assault rifles.

  “Hesitation? Not a good sign human. I would recommend telling the truth if you want to keep your features intact.” With a steady practiced movement he pointed the sword at my face.

  I froze in a slight panic. What do I tell him? The truth sounds like a lie and I wasn’t good enough at lying to make something up on the spot.

  After a moment of panic I came to the realization that the elf and the chains didn’t fully matter anymore. A small message appeared in the corner of my visor.

  Prepare for extraction.

  The horses pulling our carriage ceased their clambering and I felt the carriage stop. My breath quickened and the elf picked up on it immediately.

  Shit shit shit shit shit shi-

  “What is happening human?” He brought his sword in front of my eye and brought it so close it tapped the glass. “I will not ask politely again.”

  “My boss is an alien squid who commands a small army of bug-men and they are coming down here to blow everyone up and get me.”

  The elf stared at my face for a few moments before creasing his brow.

  “That has got to be the stupidest-”

  I felt the explosion more than I heard it, and then came the screaming. In an instant the quiet swaying of trees and the sound of the cart’s wheels creaking were overcome with the sounds of dozens of intermingled voices screeching in surprise or pain.

  “What in the name of-” The elf was once again cut off, but not by one explosion. A continuous wail of thunder drowned out any hopes of his voice being heard.

  The elf stood and for a moment I saw the mask of certainty slip from his face. Caution overtook the being for a split second before once again he gained control and stilled his features. The elf grasped his blade and threw the door open.

  A scream overtook the cabin as the elf tore away from the door, his flesh boiling. He was burning, fire overtook the small carriage in an instant as the screaming elf threw himself back and then onto the floor. I stood and almost forgot I was handcuffed to the seat.

  I felt the heat rising, the suit was made to keep hazards like this from harming me but it didn’t mean I was fireproof. Being inside of a flaming box was not comfortable and it was only getting hotter.

  I pulled at the chains around my wrist to no avail. I kicked the backboard of my seat and tried to yank the chains out of the wall only for my foot to go through the side of the carriage.

  It was collapsing. Sawdust and ash poured onto my face as I tore my foot back and slammed it into the link holding the metallic chain to the wall. I kicked again and again until the thin wood collapsed around the metal and I could rip the chains out of the wall.

  I ran out of the door into the open where I saw more screaming and blood.

  One man tried to grapple with his horse that had just kicked someone’s face in. Another was running to put out the fire I had just climbed out of. I saw people carrying injured and running or huddled beneath their wagons or under trees.

  It had taken less than a minute for me to pull my way out of that carriage and a caravan with hundreds of people was in complete chaos. Something had frightened them beyond all hope of someone taking control. I looked up to see the brick of a shuttle I had descended hovering ominously in the air.

  I turned, looking once more at the scorching remains of what had been my prison. What remained of the elf crawled towards me as his flesh disintegrated. I cried out in alarm and backpedaled, falling onto my ass. The elf wouldn’t stop crawling, his mouth hung open in a silent scream of agony as his body turned to dust.

  A hand wrapped around my leg as the rest of the body turned to dust.

  Why had he continued burning? Was I on fire? Why was the hand still there when his bones were gone? Why was-

  I interrupted my own train of thought when I vomited into my helmet.