Snippet #2116509

Kyna had been doubled over, gulping in the oxygen like a fish out of water. Her legs were trembling and felt like jelly. Her left wrist thumped in agony. She looked down into darkness & decay that she just stumbled out from and swallowed, her throat dry. She tucked a stray strand of hair behind her ear and tried to slow her racing heart. She could still hear their voices; speaking in our tongue, yet it sounded completely different - hollow, terrifying. Especially when you are running from their armed forces through the darkness, relying on nothing but memories and the faint light from their torches.

Kyna had been in a base with several other survivors for the last month or so. She couldn't really tell anymore, time had a way of blurring the days when they were in peril. There was six of them, two marines, a doctor, two children and herself. Each had contracted the heinous virus and each other them was at varied stages and mutations. Some had pustules, some were delirious, some were constantly bleeding or vomiting. The doctor tried her best to keep them comfortable, until her bones began to shattered under some unknown pressure and she was reduced to laying on the floor, blinking sadly at the roof. One of the children was nearly completely covered in a thick green 'gauze' and the smell was putrid. Kyna herself was suffering the affects, but only superficially. Her already pale skin was fading into almost transparency, her snaking olive-green veins visible and her once onyx eyes were now coated in a pearly film.

She was pacing the room, chewing on her lip as she slipped deep into thoughts. The two marines had been gone for twenty minutes, apparently to raid the armory and nab some weapons. Everyone was starving and if they had any chance of escape, they needed protection. Kyna missed her work; she missed the rock. Their stories, information they hid within themselves, explaining how and when they came into being. The caverns beneath her called to her in a luscious way, making her body tingle. Her passion was strong and the excitement of finding something never seen before by another human being was almost too much for her. She heard her tummy rumble and was snapped from her thoughts, just as there was a hysterically rapping at the door.

"Let us in! For fuck sake let us in!!" Kyna recognised the voices as the marines and ran to the door, and threw it open. She looked between the two wild men and opened her mouth to speak as all-too-familiar shrieks of the Kismet and their 'hunting dogs' echoed around them. Kyna's eyes widened as she glared at the Marines - "W-wha-"

"The armory was overrun. Th-they must've known someone would try to get to it eventually and they were... waiting for us." He panted, cutting her off abruptly. More inaudible shouts and screams resonated through the base and everyone was on their feet, panicked. Kyna could hear the thundering footsteps as she grabbed one of the marines by the shirt - "you lead them right fucking to us!!" she hissed, before turning to face the others.

"No time to get anything! Let's get ou-" An explosion of lasers and bullets deafened Kyna as she hit the floor. As if in slow-motion, she ricocheted off the ground, feeling the vibrations of explosives going off around her. She could see blood, unaware if it was her own or another's. She looked up through debris and greasy hair to see tall figures shadowing in the doorway as another rumble from her stomach echoed in her ears. Only it was louder this time, and Kyna realised it wasn't her starvation calling when the ground began to shake violently. Then, in a flurry of movement, she was falling with the rubble and bodies and she hit the ground, left side first and cried out when she felt her wrist collide with rock. The bone shattered, she could feel it and her pulse quickened. She looked up just in time to see the shadows looking down onto her limp figure and a shot of adrenalin kicked in as she stumbled to her feet and began to run. She had fallen into the caverns she knew, but as the light from above began to fade she began to trip and graze against the jagged walls. She could hear them talking, their voices booming yet muffled and then the stomach-dropping sound of them jumping down into the cavern.

Kyna pushed on faster, her wrist throbbing and through squinted eyes she could see a T-intersection of cave systems up ahead, she instantly chose the left and slowed a little to hear the Kismet slow and plot their next move. She turned, taking a silent breath before her eyes were caught by the glow in the distance. She began to run towards it, and as the dull light grew, she slipped, tripped and regained herself just before she made contact with the ground.

Kyna's head shot to the left she heard noises from within the tunnel and her body stiffened.

Suddenly, she heard voices, a woman telling something to "be careful!" and a male's asking if everything was alright. She moved out from the rocks and saw a woman standing on the edge of the lake. Another was in the lake and the someone was yelling from above. Kyna ran up to the woman, eyes wild and heart pounding. "QUICKLY!" she hissed loudly, making sure, hopefully, they all heard, "THEY ARE COMING!!"

If they didn't hear her, then surely they heard the groans of the Kismet's hunters approaching.