Sang shook her head, trying to get those thoughts out of her mind. This wasn’t the time to think about that kind of thing. The rules back at the CIA had always been to focus on the task at hand and let the company therapist handle the trauma later. She took a deep breath and walked into the bog water. The cold water chilled her to the bone as she waded after Van.
They trudged through the water in silence, the both of them refusing to look at or acknowledge the other. The water went up to about their waists, but otherwise wasn’t hard to navigate. After ten minutes of walking, though, they heard a ruckus behind them.
“There they are!” shouted a voice from behind. Sang turned around to see that three guards were standing at the edge of the water.
“Crap!” Van shouted. “We better move!” The waters began to slosh as Van rushed through the water as quickly as he could. There were no guards on the bank of the bog where they were heading. Arrows began to whiz over their heads as the guards started shooting at them.
“Damn it!” Sang shouted as she felt her foot get caught on something. She looked down, but the water was far too murky for her to see through it. She tried to wrestle free from the thing holding her, but her boot was stuck. More arrows whizzed by her head. There was a sudden bubbling in the water then, and a loud, rumbling noise.
“I think there’s something grabbing me!” Sang shouted out as she felt her leg suddenly jerk downward, pulling her down deeper—she held her footing but was splashing around for purchase.
Van had made it to the bog bank by the time he realized that Sang wasn’t with him. He turned around to see that two of the guards had begun to wade into the water after Sang.
“Van!” Sang shouted as she grabbed her sword and began to stab into the water. “A little help here!” Whatever was grabbing her certainly didn’t like being stabbed, and released its grip for a second. The water violently splashed around her and she felt a sharp stinging sensation in the side of her leg. The words 5 damage, wounded limb appeared above her head. She winced and stabbed into the water again.
Van took a step toward the water, but paused. “Sang…” he said. “I have the data stick; I’m going to go. Sorry.”
“What?” Sang shouted. “Van! Come on!”
“It’s more important for us to get this stick to the CIA, right?” Van shouted across the water. “That’s what you said, isn’t it? I’m taking a page out of your book. Good luck!” And with that, he vanished into the forest.
“Are you kidding me?” Sang gasped as she stabbed into the water again. The splashing was rapidly moving away from her now—whatever monster had been lurking in the depths was gone. She began to limp forward again, but the pain in her leg was slowing her down immensely. Van had abandoned her? She could hardly believe it.
“Stop!” shouted the two guards as they approached her. They were easily catching up to her, thanks to the burning pain in her leg.
“Screw you!” Sang said as she spun around, holding her sword high. “If you think you can take me down, think again! I’ve killed plenty of people today, and I won’t hesitate to kill more.”
This caused both of the guards to stop rushing toward her. They were barely fifteen feet away at this point, and their swords were drawn.
“Just give us the data stick,” the one on the right demanded. He was tall and skinny, armed with a halberd. “That’s all we want.”
“Come and take it from me,” Sang bluffed.
The one on the left sighed. “Look, we’re pretty aware of how this area works. No one wants to die, that’s for sure. I’m not nearly as committed to this cause as some of these other guys are. Just throw it over here and then we’ll call it a day.”
Sang slowly began backing away from them, wincing with each step. She wasn’t sure what that monster had done to her leg, but it was beginning to feel as if it was on fire. The guards advanced towards her slowly. The one with the halberd began to extend it, so that he could use it as a spear.
Sang had to think quickly before she was skewered by these two. She was too injured to run and she wouldn’t fare much better in a fight. Maybe this was the end for her. A feeling of dread rose in her belly as she realized that she was probably facing the end of her life. Would Van be able to escape and get the data to the CIA? The information would be enough to convince the government to fight against Draco, at least. There would be more agents who would infiltrate the game then, and eventually Draco would be defeated. All because of her choices. But then again, what if Van was caught by someone? What if he was in danger right now? If she’d had some guarantee that he’d be able to escape, maybe she’d be able to accept her death, but right now, it wasn’t a luxury she could afford.
“Just give up!” the halberdier pleaded. “I really don’t want to have to kill you.”
Sang grinned and took a step forward. “I don’t think that’s something you’re going to have to worry about.” She raised her sword high and stood in her battle stance, trying as hard as she could to not wince from her leg injury.
“Enough of this!” the one on the left said. “Let’s end it!” He rushed past the halberdier, his battle axe raised high. Sang waited for him to swing at her before she ducked underneath the blow and shoved her shoulder into him hard.
“Oof,” he exclaimed as he fell onto his back. The water splashed around him as he struggled to stand up, but his plate mail armor made it extremely hard for him to stand.
“Come on!” Sang screamed at the top of her lungs as she walked toward the halberdier.
“Screw this crap!” he shouted as he dropped his weapon and began to wade away from Sang as fast as he could.
“Yes!” Sang shouted as she triumphantly approached the struggling soldier who was half-floating on his back. She pressed her sword to the weak joint on his armor, where his heart would be.
“I surrender!” the man shouted. “Come on, please don’t kill me!”
Sang took a deep breath. An arrow whizzed past her then. It appeared the third guard had begun firing on her again. “Don’t let this come back to haunt me!” she warned as she pulled her sword away from the guy’s chest and began to limp away. The archer wasn’t very good at this distance, as the arrows continued to miss Sang. She let out a sigh of relief once she made it to the tree line. Maybe, if she was lucky, she really would get out of this game alive.
Chapter Fifteen
Van cursed silently as he hid inside of a large, hollow log. After ditching Sang, he’d found himself in a forest that was loaded to the brim with enemy soldiers. Apparently, reinforcements had arrived and were combing the forest in pairs of two. It was going to be impossible to escape without some kind of major distraction.
He closed his eyes for a moment, just to catch a brief respite. He was too exhausted to think clearly and he was kicking himself about leaving Sang behind. Despite how pissed off he had been with her, there was no reason for him to have abandoned his friend. Yes, she’d made some horrible decisions, but he had more or less left her to die. Why? Why had he let his emotions get the better of him? Maybe it was the exhaustion. Still… if it had been a simple mood swing, why hadn’t he gone back for her when he’d had the chance?
Van sighed as he heard more shuffling around him. Every five minutes or so, a few soldiers would pass through the area, calling out to the others about what they had seen or found.
“Oh, they are definitely close,” said a familiar voice. It was Kenwar. Van gritted his teeth. The man was a highly skilled tracker and wouldn’t hesitate to sell them out in a moment if his life depended on it.