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Post by Faeruy on Jul 17, 2014 0:11:30 GMT -5
Darkness. Her lungs, burning with exertion. A cut on her arm, cool blood soaking through her torn jacket. The smell of dank and rot; of stagnant pools of water. The sound of her own footsteps on unforgiving stone. The sound of someone chasing her. The hot breath she imagined on her neck. The glimpse of eyes burning into hers. She didn't look back. She couldn't look back; there was only forward, only the hope that she would find daylight and get out of this alive.
Shanti didn't know how much longer she could keep running. The... thing, the monster, was too close, and she still couldn't see daylight. It was funny, in a terrible sort of way. She'd spent her entire life crawling through dark tunnels, occasionally running away from someone who wanted her dead or worse. But this was different. These weren't manmade, metal tubes. There were no wires, nothing she could use to trip up her pursuer. And what's more, she had no idea what was chasing her, or why.
Well, she may have had an inkling of why. A bounty gone bad, as so often happened with Shanti. It was supposed to be an easy mission - a simple kill and collect, but nothing seemed to go her way. First, she found that her target, who was supposed to be on Courscant, had left the planet. She then got on a ship headed for Onderon, but the city girl wasn't the least prepared for the planet; the main city might have been walled, but that left the rest of the planet crawling with deadly flora and fauna. And her target waded right into the middle of it. She followed him, only her blaster, her knife, and sheer luck kept her from falling prey to some beast or other. By the time she reached her target; he was already dead - the only bit of good luck that she had. For proof of her 'kill', she took an amulet; it now hung around her neck. That's when things went really bad.
Shanti had gotten lost. She was a street rat; she knew nothing about tracking through a forest. The only reason she managed to find her target was because of a tracker he had on him. All too soon, she had no idea where she was, nor how to get back to a spaceport. She had no food, no water, just her weapons, and an amulet. Night was about to fall, so Shanti did the only thing she could think of; she found a cave mouth and attempted to hole up for the night. Then it found her.
She didn't think it was purely a beast, something in her gut told her her pursuer was intelligent. It still didn't explain who was after her; it could have been anyone. Another bounty hunter, a friend of the deceased, even just somebody who liked killing humans for sport. She didn't know, and at the moment, she didn't have time to think about it. She just had to survive, somehow.
Shanti's foot caught on a rock, and she went tumbling. She heard the crack; and a trickle of blood went streaming down her forehead. She scrambled to her feet, swearing under her breath, and continued to run. It was getting closer.
Shanti didn't know how much longer she could keep running. The... thing, the monster, was too close, and she still couldn't see daylight. It was funny, in a terrible sort of way. She'd spent her entire life crawling through dark tunnels, occasionally running away from someone who wanted her dead or worse. But this was different. These weren't manmade, metal tubes. There were no wires, nothing she could use to trip up her pursuer. And what's more, she had no idea what was chasing her, or why.
Well, she may have had an inkling of why. A bounty gone bad, as so often happened with Shanti. It was supposed to be an easy mission - a simple kill and collect, but nothing seemed to go her way. First, she found that her target, who was supposed to be on Courscant, had left the planet. She then got on a ship headed for Onderon, but the city girl wasn't the least prepared for the planet; the main city might have been walled, but that left the rest of the planet crawling with deadly flora and fauna. And her target waded right into the middle of it. She followed him, only her blaster, her knife, and sheer luck kept her from falling prey to some beast or other. By the time she reached her target; he was already dead - the only bit of good luck that she had. For proof of her 'kill', she took an amulet; it now hung around her neck. That's when things went really bad.
Shanti had gotten lost. She was a street rat; she knew nothing about tracking through a forest. The only reason she managed to find her target was because of a tracker he had on him. All too soon, she had no idea where she was, nor how to get back to a spaceport. She had no food, no water, just her weapons, and an amulet. Night was about to fall, so Shanti did the only thing she could think of; she found a cave mouth and attempted to hole up for the night. Then it found her.
She didn't think it was purely a beast, something in her gut told her her pursuer was intelligent. It still didn't explain who was after her; it could have been anyone. Another bounty hunter, a friend of the deceased, even just somebody who liked killing humans for sport. She didn't know, and at the moment, she didn't have time to think about it. She just had to survive, somehow.
Shanti's foot caught on a rock, and she went tumbling. She heard the crack; and a trickle of blood went streaming down her forehead. She scrambled to her feet, swearing under her breath, and continued to run. It was getting closer.