Chapter 76 - Up Above
Chapter 76 - Up Above
Zoe emerged from the roots of the tree, her steps cautious as she moved into the darkness. Every sound was louder without her helmet. Branches creaked and wind hissed through the canopy. The forest felt impossibly vast now, every shadow stretching like a waiting predator.
Her fingers brushed the hilt of her plasma dagger, the grip slick with sweat. She felt small in a way she hadn’t in years, stripped of the tech, the suit, the support that made her feel invincible in combat. Now? She was just skin and bones and nerves.
But she didn’t stop. She set her jaw, clenched her fist, and swallowed the panic crawling up her throat. Each step was measured, silent and controlled. She moved like a ghost through the trees, her pulse thudding in her ears.
Emily had been separated from the crew early on, veering left when the raptors first lunged. She relied on her agility, dodging razor-sharp claws that snapped just inches behind her. Her plasma blasters lit up the underbrush in short bursts. One raptor went down, but they just kept coming.
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And now? She was alone.
She was deep in the pitch-black maze of the rainforest, surrounded by sounds that didn’t belong to anything human.
The distant echoes of battle had faded into the rain. The flashlight of her helmet flicked side to side, the narrow beam cutting through vines and thick foliage. She slowed and pressed her back against the gnarled trunk of a tree, trying to still her breathing.
In. Out. Listen.
She heard no voices and no familiar hum of the Peregrine’s shield, only the low, hungry rustle of something slinking through the dark.
“Luca?” she whispered into her comms. Her voice was steady, but tight. She tried each name in turn and got static on every one.
Shit.
She pushed off the tree, and her flashlight swept slowly over more of the same, roots and vines and shadows thick enough to choke on. She knew she couldn’t stay put. That wasn’t how she survived. Movement was life. She stepped forward, her boots sliding slightly on the damp earth.
Her hand dropped to the plasma blade at her hip, her last resort if anything got inside blaster range.
Step by step, she moved. She scanned the forest and checked angles, thinking five moves ahead like always. Somewhere out there, the others had to be doing the same, if they were still moving.
The ravine stretched on, a narrow passage tangled with slick roots and twisted vines that made the footing treacherous. Luca’s flashlight beam cut through only a few feet ahead, over mossy stone and foliage, and every so often something rustled up above, where the raptors were still lurking. Ryan moved beside him, his light sweeping over the ravine walls as they searched for any possible exit.
Luca’s foot slid out from under him on a black root. He grunted and windmilled his arms for a moment before Ryan’s hand shot out and gripped his shoulder to steady him.
“Easy there,” Ryan said.
“Thanks,” Luca said, getting his footing. “This place is a nightmare.”
“Must be nice,” Ryan said, his voice quiet but with a teasing edge. “Having someone to stress about like that.”
“Emily can handle herself,” Luca replied.
“I know,” Ryan said quickly. “Wasn’t saying she couldn’t.” He paused, then bumped Luca’s shoulder. “Still pretty disgusting, watching you two. In a good way.”
“Thanks?” Luca asked, scanning the ravine in front of them.
“I’m just saying, when I find my girl, we’re gonna be even more disgusting. Fair warning.”
A loud noise echoed from the ravine rim directly above them, followed by the clatter of dislodged pebbles. Both of them froze, flashlights snapping upward to reveal nothing but shifting leaves.
When the silence returned, Luca lowered his light, his voice a whisper. “You? Please. Half the girls back home were drooling over you. You just never noticed.”
Ryan was quiet for a step, then gave a small smile that was mostly lost in the darkness. “Yeah, well. Guess I was looking in the wrong direction. Come on. Let’s go find her before she realizes she can do better than you.”
Luca grinned, and his shoulders came down a fraction.
Just hold on, Em. We’re coming.
Danny and Joey stumbled back into the clearing where the portal had dropped them, battered, mud-streaked and out of breath, and Danny nearly walked into the Peregrine. It sat at the edge of the trees, dark and silent, close enough that they should have spotted it the first time. Joey got the ramp open and brought the shield up, and its faint blue glow spread over the ground. Danny could have kissed the stupid truck.
Joey squinted, looking around for any sign of the others. “You see them?” he asked.
Danny frowned as he surveyed the surrounding forest. “Alright, let’s think this through. We know Luca and Ryan are out there somewhere together. So that leaves...”
“Zoe, Emily, and Chris,” Joey finished. “We need to go after them, but we don’t know which direction they took, or if they’re even together.”
Danny nodded, biting his lip. “True, but if I know Emily, she’s sticking close to Zoe. She’s not the type to leave her alone out here, not without armor. So, that could mean the two of them went in one direction.”
Joey considered this. “And Chris? He’s a solid shot and level-headed. He’d either be sticking to a defensible spot or trying to regroup with Luca and Ryan.”
“So, split it up?” Danny suggested. “We could cover more ground that way, find each group faster.”
Joey shook his head. “We’re better off sticking together, Danny. You saw those raptors. They’re pack hunters. If one of us gets cornered alone...” He shook his head. “I’d rather not split us up. Better chance if we tackle each area together.”
Danny sighed. “Okay. Let’s go after the girls first. Chris, wherever he is, can probably hold his own until we can circle back.”
“Agreed,” Joey said. “We’ll sweep east first. Keep your comms on. Even if there’s interference, maybe we’ll hit the spot where the signal comes through.”
Danny patted his plasma chainsaw, grinning. “Let’s move, then. Zoe will kill me if I don’t find her before those raptors do.”
They shared a nod and plunged back into the rainforest, and the glow of the Peregrine’s shield faded behind them.
Zoe crouched low, listening for any sign of the raptors. She’d lost her bearings in the dark after the attack, and the rain made it impossible to hear which direction the others had gone.
She had no helmet, no comms and no HUD, only her ears and whatever the rain let through.
She needed somewhere to hide until she could think.
She stumbled forward, half-blind, and her boot caught a twisted root. Her knee hit the mud, and she bit her tongue so hard to keep from crying out that her mouth filled with the taste of copper.
Rain poured down from the canopy. It ran down the back of her neck and under her shirt, cold enough to make her teeth ache, and the mud had soaked through her pants at both knees. She couldn’t draw attention, not with those raptors nearby, so she stayed low and kept moving.
The roots of a massive tree loomed ahead, and she crawled in between them. She pressed her back against the wet bark and gripped the dagger tighter.
Every snap of a branch made her freeze. Her suit would have tagged every one of those sounds with a range and a heading. Now she had to sort them herself. The crack to her left was a branch giving way under the rain. The scrape farther off was claws on bark, and it was moving away.
She waited until the scrape faded, spat out a mouthful of blood, and backed out. The ground sloped under her palms, and the runoff ran with it. She figured everyone had run from the raptors, and running took you downhill. She followed the water.
Emily ducked under a low branch and spotted a figure sprawled on the forest floor.
“Chris!”
She dropped down beside him. A jagged gash traced along his forehead, bleeding freely. His pulse was steady, but he was out cold.
His helmet lay a few feet away. She pulled a bandage from her pack, pressing it against the wound.
“Come on, Chris,” she whispered, anchoring the bandage with shaking hands. “You’ve gotta stay with me, okay?”
He didn’t respond. She pulled him up against a nearby tree, propping him upright. Rain kept falling, soaking them both.
Her comm crackled. She tried Luca, Ryan, Danny and Zoe, and the comm hissed back at her every time.
Forest sounds swelled around her. Her fingers clenched around her blaster, eyes darting into the dark.
She wasn’t a medic. She knew pressure dressings and stimpacks. That was it. If he crashed, if he stopped breathing... what then?
She couldn’t let herself think that far ahead.
Two raptors darted past, barely ten yards away, heads low and eyes gleaming. She held her breath until they’d passed.
She sank back against the tree, checking Chris’s pulse again.
“Where are you guys?” she whispered.
She was freezing and so tired her eyes kept closing, and all she could do was wait and keep him stable.
Out of nowhere, the darkness exploded with bursts of light and sound. Blasts of plasma fire illuminated the forest, and the air stank of singed vegetation.
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[Item Acquired: Centauri Phantom Mk-64 Silent-Step Boots]
Emily’s head snapped up. Two familiar figures were moving through the undergrowth, their weapons at the ready.
“Danny! Joey!” she called, her voice wavering.
The two of them appeared, stepping over the fallen raptors quickly. They looked shaken but unharmed, their faces lighting up as they spotted her, and then Chris.
Joey’s expression turned serious at the gash on Chris’s forehead. “Emily, thank God,” he breathed. He activated his portable shield and crouched down next to Chris.
He unlatched his med kit, assessing the wound as he pressed a gauze pad against it. “He’s got a nasty gash, but his pulse is strong,” he murmured, flashing Emily a reassuring look. “It’s a mild concussion. He’ll pull through. He just needs rest.”
Emily exhaled, her shoulders dropping as Joey worked, his hands steady as he tended to Chris. She hadn’t even realized she’d been crying until a hand closed on her arm, and she turned to find Danny standing before her. Before she could even react, he pulled her into a tight hug.
Emily collapsed against him, her body shaking. She buried her face in his shoulder, arms wrapping around him.
“You did good, Emily,” he murmured. “He’s here, and he’s breathing. You kept him safe.”
She gave a small, choked sob. Joey kept working. He patched up the wound and got Chris settled in a comfortable position.
Chris was breathing easier, and for the first time since she’d found him, Emily’s hands stopped shaking.
“We’ll stay here a minute, give him some time to come around,” Joey said. “You did the right thing, Emily.”
Danny finally released her, stepping back. He swept his helmet light over the forest.
“Where’s Zoe?” he asked, his voice tight.
Emily looked toward the trees. “I don’t know... she wasn’t with Chris, and I didn’t see her when we split up,” she whispered.
Joey leaned closer, steadying Chris’s head as he wrapped the last of the bandage securely around his bleeding forehead.
“We can’t leave her out there alone, but let’s get Chris back to the Peregrine. Then we’ll all head out together. No one’s splitting up again.”
Their lights bobbed as they hoisted Chris between them, every footfall a soft thud on the damp ground. They moved slowly, and the limited reach of their helmet lights left vast patches of darkness on either side.
Each rustle in the undergrowth, each distant snap of a twig, made them pause and sweep their lights for any threat hidden in the black. And every second they were out here, Zoe was alone in this godforsaken jungle.
As they moved, the Peregrine came up through the trees. They eased Chris up the ramp. His body was slumped, but he was breathing, and the bandage around his head held. Joey double-checked his pulse. Chris’s eyes stayed closed, and his face was pale under the harsh beam of their helmet lights.
Danny glanced back into the night, his helmet light cutting across the thick canopy. “Alright,” he said, voice low but firm. “Zoe’s out there, and she’s got nothing, no comms, no light. We’re going to find her.”
“She’s got her dagger,” Emily mumbled, more to herself than to anyone else.
“That’s not going to help much, Emily,” said Joey, “but don’t worry, we’ll find her. Luca and Ryan should be here already, but they probably got held up.”
“They might need our help too,” said Danny, looking toward the forest’s edge.
Emily took a deep breath. “They’re a good team,” she said, her voice stronger now. “They’ll be fine. Let’s focus on finding Zoe.”
Ryan and Luca found the ravine’s exit past a collapsed root structure that had looked like a dead end until Ryan kicked it. They climbed out and worked their way back toward the clearing where the portal had dropped them, their helmet lights sweeping over the undergrowth. The raptors that had harried them earlier were nowhere in sight.
When the blue glow of the Peregrine’s shield came into view, Luca picked up the pace. Danny’s helmet light caught their movements from across the clearing, and he jogged up to meet them, with Emily and Joey close behind.
“Who’s missing?” Luca asked, scanning the others.
Emily stepped forward, eyes shadowed. “Zoe. We were just about to head back out to look.”
Luca nodded, but he couldn’t move. His eyes were locked on her. Emily.
Mud smeared across her cheek. Her hair was soaked and plastered to her face. Her white armor was scuffed in one spot at the thigh, and her blasters were still in hand, twitching slightly with the aftershock of adrenaline.
She was here. She was alive.
Something in his chest cracked open. He didn’t even realize he’d moved until he was crossing the space between them in a few fast strides. He reached for her, hand brushing gently along her cheek, wiping away mud and whatever else the rainforest had thrown at her.
Her eyes met his... and that was it. Relief surged through him so hard it nearly dropped him to his knees.
He didn’t say a word as he reached forward and kissed her.
Soft, at first. Tender. Like he was still afraid she might break. Her breath hitched, and then her hands found his chest, his shoulders, pulling him closer.
Her fingers dug in, and the kiss turned frantic.
Four years of missions, training, chaos, monsters, portals, and nothing ever felt as overwhelming as this kiss. Like they were sealing a crack in the universe with their mouths. His hands curled into her soaked armor, and she didn’t let go.
For just a second, he forgot Zoe was missing. Forgot the danger. Forgot everything.
She was real. Warm and solid and right here in front of him. And he wanted to stay wrapped in that moment forever.
“Okay, okay, Jesus, cool it,” Joey called out. “Zoe’s still out there.”
Emily pulled back just a little, her forehead pressed to his, both of them panting, her fingers still gripping his suit.
“I know,” he whispered. “I just... needed to make sure.”
She nodded, blinking hard. “You did.”
They were back in motion, guns up, lights on.
“Where’s the Specter?” Luca asked. Nothing was tethered to the Peregrine’s side anymore.
“It must have stayed on the other side of the portal,” replied Danny.
“Fuck.”
Luca looked past them at the ramp, where Chris sat propped against the bulkhead with his head wrapped. “Joey, you stay with Chris. Keep the shield up and the ramp shut, and don’t open it for anything that can’t say your name.”
Joey opened his mouth, looked at Chris, and closed it again. “Fine. With a concussion, I want eyes on him anyway.”
“Ryan and I take west. Danny, you and Emily take east. Nobody goes off alone. If you haven’t found her in an hour, you come back here.”
Ryan nodded and adjusted his grip on his plasma rifle. “You see anything, yell.”
They moved out and split into two groups. Ryan and Luca went fast, their helmet lights scanning every patch of roots and vines.
Where is she?