The LoST 1

The Lone Shadow Templar

1: First Contact

Her eyes stared me down; I could not escape. The symphony of gunfire arose to a fortissimo against my eardrums. Yet amidst the bullets and lead, her emerald eyes stayed fixated upon my own. It seemed like an eternity, but it was only a second or two at best. I could hear screams of fallen men, of falling men, and of those cutting them down, but her voice remained the dominant frequency in my mind. I had to listen to her, her thoughts, her feelings.

We were two people, two bodies, but had one mind. In battle, we were completely combined into a single entity. Her movements were mine, and we were damn good.

As a crash of thunder echoed from above the canopy, we sprinted through the thick, drenched, underbrush towards the center of the forest. I knew this day would come, but had never been prepared for it. It was always floating around in the back of my mind, a shadow of a doubt, but I kept supplanting it with other memories. And now, it was all that was on my mind, all that was allowed to be on my mind.

Looking down at my wrist map, I finally saw a little blue blip appear on the northern most edge of the screen. I screeched to a halt and whispered into my communicator, “I found him.”

“Copy, I’m approaching from the east,” Aaron’s voice trailed back, some distance away.

I crouched down, pulling the brim of my cloak down over my eyes. I could feel the moisture of the rain trickling down my face, cold and innocent. The steel barrel of my MP9 rested as a freezing lump on my lap, longing to cry out with death.

Within moments, Aaron had appeared next to me, his face hidden within a shroud of black. “Which way?”

I nodded forwards, and slowly we crept through the foliage. The blip on my watch moved steadily closer and closer until it was a mere few meters from where we crouched. Something rustled to my left.

Moving silently, I parted a small fern and looked into a tiny clearing where a black figure resided. It was him.

Looking over to Aaron, I motioned for him to announce our presence. He silently stalked to the other side of the clearing, putting the man directly in between us. Then, I heard his low cry, “Friendlys coming out!”

I saw him move out of his hiding spot, into the open. The rain made everything seem to fade to black and white as he approached the figure. Aaron stopped a few feet short; I could see his eyes examining the newcomer, making sure. Then, his eyes flashed to my bush, and I knew.

In an instant, I had sprung up and crossed the short distance between me and the figure. He did not even have a chance to react before the suppressor of my submachine gun was shoved into the back of his neck.

“Long time no see,” I smiled, my grip firm on the weapon.

“You never change, Nat,” the man responded, not looking back. Thunder rumbled through the atmosphere just as the lightning lit up the clearing.

“Good to see you too, Felix,” I replied. Over the years he had grown a scruffy beard which had already started to grey. His old age would catch up to him soon, but as of now, he still seemed like the old Felix Shadeswalker I know.

“Aaron,” Aaron extended a hand in introduction, “I’m Natalie’s husband.”

“Much obliged,” Felix returned a firm hand shake.

In their eyes, I knew they distrusted each other from the start. One loved me too much to let me go, and the other loved me too much to see me go. Both wanted the best for me, but their methods were on opposite sides of the spectrum. On one hand was the father, the other the lover. Love is a bitch of a mistress.

“So you got it as well,” Felix turned to me, brushing my weapon away.

“Obviously,” Aaron retorted, “Otherwise we wouldn’t be here would we?” There was the tiniest hint of irritation in his voice.

Felix completely ignored him, “So the Dominion is moving once more,” he sighed, “Those bastards never stop. There’s always someone to look for, to capture and kill.” He swore under his breath. Obviously the pains of the past have not escaped him either.

“Don’t worry, we’re deep in the forest,” Aaron moved up closer so that his arm brushed against mine, “Nothing can… oh shit…”

Irony was a bitch as well, no lie. We froze, our ears perked up; something was out there.

The snarl of a ligator reached our ears from somewhere far away, but the downpour quickly silenced its cry. The rain muted all else, punctuated only by momentary clashes of thunder. I felt my fingers tighten around my MP9.

Suddenly, I heard a brief buzz and ducked just in time as something struck the tree behind me, sending up a spray of bark and water. Immediately, the three of us scattered, diving into the bushes and ferns. I rolled to the ground and whipped back, firing a few suppressed bursts into the tree line on the far side of the clearing.

I couldn’t see anything. The setting sun had made the heavy clouds pitch black, veiling everything from view until a brief slash of lightning broke the sky. More gunfire erupted from the other side, splintering bark and cutting down leaves.

My communicator crackled, and I heard Felix’s voice followed by sporadic bursts of fire, “Natalie… do you see anything?”

Before I could answer, something suddenly collided into me, sending me sprawling to the ground. My weapon flew out of my hand and out of reach, a few meters away from me. Whipping around, I suddenly felt a stinging pain on my cheek as the attacker took a blow. Using all of my effort, I grabbed his neck with my free hand and kneed him hard in the stomach, breaking his grasp on me.

Hastily, I crawled towards my weapon, my fingers desperately needing to wrap themselves around the steel grip. Then, I felt him on top of me once more, and in another flash of lightning, saw his long blade about to sever my head from my body.

I caught his down swing just in time to stop the knife an inch away from my eye. We held there, each struggling to overpower the other, but slowly, I could see the clear, polished point edge closer to ending my existence.

Then, someone shouted, his voice penetrating the rain like thunder.

In a spray of blood, he was off of me, a bloody hole in between his eyes. Tilting my head back, I saw an upside down Aaron walk up to me, his right hand holding his smoking submachine gun, his left reaching down for me.

As he pulled me to my feet, my eyes caught a dark shadow come up from behind him. In a split second, I pushed him out of the way and dove forwards. My fingers brushed up against something hard and cold, and as I rolled out of my lunge, my index finger squeezed the trigger, sending a fine piece of hypersonic lead into the man’s spine. His figure snapped backwards and crumpled sickeningly to the floor.

And then, just like that, the gunfire silenced all at the same time. All I could hear was the rain again, as well as my heart beating against my throat. Aaron wiped his face and sauntered up next to me, his weapon held lax in his hands.

“How the hell did they…”

Suddenly, there was another shot; I felt a bullet whiz right by my ear. There was a muffled cry and a body started to tumble out of its perch on a tree. His sniper rifle crashed to the ground just as the vines wrapped themselves around his foot, holding him suspended upside down a few feet above the wet underbrush.

Felix emerged from the shadows behind us, the barrel of his assault rifle panting after its last exclamation. He brushed past us and walked straight up to the hanging man who groaned, a crimson patch starting to form at his abdomen.

“Who are you?” Felix demanded, grabbing the man’s face.

He answered with a moan of pain.

“How did you find us?” Felix tried again, shaking the man’s head.

Still no response.

“Who sent you?”

The man coughed up a bit of blood, then in a wry voice finally spoke, “We’ll find him… and kill him… We’ll… make him suffer… argh… we’ll make him… bleed… we’ll…”

Felix raised his weapon and fired a single shot into the man’s mouth. The bullet tore through his throat and penetrated through the spinal cord, silencing him forever. A clash of thunder replied, matching our own.

“Well shit…” Felix muttered, turning back to us. He looked me directly in the eyes, “We best find him before they do…”

And with that, we were shadows again. The rain fell and the thunder roared.