The gun clicked empty...again. Jack blinked stupidly for a moment before remembering he'd never reloaded after ejecting the last mag. Reaching for his last full magazine, he slid it home and began to take aim.

However, before he could line up a shot, Jack found the raider looming over him with one firm, but surprisingly gentle, hand keeping his gun pointed to the ground. With her other hand, the raider carefully removed the weapon from his grip.

Not the type to give up, Jack reached for a knife but was barely able to draw the blade a half-inch before once again the raider firmly but gently grabbed hold of his hand and shoved the blade back into its sheath.

Jack was extra confused when the raider pulled him up into a hug, pinning his arms into place so he couldn't struggle any longer before whispering in his ear. "Oh, Jack, what have you done to yourself?"

-

Jack's attempts to struggle were weakening, but he seemed strangely determined. Angela spoke up over the headset. "He's worse than I'd feared. Between his exhaustion, injuries old and new, and the medications he's obviously taken far too many of, his body is at its limit. His eyes are dilated, his breathing ragged and uneven, and I'm pretty sure he's finally damaged himself beyond my ability to repair in a few places. He didn't seem to recognize my voice over his headset. I don't even think he's aware of who you are."

S'haar wanted to treat the obviously fresh injuries on Jack's face, but she knew he'd never let her do it in his current state. Instead, she just pinned him to herself with one arm while the other stroked his hair while she tried to speak calming words to him, hoping to snap him out of his hallucinations.

Eventually, Jack stopped struggling, and his one good eye focused on her as he tilted his head to the side in confusion. S'haar felt a bit of hope when he started speaking. "You again? Listen, lady, I'm flattered by your attention and all, but I told you, I'm not ready to die yet. I've got too much to do and too many people waiting for me. Besides, as good as your offer is, S'haar made me a better one!"

Despite the situation, S'haar found herself laughing at that, although she at least struggled to keep it muffled behind closed lips. Hugging Jack tighter, she spoke to him again, the laughter still echoing her voice. "Oh, my brave idiot. If we live through this, I'm going to have to reward you for that one!"

Jack's eye lost a little of its glazed appearance as he looked at S'haar again. "S'haar, what are you doing here...?" He quickly lost focus and started to struggle in S'haar's grip again, though he seemed to have a different goal in mind this time. "I have to... I need to keep the raiders busy! I need to keep the camp here until S'haar arrives! I can't let them get away with Em'brel!"

S'haar started to stroke Jack's hair and try to calm him again when he suddenly went still once more. She had no idea when he'd done it, but somehow he'd gotten his hands on his fallen gun. However, this time he was pointing it over her shoulder as he spoke. "They're back!"

Looking behind herself, S'haar could make out the raider who'd run away not long ago as well as five others who had joined him. She grabbed her sword even as Jack fired twice into the one that had run away before. As she charged forward, he took out an additional couple with two shots each.

S'haar slid low to get past the new lead raider's defenses, coming up in front of another who had not been prepared for the maneuver. She heard more shots ring out, even though none of the raiders around herself fell. That must mean there were more raiders in another direction. She'd need to deal with this group fast!

-

Jack found his aim more than a little worse for wear. A bit ago, he'd started calming down, but now his heart was thundering in his chest again. Additionally, his vision in his one good eye was blurring, and he couldn't catch his breath even though he was sitting on the ground. His hands were shaking so bad that Jack decided to fire two shots at each raider, just to be sure.

He took out the first three well enough, but as S'haar got into melee range with the rest, Jack noticed another raider sneaking in from the side. Maybe sneaking wasn't quite the word. With two swords drawn, he seemed to just be casually walking forward.

Jack turned and let off another two shots, but this raider moved differently. Somehow he'd read the direction of Jack's aim, and with deceptively rapid movements, further complicated by Jack's deteriorating condition, the raider managed to avoid the bullets.

Jack squinted in disbelief. Taking a moment to steady his aim a bit more, he fired again. The raider was grinning now, enjoying his new game as he dodged once again.

Jack was on his last bullet as he took careful aim, trying to psych out his opponent when the raider suddenly charged forward. Waiting until the last second so the raider would get close enough that even in his current condition, Jack couldn't miss, he finally fired.

It took Jack's brain a moment to figure out just what had happened, Somehow the raider had gotten both swords up to shield himself from the shot. Now both blades were broken mear inches from their handles, but the swords had absorbed enough of the kinetic energy that the raider seemed to suffer only flesh wounds and other minor abrasions.

Jack knew he was in trouble even as he drew his last knife. The raider's grin had only grown more manic as he closed the distance between themselves.

-

Lon'thul shook his head. This was the most idiotic plan he could have possibly thought of. He couldn't believe when both S'haar and his father had agreed to it when he'd first proposed it.

Getting the disguise had been easy enough. Raiders were wandering all around this forest in small groups, but they moved in such loud and clumsy ways that the hunters could spot them long before they were in the line of sight. It had been a simple task for the hunters to pick them off and take their clothes.

It was no surprise that their skills at silently approaching their prey and striking before the animals had any chance to run translated well in this environment. S'haar may be better in a stand-up fight than any man Lon'thul knew, but this was his element, and here, he and his father were second to none. They even took out a few more patrols than they'd needed when the raiders got between the hunters and the camp.

Getting out of their nice coats and into these inferior copies had been thoroughly unpleasant, but it was paying off now as they simply walked through the camp. The hunters had split off into two groups, with one group getting ready to create a distraction while Lon'thul and his father confidently strolled into the center of the camp.

Everyone in the camp was running around, attending to gods knew what. In all the commotion, none of the raiders spared more than a glance in their direction. Whatever Jack had been up to, the camp was in chaos.

When he caught sight of Em'brel, Lon'thul had to fight the urge to run forward and grab her. The key was to look annoyed, as though he felt this task was beneath him.

As they got closer, one of Em'brel's guards stood to meet them. "Hold it! What're you doing here rather than out in the forest, looking for the intruder?"

Lon'thul did his best to sound annoyed when he noticed Em'brel's gaze shoot up at the sound of his voice. "Chief said to move the girl. He wants to keep the intruder guessing or something." While he was talking, his father had broken off to speak to another of the guards.

The guard spit into the dirt at Lon'thul's feet. "He's not my chief! I don't care how good with a sword he is. That maniac shouldn't be in charge of anything!"

Of course, Lon'thul had no idea what the guard was talking about but tried to play along, so he shrugged and smiled. "Yeah, but orders are orders. Don't wanna get on his bad side, ya know?" Out of the corner of his eye, Lon'thul saw his father speaking to a different guard now.

The guard Lon'thul was speaking to laughed loud and clear. "Smart kid! Keep that up, and you'll get a job guarding a captive when everyone else had to go scour the forest!"

Lon'thul laughed along with the guard. "Yeah! How do you think I got this fetch job? Listen, get yourself a bite to eat. We'll take her from here." His father was talking to yet another guard.

The guard Lon'thul had been speaking with narrowed his eyes, suddenly seeming suspicious. "As good as that sounds, what say I come with you? She can be a real handful, you know?"

Lon'thul noticed the guard's hand sliding toward his sword, and he realized he'd "overplayed his hand" to steal a phrase from Jack's card game. Before the guard could react, Lon'thul kicked him solidly in the chest, knocking him backward.

The hunter drew his sword to finish what he'd started, then fight the rest of the guards off or die trying, but Em'brel beat him to the punch. As soon as the guard had fallen within range, she'd lept up and slammed a piece of firewood onto his head hard enough Lon'thul doubted he'd ever get up again. Then she repeated the motion twice more for good measure.

Looking around at the other guards, Lon'thul saw his father extracting a bloodied knife from his fourth victim, who was also the final guard. He had no idea how his father had killed all four of them without any of the others noticing until it was too late, but he wasn't going to complain either.

His deed done, Dek'thul whistled loudly into the air. Not long after, a whistle could be heard in response.

Lon'thul didn't stop and listen. He ran forward but stopped short when Em'brel raised the log with wild eyes. he raised his hands, trying to soothe the girl. "Hey, calm down, Em'brel, it's me, Lon'thul. We're here to get you out of here!"

Em'brel let her hands fall, and Lon'thul gently removed the log from her grip. "Come on, you've been here long enough. Let's get you home now."

That was when Em'brel's eyes lost their far away look and focused on Lon'thul's, suddenly lucid. "Where's Jack and S'haar?"

Lon'thul felt a slight pang that her first words were something other than gratitude to him, but he squelched that feeling, telling himself he needed to be better than that. "Jack's apparently been harassing and terrifying the raiders all night and into the day. As soon as we got close to the camp, S'haar split off to track him down while we came here to rescue you. Angela seemed to think he was in more immediate danger, but we wanted to make sure we took advantage of his distraction while we could."

Em'brel's eyes widened. "We need to get to them now! Jack is being hunted by De'haar, the leader of the camp!"

-

S'haar finished the last raider with an upward thrust through a gap in his chest plates into his heart. The immediate threat addressed, she turned to see what Jack had been shooting at.

As she did so, her own heart skipped a beat then turned to ice. This was impossible! He's been dead for years! He can't be here! S'haar stood rooted in place as she saw the thing that haunted her nightmares approaching Jack where he sat. Her mind was screaming in all different directions at her. Wake up. This is only a dream! We need to run now! He is already dead! He needs to die again!

She watched in hope as Jack fired at the living ghost from close enough range that he couldn't miss, only to have her hope fall to despair when the monster's grin was still there as Jack dropped the now useless gun and drew a knife.

That same grin had haunted her nightmares for decades. She'd told herself it was only anger she'd felt toward that man, but all the fear that had tormented her for years came rushing back in an instant. It was only after meeting Jack that she'd finally really started to move past the horrors he'd inflicted on herself and her mother. Now he'd returned, and he was stalking the one person who meant more to her than anyone else ever had.

Jack looked pathetic, sitting in front of that monster with only a tiny knife drawn. He had no hope of survival...

Something in S'haar snapped, and all the fear and indecision found itself hardened into a single point of rage. She lept forward, crazed with bloodlust.

-

Jack watched as S'haar charged his assailant, leaping through the air with her sword raised overhead in a double-handed grip. She brought it down in a blow meant to cleave her target in two. He caught the blade on the shard of his own and redirected the blow to the side with almost criminal ease. At the same time, he swung his other sword toward her in a move that would have decapitated her if it still held more than roughly three inches of edge left. But S'haar didn't evade or counter as she usually did. Instead, she rained blow after blow of raw fury down on her target, trying to overcome his defenses with might alone.

Seeing S'haar made Jack remember that lovely dream he'd been having just moments ago. S'haar had been here holding him and whispering to him. He could almost swear he could still smell her odd musk, which he'd grown rather fond of over their time together.

Of course, that was just a dream. Jack was out here in the forest to fight the raiders and keep them busy long enough for S'haar to arrive with reinforcements, and right in front of him, he could see two raiders fighting. Though the male's fine control seemed to give him an edge over the female's wild blows. The only reason she was still in the fight was the fact that the male was wielding broken swords.

Something about the broken swords stirred something in Jack's mind. Looking at his hands, he could see that he already had a knife drawn. He must have meant to use it on the raiders!

With that thought, Jack tried to get to his feet but immediately felt intense pain shoot up his leg.

Oh yeah, he had a spear in his leg! How could he forget? The raider was going to kidnap Em'brel if Jack didn't do something! Though he had to admit, Em'brel was putting up a much better fight than he would have thought her capable of, but she was swinging with far too much wild abandon! She needed to learn to remain calm and collected in combat, like S'haar.

Wait, no... Em'brel had already been kidnapped! He needed to get to Angela to heal his leg so he could track the raiders and save her! After all, that's why he was in this forest right now!

No...something wasn't right... He was mixing things up... S'haar... S'haar was here right now! She was fighting...someone...right in front of him...

Jack screwed his eye's shut. He needed to focus! He needed to cut through the fog in his mind!

Opening his eyes, Jack noticed the knife still in his hand. A thought occurred to him, and before he could second guess himself or talk himself out of what he was about to do, he slammed the knife into his leg, not far from where the spear had pierced him a day ago.

Even with all the medications flowing through his veins, the pain was intense. Jack's vision started to darken around the edges, but the haze was gone, and he could think clearly again. S'haar was fighting for her life.

Whoever this raider was, he remained calm and collected as the fight dragged on. He was letting S'haar exhaust herself while he, in turn, exerted the absolute minimum effort required to defend himself.

Even with only one good eye, Jack could see S'haar's eyes widened to the point that they showed all white around the pupal. She was clearly terrified and in full fight or flight mode, meaning she wasn't thinking, relying on instinct instead. All of her usual control and discipline was missing. In its place was a rage that was quickly burning through S'haar's energy reserves.

Jack had to do something, but what? Looking at the knife embedded in his leg, Jack wondered what use it could possibly be? It's not like the raider would just let him crawl over and stab him in the leg. It wasn't weighted for throwing, though Jack supposed that would be better than nothing.

That's when Jack remembered something from what seemed like days ago. Rummaging through a few pouches, he felt his fingers wrap around what he was looking for. Pulling it out, Jack could see the one magazine he had left, with only a single bullet in it.

Looking around, Jack found his gun lying not far to his right. He crawled sideways through the mud, grabbing it, and hurriedly ejected the spent mag before loading his last hope.

-

S'haar was breathing heavily. Somewhere, in the back of her mind, a voice was screaming that this fight was not going well. But that voice was drowned out by the thunderous shout of rage that filled the rest of her being.

Throughout her childhood, merely being related to this man had scared away all the other children, leaving her isolated. He'd rained abuse down on his wife and child, but the rest of the village had been too terrified to intervene in any way. Even when he'd finally had the decency to go and get himself exiled from the village in the middle of winter, he'd taken S'haar's mother from her when she simply gave up on life without him.

Now here he was, the beast from her nightmares, back from the grave to take the most precious thing he could from her! He would die! He must die!

Over and over, S'haar chanted these things to herself, fueling each blow with greater force than the last, but he always deflected the blows, his twisted grin never faltering.

Over and over, S'haar's blows slowly began to lose strength. Still, she forced herself to fight on, unwilling and unable to do anything else.

Over and over, S'haar slowly fell back. He moved with the same grace, speed, and control he always had. If anything, he'd only gotten better in the years he'd been gone.

Finally, S'haar realized she couldn't keep this up much longer. Her arms screamed in agony. Her thoughts were slowing down. Her breaths were growing more and more ragged. It was only a question of time...

That was when S'haar heard the familiar sound of Jack reloading his gun behind her. Knowing what was coming, S'haar made one last wild swing toward her father's eyes, forcing him to raise his sword to block and obscure his own vision. She then leaped back to give Jack a clear shot.

-

Seeing the opening S'haar had created for him, Jack squeezed the trigger. He wasn't going for anything fancy, just aiming for center mass.

Jack felt the now familiar kick of the gun, heard the familiar roar of the explosive propellant, and saw the familiar flash explode out of the barrel. For a moment, his hope was suspended by those three sensations, but even as he registered those things, he also saw his target already twisting mid-air.

It took agonizingly long fractions of a second for Jack's brain to tell him what he was seeing. By then, the raider had already landed off to the side, in what seemed to be an uncontrolled tumble.

Jack's hope died when the raider somehow recovered mid-fall and ended up on his feet once more. Though he hadn't gotten away completely unscathed. His side now sported a gouge in his bony plate that was slowly oozing blood, but it had been far from the finishing shot Jack had been hoping for. The raider stepped toward S'haar again, his grin broader and more insane than ever, when he suddenly stopped and tilted his head to the side as if listening.

Turning back to her, the raider finally spoke. "Who knew that worthless woman of mine could make something so interesting? With a few more years, you might actually become something worth killing! Unfortunately, this game now has too many players for my taste. Don't worry though, we'll meet again. That's a promise!" The raider then turned and ran, leaving an exhausted S'haar and a broken Jack behind.

Jack could just make out the shouts of someone approaching, but his only concern at the moment was S'haar. The two of them gave each other a look of profound relief, and Jack let out a breath he hadn't realized he'd been holding.

Now that the adrenaline was fading, Jack found that he was exhausted. Also, despite the fact he was sitting, he still couldn't catch his breath for some reason. On top of that, his left arm was suddenly in excruciating pain...

That was when the world went dark.