“Where are you going?” Mark asked, as he watched Terra set off towards the mountains. He pulled up his mini map to double check and sure enough, the town of Landing was listed the other direction. “We need to go that way; my map shows Landing being on the other side of that forest.” He said pointing.

“No,” she said confidently. “It’s a trap. The starter map doesn’t show elevation, this entire area is actually a plateau. If we go that way, we will have to fight our way through a goblin and elf infested forest. Just to reach a sheer cliff face that’s impossible to get down. The only way down to Landing is to go the opposite direction, through the mountain pass.”

“Oh.” Mark felt like an idiot as soon as the word left his mouth. He turned his head to look at the forest again, then tried to change his map to show elevation. It didn’t work. “Is there any way I can reconfigure my map to show elevation?” he asked, as he followed her towards the area where the lake met the mountain.

“Sorry Old man,” she said with a smirk. “I’m pretty sure the map was set up that way to prevent newbies from figuring out the trap right away. You can get a better map using augmentation points, but in order to do that you have to get to Landing…” she trailed off and came to a stop, looking forward into the knee-high grass that filled the meadow. “Well shit.”

“What is it?” he asked, stepping up beside her to see what had caught her attention. He didn’t see anything at first, then his eyes caught movement in the swaying meadow grass. He squinted, trying to get a better look at the shapes. They were a variety of colors, greens and yellows and browns and every shade in between. His eyes widened when he realized what they were, “well shit.” He repeated.

“Run!” Terra shouted, and began to sprint towards the mountain pass. As soon as she did, the shapes broke cover and loped forward in bounding hops. It was the frog kin; they had been moving forward on all fours. That had kept them at about knee level and hidden in the tall grass. Now that they had been spotted however, they left cover behind and bounded forward.

If they were to stand up on their hind legs, Mark would have put them at just over waist height. Most of that height would have been in the back legs, and their bodies were skinny as underfed children. The problem was their numbers, Terra had been right there were hundreds of them and each carried a short spear.

Mark stood frozen in place for a second that seemed to stretch for eternity, before he sprinted after Terra with everything he had. It became clear almost immediately that she had a higher endurance and agility score than he did. She was fast, each step moved her forward with a lithe grace that Mark had only seen in world class gymnasts from earth.

They weren’t going to make it to the pass at this rate, there were simply too many of the frog kin and they were cutting toward the lake as they ran. Out of desperation, Mark raised the mark III to his shoulder and sighted in on the lead frog person. A green crosshair reticle appeared in his vision, courtesy of his interface. Once it was lined up center mass the crosshair turned red and he pulled the trigger.

The gun didn’t kick like he was expecting, instead a large blast of distorted air seemed to billow out of the end and consume the lead frog person. The laser itself was invisible, but as it left the rifles barrel it super-heated the air around it causing a shimmer effect. Upon impact the frog person simply ceased to exist, it was replaced by a blooming cloud of red mist. With the round fired, one of the ten large red dot lights on the weapons stock went out.

“What the hell are you doing?” Terra shouted at him over her shoulder. “If you have to shoot them, use the weakest setting. Damn it Old man, these things are weak as hell.” Mark noticed she had unloaded her crossbow and slung it over her shoulder. He guessed she was even more limited on ammunition than he was.

Pulling the rifle away from his shoulder, Mark looked at the ten indicator lights. One of them had already gone dim from his one shot. Finding a fire selection lever, he turned it one click. Each of the nine remaining lights turned into five smaller lights, turning it the final click turned those five lights into ten even smaller lights.

Raising the rifle back to his shoulder, he sighted in on the next closest target. Once the reticle turned red, he pulled the trigger again. There wasn’t a huge distortion to the air this time, there might have been a tiny shimmer but he missed it during his mad dash. The frog still went down, a tiny hole burned into its chest.

Mark once again pulled the mark III from his shoulder to check the indicator lights. Of the nine clusters of ten, only one small light had gone out. Damn, he thought. I wasted ten shots on that first target. He shook his head, just like that his rifle only held eighty-nine shots. Following Terra’s example, Mark slung the rifle over his shoulder and concentrated on running with everything he had.

Time passed in a blur of meadow grass, leaping frog kin, and heaving breaths. He didn’t know how long they had been running, and didn’t want to take the time to check. Instead, they just continued in a wild run for the mountains. Thankfully Terra had slowed down enough for him to keep up, otherwise he was sure she could have left him behind with ease.

Her arm flashed, bringing her short sword down on another frog person. The blade connected with a hind leg, biting deep and leaving the creature to bleed on the ground. She always went for the legs, never the kill. A while ago Mark had summoned the breath to ask her why she wasn’t killing them.

“Because, these things aren’t worth shit for augmentation points. Hitting their legs takes them out of the chase, and who knows maybe they will bleed out and I’ll get the points anyway.” She had called back over her shoulder, never stopping her forward movement.

It made sense to Mark; he’d drawn his Billy club when the flood of bodies had reached him to repel their attacks. He wasn’t nearly as proficient with this weapon as he was with the rifle, but the club wouldn’t run out of ammunition mid fight. The next frog hopped in at him spear upraised, taking his lead from terra he stepped to the side and gave a one-handed swing at the creature’s knee.

He hadn’t swung with all his might, this time. The first time he had swung at a frog like he was trying to hit a baseball. Needless to say; after Terra had fended off the frogs and helped him to his feet, he hadn’t repeated that mistake. Even with the controlled swing, he heard the crunch as his club connected with the creature’s knee cap.

Leaving the beast to writhe on the ground, Mark continued to advance. Terra led the way, swinging her sword. He was sure more of the beasts died to her blade than did to his club, but he was honest enough to admit that he didn’t know how to use a sword. He had been mustering his breath for a while now, he wanted to ask another question.

“Hey…Terra” he gasped as he ran. “Why…didn’t we just…stay at the shuttle? There was still…power on board, I could have…charged my power cells and…shot them as they came?” he stopped talking then, because he was completely winded.

“Tried that too…Old man.” She said as she ran, she was starting to get winded now as well. “I killed them from the hatch for three days…they just kept coming. They had to climb a mountain of their dead…but they finally climbed in through the…hatch and killed me.”

They ran in silence again after that. The crunching of bones and the shrill screams of their attackers the only sound, apart from their labored breathing. They had neared the lake’s edge at last, and Mark could finally see the mountain pass. It was narrow and wound its way up the sheer cliff face, like a snake winds its way through grass.

“Get your rifle out,” Terra called back to him as they drew close to the water. “Where the water is closest…to the path…a giant frog person…highest setting.”

Mark instantly complied, it took several fumbling attempts to get his Billy club put away and his rifle out but he managed. Once it was in his arms, he cranked the fire selector over to full power and sighted the water where it was closest to the path. His exhaustion and their continued pace caused his aim to waver quite a bit, but he held steady.

Terra had picked up her pace after telling him to get ready, as such she reached the trail nearly fifteen feet ahead of him. Just as her feet touched the mountain path, a giant frog person leaped from the water and hopped right for her.

It was massive, easily ten time the size of the others. The weapon it held in its webbed hands wasn’t a pointed stick like its smaller cousins either. It looked like a short sword mounted on the end of a large wooden shaft, and that slightly curved blade was headed in a straight line for Terra’s unprotected head.

Mark snapped off a shot the second the reticle turned red. At nearly the same instant the giant frog’s torso was melted away. What was left of the corpse flopped onto the trail inches behind the fleeing woman. As it died, all the surrounding frog kin let out shrill screams and dove back into the water. With a sigh, Mark slung the rifle over his shoulder and slowed to pick up the strange weapon.

“Don’t stop,” cried Terra as she continued to sprint up the trail. “We haven’t gotten away just yet.”

“Damn it.” Mark cursed as he tore off after her again, pole arm clutched in his hands.

Sure enough, not thirty seconds passed before another frog burst from the water’s edge. This one was as big to the giant frog as it was to the regular ones. It was easily the size of a city bus, and hopped up the sheer cliff, rounded toes digging into the path for purchase.

“What…do we…do?” he asked as he continued to hustle up the path. He didn’t know if he should try to shoot this behemoth or not. He thought about it, but that would require him to drop the spear weapon and he wanted to keep it if possible.

“Just keep…running,” was all she said. She hadn’t slowed her pace again after reaching the trail, only continuing to barrel forward as fast as she could.

Mark was beginning to wonder if she had decided to leave him behind, when she crested the top of the winding path. After she reached to summit and once again reached flat ground, there was a piercing cry from above. At the sound she dove to the ground as a flash of dark brown flew through the air where she had been. Rocketing straight for Mark and the behemoth frog.

“Down.” she yelled at him from her now prone position.

He didn’t waste time arguing or asking questions, he just threw himself on the ground. It wasn’t a moment too soon either, the brown blur shot passed him and smashed into the frog beast. Both creatures were flung away from the cliff face and plunged towards the water. Just before they impacted the surface Mark got a look at the blur.

It was a giant bird, at least twice the size of the frog. They hit the water with a splash that almost reached where Mark lay sprawled out on the path. A second later, the lake began to froth. The bird was fighting to free itself from the water, but it was being swarmed by frog kin. It gave a long-panicked shriek, and was answered by another from above.

A second bird came rocketing down the side of the cliff and barreled right at the water. It came up short and flew off clutching the behemoth frog in its taloned feet. It flew out over the water, rending the beast to bloody chunks before dropping it and turning back towards the fight that was becoming intense. The behemoth frog person was gone, but another handful of the large spear wielding variety that Mark had shot were now climbing onto the struggling bird.

“Come on Old man, what are you waiting for?” Terra called down to him. “We need to get out of here before the Roc’s come back.” He looked to see her looking down at him from the lip of the trail.

“I’m coming, I’m coming.” He grumbled as he drug himself to his feet, grabbing the spear once more and rushing up the final stretch.

“Good, now come on. We have to get through the nest before they get back. Here give me that, you will need your rifle for this.” she said as he crested the top. She took the spear from him as she talked and turned to go. “These ones are pretty small, the weakest setting ought to do It.” she called over her shoulder.

Panting for breath, Mark once again did as he was told. Taking the rifle from his back he dialed it down to the lowest setting again. He really didn’t like how Terra had managed to get herself into the lead position, but he had to admit that if this really was the only way out of the plateau he would never have made it on his first try.

“As grateful as I am Terra, this is starting to feel an awful lot like cheating. I mean so far, we have avoided death because of your knowledge. Is that ok, I mean, will I get punished for this?” he asked a bit worriedly as he caught up to her.

“Relax Old man,” she said with a half-smile. “Once we get passed the roc nest easy mode is over. The pilot, the frog kin, the roc. Each of them is predictable, well within a set number of rotations anyway, but once we leave this pass everything changes.” She said with a sad shake of her head. “I can recognize some of the beasts, but their placement and behavior are always randomized from here on out.”

“Oh,” he said and again felt like an idiot. “Well…I honestly don’t know if that makes me feel better or worse.” He said with a shake of his own head.

“Yea I hear ya, now get ready.” she said as their quick trot brought them around a bend and into a large crater lined with tree branches. Mark had to hold his breath once they entered the nest.

“God, what is that smell?” he said between clenched teeth. Trying to breathe as shallowly as possible to keep the smell out of his nose, and failing.

“It’s a Roc nest.” She said with a shrug, “they are carnivorous birds who bring their kills back to their nests. Come on we need to hurry, once you deal with the babies, we can make a quick scan for equipment.”

“Babies, you want me to shoot babies?” he asked aghast. Looking at her like she was crazy.

“Calm down, they might be smaller than the adults but they are still pretty damn big, and dangerous.” she said dismissively. “Get ready, here they come.” At her words two birds easily the size of a car flew into view.

Not seeing the featherless, defenseless hatchlings he had expected, mark raised his rifle and let off two quick shots. It took them down but it wasn’t enough to kill them, before he could line up for another shot however Terra jumped forward and speared them with the pole arm.

“Good, that should be all of them.” she said once the deed was done. “Now, hurry up and look around for anything useful.” With that she moved away from him and towards a small hill of bones. He looked after her, still trying to keep the reek out of his nose. Eventually he gave in and moved towards another hill himself, ready to dig for who knew what.

Five minutes passed as the pair dug into their piles. Mark found a humanoid skeleton wearing a shuttle emergency bag. After relieving the body of its bag, he slung it over his own shoulders. Terra had already climbed down off her pile and was motioning him to follow, when he saw the glint of steel. He waved her off, and quickly reached down for the object. He struggled getting the item out, but after another minute of strenuous tugging freed the item.

“Come on,” Terra called. “We need to go now, we are already pushing it.” he saw that she had two bags of her own slung over her shoulder, as well as another one of the frog’s pole arms.

“Coming now,” he said wrestling with the metal object. He didn’t know what it was but it looked like a vaguely box shaped drone with a steel round shield mounted on the front. If he could get it working it might come in handy, if not well maybe he could at least pull the shield off. Reaching Terra, he saw her eyes widen in astonishment when she saw what he held.

“What the hell are you doing?” she asked, “that thing must weight a ton. What are we going to do with that?”

“Is there a safe place to rest before we get into the next life or death struggle?” he asked without answering.

“Yes, actually there is a small camping spot that is pretty safe. We are heading there now.” She said as she reached out and motioned for him to give her the shield contraption. “Give me that thing, I am stronger than you are and your weapon is better suited to dealing damage to the roc should they return before we reach our next rest station.”

He handed her the metal box and watched with envy as she hoisted it onto her shoulder. She didn’t move it without strain, but the effort it cost her was clearly less than it cost him to carry it to her. Mark sighed again, he really needed to get some better attributes. Shouldering his rifle, he followed behind as Terra led the way off the mountain. They entered a cave opening, Terra led the way with her flashlight in hand.

“Is this a good idea?” Mark asked, thinking about all the possible dangers that could be waiting for them inside.

“I thought that too originally,” she said as she continued down the hole. “There is an over ground route, but there is an ogre guarding it.” she added as if it wasn’t a big deal, “there is a nest of rat folk down here, but once we clear them out, we can stay in their nest. There is even an opening to the outside with a decently large rock shelf in there.

“I thought you said that you couldn’t predict what would be ahead after the roc nest?” he asked suspiciously, wondering what she was playing at.

“You caught me,” she said with a laugh. “Truth is, I think there might be a short cut to Landing down here. Unfortunately, I can never make it by myself. Based on my upgraded map, I am confident that there is a way.”

“If that’s the case, why didn’t you just tell me? Even if this is a short cut, why risk it, didn’t you say you made it to landing before going the other way?” he asked her, one question after another tumbling out of his mouth.

“Yes, yes. We could go that way, except it would be two weeks of slogging our way through a leach infested swamp. I didn’t tell you because after the rat folk I honestly don’t know what to expect down there. There is a drop off shortly after the campsite that I can’t reach without some help. Just trust me on this one Old man, I’ve got a good feeling about It.” she said with a smile that would have melted his heart if he trusted her more.

“Fine, you haven’t steered me wrong…yet anyway.” He added the last under his breath. “How many rats and what setting?” he moved on to practical matters when he heard the squeaks of enraged rodents down the tunnel.

“Lowest setting, and there are nearly always less than fifty. There’s a big bastard near the end, let me take care of him.” She said, with a wry grin. At his questioning eyebrow raise she added “It’s killed me at least 6 times, I want pay back.” She said with a shrug.

“Whatever you say girl” he said, making his first reference to her younger age. He thought she was going to retort, but the rat folk came into view at that moment and he started killing.

They walked down the tunnel, Mark leading the way. Terra was right behind him, flashlight lighting his path. It was almost too easy. As the rat folk entered the range of the flashlights glow, their eyes lit up marking them out to be targeted. Since the mark III didn’t recoil Mark was able to keep firing without reacquiring his sight reticle. He simply walked and pulled the trigger, moving his point of aim every time a set of glowing eyes entered his field of view.

“Is this why you didn’t want me wasting my shots earlier?” he asked in a conversational tone while he continued to mow down the small humanoid rats.

“Sure is, though if there wasn’t access to sunlight at the end of this nest I would have come up with a different plan. It will delay us while your power cells recharge, but I don’t see any way around that. Can’t go into the unknown empty handed. Besides, you really need the augmentation points…your attributes are terrible.” She added, almost as an afterthought.

“Fine by me, I’d like to tear that drone contraption apart anyway.” He said as he pulled the trigger again, burning a neat hole through the latest rat folks brain pan. He swiveled the barrel back and forth across the corridor looking for more targets, but the tunnel had grown quiet.

“Here, take this boat anchor.” She said handing him the odd drone. “That should be the end of them, the alpha should be just ahead.

He stepped aside holding the drone, watching as she took the lead. He was surprised at her armament; he had expected to see her carrying her big crossbow. Instead, she held the small folding crossbow in her hand. She held it out in front of her, flashlight in a reverse grip in her off hand resting just over her aiming hand. It was a stance he expected to see someone with a pistol use, watching her use it with a medieval looking weapon was somewhat surreal.

His attention was diverted away from her as they rounded the last bend and found the back of the nest. Just as she had said, there was a huge rat folk standing at the back of the cave. It was every bit as big as the spear wielding frog, except it was wearing leather armor. That worried him, how was she supposed to kill that thing with that small crossbow?

Before he had time to raise his concerns, she fired her weapon. The small dart flew forward and buried itself in the creature’s neck. For a second, it just stood there staring at the strange pair. Mark had the feeling it was more shocked then pained by the small dart. The armored beast raised its foot to take a step toward them…when the dart exploded with a quite pop, taking the creature’s head off. The body slumped instantly to the ground in a spray of blood.

“Well,” Mark said staring at the little crossbow. “I wasn’t expecting that.”

“It’s no different from your pistol.” She answered as she turned to him, “The pilot’s sidearm always pack a punch but are limited in ammunition.” She smiled as she folded the arms back down and stowed the crossbow back at her hip. “Never mind that Old man, she said moving forward. Let’s get the armor off this guy and go see where we are gunna be staying for the next few days”

He stood there for a moment, watching her go. This girl was strange in a lot of ways but he had to admit, she had style. Hoisting the drone higher in his arms, he followed her down.