I wrote this while listening to the song above, thought that it might be interesting to share and let you listen while reading

"Are you goddamn crazy? We are literally going to die from the rocks shredding us to bits before we get to safety." You handed Tam a bark from the log on the ground. You planned to use it as a swimming board.

"Either take our chances with the river, or get up this... wall and run like shit— where there might be a chance that psycho makes a U-turn to get our asses." Tam gulped, wincing at the sandy feeling in her throat.

"It's moving in the opposite direction, though... if we ride it, we are gonna go back to where we came from."

"That's my plan."

"What?? We are supposed to go to the clearing! Not go back!" Tam shook you by the shoulders.

"No, I know how Mayanka thinks. I've been with that bastard for a little over a year now. He's probably there, already waiting for us!" You licked your dry lips, before continuing to speak.

"I don't know how far is it from here to the clearing, but we can get back to the beach in... I dunno, three minutes? For sure, we'll get there first with some time to spare before Mayanka gets back."

"What's your goddamn point!? Sure, we get back there, make him go on a wild goose chase. Then what? We run back to the clearing? Give him another wild goose chase?" Tam felt her blood boil, she's tired of this. Tired of nothing going her way, tired of being in a dilemma. Tired of being hopeless and powerless.

"We make your rescue team land on the beach."

Wait. That's a good idea.

"...that's a good plan. But how are we going to tell them to do that? I don't have any flare signals with me, they're all back at the clearing."

"What about your friend's torchlight?"

"Hal's torch is probably out of juice by now, so we can't use that."

You grumbled. She's right, how are you going to make a signal—

"Huh?" You squinted at the pecuiliar object on the ground, it's dirtied with mud and it's heavily torn.

It looked... familiar.

You examined it closely, it seemed to be a damp cover of a book.

"How to... survive in the wild for dumbasses... OH!" Then, it felt like a lightswitch in your head flicked up.

"Fire!"

"Where?!"

"No, we use fire!"

"Oh right!" Tam's face beamed up.

"(Y/n)!"

Both of you simultaneously widened eyes. Mayanka's echoed scream was enough to cause chills down your spine. It sounded like it came from some distance away, but if you don't hurry, he's going to be here soon.

"Go, go, go, go!" You ushered her to the bank of the river.

"Are you sure about this!?" She eyed the raging splashes. They look strong enough to smash a car.

"You think we have a choice?! Get wet or get killed!" Without thinking, you plunged your feet into the freezing cold water.

You spasmed from the frigid temperature, it didn't slow you down in kneeling. Now, your entire body is surrounded by freshwater, your fingers are tightly coiled around the edge of the bark. You ignored any splinters it gave you, now you're just focusing on riding the river back to the beach.

You took a deep breath, oh boy. This is going to use up a lot of your core strength if you want to make it out alive, you need to control your course well.

"On the count of three, let the river take you!" Tam nodded and got into position, occasionally stealing glances behind her to see if Mayanka is hot on your trail.

"One!"

"(Y/n)!"

The roar became louder.

"Two!"

Tam squeezed her eyes shut and prayed hard.

"THREE!"

Off you and Tam go. The harsh liquid splashed against everything, it was extremely difficult to think and plan the next step.

Water, water everywhere, you can't see clearly!

"(Y/n)! Move left!" Rasped Tam.

You concentrated your body weight on one side, steering you away from a boulder that could potentially smash your skull if you didn't dodge it.

You saw something solid and dark that is looming, it looks like it's stationary in the air.

It's a tree branch.

"Duck down!"

Both of you plunged your heads down in water. Liquid filled your nose, mouth and ears, a few air bubbles escaped your orifices.

"Gah!"

"Ugh!"

You and Tam gasped, coughed and wheezed the droplets out of respective respiratory tracts.

You felt your abdomen cramping up already, you wish that you had a body like Mayanka's. Less resistance to movement, more endurance and more strength.

Tam suffered from multiple cuts from the sharp rocks and pebbles, the water burned her wounds like salt on open flesh.

"Holy shit! Which way do we go!?

You squinted. The river split into three parts, one leads you to the left, the middle moves straight, the last one leads to the right.

"I'm going for the third one, to my right!" You clenched your legs and let gravity do it's magic. Tam copied your action, except she used a hand to push herself to the correct direction.

Tam is about to collapse from exhaustion, she endured a whole torture session involving her poor uvula, she haven't ate for the whole day and now she's in this situation with you.

Tam felt herself slipping away. She's just so tired. Her digits are frozen, turning slightly blue. Tam's sights became blurry too, her head hurts and everything seems to be muffled.

She missed when times were simpler, where Tam and her brother spent summer afternoons in their strict neighbour's home.

She missed him and his wife dearly, although he was strict while babysitting Tam and her brother, she knows that he means well. He could be really nice if he wanted to.

'Young lady', that was what he used to call her when Tam did something wrong. Like accidentally breaking one of his vases... it's not her fault that his vases are so breakable.

'Young lady', that was what he also called her when she used his makeup without his permission, ruining his eyeshadow palette.

'Young lady', it's almost like she can hear him calling her that out of disappointment, disappointed in her giving up—

"Your scream brought her back to Earth, Tam jolted in shock as soon as she can feel the cold water splashing against her skin again.

"H-huh—!?"

"DODGE— MOVE RIGHT, YOU STUPID BITCH!" You barked, spitting saliva from shouting too loudly.

She instantly did what you warned her and dodged a jagged piece of wood protruding out of the water surface.

"Hey! Don't call me that!" Tam glared at you.

"You don't seem to be responding that well to 'young lady'!" You snarkily replied.

"I— damn you! Tam! Call me Tam!" Her face turned red out of embarrassment.

"Alright Tam, know how to swim?" You asked, closing one eye to minimize powerful water droplets hitting your sensitive organ.

"Of course! As a geographic researcher, I HAVE to!" Some of the freshwater entered her throat, making her cough a bit.

Weird, it tastes slightly saltier.

"Good! Cause I can't, I'm relying on you now, good luck, soldier." Tam furrowed her eyebrows.

"What do you—" Her heart sank to her stomach.

The both of you are approaching the sea.

"NOO!!" At this velocity, the river will launch you and herself far out! She won't have enough energy to swim back to shore AND drag you back!

She shut her eyes, hugging onto her lousy swimming board like dear life, praying that her higher power will descend the stars and save her from this madness.

Nothing can differentiate her tears and the rapid slaps of water.

Tam was about to accept her fate as a dead woman preserved in the sea until—

"NGAH!" Something small but strong latched onto her leg, preventing her from washing away.

"HURRY! I'm gonna be torn apart like pulled pork...!" She looked back and saw you holding onto a sturdy tree trunk and her leg. You're standing up, resisting the river's relentless flow with the muscle mass you gained from eating and exercising so much.

Tam exerted all her energy to pull herself to the river bank, grunts and huffs were exchanged between you and her.

"P-please.... lemme rest for a while..." Squeaked Tam as she lied on the muddy-sandy ground, the grass beneath her is happy to grab some extra moisture from her drenched clothes.

"You can rest forever in when he shits you out in a bucket, come on! We gotta make a fire!" You, having more energy than Tam, dragged her across the rough ground by her arms.

Adrenaline is such a magical thing, it made you forgot that you were stabbed in the shoulder a relatively short while ago.

"Ow, ow, ow, ow..." she mumbled, her head hitting every small pebble.

"COME ON, COME ON TIM, JUST A FEW MORE FEET THEN IT'S FIRE TIME." You now walk backwards, dragging her like a sack of lazy potatoes.

"My name is Tam..." She slurred, eyelids slowly drooping.

A shrieking boom made the both of you flinch. Mayanka is closing in, but he's still far enough to give you time to make a fire.

"Oh shit, Oh shit, oh shit." Suddenly, a burst of energy made her scramble back up on her feet and ran towards Mayanka's hut.

"Grab the torch first and test it out, I'm gonna try to figure out the stuff we need for a fire." Tam nodded and made a run towards the spot Hal was last seen.

"What the hell..." Tam muttered when she found out Hal's body is missing along with the important torchlight. A damp, maroon patch is all that's left of her teammate.

Where did he go? Tam's face paled, she hopes that he's not heading towards the clearing. His ultimate death awaits him there.

"Damn!" She stomped her foot on the sand.

Looks like the both of you needed to go through the hard way.

"Think Tam, what else can be used to make a fire—" An idea came to mind.

"(Y/n)! Grab some dry leaves!" Tam yelled out.

"What else!?" You replied, gathering tinder for the fire.

"Where is that translator!?" Tam scanned around.

"How the hell is that shit gonna help!? You're gonna ask the fire demons to make a fire for you!?" You shook your hands in anxiety.

"We can start a fire using its batteries!"

"Well damn, lucky us. Under his bed!" Tam rushed in, slid down and grabbed the device.

She 'tsked' when she realized the batteries are encased within the device, screwed shut. Wasting no time, Tam hurled it onto the ground.

CRASH!

It shattered into numerous pieces including the thick, rectangular battery cell.

She frowned, that device is expensive. A pity to destroy, but it's either a piece of talking metal or both of your lives.

Both of you regrouped in the center of the beach, where it has the most space.

"Now what?" You dropped the twigs, dried leaves, bark— anything you think is flammable.

Tam began unbuttoning her blouse.

"Tam, what are you doing!? You can't burn your clothes, they're soaked!" You nervously bit on your thumb.

"I'm not planning to." She undid the clasp of her bra and took the piece of clothing off without hesitation, exposing her deeply scarred chest and belly.

"(Y/N)! SHOUT, WHERE ARE YOU!?!"

Mayanka seem to be getting closer. Looks like he followed all the way here because of your yelling.

You gasped and slapped your hands on your mouth.

"Tam, whatever you're doing, better do it quick—"

"I know, I know." She grunted as she ripped the metal wire off her bra.

She used all her strength to make a small coil in the middle. Tam then placed each end of the twisted underbra wire onto opposite ends of the battery.

She held them firmly in place, the coil in the middle is touching the dry tinder. A voltage pushes the current through the wire, heating it up quickly.

"SHIT!" Her hands jerked backwards and made her drop it, losing all progress.

"The hell happened!?" You hissed, glancing back at you.

"You got any dry fabric or something? It's too hot!" Exclaimed Tam while blowing on her lightly burnt fingers.

"I can go in and grab something for you—" Your ears perked up at the sound of rustling.

"Son of a bitch— screw it! Go distract Madonna or whatever that guy's name is! I'm gonna start this damn fire!" She shoo-ed you away.

"(Y/n)!" You whipped your head to Mayanka. Your (e/c) eyes scanned him up and down.

Good. No blood on him.

"The hell do I do!? He's like two vending machines stacked up on top of each other, how am I gonna fight that!?" You panicked, Mayanka took large strides towards you.

"He's obviously in love with you, go run into his arms and hug him! Try... ungh, this shit burns!— try to slow him down! Sumo wrestle— AGH!" Tam hissed in pain as the coil glowed hot red. You could smell her flesh burning too, making you cringe.

You ran as fast as you could, heading towards Mayanka like a speeding train. He paused in surprise, allowing you to body slam yourself onto his rock hard abdomen.

You felt like you just crashed onto a wall, your entire form aches now whereas Mayanka only stumbled backwards a bit.

"Did you hurt?" He asked, concern with a hint of annoyance is dripping down his stern voice.

"Y-yeah! So you uh, gotta fix me first—"

"I will kill the girl." He gently pulled you away from him. Mayanka is absolutely seething in anger for putting you through all of that.

"What!? No! Please, why!?" You held him from behind, arms around his torso. Trying to anchor him down with your weight, but he ended up walking normally and you're dragged along.

"She hurt you, she take you. I will kill her." You gulped when you saw a thick vein on his hand, pulsing with blood, showing how much it wanted to strangle her.

"AGH!" Tam croaked, finally! Smoke from the tinder. She made sure to shield it with her damaged hands.

"M-Mayanka! I-I want a hug!" You grimaced at your words.

"Later." He huffed, prying your hands away from himself.

Tam gently blew air on it to spread the flames, bright hues of orange, red, yellow and white can now be visible. It illuminated a small radius.

"Yes!" She grinned. The smile then fell when Tam realized that a threatening shadow is approaching her.

Tam quickly fan it to make the flame bigger and bigger. Luckily you gathered more than enough twigs, leaves and branches.

Mayanka does not understand why is she trying to make a fire and where did she get the battery. He understood that the wire was from her bra as she's currently topless.

Did she really think she can defeat him with fire? One stomp can smother it in an instant, what exactly is she getting at?

Until his ears picked on the sound of Helicopter propellers chopping in the air, growing in volume. Mayanka's blood ran cold.

Mayanka suddenly start running, the only goal in his mind is to destroy the flame before it catches any attention.

Tam, too tired and frightened, quickly crawled away from Mayanka's line of force. Leaving the small fire to be vulnerable to the elements.

"Mayanka, NO!" You extended your hand out, but it was too late.

The fire is gone.

No more smoke.

No more signal.

Tam let out a sob, she burnt her fingers for nothing...?

Everyone stayed still as the helicopter descended from the skies and landed on the clearing very far away from the three of you.

Tam can't scream loud enough. You can't neither, your throat is all scratchy after that intense chase with Mayanka.

For sure Mayanka won't make a peep despite having the voice as loud as a space rocketship.

Tam wiped tears off her face, it's over. She's going to die.

Mayanka's snarl broke Tam out of her despair, her lower lipped trembled as she watched Mayanka's massive figure tower over her.

"Annoying—"

THUD!

Mayanka groaned in pain, his hand rubbing his head.

"TAM! RUN!" You yelled, sitting on top of Mayanka after miraculously, successfully tackling him down to the ground.

She weakly scrambled back up on her feet and began her exhausting journey again.

You have a feeling that you have broken some bones or shredded a few muscles to the point of destruction. Adrenaline is one hell of a painkiller.

"Wha—" Mayanka pushed you off him.

He rose up and dusted himself before menacingly pointing at you, saying:

"I will rape you later!"

...before giving chase to Tam.

You pushed away your memories and flashbacks. Now is not the time to mentally collect yourself, now is the time to attack his ankles.

You shot out to ring your arms around his two ankles, making him trip in the process. Unfortunately, his entire height did not collapse to the ground, he only stumbled a bit after tripping.

"(Y/n)!" He shouted, trying to intimidate you into submission. It doesn't work on you now.

"You wanna kill her? You gotta kill me first." You then sunk your teeth into his calf.

He let out a surprised and pained yell. The mutant controlled himself from kicking out of reflex as he knew that it's strong enough to kill you.

"Stop!" Mayanka tore you away from his lower appendages and carried you in his arms.

You screamed, slapped kick and punched him to the best of your abilities. Mayanka seem to predict your every move and dodged all of your hits.

You tried biting him, but you only managed to bite his palms because he was using it to cover your entire face like a mask.

"I will cut your arm, stop!" Mayanka is getting desperate, rape threats doesn't seem to work on you anymore.

...And neither does death or injury threats.

This isn't worth severely hurting you, Mayanka suddenly threw you a few feet away from him like a ball, he made sure to throw you correctly though. No landing on your head or back, only your rear.

You crashed onto the ground, soft sand cushioning your fall so there aren't any more injuries.

Mayanka went onto chase Tam, who is at the edge of the jungle, struggling to get over this one, large tree root.

"TAM! HURRY!" She looked behind her and saw Mayanka looming closer and closer like a jumpscare.

You followed them too, kicking the sand under your feet to move your body.

"TAM!" By the time you got close enough to see what's happening...

Tam is gasping for air with Mayanka's huge hands wrapped around her neck. Her feet is dangling in the chilly, night air.