Thirteen- Running as Prey

Del circled the animal, Dimmit rushing to its other side, the goal being to confuse the creature. Del's simple knife obviously was t going to do much to harm the creature. To attack it with nothing else would be more suicide than strong.

"We aren't.. no." Arish stuttered over herself, she was falling into a panic.

Between Arish and Dimmits frustration and the creature showing signs of a higher intelligence than Del had assumed, he could already see this plan had no hope of working.

"Go." He said.

"Go go go! Run!" He shouted a second later.

The creature let out another horrible shriek and charged him. Del dove out of the way rolling to the side. Arish and Dimmit had already taken off down the path. Del quickly jumped to his feet and followed behind them. The three of them fell into a hard sprint, all focus diverting from delivering the stranger had been dropped. The only goal now was surviving.

The creature was remarkably fast. It charged after Del again and nearly hit him, a last minute jump to the other side of a tree being the only thing that saved him. The creature stood and reoriented itself, now fixing its eyes on Arish. The small Drenzien was several yards ahead of it but it apparent intended to chase after her anyway.

The creature barreled through the jungle after her, trampling many plants and small trees in its path. Arish let out a small scream and somehow to Del's amazement began to run even faster. Even with imminent danger in front of him he took a moment to appreciate the girls physical prowess. Soon however it became clear she would not outrun the animal and she dove to the ground in a hall, the creature was large enough and couldn't stop its charge so it passed right over her and turned around.

Del now caught up to the two of them and had drawn his simple knife. He thrusted his knife into the creatures side stabbing it twice but then it shipped its head with another shriek and Del was flying through the jungle. He landed twenty yards away, barely concious of the fact he had dropped his knife.

Another scream from Arish as the creature looked at her standing between her and the knife. Suddenly Dimmit came running out of the jungle. He dove to the creatures side and grabbed the knife, rolling under its body just before it hit him with its horns. The rhino like creature then head butted downwards just narrowly missing Dimmit, allowing him to thrust the knife up and cut through the creatures throat. It let out a dying gurgle and fell to the ground dead.

Del walked back over to the other two, still not fully recovered from being hit.

"Wow…good…good job." He said looking Dimmit over ther creatures body.

Arish was still shocked and wide eyed. After a moment she looked up at Dee with gratified in her eyes.

"Thank…thank you." She said. She too was breathing heavily. She had run faster than Del thought possible after all. Dimmit returned her gaze and nodded, remaining silent while he caught his own breath.

Del looked over the dead creature. Now that it was sat still he could truly appreciate its size. It was breathtaking, and not entirely unfamiliar looking to Del either which fascinated him. It was like a rhinoceros that was the size of an elephant. After a brief moment of being awestruck Del's mind changed gears to focus on the task at hand.

"Well, I guess we'd better get back to what's left of the hunter." Del sighed before turning back in the direction of the stranger he had dropped. The other two followed after a moment. The quiet rustling of twigs and leaves and the sounds of the jungle being a welcome change from the horrifying shriek from the animal as it chased the three of them.

****

The bound Drenzien was still in one piece, amazingly, but was indeed dead. The stranger had been trampled by the beast when he was first dropped and then again when the beast charged Del.

"I guess this will have to do." He said and looked to Dimmit, who just shrugged in response.

The two picked up the body and began the long trip out of the jungle. The hunter had chosen the location for his fortress well, directly in the center of the forest, equally far from both tribes Del had encountered thus far. They let out a collective sigh and began the long march.

After one hour and some change, Del was growing increasingly frustrated with Arish. The smaller Drenzien clearly wasn't accustomed to such long walks, or being bored. He must have answered ten questions in the last hour, five of which were meaningless and didn't need to be asked. He didn't say anything trying to polite, but the girls random questions were growing incessant.

"What about the venom? Do they have antivenom for the toxic creatures here?"

"I would assume so." Del shrugged.

"Pfft. And what about the plants then?" Arish asked, refusing to accept any answer she would have gotten.

"Can we focus please?" Dimmit said, apparently feeling just as annoyed as Del. He kept his tone soft but his frustration was obvious.

"Fine." Arish said, folding her arms and continuing onward, followed by a sigh from Dimmit.

The next hour passed in silence, Arish becoming increasingly annoyed with Dimmits lack of apology. It was more than a little uncomfortable when the three were distracted by the pleasant sight in front of them. Arish opened her mouth then shut again as finally, the treeline to the edge of the jungle came into view. The barren fields and sea that lay past it were becoming more visible by the moment. The sun was now starting to set, time seemed to love faster on this planet than Del was used to. Finally the large Ad'dache city came into view. Even silent Del could almost feel the collective relief from the three of them.

"Come on." Del said after they exited the jungle.

"We can get there before sundown."