Tuesday, May 13, 2008

Pathfinder Pt. 2

Dorian halted; hearing something out of place. Quickly he scanned to the rear, and dropped to a crouch.

“Blood” Dorian breathed aloud. “Tercius?” he voiced via voice bead.

“What’s up Dor?” Calius asked over the squad net; halting the team via hand signal.

“I’m not sure, but I do smell blood and Tercius hasn’t responded…I lost sight of him.”

“Full alert boys! Everyone take cover…Dor, I’m moving to you…stay put and scan for movement!” Calius replied.

Sergeant Calius slipped through the underbrush to the rear of the formation. Signaling for Dorian to stay put, he moved past him towards where Tercius should be.

“I smell it now…Tercius…respond!” Calius called in to his vox.

Following the trail of broken vines and other plant life… Calius saw the fallen scout. He froze in place, fully alert, looking for some tell-tale clue that would give away the assassin. Quickly checking his auspex, Calius finally moved forward.

Switching to the command net, “Raven Six this is Scout Six, I have one man down. Nothing on auspex and no visual on the enemy.”

“Confirmed Scout Six. Directing assets your direction. Locate the threat and eliminate it.”

“Confirmed Raven Six, Scout Six out!”

The corpse of Tercius was a bloody mess. Calius collected the weapon and ammunition and opened the pouches of the fallen scout. Finding the emergency beacon, he toggled it on and set it on the corpse. The smell of spilled blood was strong, but underneath it, subtly was another scent. Sickly sweet. Something…wrong.

The first raindrops began to fall.

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