Deadly Wings

Cold wind blows violently across the wild landscape of the mountain region of the Northwest Territories of Canada; not in many years has a winter breeze been this ferocious. Among the rugged, frozen terrain footstep markings are planted along the deep snow, becoming more staggering and elongated as they lead up a small steep hill. At the top of the hill, a large collection of trees covers the majority of the land with many of the dead branches rustling from the wind or some of them on the verge of breaking off. One of those branches eventually becomes weak enough to the point that it breaks off and falls to the snowy ground below. As the branch lands upright into the snow, a wonderer slowly walks past it, leaving a large footstep marking behind. More markings are left behind as the wonderer, wearing prominently black and grey, tattered clothing, continues to slowly walk with the wind still incredibly strong. As the wonderer continues their slow and somewhat treacherous trek, they attempt keep their entire face hidden via a scarf and goggles; without much else and in weather like this, having something is better than nothing. The wonderer remains focused on their trek while the rustling wind continues to flow amongst the trees; branches and twigs also continue to fall onto the ground. As the wonderer makes it to the edge of the hill, they exhale in exhaustion but somewhat relief; that exhale is quickly overtaken by a loud sound which stops the wonderer in their tracks and go completely silent. The wonderer stays in place as they don’t make a move or sound, knowing that, that thud was far different from the numerous fallen branches. As the wonderer attempts to concentrate and listen for anything else, they hear a faint fluttering that becomes more prominent and eventually something lands in front of the wonderer. The wonderer quickly lifts up their goggles revealing their widen eyes, the left bright green and the right blinded, as they are face to face with a small barn owl. As the wonderer stares at the owl, it merely stares back and neither break contact; clearly this is not the first time the wonderer has seen this particular owl. Just as the wonderer takes another step, the owl quickly flies away startling the wonderer, but before they can take a breather they are imminently hit in the right shoulder by an arrow.

“RRAAAGGHH!”

The wonderer screams as they try to keep their balance and prevent themselves from falling to the ground in pain. As they do though more arrows along with stray bullets fly over their head which the wonderer notices and imminently becomes concerned. The wonderer quickly turns around and barely makes out in the distance four figures partly hidden by both the towering trees and almost snow-covered wind. Without a second thought, the wonderer quickly rips the arrow out, groaning through the pain, and throws it off to the side as they jump over the edge only to discover a steep drop below. As the wonderer falls, they attempt to brace for impact as they hit the ground hard.

“RRRAAAAAGHHH!!!”

The wonderer screams in pain as they wrangle on the ground, trying their best to get up and keep moving. As they try to get to their knees, quick footsteps are heard on the hill above as the four figures from before run up to the edge. The four are revealed to be four hunters with two carrying long range rifles, one with a bow and arrow, and the last carrying radar equipment.

“She’s down there!”

The arrow hunter yells as they see the wonderer on the ground as she finally gets to her feet.

“Well shoot then! Don’t stand there like a yolk!”

One of the riflemen yells as he and his fellow hunters ready their aim and automatically fire on the wonderer who proceeds to run aimlessly into the dead forest. The riflemen take multiple shots while the arrow hunter fires multiple arrows; each shot nearly hits the wonderer who luckily and narrowly manages to avoid each shot.

“Damnit!”

One of the riflemen yells in frustration as he stops shooting leading the others to stop as well while the radar hunter concentrates on his equipment, mainly a heat signature tracker.

“Keep calm. Heat signature shows she’s just going straight. We can catch up if we hurry, come on!”

The radar hunter quickly but carefully begins to slide down the side of the hill with the others following suit.

“Can’t run forever freak!”

One of the riflemen yells as he jumps off the edge, but unlike the wonderer he actually lands on his feet while the other hunters slide down the hill; as all three catch up to the radar hunter they resume their hunt for the wonderer picking up speed as they go. Meanwhile only a few yards ahead of them, the wonderer continues to run at a break-neck pace despite her stamina waning from both the physical toll of the arrow wound in her shoulder and the still powerful wind hitting her face and causing her eyes to water. The hunters are still in prime shape though and thanks to their more advanced weather gear don’t mind the cold and wind.

“Two yards ahead!”

The radar hunter yells as the four begin to make out the wonderer up ahead; one of the riflemen decides to take it upon himself to try to aim and take a shot.

“Got a beat!”

The rifleman fires multiple shots that luckily for the wonderer mostly miss though her shoulder wound continues to cause great pain.

“Aim for the legs or shoulders idiot we need her alive!”

The other rifleman yells as his fellow rifleman reloads.

“Shut up I got this!”

The rifleman yells as he finishes his reload and once again takes aim; only this time the wonderer is losing more stamina and slowing down thus giving him a chance at a better shot.

The wonderer can feel her legs begin to weigh heavily but she keeps moving; if she stops for a moment she’ll get caught and subjected to whatever the hunters have planned. She sees that just ahead though is a riverbed that’ll hopefully help in her escape and eventual disappearance. However, another gunshot is fired, and the wonderer feels a cold sweat start to cover her body; she takes a quick look to her left side and sees a blood mark expanding.

“I got her!”

The wonderer faintly hears from behind as the realization sits in and the cold sweat becomes more prominent; her head starts to feel light-headed and legs starting to buckle even more. She barely has enough strength to reach the small cliff leading to the riverbed, but just as she does her legs give out and she falls off the cliff; luckily, it’s only a small drop as the wonderer lands on the rocky ground though is now in complete pain as she groans. The hunters witness the entire fall and briefly stop in their tracks.

“You got her alright. And probably killed her. Nice going!”

The rifleman scolds to his fellow hunter who aims to fight back but the radar hunter comes between them.

“Not necessarily. Her signature is still hot we just gotta hurry. Come on!”

The hunters begin to rush over to the cliff while the wonderer tries to get up only to continue to cough from pain; blood begins to seep from her scarf to which she is forced to rip it and her goggles off, revealing her scared face, blind right eye and short brown hair. The wonderer attempts to crawl away but starts coughing again and coughs up more blood; the sight of this causes her body to start shaking, her situation becoming more dire. Time is clearly running out as well for she hears the hunters fast approaching. The wonderer looks around the area desperate to find any to place to hide; she eventually notices to her right a large fallen log by the river. With just barely any strength the wonderer crawls over to the log, grunting and groaning as she moves along. As the wonderer gets behind and leans up against the log, she hears the hunters getting close, knowing that they’ll find her no matter what. She breathes heavily as she tries to prevent herself from coughing, failing to hear something that lands next to her. The wonderer eventually turns to the right and is startled upon seeing that the same barn owl from before has landed on the ground beside her. As the wonderer catches her breath, her anxiety transitions to annoyance as she stares at the barn owl who merely stares back.

“Almost there, this way!”

The wonderer hears and sighs in frustration, the hunters are closing in and all she can do is look back at the barn owl, who still hasn’t broken contact. With time officially out, the wonderer groans and spits out blood from her mouth.

“Damnit.”

The wonderer growls as she sticks out her right hand to the barn owl, who in a quick instance flies up and screeches.

This happens just as the hunters finally arrive with all of them jumping from the small cliff. The riflemen and arrow hunter ready their aim but quickly discover the area empty, surprising them all especially the radar hunter.

“Ain’t she here?”

The arrow hunter asks as he and the riflemen slowly inspect the area; one of the riflemen, arrow hunter and radar hunter stay near the cliff area while the other rifleman inspects the other side of the riverbed.

“Suppose to be according to that whatever you call it machine.”

The rifleman sarcastically says referring to the radar hunter’s tracker, just as the radar hunter inspects it.

“I don’t get it. Tracked her right here and then poof gone. She couldn’t have vanished.”

The radar hunter taps the machine in the hopes to get it working while the others continue to look around.

“You forget what we’re tracking? Those freaks always have tricks up their sleeves.”

One of the riflemen looks across the river while the arrow hunter discovers the blood among the rocky ground.

“Well, she was definitely here. Fresh blood on the ground, so shouldn’t have gotten far.”

The radar hunter hits his tracker again and it automatically beeps.

“Wait, wait! I got something!”

The radar hunter yells getting the others’ attention.

“AAAAAHHHHHH!!”

They all then imminently look up to see the other rifleman being thrown over them and into the river hard, his rifle dropping into the river as well.

As the rifleman groans in pain, the others look at each other utterly confused while the radar hunter looks at his tracker, notices something and imminently looks up.

“Uh…fellas.”

The radar hunter nervously points up which makes the others look up as well. Both the rifleman and arrow hunter become surprised and shocked at what they are looking at; all the while the sound of wings fluttering essentially takes overtakes the area.

“Uh boss?”

The arrow hunter nervously asks the rifleman who tries to regain some composure.

“Fire! Fire! Just fire!”

The rifleman and arrow hunter quickly ready their aim and fire which causes the creature in front of them to attack causing the radar hunter to take cover.

The next thing any of them hear is a wild screech that echoes throughout the mountains; not of a human or animal, but something different.