Title: Hunted
Author: Sarge
E-Mail: Shalimarfox2@aol.com
"Hey Shal? You doing ok?" Shalimar heard Brennan say from below her.
"Yeah, I'm ok," she replied as she glanced down at him. She could see he was struggling a little bit, but he was doing alright. She, herself, was a bit worse off than him. While she usually found rock climbing fun and invigorating, it was not the same in this case. Her ankle kept sending agonizing waves of pain up her leg and because of it, she kept on slipping. She had almost fallen several times, but it was her sheer will to get home alive that kept her holding on. She was roughly about 80 feet from the bottom and Brennan was about 5 or 6 feet below her.
Suddenly, just as she lowered herself down the rock face a little bit more, the rock above her exploded in a cloud if dust. She had to close her eyes to keep the dirt from getting in them. Then the rock beside her exploded as well. She glanced over her shoulder to see another man, at the bottom of the ridge, shooting at her. She then looked down to see Brennan hiding somewhat in a small crevice. Just as she heard the gun go off again, she felt a sharp burning pain in her shoulder. She struggled to keep hold of the rock, but the pain was too intense. It was at that moment her hand slipped and she was sent plummeting toward the rocky ground below. Suddenly, she stopped falling as she felt something grab a hold of her wrist. Looking up, she noticed that Brennan had caught her by her wrist and was now holding onto the rock with only one hand.
"Nice catch," Shalimar commended between clenched teeth.
"Thanks," was all he said. The rock he was holding on to was digging deep into his hand and with the added weight of Shalimar, he wasn't sure he could hold on much longer. Not to mention the fact that the man at the bottom was now shooting at the both of them. He ducked slightly as another bullet soared over his head and planted itself in the rock face. There was no way they were going to get out of this alive unless he got rid of the guy at the bottom, but the only way he could do that would be to let go of Shalimar.
"Shalimar?!" he shouted.
She looked up at him, pain written across her face. "Yeah?" she replied, her voice faint.
"I need you to get a hold on the rock," he told her. Seeing her kind of dazed look, he continued, "I need to get rid of the guy at the bottom and the only way I can do that is to fry him. So, I need my hand free. That's why I need you to get a hold on the rock. Can you do that, Shal?"
Shalimar nodded her head.
"Ok. I'm going to swing you over and then you can grab on. Alright?"
She nodded again. "Yeah."
"Ok. On three. Ready?…One…two…THREE!" At that, he swung her over and she grabbed onto the rock face. As soon as he let go of Shalimar, Brennan shot a bolt of electricity at the man below. As usual, it hit its mark with a deadly accuracy. The man flew backwards and landed on the ground with a loud thump. From there, he didn't rise again.
With a triumphant smile, Brennan looked back down at Shalimar to see that she wasn't doing to well. His smile faded when he saw that she was barely hanging on and her head was bobbing back and forth as she fought to remain conscious.
He quickly climbed down to her and said, "Shal, we only have a little more to go. Now, I need you to stay with me. Can you do that?"
Shalimar looked over at him and gave him a weak smile. "Yeah, I can do that."
"That's my girl," he said with a grin.
'His girl? I like that,' Shalimar thought to herself as she slowly, with the help of Brennan, re-started her descent to the bottom.
TO BE CONTINUED
(A/N: I know that this chapter was extremely short, but I promise the next one will be longer. I hope ya like it so far! PLEASE REVIEW!!!)
