Author's Note: So first real action scene I've writen. Let me know what you think?
Everyone was awake and looking around. Jim didn't hear anything but his hearing was nothing like Spock's. His body felt heavy and light all at the same time. "What is it?" He asked without looking at Spock. He kept his eyes flickering between the two exits. There was a slight ringing in his ear.
Spock flinched and brough his hand up to one ear. "There is something making a screaming sound. Can you hear it?"
Shaking his head the former captain look back at the rest. They too shook their head. "Just a slight ringging in my ear." Chekov scream and went down clutching his leg. Blood oozing from a gash. Sulu rushed to his husband. The ground shifted and a hand shot through reaching for where Chekov had been seconds before. The hand sank beneath the earth as if it had never been there. "Out! Get out of the cave!"
They ran. Those creatures pulled themselves from the ground and gave chase. A third one lept threw the air directly over where Chekov and Sulu were. Before he could shout a warning a shot fired from near his side sending the creature to the ground. He glanced over giving a small nod to Spock.
"Why are they after you? Did you touch something that the others didn't?" Jim asked as he helped the youngest of them to his feet.
"No Captain. I was with everyone else." He had lost most of his Russian accent over the years. Jim looked him over spotting an open scrape on his hand.
"Blood... They are atracted to blood." He whispered. He pulled his shirt off leaving him in only his under shirt. He wrapped the wound on Chekov's leg making the kid cry out. He grabbed at rocks until he found one sharp enough to cut. Hissing through the pain he drug it over his hand. Crimson liquid began to spill over. Seven of those creatures turn making that noise that only left a ringging in his ear.
"Get to the river. I'll meet up with you there." Ignoring the protest of the other he ran. He didn't care how many chased him so long as it allowed the others to go free. Each tree he couldn't avoid he used to mark a path. His hand brushing blood over the bark before shoving off to run again.
His legs shook and his lungs burned. Sweat cooled down his back. The ringing continued in his ear. His feet slid from under him on damp leaves. He slid again. Jim struggled to catch himself until a strong hand gripped his wrist pulling him back up. He glanced over. "Oh thank god." Spock gave a small nodd pulling him to keep running. "How many left?" Jim panted as he spoke.
"Two had stayed behind. We took care of them. Four are still following us." Spock responded sounding as if this was nothing more than an evening stroll. Sometimes Jim hated being human.
He spotted the drop ahead just barely in the early dawn light. "Spock!" He yelled. There was no way the would be able to change courses now.
"I see it. If you don't slow down you will make it." He hoped so. He didn't want to become a pancake. "On three Captain. One. Two." Jim really hated this idea. "Three!" He jumped. Both feet landing on the other side. The ground began to crumble sending him pinwheeling. Spock grabbed his arm pulling him futher away from the edge.
They turned staring at the beast that prowled the other side. Jim rested his hands on his knees. "Why...isn't it jumping? Clearly it can."
"I don't know Captain. Maybe it has a range of territory?" Spock answered beside him. The thing backed away inch by inch making that same ringing sound. Spock pointed. "Look. It doesn't step into the sunlight." Where the weakest rays of the morning sun touched the beast avoided. The thing slowly sank back into the earth as the light grew stronger.
Jim let himslf fall to the ground. He leaned back just enjoying the air cooling his neck amd face. He let out a small laugh. Great they were being hunted in the night. "Why did you come after me? They need you more."
Spock was silent for a while before sinking to his knees before him. His hand wrapped around Jim's wrist a little too tight before pulling it in front so Jim could see the gash on his palm. "I did not see any of them foolish enough to act as bait while going on two hours of sleep and no food!" The half Vulcan glared at him. He sighed and went to work cleaning the wound. "I may not be your husband Jim, but I still care about you. I don't want to watch you try to destroy yourself again."
Jim opened his mouth before closing it. He looked at his other hand. The one hie bit earlier. "Is that why you left?"
He hissed as a makeshift bandage was wrapped around his hand. "In truth I left for a lot of reasons. The main one being unable to figure out how to stop the downward spiral you were in. I thought... I though if you could be free of me you would be able to heal. In some ways you did. In others I think you've gotten worse."
He had nothing he could say so Jim pushed to his feet. "Let's get back to the others. That cut on Chekov looked really bad."
"You should rest. We've been running for over an hour." Jim shrugged his shoulder before turning to walk along the ridge until he could find a safe way down. Spock walked ahead. "There seems to be spiders here as well."
Jim glanced up before continuing to watch where he was going. He froze and looked up again. His hand shot out yanking Spock back. His heart began to try to get out of his chest. "No..." He shook his head. Dread sank low in his gut. They couldn't be here. Sticky gray strands clung from tree to tree. No spider made them.
"Jim?" Spock called to him. He should answer but he couldn't stop staring at the trees. Why? Did he not suffer enough? Spock's lips were moving but he couldn't hear anything. His vision was going spotty. He felt his knees give out. Everything went black.
