Disclaimer: Nope, still not mine.
A/N: This is a bit of an experiment. The whole fic is, to be honest. I am thinking of leaving off the prologue and if you think this chapter changes the pace too much, please let me know.
Losing Ground
The cold air bit into her throat, making it hard to breath, each panting breath so cold, she felt it would eat into her and finally freeze her heart, shattering her into a thousand small pieces, too small to be found. Spreading her over the snow and ice, blending her with the trees and the wind.
Mac felt reduced to her basic instincts. Fight or flight.
Fighting was not an option.
Her shift flapped in the wind of her own passing, the frozen edges a whip to her tender legs, hardened from countless hours of drill.
FASTER
Her eyes burned with never-shed tears. A soldier does nor cry.
She ran on, straining to hear the sounds of the pursuers she knew were there. She wouldn't go back, to go back was certain death. Her feet slid from under her, sending her headfirst into the ice of a frozen river.
It would be so easy to just lie there and let them find her. She was so cold.
FAILURE IS NOT AN OPTION
The words whipped her into action, conditioning taking over from a numb mind and forcing the body to move. Tremulously she got to her feet and began crossing the waterway.
An ominous rumbling destroyed the perceived safety of her footing and she fell a second time. The water closed over her head as the river heaved around her, shedding its burden of ice.
Hands scrabbled at the ice flow above her head, freezing solid once again now that its victim had been captured. Icy fingers rose from the depths, dragging her down, down away from the light, down into the depths of blackness.
Silence reigned by the wintery river, sparkling in the sunlight, ice unblemished with no cracks to mar the surface.
FASTER!
FASTER!
Blood pounded through her veins. She had to find him before they did.
Her prey was only perceived as glimpses in the distance, flashes of skin, brief visions of fair hair.
FASTER!
"You have failed me!"
A shot rings out.
Eva's body falls and falls and falls, endlessly into the darkness.
"Have a drink with me."
"Where am I?"
"In hell."
She was getting closer. Her prey was now more than flashes in the distance. Slowing to a jog, the huntress watched as her prey came to a stop in a clearing in the middle of the forest and turned to face her, a charming grin shining on his face.
The dance was stunning. Huntress and prey were evenly matched, throwing each other across the earth of the forest, revelling in the feel of heat and sweat, exertion and accomplishment. Both figures were panting slightly, faces glistening, bodies warmed by the web of destruction they were weaving. Finally the prey faltered and the huntress pounced, battle over in a second.
The prey lay on the ground, movement impossible with two broken legs. Looking up at her, it spoke, even as the huntress' head whipped up, for the first time perceiving the sounds of another hunt, this one for them both.
"Max?"
The huntress faltered, disappearing into the depths of the persona that was Max.
"Ben. We have to go."
The fight had been too brutal, prey would not walk again.
"Ben, I can't carry you.
Lydecker's coming."
Prey stared up at her in infinite trust, recalling times when the huntress had shared his cot and asked for stories. The youngest of their pack, she had held him when the dreams got too much. He had been lost without her.
"Ben. I can't carry you! You have to help me. Ben, please."
Prey tried, really did, but it was not enough. In the distance the drone of a helicopter took shape, darkness crawling from the edges of the forest, plucking at her with wispy fingers.
The huntress looked down at prey and saw the truth. Prey would not walk again, she had been too good. Gracefully she moved to sink down beside him and pulled him into her lap, softly stroking the pain from his brow as she made her last request.
"Ben, I'll protect you." Utter trust was written on his face, shining now with the belief in - her.
"Close your eyes. Tell me about the good place." As he began spinning the old fantasy, the huntress adjusted her grip and sent him onto the next world.
FASTER
She had to run faster. They were catching up-
It's so cold.
The wind tore through the trees, slashing branches into her eyes; clawing her clothes.
She felt so frozen - afraid a sudden movement would shatter her.
STRENGTH
HONOUR
DISCIPLINE
The words appeared in letters of fire, scalding her frozen flesh, burning away clothing, skin and flesh, exposing the structure underneath, the fault lines of her soul.
A soundless scream tears through the forest, reverberating off icicles, bouncing from the clouds in the sky, echoing in the valley until it became a cacophony of sound with no clear origin, consciousness of the forest given voice.
Silence, oppressing all encompassing silence, pressing in on her skin with velvet fingers. Cotton wool filled her ears, mouth and nose.
"You are nothing."
The voice was everywhere and nowhere.
The girl clapped her hands over her ears to no avail.
"You are nothing to us."
"You deserve to suffer."
"Yes."