The whole affair was bad for all of them, and she didn't want to spend another night on the planet. They need rest, medical attention, decent food and the water supply was fading fast. She had marched steadily on, head down, save for every few steps glancing up to see which way Daniel was headed. Pausing, Sam scanned the forest, and noticed they'd arched back towards the treeline itself.
"Daniel"
He paused and turned back to her, as she arched her head towards the treeline, beyond which glimpses of the vast field like network.
"We're definitely going in the right direction?"
Sam had full confidence in his following the direction she'd set, via compass and keeping mind they had to stay in the safe undercover of trees. However having strayed this close to the treeline, she had to ask. She watched as he looked at his wrist, for the compass direction.
"Yeah, we're definitely on the right track"
Sam's heart skipped a beat and she couldn't help but smile slightly.
"Which means, we must be getting close to the gate. I set us on a trajectory, which would hopefully bring us near to the point we exited the forest into the open plain. If were getting closer to the treeline, we must be close to the path which brought us out."
"So we find the path, we follow it in the opposite direction..." started Cameron from behind her
"We get to the gate" finished Daniel with a smile.
Sam merely nodded
"We just gotta find the path," she added to herself as Daniel turned to start walking once more
Despite being weary and wanting rest, Sam put on foot in front of the other and continued on. Being this close to hopefully their goal, she didn't want to waste any time in getting there. She knew that if they carried on, at some point they had to cross the path, which led through the trees to the gate. The forest curved right around the open plains of the planet, and they had basically walked a straight line through them when they'd first arrived.
As she mused on her thoughts, head down, pushing away the pain, which was searing through her arms and upper body, she frowned as she bumped forcefully into Daniel who had stopped mid step.
"Daniel" she started, but he silenced her with a raised hand
She gave him a questioning look, as he looked ahead of them, peering through the trees. She followed his look, warily, trying to pick up on whatever he had, but nothing came to her attention.
"Daniel..." trying once more to get some answers, keeping her tone low
"I thought I heard something" replied Daniel with a shrug, in an equally low voice
Sam looked about her once more, before lowering the stretcher to the ground.
Cameron looked up at the two, with a raised brow, wondering what was going on. Sam readied her weapon and stood by Daniel once more.
"I'll go scout out ahead..."
"Sam it could be nothing"
"Or it could be something Daniel...We haven't come this far, just for someone to ambush us, Prior or otherwise" said Sam, unwilling to take any chances. So far on their trek, nothing had come to their attention, to make them wary of who or what was around them, so she was taking Daniel's concern quite seriously.
"I'll come with you"
Sam merely rolled her eyes in his direction and he admitted defeat as she cast an eye over his condition.
"At least stay in contact," he said with a slightly defeated air
"Hopefully the radios will work, this part of the forest is pretty dense. Just stay out of sight and keep an eye on Mitchell"
"Mitchell can keep an eye on himself" muttered Cameron from the stretcher
Sam and Daniel exchanged glances before Sam turned and made her way strategically through the trees, alert for any signs of visitors. After weaving her way through the dense network of trees and shrubs of various sizes, she happened upon a path, which she summarised to be the one they'd followed on first arrival. She checked her watch and made mental notes of her position, before scouting the pathway from the confines of plantation.
Pressing her fingers to her radio, she was about to radio Daniel when she tensed, her ears having picked up on sound of movement to her left. She lowered her hand back to her gun and peered to her left, but saw nothing in her peripheral view.
Listening carefully, she retreated further back into the undergrowth, and changed her direction, slowly manoeuvring, circling where the sound was coming from whilst at the same time keeping some distance between herself and it. She took up position near a clutch of thick trees and scoured the area for any signs of movement. It was then she noticed a movement through the trees, it disappeared as quickly as she picked up on it and her senses went on high alert. Her fingers slipped back to her radio, merely to turn the switch, in case Daniel tried to contact her and gave her own position away.
Taking a breath she summarised the situation. Someone was in the forest, being as stealthy as she, trying to stay out of sight. They could be following her, as much as she thought she was following them. Or they could be completely unaware of her and be doing something of their own accord. Sam doubted herself on the latter option, but she was admittedly someone who tried to see all the sides.
She frowned at her questioning mind and changed to tactics. Peering out from her position, she tried to pick up on their movements once more. After more than a minute, they finally gave themselves away as Sam's sharp eyes picked up on a slight movement through the trees directly ahead of her. She mentally followed the position she'd first noticed movement, to where she noticed the second to figure out their direction. Sam doubted this was the prior who was moving through the forest for whatever reason. It just didn't seem to be their style, however she couldn't be sure. Still she needed a good look at the other body to assess whether they were friend or foe. For that she need to get closer, whilst staying hidden, as well as determining whether they were aware of her presence or moving through the forest freely of their own volition.
She started to move staying huddled close to the forest floor, her mind constantly keeping mental note of her manoeuvres, so as not to get lost in the woods. Once away from the clutch of trees she kept to the overgrowing plantation which had surrounded her hours long trek, the other being was moving cautiously but away from her, and she summarised back to the path she'd came from. Sam found herself getting cautiously near to the other body; still unable to get a clear view, the dense branches and plantation made any decent view obsolete.
Her breath hitched and she pressed herself to the ground as she heard movement this time from behind. Swallowing silent curses, she quietly slid herself to an upright position and held her breath, the movement ahead of her had stopped and she heard nothing. She was aware of movement, but neither heard nor saw it, she just knew she was being watched. Her heart was beating hard in her chest and she took deep breaths to slow it, aware of the usual adrenaline rush she felt in such situations.
Agonisingly slow seconds passed as Sam weighed up her choices. Retreat back to Mitchell and Daniel. But if someone had made her position, she could lead them all into danger. She could head off whomever it was, lead them away from the two men. But if an altercation occurred and she was hurt, there was no way of knowing whether she'd be able to communicate with them, and they wouldn't be able to make it back to the gate by themselves. She could try and make contact with those shadowing her, but again, if they were foe rather than friend, it didn't bode well for any of them. It wasn't like the opposition, had made any attempt to make contact or show they were friendly. Sam doubted the element of surprise existed anymore, but she could still try and confront one of them, thus giving the other the option to back down.
Sam became aware of movement retreating away from her, but she was also aware that she sensed someone was still nearby. Perhaps whomever she was up against was trying to bring her out of hiding, by pretending to retreat, then again, if she stayed here the retreating figure would easily come up on her other side, thus boxing her in further. Her head was starting to swim with the possibilities, which seemed endless the more she thought about them. Her body was protesting at all the exertion, she was tired, and even her thinking was starting to wan.
(Sorry it took a near week to post another chapter peeps, but life got in the way of things and I didn't get any time to dvote to getting this continued, however hope you enjoyed the new chapter...Thanks as always for the FB/Reviews...and hopefully the next chapter won't be so long in coming as this one...I think we're nearing the end...if the muse and plot bunies don't come up with another predicament to throw in for good measure!...Sara Lou xx)