Drenched with persperation and heart beating rapidly, Yulia strained her ears against the silence to try and pinpoint which direction the snapping tree branch had come from. Her eyes tilted up into the tangled mess of vines above, scanning for outlines shaped like humans. She kept her breaths soft and few. Warm sweat trickled down from her forehead and into her eyes stinging them, but she didn't dare blink. She knew she had heard something. She knew whatever it was, it was watching her. Why couldn't she see it?
Just as she was about to do another round of tree scanning, she saw an odd ripple in the branches. A slight tremor in the air. Squinting hard against the darkness, the small slice of light that illuminated the rippling air seemed to fade...a shadowy figure immerging from nothing.
Yulia's heart skipped a beat in fear. The shape was tall, humanoid, and extremely large and muscled...and was gone again as fast as it had appeared.
She thought her eyes were playing tricks on her.
Suddenly, more snapping was heard in the location where the figure had just been. The air rippled again, this time more violently, and shot off of the tree branch flying over Yulia's head. Instinctively, Yulia fired into the air over her head, aimed at the rippling air.
If it was alive, she was bound and determined to make it bleed.
Firing off a few rounds, Yulia heard a bullet pierce flesh, ripping into skin that she couldn't see. What she did see though, was a long stream of fluorescent green liquid appear, leaving a long tendril flying through the air. Again, Yulia heard the scream, this time it was right above her, and thundering through her head. THIS was what was making that horrid noise. About 20 feet away from her, she felt a THUD, and saw a few dead leaves scatter by themselves, along with a fresh dollop of the green glowing liquid plopping into the foliage. Branches and bushes whipped and tossed by themselves; the creature, obviously with some sort of invisible camouflage, darted away.
Yulia still held her pistol at the aim towards the path that the creature had made through the brush; as if she were waiting for it to come bounding back out of the woods again. Her breaths were now heavy and labored, and hot sweat streaked down her dirty face. Unblinking, she waited for its return.
But whatever it was never came back.
A few minutes later, Yulia allowed herself to relax. The forest was getting darker, and she noticed a faint glow emitting from the green liquid that had sprayed all over the ground around her. She dared not touch it, but bent down close enough to inspect it. Despite the fact that it was completely foreign and bizarre to her, it was actually quite pretty to look at. But the fact that it came out of some invisible creature who was obviously stalking her only made Yulia's fears worsen. Holstering her sidearm, she quickly turned around and ran the opposite direction deeper into the forest.
Hours passed. Yulia had found a few more streams and quenched her thirst, but she was beginning to feel fatigue and was on the lookout for some sort of shelter to use for rest. Following a wide, fast-moving river, she found a natural bridge made of stone, which boasted an outcropping with a steep overhang. Inspecting its integrity, she climbed up inside and allowed her body to relax. Looking around her, she noticed bits of dried dead twigs washed up onto the river bank. Using the last of her strength, she managed to gather a few armfuls so she could build herself a fire when it got dark.
She dumped the twigs into a pile and sat down again upon the rock. First, she removed her boots, and then spread her wet socks on a rock. She then took off her ripped outer shirt, spreading it down next to her socks. After inspecting her wound, taking a few small bites off of one of her Power Bars and washing her face off in the river, she opted to try and take a short nap to regain her strength.
The damp night's chill woke her a few hours later. Shivering, she got to her feet and gathered a few twigs to build a fire. Quickly she arranged them on a flat rock, and then foraged around in her cargo pockets for a magnesium lighter, which she used to ignite the twigs. They burst to life, filling the outcropping with a tiny but satisfying amount of heat. Yulia then placed her hand upon her pistol, curled up next to the tiny fire, and tried to get back to sleep.