CHAPTER 2
The Rescue Team
Note: I'm gonna be switching POV's a bunch during this chapter. I'll try not to make it too choppy.
MATT
When Lance had not returned for about a half hour, he began to worry. His friend would occasionally storm off some times but he always returned all happy and calm about ten minutes later. It wasn't just that which bothered Matt though... It could be dangerous out there alone and he began to wonder if Lance had gotten himself in to trouble.
The furry slime from earlier had vanished and Natz had gone back to waiting and doing nothing.
Matt began to pace back and forth around the cave, glancing irritably at the entrance every so often. His irritation came only from the worry that something had happened to Lance.
"Alright, let's go find him," he sighed.
Natz looked up immediately and nodded. "Okay," she stared shortly. Nothing else. No lightness, no joking. He was taken aback a little, but he guessed she was just feeling annoyed at her grumpy friend - or colleague, as she called him sometimes when they argued. But he knew they both cared about each other in their own stubborn ways.
LANCE
He woke to a throbbing ache across his body.
It took him a long time to remember where he was and what happened, and once he did, he forced himself to open his eyes and see where he was. His vision was blurry and the pain increased ever so slightly as he opened his eyes, but he managed to see a long black shape in front of him, lying in the grass.
It took him several moments to recognize his gun.
He forced himself to release a long, heavy breath, and immediately regretted it as he felt an extreme pressure in his chest.
It quickly turned to pain.
He cried out a little, his body jerking in a weak sort of shudder.
Moving was out of the question. He was just going to have to lie there until someone found him, and hopefully that someone would be Matt and/or Natalie.
What if the monster was still there?
His paranoia grew and grew until it became nearly unbearable. He had to find out, somehow. He very slowly began to move his head, lifting his mouth out of the little pool of blood that had formed around it while he had been unconscious. As he looked, he saw a long shape on his other side, and without stopping to focus or figure out what it was, he jerked violently away before crying out in pain and slipping back in to his small, protective position.
It must be there still, watching him.
He shut his eyes tightly as he lay shaking with fear and pain.
MATT
He felt like they had been walking for only ten minutes before he thought he saw something. He wasn't sure so he ignored it until-
"Matt! Watch out!" There was an explosion over his head and he dropped quickly to the ground, watching as a red tentacle burst in midair. What the hell was that? He thought, then turned to see a beholder! It certainly wasn't a forest creature, so what was it doing out here?
Unimportant, he thought as he saw another tentacle swinging his way.
He rolled to avoid it, then ran forward and slashed it off with his sword. Natz ice spell almost caught him as she hit the eye of the beholder and it froze for a moment. Taking this as a chance to finish it off, he ran and sliced his sword multiple times through its eye. The flailing tentacles dropped to the ground, and he took that as death.
He sighed, lowering his sword and staring at the creature.
Did it get Lance? It was always a struggle for these, and he was lucky that Natz had seen its sneak attack before he was struck down. If Lance had faced this creature alone, then... He began to run forward, hurrying straight through the trees.
Lance wasn't complex enough to take a zigzag or curvy path. He preferred to just go strait.
He stopped for a moment, heart thudding in his throat, and he barely recognized Natz harsh breathing behind him. There was a motionless form lying in the grass up ahead. Is he dead? He thought, stepping carefully over the gun he recognized as Lance's. The closer he got, the more worried he became until finally he reached his friend.
He was relieved to see his friend's chest slowly rising and falling, but was rather concerned at the violent shaking that was wracking his body. Lance's back was turned to him, so he dropped down to his knees and grabbed his friend's shoulders to turn him over.
"Lance!"