peaks of metallic dunes — a scene only marginally lit by the fires they had created inside their TPs and Eio’s pale luminescence.
Teams took turns keeping watch. By the time it was their turn to sleep, Red’s exhaustion from the night before had caught up to him. Laying on top of the Gila skin was an unusual feeling. It was a tough hide that resembled organic armor, but felt oddly comfortable, like a hard bed. There wasn’t enough Gila skin to cover all of their TPs, so they all decided to sleep squished together in S’s. As Red shifted around to get into a comfortable position, he noticed that the rain had gotten slightly quieter.
“Are you really going to sleep like that?” Butz asked.
Red turned around to see what Butz was referring to and burst out laughing when he saw Raven hunched over with a dagger in both hands.
“Yes, and I’d stop laughing if you’d like to wake up,” Raven replied.
“A lunatic, that one,” Butz remarked with a grin as he went back to trying to figure out a comfortable position to lay in like Red. They recounted the events of the day as they tried to sleep, remarking that they had covered a more than adequate amount of ground for one day. They had gotten lucky running into the Ignot Gilas, hopefully their fortune would carry over to the next few days.
As Red drifted to sleep, he hoped that he wouldn’t have another nightmare. Consecutive sleepless nights would be too draining at a time when he had to keep his energy up. Raven was unlikely to recover fully by tomorrow after bursting all of her energy out to save Butz; everyone would have to put in extra effort to keep them up to pace. He went to sleep counting off his good fortune, above them all he realized, was probably that they had Raven on their team.
When he started hearing screams in his sleep, he imagined unconsciously that his hope for a pleasant dream was broken. But then as he became slightly more aware he realized that the shouting was coming from outside. A hand shoved him hard and he finally awoke with a sudden alarm.
“What?!” he screamed. Magnus had shoved him awake and was now doing the same to Butz and S.
He heard shouting outside; several people were yelling “Red.”
“Are they calling me?” he asked curiously.
“No,” Magnus said quickly. “I don’t think so, but we need to wake up. Something’s going on.” S and Butz soon snapped awake as well.
Raven, who Red realized had left their TP, poked in her head through the entrance. She was spot dry, which meant the rain must’ve stopped.
“We need to move. Now.” She said it with such stern alertness, everyone followed suit without a word. After Red had packed as fast as he could, he stepped outside, and saw what everyone was yelling about. It wasn’t his name, it was a single red flare that shot up into the sky. Red flares were different, they didn’t fire up and explode like the other colors. They were slow to go up, extremely visible, and sparked up into a radius that covered twice as much breadth as anything else.
They signaled danger - extreme danger. Not the type of danger that a team might want to face to score points, which was signaled by an orange flare, but the type of danger that indicated a team might have just been wiped. Everyone who saw the flare needed to evacuate the zone immediately. Red flares were rarely seen, even during field tests, and usually indicated either a natural disaster like a moving whirlpool or an extremely advanced stage critter.
Everyone scrambled chaotically to disassemble their TPs. They would have left everything here, but the threat of another rainstorm still lingered. Red suddenly wished that they had made camp in a more mobile and organized way; the scene was hectic as everyone tried to gather their things among the frenzied shuffling. A second flare rocketed towards the sky, this one even closer to them. Judging by the angle between the two flares,
Teams took turns keeping watch. By the time it was their turn to sleep, Red’s exhaustion from the night before had caught up to him. Laying on top of the Gila skin was an unusual feeling. It was a tough hide that resembled organic armor, but felt oddly comfortable, like a hard bed. There wasn’t enough Gila skin to cover all of their TPs, so they all decided to sleep squished together in S’s. As Red shifted around to get into a comfortable position, he noticed that the rain had gotten slightly quieter.
“Are you really going to sleep like that?” Butz asked.
Red turned around to see what Butz was referring to and burst out laughing when he saw Raven hunched over with a dagger in both hands.
“Yes, and I’d stop laughing if you’d like to wake up,” Raven replied.
“A lunatic, that one,” Butz remarked with a grin as he went back to trying to figure out a comfortable position to lay in like Red. They recounted the events of the day as they tried to sleep, remarking that they had covered a more than adequate amount of ground for one day. They had gotten lucky running into the Ignot Gilas, hopefully their fortune would carry over to the next few days.
As Red drifted to sleep, he hoped that he wouldn’t have another nightmare. Consecutive sleepless nights would be too draining at a time when he had to keep his energy up. Raven was unlikely to recover fully by tomorrow after bursting all of her energy out to save Butz; everyone would have to put in extra effort to keep them up to pace. He went to sleep counting off his good fortune, above them all he realized, was probably that they had Raven on their team.
When he started hearing screams in his sleep, he imagined unconsciously that his hope for a pleasant dream was broken. But then as he became slightly more aware he realized that the shouting was coming from outside. A hand shoved him hard and he finally awoke with a sudden alarm.
“What?!” he screamed. Magnus had shoved him awake and was now doing the same to Butz and S.
He heard shouting outside; several people were yelling “Red.”
“Are they calling me?” he asked curiously.
“No,” Magnus said quickly. “I don’t think so, but we need to wake up. Something’s going on.” S and Butz soon snapped awake as well.
Raven, who Red realized had left their TP, poked in her head through the entrance. She was spot dry, which meant the rain must’ve stopped.
“We need to move. Now.” She said it with such stern alertness, everyone followed suit without a word. After Red had packed as fast as he could, he stepped outside, and saw what everyone was yelling about. It wasn’t his name, it was a single red flare that shot up into the sky. Red flares were different, they didn’t fire up and explode like the other colors. They were slow to go up, extremely visible, and sparked up into a radius that covered twice as much breadth as anything else.
They signaled danger - extreme danger. Not the type of danger that a team might want to face to score points, which was signaled by an orange flare, but the type of danger that indicated a team might have just been wiped. Everyone who saw the flare needed to evacuate the zone immediately. Red flares were rarely seen, even during field tests, and usually indicated either a natural disaster like a moving whirlpool or an extremely advanced stage critter.
Everyone scrambled chaotically to disassemble their TPs. They would have left everything here, but the threat of another rainstorm still lingered. Red suddenly wished that they had made camp in a more mobile and organized way; the scene was hectic as everyone tried to gather their things among the frenzied shuffling. A second flare rocketed towards the sky, this one even closer to them. Judging by the angle between the two flares,
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