Late Night P2 | Rough Draft | Fin

Returns

"And you're absolutely sure you're okay to do this?" Jake asks as he takes a step closer to Spider. "You don't need to go back in there if you don't want to. We can find her."

Jake's still worried since last time Spider led a rescue mission, things took a rather large turn.

"It's.. fine." Spider insists.
He appreciates the show of care, though. "Ill be okay, Jake. I'll lead the way. I don't want her stranded with them any longer than they need to be."

Jake turns to the group of Metkayina next to him - all holding various weapons and dawning their garments in a matching group of warriors.

Spider has his bow, and Kiri has hers as she sits along the shore.

Lo'ak and Da'mik are far out of the way - already taking off to fly around and see what they could find before Jake and his men got too deep into the woods.

"Alright." Jake places a hand on Spiders back, and nudges for him.
"Stay close to us, don't get too far ahead."

Spider has an easier advantage when it comes to hiding out of sight, not even half the height of the men around as the crowd behind him.

Every little odd noise has Jake on edge, his knife drawn and hand on his holstered WASP should he need it.

"They brought me and Kiri from this section-" He begins to explain. "-and then took us down this way. It's.. a long trail but we will get there, I promise."

"What did they want with you?" Jake asks as he stays a step or two within protective range of spider.

"I.. I don't know. They never told us. The dialect wasn't easy to decipher. All I know is they kept us alive for something. They were in the middle of moving us and that's when she helped us escape."

"Did she make it out behind you?"

"Not that Kiri or I know. Last thing I saw was one pinning to the ground. She made us promise not to come back, no matter what happened to her."

He can hear the way Jake sighs so heavily, and closes his eyes for a moment as he likely prays to Eywa in that moment.

"Jake-" Spider calls out again. "-I don't want to scare you. But ... do you know of any... cannibalistic... clans?"

"Cannibals?" Jake asks, questioning the phrase itself as well.
"I don't know any personally, but considering we've had those kind back on earth - I don't see why they wouldn't exist here... ... why?"

"They shoved us in some prison." Spider pauses for a moment as Jake picks up a pile of large branches in the way, and clears the path for Spider and the rest.
"I.. the bodies looked.. mauled, almost. I don't know. It was the worst smell in the world, though. Some corpses didn't even have heads attached to them.
The heads were around though.
I don't know that they were all Navi.
So many skulls of all sizes all over the damn place."

Jake reaches a hand out and hovers it at Spiders torso.
"Headhunters?"
His gaze is harder, more stern... frightened, even. "Fucking damnit."

"I don't know.. maybe?" He shrugs. "It did look that way, though.."

"Shit. Should have mentioned that sooner, Spider." Jake calls for a stop as he hits the comms, hoping that since the boys are close above he can get a signal through.
"Lo'ak! Da'mik? Are you two okay?"

They take too long to answer, even if it's just based on how long it needed to reach them.
"Yes, father." Da'mik responds. "We're fine."