Chapter (Escape into the Forest)
The sulfuric odor of the dewy grass could no longer hide them. As a group they tuned and ran pushing through the tall grass with a pack of Prehiss close on their tails. A bloated, sun baked corpse was a find, but fresh meat was far better.
Both hunter and hunted tore off in the direction of the woods, carving large wakes through the rough tall grass. At that point stealth was no longer the Vicari's primary concern.
“Split up, double back to the woods, we'll lose 'em in the trees,” Roland shouted back over his shoulder, lifting his voice in order to be certain each of his brothers heard. A pursuing hunter echoed his call. Heralding its bizarre cry out after its prey, it rallied its own pack to the call.
The brothers peeled away breaking off essentially into two groups. Angelo and Adrius button hooked left and were pursued by two of the monsters. Roland, Sun, and Cade mirrored them, taking off to the right and being chased by a hunter of their own.
Both groups moved with ferocious speed, fire pumping through their arms and legs. The smell and taste of the sulfuric air was gone now. Their only thought was that of escape. It was always easier to run when something was chasing.
Angelo reached the woods after what seemed like a marathon of grassland. The forest was dense and extremely lush. He crashed through several breaches, protecting his head and face with his forearms as he went, snapping branches and bending bows.
The Prehisses crashed after him. He ran through the trees and over a moss covered fallen giant. Just when he was about to change direction yet again he realized he was alone. What had happened to Adrius?
A sense of panic flashed itself across his skin when he first felt the weight of a giant hand pulling him earthbound. Grabbed him by the shoulder slamming them both down onto the leaf covered ground. A quick roll carried the pair beneath the outcropping of the giant log. No sooner were they hidden than two sets of clawed feet passed over top and into view.
Cade was in the lead of the second group, with Roland, and Sanis right on his heels. Like most Vicari the brothers were machines, able to run a full tilt for hours at a stretch, and drawing on the current they could far surpass the speed of any normal man.
But the Prehiss were hunters, designed over thousands of generations to run down their prey and they were closing fast. They had already made up the gap Cade had cleared with his jump start before the group had reached the halfway mark, and they were continuing to gain.
The group had fought Prehisses before, save for Angelo of course. There was a time when a vampire group had even attempted to breed them and set them free outside the rice fields of Southwest China. Cade had been privy to stopping that with a team of fellow Vicari.
Fighting Prehiss was always dangerous, but being caught out in the tall grass with them was suicide. They had to make the tree line.
In the ocean of open grass lands the Prehiss were sharks. On top of being able to see, smell, and hear better than most other predators they were smart, luring their prey into traps like wolves or wild dogs. The real disadvantage to fighting in the grass came in the way they locked onto their target.
Zeroing in on the specific electrical pulse of each victim's heartbeat, once they found their target they could trail it through the grasses. Sensing their prey's heartbeat through nerves in their snouts like sharks they stalk their next meal remaining unseen until the very last second. That's where they got their title as land sharks.
For Cade and the others a fight was becoming a very likely possibility. Though the thick grass made it impossible to see more than a meter or two ahead the brothers ran at full steam, mentally preparing for the voice of another to give command to turn and fight.
Then the endless waves of grass ended.
For the first time Angelo got a good look at what was pursuing them. Standing in front of him, puzzled by the disappearance of their prey stood two creatures, as close to dinosaurs as he had ever seen. They were huge too, standing at roughly three and four meters respectively.
Their snouts were long and thin, perfect for carving through the tall sawtooth grasses, and lined on either side by needle sharp teeth, designed for sheering flesh from bones. Their reptilian skin gave them the appearance of armor. Unlike a reptile however; intelligence gleamed behind their slit pupil eyes.
Two large spines grew from the back of the larger ones head, accompanied by a serrated ridge of bone that ran from its snout down to the base of its neck. The smaller one was decorated only by crimson stripe beneath its eyes, and the dried blood caked to its pebbled lips like war paint.
Lifting their snouts skyward the two both produced loud clicking noises from inside their throats. It wouldn't be long before they realized they'd been tricked. Adrius turned to Angelo, a huge smile plastered across his face.
“Go time little brother.”
Before he had even finished his sentence the two beasts snapped their heads to attention. In an instant two sets of fierce yellow eyes had found them. The Prehisses were quick, but so was Adrius, and the Vicari had the element of surprise. Exploding from their hiding place in a burst of leaves, moss clods, and rotten splinters Adrius drew his gladiolus and struck in one well practiced motion.
The thick bodied blade tore through the upper shoulders of the smaller beast with the red stained eyes, piercing all the way through. The Prehiss snapped at Adrius wrist before it even realized it had been hit. Withdrawing his blade Adrius ducked beneath the sweeping tail and avoiding the razor sharp teeth of the undaunted Prehiss.
The blade's pull back spilled a stream of dark maroon blood onto the leaves and dropped the massive framed reptile in a painful scream. The smaller creature dropped and began convulsing from a wounded spine.
Angelo came crashing out from beneath the log, not quite as gracefully as his brother, just as the Prehiss hit the ground. The larger Prehiss whipped its tail around at the pair, Adrius ducked and Angelo was forced back into the rich dark dirt.
Back on his feet Angelo came up to see the tail swinging back around to crash into the huge shoulder of his brother sending the big man backward off his feet. He drew forth the Tears of Eden, and before the massive Prehiss could reset the glowing blade had severed the end of the deadly tail.
Enraged, the Prehiss swung its horns failing them towards Angelo with inhuman speed. Angelo's second strike was not as fortunate as his first. An instant to slow the swing removed the tops of both horns, rather than the creature's head.
Regardless the beast knew it had been bested. Glancing down at its seizing associate, the wounded beast gave a quick barking roar. Backing away several steps the Prehiss held Angelo in its gaze for a long moment, before turning and disappearing into the woods.
Several seconds passed before Angelo was convinced that the Prehiss had truly fled. Sheathing his sword Angelo turned back to his brother who rested on his hands and knees at the base of the tree that had stopped his tumble.
“Is it bad?” Angelo inquired.
“Just another one for the collection,” Adrius said standing shaking out his numbing arm.
A scream that was undeniably human echoed through the trees, snapping both of their heads to the North. The color dropped away from both of their faces in equal measure. By the sound of things, they had fared better than their brothers.
