Tenebris' Light (Part 1 in Telestai Timeline)

Chapter 6

The woman shoves me back and I fly into the man in the stand behind me. I murmur apologies and stumble to my feet. The woman's suddenly gone, but I don't care, I'm better off if she's gone.
I drop to my knees and fumble around on the ground, opening my duffel. I reach to the bottom and find my PDM cannon. I stare at it, its glossy handle, silver barrel. My eyes flash back to the forest and I remember how it was useless against the Tyanact. It could be useless against these DM beings, and I don't even know what they are yet.
I zip up the duffel and pick it up, slipping the PDM cannon into my back pocket. I put the strap of the bag over my shoulder. I slide over the top of the table and drop to a crouch. My eyes scan around me. If my PDM cannon was useless on the Tyanact, it might work on lower ranked mutations, so I can take out some DM beings if I have to as long as they're lower ranked.
I'll have to get out quietly, and that psycho woman is still looking for the infected deer meat. I'll have to avoid the crowd entirely to get a window out of here.
Still crouched, I make my way to the end of the isle of booths. Most people have left their booths, and are running throughout the market area. By the amount of cries I can hear stopping suddenly I can tell that there are at least twenty DM creatures running loose right now. I look behind me, and see a Rootnac tackle a man. It plunges its claws into his chest, and sinks its teeth into his neck. I run to a booth, trying not to arouse its attention. I quietly flip the table on its side, using it as cover. I can see through a crack in the table, and I watch it move, watch it stir. It turns and comes down the isle. Shit, I can't kill this thing yet, it's too far away. I'll have to wait it out. When it gets here I'll shoot it's ugly ass.
Its footsteps pound on the concrete. It's scaring the hell out of me. Rootnacs are bear hybrids, so its sense of smell is pretty advanced, not as advanced as an original bear, but pretty close.
It's getting closer. There's no use in hiding, if I'm careful I could take it out stealthily. I watch it get even closer, and I wait until it's right in front of me. I stand up slowly, keeping my eyes on it. It passes, and I take aim. I take in a breath and pull the trigger. It beeps twice. Two beeps means the battery's dead.
My heart sinks and the Rootnac's head spins around. We lock gaze, and the killer intent in its eyes grows fierce. It turns its body and winds up to pounce.
A pulse sound goes off to the right of my head and a PDM bolt flies through the air, cutting through the Rootnac's skull. It drops, lifeless.
"Cute that you think I'd run off that easy." The woman's calm, familiar voice says.
"I really didn't." I smile
Looks like she found me. Delightful.
Her hand digs into my shoulder and she pokes me with her PDM cannon.
She spins me around and I let go of my duffel.
"I was thinking I'd let you off easy here. Being the scariest day of your life and all," she shrugs.
"It definitely isn't." I've seen scarier shit than this. Honestly, I wish it was. I can see how she thinks so, I don't come off as someone with an intense past, and outbreaks haven't happened for four or five years.
"Ok, just shut up!" She snaps. The first time I haven't heard her calm and relaxed. "You wanna make it out of here alive, I suggest you do what I say."
I'd hate to follow this woman, I just want to get out of here, without her on my ass the whole time.
"Got it." I smile. Maybe I can take her out when she's not looking, we'll see.
"Alright let's move." She smiles back.
She picks up the duffel and steps out of the booth. I come out of the booth behind her and we go around the Rootnac carcass. She's not even going to keep her gun trained on me? That's adorably naive. You'd think someone who acts like a soldier and carries gear like one would be as smart as one.
We keep walking, the screams are starting to get drowned out by gunfire. The police are probably here, that or trigger happy civilians are starting to take action.
The woman's head flies up, her gaze snapped to a Scantact flying over head. She shoots it down, with astounding aim. It cries out and plummets from the air, crashing into one of the booth tents. How'd she do that? And so fast too. She seems like she's obligated to protect me, which of course she's not, and why would she be? I could be crushed and eaten by a Mantact and it wouldn't make any difference in her day.
Her eyes dart back and forth through the booths. She looks so nervous.
"Stop." She pauses and throws up her fist as a gesture to halt.
"What?" I ask, startled.
"Listen..."
The sound of wood crashing is starting crescendo from the right, getting closer. Sounds like something is rushing through the booths, knocking over everything in its way.
A Mantact jumps in from the right, tackling the woman and flying into a building close by. Her PDM cannon falling from her hand, and I'm left staring at the gaping hole in the wall.
Holy shit, I guess she's gone.
Two Rootnacs come out behind it, their heads shooting to me. My eyes fall to the PDM gun on the ground. A low growl grows in their necks as stare at me with anger.
One jumps at me, and I roll under it. I grab the gun on the ground and take aim. The second Rootnac prepares to pounce, and I fire a round into its skull. It falls dead in my peripheral vision as I turn around and shoot the other Rootnac, who didn't land so gracefully.
Alright time to get out of here.
I step forward, but the Mantact flies from the hole in the building and into the destroyed booths behind it, a burnt sizzling cavity in its chest. The wound glows purple and I suddenly know what made it.
The woman steps out of the rubble of the building. I can now see what it was on her wrist. It's  gauntlet, but it's far more powerful than just a Dark Matter gauntlet. It's an Azarath gauntlet. Azarath is the combination of remnant cells and Dark Matter cells. It's very very dangerous.
My eyes run over her, and it's not just the gauntlet is Azarath, her entire body is completely kitted with Azarath gear. She's not wearing the sketchy black coat from earlier, and it looks like the backpack is gone too.
She's got armour plates in nearly every place on her body up to her neck, and in between those plates are glowing veins of purple, carrying the Azarath energy throughout her body.
Who the hell is this woman?
"Wh—"
"Yeah, I know. Azarath." She sighs. "You wanna get out of here now?"
"I'd love to." I pant.
"You have a car right?" She asks, stepping over the Rootnac bodies.
"Yeah," I follow her. "Just get me to the parking and you're free to go."
"Deal." She says.
She still looks nervous. Why is she so nervous? If she sees something move she could vaporize it with that gauntlet. She knows how to use it, so why does she look so scared?
"Hey." I call out.
She stops, looking frantically back and forth like a paranoid child crossing the street. "What?"
"You're shaking." I say. "You're rocking Azarath gear, why do you look like you're having a panic attack?"
"I'm only nervous because this," she gestures to my duffel bag in her hand. "is extremely valuable."
"It's a bag of infected rotting deer meat." We keep walking. "How important could it be?"
She sighs, annoyed. "In this deer meat, is a brand new Dark Matter compound. It's called Neuroshine." She explains. "Neuroshine establishes a neurological link between the species the Dark Matter inhabitants. If it infects a dog with killer instincts and tactics, it adopts those traits."
That sounds really dangerous, how would that ever work?
"How? You'd need a variety of brain chemicals." I say.
"Dark Matter has plenty prey out in there districts. Even human prey."
Humans? Humans out in the Dark Matter districts? How? How could they last out there? The Hunter Killers should have found them by now, brought them here.
"But forget about it, you don't have to worry about it." She says.
The hell I don't. "I don't want to." I lie. I miss adventures. I'd love to help her, and from what she's telling me, I feel almost obligated to be involved.
"My group is taking care of it as we speak,  as for me, this has been but a hiccup in my mission." She smirks. "But we're here now."
"Hold on," I stop her. "What's your group?"
She turns around. "Jade Army."