"You better stay alive Zee," said Amadeus at the pile of debris between him and the CAP before turning towards the gap in the nearby fence and taking off into the twilight. Overhead the primary star was beginning to descended towards the horizon, and because of the darkness that was fast over taking the opposite side of the sky Amadeus assumed that the system had only a single sun, unlike his current home of Dedros which was a binary system with a bright primary and a smaller secondary that caused the planet to have only an cycle or two of darkness before one or the other rose into the sky.
Thinking of the home from which he'd been ripped Amadeus was over taken by an urge to go back and bust the heads of the two who had been speaking earlier, as he was quite certain now that his presence on the planet was due in part to the lizard humanoid who had attacked him, and he was just as certain that whomever the two voices belonged to had at least some relation to the lizard thing. After all one of them had talked about the fact that someone who was missing was the other's brother.
He fought the urge though, as he was still not sure if he could take one of the lizards unarmed. Oh he was confident he could kill one if he had to. Probably more than one, but his goal was not to terminate the lizard things, but rather to capture one, and force it to tell him where he was, why he was there, and most importantly how he would get his butt back home so he could finish the Game with Jasmine, probably getting killed by the Midgard Dragon again.
With the information he required out of reach Amadeus had to fall back on what the Combine military advised in situations like his. Sit tight, keep yourself alive, and wait for pick up. Though nebulous in nature those orders had kept him going on at least three occasions that resembled his current one, though in all three instances he'd never had anyone actively hunting him. Usually he was just lost on some planet with no way off. Those times he'd just laid low and waited for help to come. This time though he had a feeling help wasn't coming, and he would have to try and figure everything out on his own.
Still sitting and waiting for Zee to pull his circuits together sounded like a good idea for the moment. Even if those two back in the junkyard did find the belt it was doubtful they would be able to identify the CAP, and even if they were able to ID the device there was no way they could hurt it. CAPs came equipped with self-defense programs to protect the storage module even if the CAP themselves were for some reason rendered helpless.
Running through the hole in the fence Amadeus ran as fast as he could in the climbing boots he was wearing into the woods, which proved harder to navigate because of his footwear. Every step he took seemed to get the spiked toes caught in a root or branch, but with a single-mindedness that only a true soldier could demonstrate he continued running, ripping the woods apart as he did so. He was well aware that he was leaving an obvious trail to follow, but he had hope that maybe the two at the dump would not take notice of his escape when they learned of the death of their fellow lizard thing.
Even if they didn't, Amadeus was still making pretty good time as he made his way through the foliage, and he was sure that the air had a hint of water in it. Once he was able to find a river or stream he could follow it for a ways, throwing off any would be pursuers and buying himself all the time Zee would need to repair himself and then come and get him. Once they were together again Amadeus was confident that he and Zee could figure out what the hazmat was going on and then get themselves back to where they belonged.
Making his way quickly through the branches and leaves Amadeus' first sight of the river was just as he broke through a curtain of vegetation and then fell off the bank into the cold water. Landing with a hard splash Amadeus panicked for a moment as the water rose over his head and he felt the weight of his cloak and helmet drag him to the river bed, with the strong current trying to rip both items off his body. His struggles tore at the water, sending it flying in all directions, though it was eerily quiet as Amadeus did not once scream out for help for fear that he might be being followed.
Feeling stupider than he had in most of his twenty Combine Standard Years of life Amadeus realized with a start that he was scraping the bottom of the ‘river' with his hands while thrashing. Stopping his thrashing about Amadeus put his hands on the soft mud underneath the water and hauled himself to his feet, discovering that the stream he was standing in was quite deep for its size, having only about three feet width, but coming up to his knees when he stood in it.
"Okay, when I tell Zee about this later, I am so leaving this part out," he told himself, beginning his march up stream. His boots, which had proved a hindrance in the woods, were even worse in the water, as it felt like he had to tug them loose from the mud with each step. His pace slowed to less than a snail's crawl Amadeus had time to listen to the woods around him, and was startled to realize that he had yet to hear a single animal sound, although that might not be odd. Several worlds were silent to him because the native lifeforms used alternate forms of communication or used sounds who's pitches were too high or low for him to hear.
Still even on those worlds forested areas had at least some indication of life, yet stretching his senses to the their utmost he could feel nothing anywhere nearby, either following him or just going about their daily business. Disturbed by the lack of activity Amadeus searched the banks on either side for signs of some passage, but found only a few trails that led into the woods, most seeming to have been abandoned for at least weeks, which usually meant there was something wrong with the local area that caused natives to avoid it. Possibly something to do with the lizards, if they weren't the locals themselves, which, though he didn't have any evidence of it, he doubted.
Something about the one he'd fought in the junkyard had seemed out of place. After all the majority of the vehicle derelicts had been designed for something about Amadeus' size, roughly one to two and half meters, while the lizard thing had been nearly three in height, with the tail adding at least another meter if not more to it's overall length. Such a thing would have never found transports of that nature comfortable, indicating that they were not among the most numerous species on the planet. Besides, if they were the dominate race of the planet than they should have been able to track him much more easily than they seemed to, as he'd only encountered three in the junkyard, two of which might have had no relation to his assailant.
Finding a bank of the stream that was only slightly difficult to climb, being neither the steep bank he'd found when first coming upon the stream, nor the banks that sloped into the river creating a way to just walk out, Amadeus made his way out of the river, grabbing a branch for a hand hold and ripping it off as he ascended the slope. Walking into the woods he found a trail and made sure to leave a set of footprints on it that walked off into the woods more wild section before stepping backwards exactly in his own footprints and returning to the water to continue on.
Now he could find a place a little farther upstream to get off at and try to find a clearing where he could make camp as any followers were likely to see the easily visible signs of his leaving the river and make their way into the woods, traveling downstream and away from where it was Amadeus would eventually get off. Hist footsteps coming easier thanks to the knowledge that he had done all he could to protect himself Amadeus was surprised when he reached an area of the river where the water shallowed out to be less than an inch deep.
Deciding that this might be a good place Amadeus made his way into the woods, and was again surprised when his path brought him almost instantly to a clearing that was a good twenty feet wide. It seemed like the perfect place to bunker down for the coming nighttime. Maybe a little too perfect really. Looking around Amadeus half expected to find some kind of duckblind setup, but everywhere around there seemed to be only trees and woods. Amadeus, after a moment or two of consideration...
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