Chapter IV. Mitzi

Chapter IV.
Mitzi

Another infuriating catastrophe of underbrush grabbed hold of Mitzi's clothes entangling her once more. She swore colorfully and hacked away at the offending branches. She was rather exhausted, more than a little upset, and looked like a wild woman with all the little scratches, dirt from a few stumbles, and leaves in her hair. Only about a week had passed, but it was long and somewhat lonely. She often checked her location, fearing she would miss the town. Not that it was an easy town to miss. It wasn't especially small and she was aiming herself mostly towards the middle of it to be safe. She just thought it would be short jaunt there.

TWACK!

With a last swing she stumbled out of the brush and landed unceremoniously on her rear end. "Great," she grumbled to herself and grabbed the water bottle from her side the take a drink. She was already sitting. So she figured she take a short rest.

The sounds of the forest filled her ears. Birds mostly. Most other critters were nocturnal and hiding in their little homes to sleep. Light filtered through the trees down around her. It wasn't especially bright, the trees were so thick in this part. It was a pleasant scene, really. If she were in the mind set to enjoy it. Honestly, she thought is was all patronizing right then. Nothing had been unexpected, but it was getting to be a lonely trip.

A sigh escaped her. Well, walking won't do itself and the sooner she gets moving, the sooner she will find Vertsage and people. Mitzi was not the loner type. She liked people and being around people. For the most part. Some were complete annoyances, but she would still prefer not being alone.

The birds twittered away to themselves and others as she continued onward. She was keeping an eye on display of the map on her wrist.

Max was a real genius with gadgets. She had built everyone a wrist device like the one she wore. It provided a map and provided communication between them. Unfortunately, Mitzi had annoyed most of them with her idle chatter to the point that they didn't answer much. She took the hint. It had been abhorrently quiet for a couple days now.

Mitzi pondered trying to hail one of them up. Max might be up for talking, but she was frequently distracted. Her ears were so sensitive, every noise was clear to her and often she would lose focus of the conversation to figure out what she just heard.

No, she would just continue on her way for now. She looked at the town on her map and the dot displaying where she was. Not much terribly farther. Just have to keep moving.

She chanted that in her head. No other thoughts than putting one foot in front of the other. Her focus was completely internal. She didn't notice much outside herself beyond getting around a tree in her path.

When the forest went silent, it was a few minutes before she took note. Suddenly, she wasn't blocking out the creature sounds because they were gone. The true lack of audible sound set her nerves on edge. It was ominous. Why did the bird stop chirping?

She stopped dead and strained her eyes and ears to their limit. She just hoped to get some hint as to what was going on. Could be a predatory animal, which she hoped not. That could be a very bad scenario. Or maybe some people from the town were near by. That could be a good thing. People probably frequently went out to set traps or hunt in the woods. Pelts of certain beasts would bring a nice bounty.

The silence continued. Deciding to err with caution, Mitzi drew the gun Nick had given her. Similarly to Max, Nick was extremely handy with weapons of all kinds, though her preference was with firearms. Mitzi personally had little care for weapons, but she wasn't stupid and knew how to handle herself if need be.

The weapon she held was really the most suitable for her. It was the right balance between small and powerful, easily manipulated to be wounding or fatal depending on her aim. The trick was, if encountering a wild animal, knowing where the weak spots were and then getting a shot to hit it.

Really, she just hoped it was a group of people.

However, people would make noise. A twig snapping. Leaves rustling loudly. Nothing reached her ears. She began turning in slow circles, eyes scanning every detail in depth looking for something out of place. Odds of it being a group of people was seeming less likely every second.

That would likely mean an animal was on the prowl. An animal that could be any number of possibilities. In this area alone roamed several dangerous species, such as cendarae, brarets, ocas, and aarelothas.

There was a sudden rustle in a tree to her right. She couldn't whip around quick enough, though nothing greeted her. Slowly, she proceeded in the direction of the sound with her weapon ready and her eyes glued to the canopy. That noise was more than the wind in the leaves. Too isolated and concentrated. the trees themselves were an annoying challenge to peer through themselves. The density of them was not the trouble, though, the leaves all ranged in transparency from nearly invisible too seeing little more than a shadow behind them. No, it was the colors of the leaves. All so brightly hued in every color imaginable. And few animals of Kaesept were dull looking.

Branch creaked. The sounds was nearly directly over her and possibly to the left. She stopped and scanned around, squinting as if it would help improve her vision. A great gust of wind struck up, making even the larger branches wobble elegantly. However, the rather large residents of said branches were not so gracefully swayed and Mitzi caught sight of the uneven movement of shadow above her.

That instant she raised the gun and aimed mercilessly at the large bird. An aareloth. A chill settled in the pit of her stomach. She did not shoot immediately. Beautiful and deadly, finding one aareloth was rare. They were a pairing bird, they mated early and seldom left each others side. They were also aggressive and protective carnivores. Any move she made could mean her untimely death, if she didn't know were the second one was.

She held herself steady, searching as far as she could without moving much for its mate. Now, that she knew what she was dealing with, even if her odds of getting away with minimal injury were highly unlikely, she knew what to look for. These birds were large, with long bodies, long legs that ended in four toed feet with intimidating talons. They had large wings that would seem disproportionate if not for the long wide tail. Their feathers were small and usually ranged from dark orange to brown on the males and blue to dark blue for the females.

She wasn't sure which one she was in a stale mate with right now. Females weren't quite as aggressive until the nest was in direct danger, the males usually took the brunt of fighting so the female could take care of the hatchlings.

Another strong breeze made the leaves flutter. The bird was closer than she thought. She caught a glimpse of the aareloth's tail. Orange faded into a deep blackish brown. This was the male.

Mitzi swallowed reflexively, debating her options. Shooting would definitely alert the female to her location and killing or wounding the male would bring her wrath in full force.

She still couldn't see the male well enough to know where its attention was. Most likely it was watching her. There was a remote chance she could back out. She clearly wasn't too close to the nest, or she would have been attacked before she knew what hit her. If it had also already fed recently, odds were good she wouldn't get attacked. She half hoped that the lack of attack thus far was an indication of that. These creatures were aggressive, but usually did not attack without prompt.

Hoping for the best and praying her logic was sound, she slowing and carefully moved her left foot back behind her. She shifted her weight onto that foot before moving the right. The whole time she held her gun aimed at the bird and keeping her eyes locked on the target. Any second the bird could attack and she was not about to let her guard down until she was certain she was safe and that they birds would leave her be.

Another slow step back. And another. Each step took several seconds, and a few feet took a few minutes. Perspiration began dotting her brow as adrenaline keep her senses and muscles tense for anything. Time seemed both endlessly slow and hyper fast all at once. She took a steadying breath, and then another step.

There was a high pitched shriek behind her that made Mitzi jumped so hard she fell to the side. The fall didn't quite save her for the racking talons of the dark blue aareloth that swooped past. The female was there now. Mitzi scrambled to regain her feet, falling a second time as she shoulder gave out from the gaping gouge. The aareloth got a good one out of her. Blood was already dripping off of her hand.

She tried again to stand, this time just holding her left arm to her chest. Luckily, the gun remained firmly in her right hand, her better aiming hand.

She no more got to her feet when another shriek was let loose, this was slightly different. It was a little more raspy and ever so slightly lower pitched. The male had taken flight now and the two were swooping in for another attack.

All kinds of colorful words raced through her thoughts along with rapid intake of what was around her she could defend with.

The [hell] with defending, all I can do is dodge and hide! She ducked and ran around a tree to her right. It was too quick for the male to follow, but the female was far enough behind that she swung around the tree after Mitzi. Anticipating this, Mitzi rolled further around the tree to her right and spinning for circle raising the gun to what she hoped was the height the bird would be at. She saw blue and fired.

A screech was the response she got, but she was ducking around another tree and running as fast as she could for new cover. Squawks and shrill piercing sounds followed her. She couldn't be sure but it sounded like both were still on her tail. Sure enough, the blue one flew past the tree she leaned against. It was so close, Mitzi felt the rush of wind around its wings and saw a streak of red flash along its side. Merely a graze.

Mitzi was panting, the male would surely be right behind the female, and the second she had passed, Mitzi had her gun up and ready for another shot. But they didn't fly in a line this time, wind rushed passed her other side, but reflexes sharp and taught, her reaction was only a split second slower as she aimed and fired again. There was a heart splitting shrill that faded with a muffled thud. Half way through that shrill was the worst ear piercing shriek Mitzi had ever heard. It was full of anger, and chilled Mitzi to the core.

She started running again, leaping over the dead aareloth. The jolt made her wince with pain from her shoulder. Her arm was covered in blood to her elbow now, she could feel it. She could also tell from how quickly she was tiring.

And she didn't notice a blue figure rushing her from the right. The aareloth collided with Mitzi and they fell together in a heap. Claws were trying to rack at Mitzi, but the bird was large and couldn't get its legs around it to get Mitzi. She was busy shaking the white blotches from her vision as the pain was exploding from her shoulder. Her breathes were gasps that didn't quite fill her lungs enough to catch her breath, and she had lost feeling in her left arm now. Distractedly, in some remote part of her brain she realized the her left shoulder was not only gouged and bleeding, but also now dislocated.

Her and the bird we somewhat entangled. Enough so it couldn't get its talons into her anymore, but Mitzi caught enough clarity through the white spots to see it rear its head back on its long neck to jab at her with its beak. Mitzi miraculously dodged, but in doing so disentangled it wings.

Those wings began to beat at her as it pulled itself away. The beating was as bad as being used as a punching bag, and what little breath she had regained was beat out of her again. She coughed and hacked, getting dizzy from lack of air.

The beast completely freed itself getting a few more scratches on Mitzi in the process. Mitzi tried to get herself up again but couldn't move enough. It screeched and stood to its full height, about 4 ft, with its neck stretched to full length and wings spread as wide as possible.

Mitzi managed to pull herself upright and crawl/dragged herself back a few inches when the cool metal in her hand registered. Not a moment later she laid back, gun aimed for the bird's chest and fired as it lunged.

The beautiful blue bird's head fell into her lap, the eyes dulling as Mitzi stared at it. It was dead and she dropped her head back down finally able to relax momentarily enough to catch her still ragged breath and think for a second.

Her shoulder as still sending shocks of excruciating pain, but she took careful and controlled breaths through it. Her vision slowly cleared, but her thoughts were somewhat scattered and hard to follow. She knew she needed to get up and deal with her shoulder immediately, but somehow doing that was harder than it seemed in her mind.

After several minutes, she let go of the gun and sat herself up. She swayed a bit, but was able to hold her position. Steady, she kicked the dead aareloth off of her and scooted to lean against a tree. There she rested for another minute before using the tree to help get to her feet. The world tilted in a warped way, then righted itself.

"Mitzi. Fix your shoulder," she instructed herself firmly and turned to brace her left shoulder on the tree. A tear escaped her eye knowing what further pain she was about to induce. A quick breath and she pushed her shoulder against the tree and thistime she heard, or rather felt, the pop despite her scream. She collasped again, sobbing and holding her arm. Numb as it was, some of the pain was already dissipating but a new one was filling in.

She sat back up against the tree and shrugged her pack off to dig out a rather large med kit. In it, she found a needle and thread, setting them on top. Then she grabbed her water bottle and poured most of the clean water over the gash slowly. Several little cries escaped her, but she had to get it done. After the water, she threaded the needle and slowly, but as quickly as she could, stitched the wound mostly closed. It was agony, and took several pauses to drink some water to help keep from passing out to finish it. Although, she still had to bandage it, so she pulled rolls of clean cloth and propped her left arm on her peg to wrap her shoulder better. As an added precaution from the dialocation, she fashioned a make shift sling to hold her arm until she reached Vertsage.

With that, Mitzi succumbed to the overwhelming need to pass out.

...

There was an incessant chirping sound digging into her befuddled psyche. She resisted the the efforts the noise made to drag her back to consciousness, but the more aware she became, the more her body relayed needs to her mind. She groaned as she shifted a bit, wincing when she aggrivated the forgotten wounds.

She opened her eyes and saw that the sun had almost set. It was dark and the the colorful leaves now seemed black and gray. They were curling in on themselves as they did at night. She was laying on her right side now, having fallen over while she slept. She pushed off of the ground to sit once more. She reach for her water, but it was empty. She would have to get moving soon to get some more.

Dispite the rest, she was still tired. She attributed the fatigue to the fight and her blood loss. The only way ahe could help that now was to get water. A sigh escaped her as she looked at her left arm. Being she was right handed, the wrist device was on her left. Due to her injury, that put it at a bad angle to use cradled just below her chest.

The low, soft chirpping egan again and steadily grew. Mitzi didn't notice at first, but it distracted her from the dilemma of displaying the map from her wrist device. It was a distressing sound, pitiful and gave her a feeling of crying. What on Kaesept is making that noise? No, where is it? The way the volume was increasing, it almost seemed as though it was coming closer then it would soften some before increasing again. It was searching, probably.

Mitzi knew another animal confrontation right now would be the last thing she needed. Digging for all her energy, she got to her feet. The increasing and decreasing of the chirpping made it impossible to tell where it was coming from. even more so as to how far it was. In hear gut, she felt it was already to close.

After she got to her feet, she remembered that she still had no idea where she was, and it would be easier to access the map if she were sitting. She could take off the song, and rest her arm in her lap. This is just beautiful, she thought, then looked aroundto try and figure out which was the best way to go. It was not easy, as the sound seemed to be everywhere. However, she was certain it was only one animal, though. She was sure of that.

"This is nuts. Huge kaloniai nuts," she muttered as she rolled around the right side of the tree she was leaning against and started walking. The chirping started becoming more like short shrieks, or tired caws.