Finn jumped down from the tree and startled me. I quickly tried to mask it, not wanting to seem weak, and he flashed me an apologetic grin.
“I saw a hut,” he called, and three pairs of eyes stared at him expectantly. He gestured in the direction.
I shifted my backpack, getting more comfortable for a hike, and followed him eagerly. Finally, we were getting somewhere.
We walked slowly and carefully, making sure not to leave too many signs of disturbance. If, for some reason, we didn’t catch the centaur right away, we didn’t want to alert him to our presence. If he knew that we were looking for him, he might take off before we could get our hands on him.
Finn stopped abruptly, and I nearly ran right into him. I was just about to voice a complaint when I noticed him holding up one hand in warning. Looking over his shoulder, I followed Finn’s gaze to find the centaur.
He was in a small clearing, about fifty feet away. We could move a bit closer, hiding behind the trees, but considering the wide-open space, we wouldn’t be able to catch him by surprise. He was going to see us coming, no matter what we did.
I waved impatiently for Henry and Marty, who flanked me on either side, and pointed the centaur out silently.
The centaur’s lower half was like a horse, with four long legs and a golden-brown coat that reminded me of honey. His top half consisted of an exposed, muscular chest, and a pleasant looking face. If I had seen a picture taken from above the waist, I would’ve thought he was an attractive, ordinary man. His hair was dark brown, along with a trim, matching beard.
I stared longer than necessary, distracted by how surprisingly good-looking he was. Though I’d seen and captured other aliens, something about how human-like this one seemed caught me off guard.
Finn tapped my arm, pulling me out of my thoughts. I shook my head to clear it and noticed that Marty and Henry had already begun to skulk through the trees, trying to get closer to the creature.
I swallowed hard, following behind. I had a bad feeling that this was a mistake. Ambushing him with no potential for cover seemed like a misstep. He was going to see us coming. And then what?
But I didn’t want to look like a chicken in front of the guys. Besides, they were already too far ahead to stop. If I called out or made a noise, the centaur was bound to hear me.
We snuck around so that we were approaching from his backside. That would at least buy us a few seconds, but we’d have to move quickly. Our only choice was going to be rushing at him and hoping we caught him off guard. If we did it fast enough, we’d have him trapped before he knew what was happening or had time to react.
At the edge of the tree line, we paused to assess the situation wordlessly. Taking off our backpacks, we rummaged for supplies. Marty and Henry pulled out two netguns, getting into a firing position. Finn took out a tranquilizer dart. As a backup, he handed me a stun gun.
I took a deep breath, preparing myself. We all exchanged a wordless look. Nodding amongst ourselves, we began to enact the plan.
It was the same routine we’d done many times before. And perhaps that was the problem. We were cocky, or careless. We were too certain of our success. We didn’t expect the centaur to fight back as well as he did.
It went horribly wrong.
Finn shot the dart. The centaur’s ears perked up, hearing the moment it left the dart gun. Somehow, he managed to react in record time, astonishing us all as he both whirled around to face us, and side-stepped the tranquilizer.
His front leg pawed at the ground, kicking up a spear that he grabbed easily with his right hand. He charged forward, his handsome face contorted with anger, pointing the spear at us.
At the sight of the weapon, Finn panicked. He backed up, carelessly running into me. I dropped the taser, and promptly scrambled to pick it up off the forest floor. As I searched frantically through the leaves, I kept my eyes trained on the creature.
Marty and Henry both fired their net guns, to no avail. What use was it to have a net against an animal with a sharp weapon? The centaur shredded the net in moments, barely letting it slow him down.
The next thing I knew, Finn grabbed my arm and was dragging me away. I tried to protest, unwilling to leave Marty and Henry behind. But it was no use.
As he pulled me away, we tripped. The ground gave way beneath our feet – a drop that had been hidden by brush and leaves. As my feet shot out from underneath me, the scenery whizzed by.
Too late, I realized we’d fallen into an abandoned log chute.
I sped down the mountain, Finn following right behind me. There was nothing I could do to stop it, and it felt like I might just fall forever.
Then, I saw a toppled tree that blocked the chute ahead.
Slamming to an abrupt stop against a limb that dangled in my path, I bit my tongue so hard that I could taste blood. My neck jerked back with the force of my sudden halt. Finn crashed into me from behind, making my head snap forward and then back once more.
The ringing in my ears drowned out all else, including my thoughts, and I was too confused and disoriented to even object as Finn rolled out of the chute. He glanced over at me for a brief second, looking sorry, before he took off through the woods.
I watched it all as if I was outside my body, barely aware through the haze that filled my rattled senses. The edges of my vision were starting to cloud, a gray film seeping over everything. I laid in the chute, staring up at the trees as the leaves shimmered and shook overhead, spinning in circles, and then my vision turned black.
I broke free of the inky darkness just long enough to feel strong arms lifting me. I opened my eyes to find myself face to face with the centaur. My vision went sideways as another wave of black claimed me.