Green Desert - Chapter 7.2.1 - Zhíno

They were following me. When I’d stopped to cut through my handcuff chain with the piece of mangled helicopter blade I’d been carrying, I heard them. Maybe a couple hundred meters back. But further now. I didn’t hear them anymore.

But that didn’t mean they weren’t there. When Gogzhuè’s goon shot down the chopper, I knew they were out for blood. My blood. And anybody who got in the way.

The gully had widened out, which meant the walls were probably shorter. I’d been running the same direction so long, it was time to give them the slip. In the darkness, hopefully they’d waltz right by. If I had any fucking luck, that was.

I veered down near the creek, noisy in the night. Why was the night so quiet? Shouldn’t there be animals and shit? When I got down on the rocks, I doubled back, making sure not to step on soil and leave a print.

I considered crossing the creek, but that was water only Vítí could love, it was so cold. So I turned north, away from the creek, and aimed to cross my earlier path at a backwards angle.

I didn’t even see my tracks, but I must’ve crossed them because I found the gully wall. A steep slope of loose dirt, higher than I could see in the dark. There was no fucking way I’d be able to get up that without leaving a trail any dipshit could follow. But not in the dark, hopefully. I started climbing.