Loner 2:6 Jade

During your daily outing around Umbagog, you run into a very powerful Half-Dead. How do you get away? Or are you zombie chow?
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Everything hurt.
At first it was just her hip that felt like it had been set on fire and shaken apart, but now her entire body ached. Jade feebly lifted her head, wincing and blinking at the root prison she'd crawled into... how long ago? She pushed arm forwards. Looked at her watch. Nine-thirty? No, eight... eight-thirty. She'd been here a day.
Jade slowly put her head back down. A full day without eating, moving, or sleeping. She was certain she had a fever. Her hip was definitely dislocated and only hurt worse.
Quiet. Really quiet. Looked up. She couldn't see Tom.
Icy terror gripped her chest. She rolled without thinking and almost screamed out loud. Jade took a moment to slowly inhale, and bite back tears. Moving carefully now, she looked through the roots, eyes darting around.
The clearing was empty. Tom was gone.
Instantly, she was fighting panic. No way he'd leave unless she was safe. Dad had taught him to find people if his rider was hurt. Must have smelt someone.
Unless he thought she was dying and had left her.
No. No, she wasn't going to think like that. Jade let out a shuddering breath, and looked at her pistol. Tucked in her belt. Empty. She'd used the last round to scare off a massive figure last night. Her knife was still in her boot, but she couldn't reach it without provoking her hip. Out of fear, she curled and reached down her leg again. Had to try. C’mon c’mon OH F-AAAUGH! She collapsed on the dirt floor and finally just let herself sob helplessly. She was hurt, alone, and weaponless.
Jade was going to die underneath this tree. She wondered if she should be more frightened by the thought.
Feet.
The sound was faint, but enough to make her cut into silence. A shadow passed the roots. Heavy breathing. The stench of gore. Jade curled, eyes widening and breathing stilled. That wasn't a human.
An enormous clawed paw hit the ground directly in front of her. Not a paw. A dark, mutated hand. Adrenaline kicked through her system.
The sound of someone inhaling. Smelling. The foot slid forwards, and forearm lit up by little white lights hit the ground.
Oh God.
Jade went cold as a very familiar face came into view. For one long moment, they stared at each other through the web of roots. Then the face split into a terrifying smile, teeth backlit by a glowing tongue.
That's-
Black claws exploded through the roots, shattering her thoughts and seized her midsection. Jade screamed - a rare, inhuman noise - as terror and agony shot through her body and she was dragged sideways, out of her prison. Effortlessly flipped onto her back. Jade looked up and forgot everything.
The demonic, ape-like figure towered over her. The lights running up his arms and sides rippled almost hypnotically. His forelegs bent, bringing the inhuman face closer, glowing, white orbs locked with her gaze. "Speak my name."
The rumbling voice triggered echoes of screaming and pleading, which only got louder as he caressed her jaw. With the claws that she had watched tear into her father’s flesh, force him to scream her name. "You could not have forgotten me."
Of course she hadn’t. How could she? And now, after all this time, all the hate she'd felt, all the distance she had covered. He was right there. Right there.
And she couldn't even stand, much less attack him. Oh God, no. No! No! Why now?!
A shadow flashed by her face, leaving a white-hot line of pain on her cheek. “My name, Jade.” The growl drowned out her yelp of pain, but not the muffled inhale of surprise and horror at the sound of her own name coming from that throat. She should have cursed him, yelled at him. Instead, she gave a tiny, traitorous squeak.
"Froth."
The backlit grin that had haunted her nightmares for months appeared on his face. "Good girl. I am surprised by your tenacity.” One of his hands landed on her leg, making her hiss in pain. “And delighted. I confess, I have rather missed your singing.”
“Don’ sing.”
“Jade.” A humoured chuckle as he leaned in. “You sang the best, out of your family.”
Her head snapped up, the pain-induced delirium fading slightly. My...
“They had beautiful voices. The voice of your brother... the first I took. Ah, I could hear it all, the pain he felt as he was ripped apart. And your father...” Froth shuddered in pleasure, and Jade’s entire gut rolled in a mix of fury and disgust. “...so much desperation. Did you hear it, Jade? When he cried for you, for hours and hours, did you hear his pain?”
Jade forgot her hip. Forgot her terror. All that was left was the rolling, boiling fury that had driven her to ride an old mule hundreds of miles into an undead-filled Hell.
Froth must have seen the change. He pressed his blunt muzzle against her forehead. Hot air cascaded over her, “But their songs were weak: songs of mercy and forgiveness. The same as all the other poor, lost mortals sing. Beautiful, but nothing special.”
She was going to kill him.
“But you...” Froth purred in her ear. He licked the skin of her neck, rasping the point of his tongue across her throat. “Yours is a warsong. A song of rage.”
“FUCK YOU!” Her head snapped back, away from him, and her fists shot out, almost on their own accord. She didn’t care how much it hurt, didn’t care if he killed her for it. Jade just wanted him to suffer. A flash of light caught her eye. A knife. Her knife. On the ground maybe five feet away. It must have slid out of her boot when he dragged her out.
Out of the corner of her eye, she saw him grin. “You want to hurt me. You want me to sing my pain and fear to you. Would you like that, Jade?”
“Yes.” Oh yes, she did.
His weight came off her, and Jade sprang forwards. But not at him, but to her knife. Her hip ignited. No time to heed it. GETTHEKNIFEGETTHEKNIFEGETTHEKNIFE!
Jade's arm flung out right as weight came crashing down on her shoulders. Pushing her down. Fingers brushed the handle of her knife. "Come on!" She sobbed, desperately reaching for for the only shot she had. “Come ON!”
That deep, awful voice above her. “Reach, Jade. Reach for your father’s weapon. Use it on me. Cause me pain, so much pain, for your family.” There was no mistaking the relish in that voice. “Is your arm long enough? How hard will you try, Jade?”
So she turned, to snarl at him, to do something. “You’ll burn. You’ll burn like a fucking torch. And then you can sing to me all you want, you ugly son of a bitch.”
Even she didn’t believe it now. She was going to die. She was gonna die just like the rest of her family, in the claws of this beast.
Jade clung to the mental image of him burning. Burning in bright, beautiful flames.
A wide, glowing grin. “Foolish child. Hell isn’t hot enou-”
Fire.
Froth reared up, letting out a monstrous roar as flames spontaneously erupted across his brow, over his eyes. Jade rolled to look up, stunned. Fire-wielding ghosts? Spontaneous combustion?
The sound of shattering glass, another boom of fire. No. Molotovs. Froth was whirling now, blinded.
There was so much noise. So much movement. Jade felt herself sliding, unable to comprehend what was happening. Her head sunk to the ground. Everything hurt. So badly...
The world moved very, very slowly for a moment. Then, shockingly fast, the noise became a voice and everything roared back.
"JADE! JADE, RUN!"
Too terrified and disoriented to disobey, she scrambled away. Or, at least, tried to, but only got a few feet before her hips gave and she sprawled into the dirt. The world began to fade, and Jade panicked. “Help! Help I can’t move!”
A grip on her arm. Pulling her away. Froth’s howling was getting fainter, but another loud noise wasn’t. What was... a dog. There was a dog barking. And a voice...
Jade’d had no idea she was unconscious before she found herself being shaken by two hands on her shoulders. “Jade! Oh God! Are you okay?! Jade, can you hear me?! Jade!”
Her eyes snapped open, inhaling and gripping what felt like a jacket.
Huge green eyes, blonde hair, and a slobbering dog whining beside him “Oh God! Jade?!”
It took a long second to recognize him. “...Kit? What...?”
“Jade! Oh my God, are you infected? Did it bite you?”
“Aaagh... no, no I don’... don’ think so... hurt... hip’s... dis... dislo...” Jade was fading, trying to think.
“Dislocated? Your hip’s dislocated?”
“Yeah.. fuck, fuck it hurts...” She whimpered. Actually whimpered. Had she been in her right mind, she would have hated herself. “Been hiding... for a day... sick... can’t eat...”
“Okay, okay. Just hold on, shit, hold on.” He moved, wrapping her arm over him, hauling her up.
Jade tried to stand up, but had to lean on him. Everything was disjointed, surreal.
Horsehair on her shoulder, warm air on her neck. Tom. Somehow managing to get herself into the saddle, arms holding onto her from behind. Oh God her hip hurt. Kit’s voice. “Gonna get you home, the doctors can patch you up, you’ll be okay...”
How had he found her? Where had he gone after they’d split? Had Froth run away? “... Home?”
“The Community. You’ll be okay, just hold on ‘till we get there.”
Everything hurt.
“...Jade? Jade?! Shit, Tom GO!”

DONE HOMG DONE

Jade belongs to me, Froth belongs to