Hard incessant rain had been falling for two solid days. Thick white blankets of cloud hung low in the valleys. Visibility was reduced to barely more than an arms length, by the ever thickening cloud mass. The high mountain trail was now a treacherous undertaking over slippy boulders and loose rock fragments.
For Beth Travers it was a nightmare. She was soaked to the skin, but determined still to reach her destination. Despite strong protestations from Silent Wing, who had suddenly burst into a frantic intercourse with her, and so thus undergoing an instant character change, Beth had insisted they continue. Her logic had been to continue, and maybe they could lose the pursuer. Surely, not even the most determined tracker would persist in its mission in such atrocious weather conditions.
For a day and half they had travelled the trail, fully aware of an unknown person, or persons, in pursuit; it had been Silent Wing who had detected the fact they were being followed; his instinct had told him the hunter was of dark intent. As yet, they had not caught any sight of proof they were being pursued. However Silent Wing had been contacted by his ancestor, Gentle Bear, who had informed him that a white male was in pursuit of them.
Now, with the teeming rain, and being soaked to the skin, Beth Travers was in two minds. She wanted to stop and rest as they had been slowly moving along the path; too slowly for her liking. On the other hand she was scared. Memories of The Gorf and its kind flared suddenly in her mind, she did not want to go through with that again.
She was standing beneath a Ponderosa Pine, which stood close by to the trail and gave her some protection from the deluge; she nervously scanned the trail for sight of Silent Wing, who had back tracked to check to see how close their pursuer had got. He had not been convinced that their continuation in the rain, would gain for them any distance.
Through the falling rain she could make out Silent Wing as he moved close to her. At first he could not see her, but after she had shouted his name he walked over to her, and join her in her makeshift shelter from the rain.
“Well...How close?” Beth Travers asked the Uncampaghre Indian guide.
"He comes alright... perhaps ten minutes behind us. He too chances the rain.” Silent Wing, had unsheathed his knife, and was gazing in the direction he had just come from. “We wait, Beth.”
”What?” She was taken aback, the threat of confrontation causing her a sudden uneasy feeling. He’s gonna be killed, she suddenly thought. “Can't we hide? I feel something awful is gonna happen here.” She glanced at the young Indian who merely smiled at her.
They had only to wait another five minutes. Silently along the trail came a white male kitted out in green combat jacket and walking breeches. He came along the trail like a predatory wild beast, his eyes gazing in all directions, an aura of arrogant confidence emanating from him. He looked every part the hired assassin that Silent Wing had described him as being.
Silent Wing remained motionless, watching their hunter. Beth felt very much the hunted one, trying to melt herself into the large rock she was hiding behind.
”Travers!.....Come out, I know where you are. You cannot escape me!” A voice which was unmistakably Cockney in its accent boomed suddenly from the trail close by to where they now hid.
Beth remained where she was, shaking with blind panic. Silent Wing crept on light feet around the concealment of the boulder strewn path, and made his way to stand directly behind their pursuer.
”Travers, it's pointless this silence...you've got nowhere you can....” Alan Saunders's words were cut off in mid sentence by the heavy form of Silent Wing suddenly sending him sprawling onto the trail, the gun he was holding in his right hand sent skating across the path, until it came to rest in the undergrowth and out of sight.
Beth stood up from behind the rock and watched as the two were locked in a deadly battle of no holds barred wrestling. One moment, it seemed Silent Wing had the advantage, as he held the assassin in a full nelson; the next moment Silent Wing was sent to the ground winded by a blow to the solar plexus.
Suddenly, from behind her came movement, and a strong hand was placed tightly across her face. She was aware of being pulled backwards into the rock face. She had no chance to defend herself; she had the immediate awareness of a sudden stabbing pain in her right shoulder, as a hyperdermic needle punctured her skin. Within moments she felt herself going dizzy before blackness overtook her and she was no longer aware of anything....
Proof Read Extract taken from 'The Host' written by Matthew James
