Chapter 48: Gregoris @ 5.6x nhs
757 Words
Chapter 48: Gregoris @ 5.6x nhs
3 months ago:
Greg ran for his life.
His feet hit the pavement like an elephant, his heart pounded like a gong in his ear.
The alalagmos, the glottal war cry of the women was haunting. They were everywhere, on the rooftops, on the balconies, in the streets blocking his way. He tried only once to break through a roadblock and he got a brutal punch straight in the face. The pain from that was just a single note in the chorus of his senses right now. It was as if he acknowledged the issue but gave it a low priority.
There were more pressing matters than his broken nose at the moment.
He was surrounded. He didn’t dare enter any of the houses, what good would that do? The civilians were terrified, doors double-locked and windows shut tight. He’d probably just put them in danger for no reason at all.
He ran.
The Huntress followed.
One of her daughters carried her in the back of her bike. Artemis stood in perfect balance, carrying her compound bow high.
He knew damn well what she could do with that bow.
She was the Huntress, and he was the prey.
He ran.
The streets were dim. He could barely see. His pulse beat so strong that his vision blurred with every heartbeat.
He glanced back, Artemis had stepped off and was taking aim. He threw himself behind a trashcan.
The arrow whistled in the air and turned around in a curve. His reflexes made him dodge before he even registered a thought.
Doinggg.
The arrow struck the place where his head had been moments ago, still vibrating. Artemis was firing turning arrows at him.
Holy f**k.
He pushed himself up and kept on running. The alalagmos grew louder, Artemis’ daughters waiting for her to finish her prey.
Greg couldn’t spare a moment to hate them. He couldn’t spare a moment to think about anything other than how to survive. To survive and get home to Galene.
It is by will alone I set my mind in motion.
Arrow flies straight at 173 Km/h. Turning arrows fly logarithmically less, depending on the angle.
He eyeballed the math. It was life or death, anyway.
Artemis let go of another arrow. Everything went silent as her Amazons held their breath and waited for the result.
The result was expected. Even Greg wouldn’t bet against those odds.
Change the result. Tilt, tilt the balance. Tilt. It is by will alone I…
Trophy. Don’t be a trophy.
He popped open a car door and angled it just so. He saw her letting go of the bow string.
He could eyeball the trajectory. All he needed was to put the window at a forty-five degree angle, to cause a glancing blow.
The arrow was of course barely visible, nothing more than a blur in the air. He shut his eyes and held the door tight.
The glass shattered all over his face. He dared to check himself, no arrows embedded in his body. In his heightened state, pumped full of adrenaline, it would be easy to ignore deadly injuries.
The arrow clinked down the street, deflected away.
Success.
Artemis pulled another arrow from her quiver.
Greg squinted. This one looked different, the tip was somehow shaped wider.
It didn’t matter. All that mattered, was that it was a new variable in a game of life and death.
Greg ran.
He heard the arrow coming, this time. It screamed in the air and the Amazons clamoured. A whistling arrow, meant to scare its prey.
She hunted him like an animal, like one of her safaris.
The arrow was slower, but it slashed his ribs. Greg was bleeding all over now.
His body collapsed, he propped himself up by his arms and panted, spat out blood. He turned himself and stared at the woman.
She walked towards him, slowly; her bow held away from her body, its counterbalances moving around in the dark.
The angry goddess brought her face close to his. She simply said, “I caught you.”
Then she pulled another arrow from her quiver and aimed her bow at his face, point-blank range.
The arrow-tip gleamed in the city’s lights.
Greg said the first thing that came to mind. Her quote, as a matter of fact. “Better to be strong, than pretty and useless.”
Those green eyes squinted and stared down harder at him.
“I-I taught my girlfriend that. From you,” he stammered.
The arrow-tip still pointed at his eye socket. Then Artemis turned around and motioned her women to leave.
Greg just sat there on the street, breathing hard, blinking. Just blinking.
- Writer
