The Laptop - Ch.41 - Life And Death (Patreon)

** content warning: violence, injury, death **

All three of us stopped in our tracks and glanced at the trees around us. We were still following the game trail, surrounded by fairly dense forest on either side.

I couldn't see anything wrong or out of place, but the lack of any normal woodland sounds made it feel very off. There were no birds chirping in the distance, no small animals rustling around the leaf litter, no squirrels chattering at each other from the tree branches overhead. There wasn't even any wind, so the trees themselves were quiet too.

After a few more seconds I shook my head and whispered, "It might be nothing? Or it might be some sort of predator maybe? Something's got the smaller creatures spooked."

"Maybe it's just us?" Gwen suggested. "We haven't exactly been trying to keep all that quiet lately."

I hesitated as I looked around again, then sighed. "Maybe? I don't know. Just be careful, both of you."

As usual I'd been carrying my bow with an arrow nocked on the string, but I double-checked that the broad-head hunting arrow was properly set. Meanwhile Gwen tightened her grip on her staff, while Chelsea rested her right hand on the hilt of one of her throwing knives.

"Want me to send Vix out to scout around?" Gwen offered in a half-whisper.

After a slight hesitation I shook my head, "You said you can only do that once a day. I'd rather save her for when we set up camp, like we've been doing."

"Let's keep moving," I added, "But everyone keep your eyes peeled. We're on a game trail, it's possible some predators have learned to hunt here."

My girlfriends both nodded quietly, then the three of us all started moving again. We were a lot more careful though, the daydreaming and fantasizing was all but forgotten as we kept our senses focused on our surroundings. My eyes were constantly sweeping up and down both sides of the trail ahead of us, and every so often I'd glance over my shoulder as well, to ensure nothing was creeping up behind us.

It was only another minute or two before Chelsea suddenly spoke up, "Wait stop!"

I froze in mid-step, but Gwen's reflexes weren't as good. Her right foot came down a half pace ahead of Chels and I, and what looked like well-trodden dirt gave way under the elf girl's soft leather boot.

She lurched forward as her leg dropped into a small hole, and I caught a glimpse of at least two or three sharp wooden sticks as they came up through the top of Gwen's foot. The roughly-carved stakes glistened red with fresh blood, and a moment later my best friend let out a scream of pure agony as she leaned on her staff and tried to pull her foot free of the trap.

"Gwen no! Don't struggle, you'll just make it worse!" Chelsea yelled as she ducked down to try and help the mage.

For a split second I was almost in shock as I stared down at my girlfriend's badly injured foot, then it was like the woods exploded into action ahead of us while the rest of the world suddenly went into slow motion.

A bunch of small grey-green creatures leaped out of hiding and into view on the trail about three to five meters ahead of us. They were small humanoids, none were any bigger than Chelsea. Most of them were naked, but a couple wore little loincloths made of animal pelts. Some of them were clutching simple wooden spears, while one held a rusty old short sword. And something told me he was the leader.

The creatures were obviously excited about catching us in their trap, they were shouting and cheering in some language I didn't understand. Although there were a few words I did recognize, like 'capture' and 'breeding', which only made the whole situation even more dire.

To make matters even worse a couple of the little monsters were armed with short bows, and those ones let their arrows fly the instant they had a clear shot. One of the spindly little projectiles whizzed past my head, but another struck me in the belly. It felt like a nasty bee sting, and the pain jolted me out of my shock.

"Fuck!" I shouted as I raised and drew my bow in a single motion. I didn't even stop to think about what I was doing or pick which target to shoot at as I released my broad-head arrow.

The one with the sword was almost knocked off his feet when I hit him in the chest, and his body hadn't even hit the ground before I had another arrow on my string. It was a bodkin point, the hardened tip was streamlined enough that my second shot actually took down two of the monsters. The sturdy wood shaft went clean through one of the little green archers, then stopped deep in the belly of the spear-wielding thing behind it.

As I reached for a third arrow I glanced to my right, to check on my companions. I was just in time to see Chelsea disappear into the woods as she fled, with her tail puffed out and her ears folded back. She wasn't being stealthy either, she was crashing through bushes and snapping off branches as she ran. A handful of the little green monsters ran off into the forest after her, although one of them didn't get very far. My shot caught him in the back, and the force of the impact spun him like a rag-doll before he ended up laying motionless on the ground.

Meanwhile Gwen was still caught with her right foot in the trap. She was crouched down with her weight split between her left leg and her staff, and there were tears of pain streaming down her face. She wasn't struggling to free herself anymore though, instead she was mumbling something as she glared at the rest of the creatures in front of us.

A moment later the mage angled her staff forward as a blast of snow and ice spread out in a wide cone ahead of her. It only lasted a second or two, but when it was over there was nothing left moving in front of us. The remaining monsters all seemed to be frozen solid, like little ice statues. The trees hadn't fared any better, they were coated in a layer of frost. In fact as I stared, a few frozen leafs came loose and fell to the ground where they shattered into bits.

"Holy shit Gwen," I gasped. "That was incredible!"

That's as far as I got before I heard more movement behind us, and another of those spindly little arrows zipped past the elf girl just a few centimetres left of her ear. That wasn't the only one though, as a half second later I felt another of those nasty 'bee stings' catch me in the back of the left leg.

I let out a yelp, and turned as I dropped down to one knee. Sure enough there were four more of those things behind us. Two were scrambling to reload their bows while the other two charged forward with their wooden spears.

There was only enough time for me to get one more arrow away, but I made it count with another two-for-one trick shot. My bodkin went straight through one of the spear guys, then stopped in the chest of the archer behind him. I tried to get another arrow off but the remaining spear guy was on me before I could get it nocked on the string.

Up close I could see his spear was little more than a pointed stick. It was still terrifying having the small monster thrust his makeshift weapon at me with a murderous look in its eyes. I reacted out of fear and instinct, using my bow to swat the spear away to one side while I thrust back at him with the arrow I was clutching in my right hand.

The sharp metal tip punctured the monster's tough hide, but I didn't have the angle or the leverage to get it in deep enough to stop him. The best I could do was give him a few more flesh wounds, which only made the creature even more angry. It started screaming at me, and up close I could see bits of rotting meat stuck in the wicked sharp teeth that lined its mouth.

By that point I was just going on pure fear and adrenaline, and it was probably the same thing for the monster. He tried again to jab his spear into my body, and I ended up dropping my bow so I could grab hold of his sharpened stick. Meanwhile I still had an arrow in my other hand, and I leaned forward and started stabbing it at him over and over. I didn't even care if I killed him, I just wanted to stop him from trying to kill me.

Whether through skill or panic fuelled by self-preservation I managed to stab the creature a few more times, until it let go of its spear and stumbled backwards. Dark brown blood oozed from all the little wounds I'd given it, and after another step backwards he turned and fled back into the woods. That's when I realized the last archer was still back there, and with its buddy gone it now had a clear shot at me.

For a split second it was like my heart stopped.

I was out in the open in the middle of the trail, and I couldn't flee because I was down on my knees. I'd dropped my bow, all I had let was the arrow I clutched in my right hand. The other archer was about four meters away, with all the time in the world since it knew I wasn't going anywhere and I wasn't a threat anymore.

The creature looked almost gleeful as it took aim, and with its attention on me it didn't notice when the small catgirl emerged silently from the woods behind it.

Chelsea's left hand wrapped around and forced the monster's bow downwards, while her right hand brought one of her wicked curved blades up and across its throat. The creature's eyes were locked on mine as its expression shifted from victory to horror. Then the life drained from those eyes as dark blood gushed from its throat.

Chels let go and the monster crumpled to the ground in front of her. Then she hurried towards Gwen and I as she announced, "I think that's the last of them. Are you ok Lisa?"

I let out a loud sigh as I slumped, followed by a yelp of pain as the motion drove that second little arrow a bit deeper into the back of my left leg.

"I'll be fine," I grumbled as I carefully pulled the small projectile from my leg. Then I looked back at her and added, "What about you, are you hurt?"

Chelsea had blood on her, some of it was the dark muddy stuff from the monsters but there were also some bright red stains on her clothes that worried me. As she got closer I saw a jagged gash in her right upper arm. It looked painful, but luckily it didn't seem too deep.

The little catgirl saw where I was looking and shook her head, "It's just a flesh wound. One of them caught a piece of me with his spear, but I'm ok."

I couldn't help worrying about her, but I wasn't going to argue. There was no question which of us was in the worst shape. I gestured to our mage as I said, "Can you help Gwen? Get her out of that gods-damned trap."

Chels nodded as she hurried past me, while I carefully extracted the other little arrow from my abdomen. Like the one in my leg, the crude projectile had only gone in a couple centimetres. And neither of them had proper tips on them. I doubted they were expected to actually kill anything, it seemed more like they were meant to distract or slow their target down.

I finally picked up my bow then slowly pulled myself back up to my feet again, and while Chelsea crouched by our girlfriend I limped over to lean against a nearby tree. I set another arrow on my bow and stated, "One of those things got away. I'll keep watch here, incase it comes back with reinforcements."

Neither of my friends replied. Chels was busy with one of her throwing knives, digging out and dismantling the pit trap that still held Gwyneth's right foot. Our mage was doing her best not to cry out again, but every now and then she'd yelp or sob. And each time she did it made my stomach churn.

I couldn't even imagine how much pain she had to be in, or how bad the damage would be. I just hoped Chels would know what to do. She was the best suited for dealing with traps, and with her health sciences education she was the closest thing we had to a medic.

"What the fuck happened to safe mode?!" the little catgirl suddenly demanded. "I thought it was supposed to be impossible for any of us to get hurt!"

My eyes widened and my gut lurched as I turned to stare at her and Gwen. I gulped and shook my head, "I have no idea. You're right though. This shouldn't have happened, it shouldn't have been possible."