Crossroads

Before leaving, Amir told him that the directions back were already programmed into the GPS, and handed him a 50 Euro note, winking and thanking him for staying behind. He waved as they drove off and immediately went to the cooler, grabbing a water for himself, happy to find there were sandwiches left, since almost half the team was elsewhere. He decided the best use of his time was to take inventory, and so he did. Three times. He grew bored quickly, but remained up-beat and did his best to entertain himself while still trying to be productive. He started to take some plant samples before thinking that sitting for the whole weekend may have an adverse effect on the DNA, so he ultimately decided against it. Boredom began to truly set in around 330, but then he remembered he had a podcast about genetics downloaded on his phone. He intended to study up on it as well as botany, entomology, and information technology over the weekend in hopes of being better equipped for the work ahead. He put in his headphones and decided to clean his sidearm. Jeffrey had taught him the proper technique along their training and gave him a set of tools to work with. He laid out a plain cloth and began disassembling his handgun. He hadn't taken it out of it's holster since getting his certification, and he was glad of that. Time passed as he cleaned and oiled the gun, listening to three people share their knowledge on genetics, laughing at their own jokes, and telling a lot of stories from their college days. The podcast wrapped up around the same time he finished re-assembling the gun, but he hadn't downloaded another episode, so he wrapped up his headphones and put his phone away. He only had another 45 minutes before he could leave, and he thought he might have a fourth go at inventory. Before he got to the Conex, however, he thought he heard a distant rumbling. He went to the edge of the clearing, facing the seemingly endless woods, listening to the sound. He could tell it was getting louder, or possibly getting closer. He drew his sidearm, having no idea of what it could be. His palms began to sweat and he started breathing heavily. Adrenaline filled his veins and he stared into the unknown, ready to fight for his life, despite not even being sure it was in danger. The noise had then grown from a low rumble to what sounded like a roaring stampede. He was about to start firing blindly, hoping to hit whatever was heading towards him when the forest suddenly went deathly quiet. He looked around and listened intently for a full minute and heard nothing, coming to the conclusion that whatever it was, it went around him. He holstered his handgun and started walking back to the car to get another water. Halfway back, he heard some movement from behind him, prompting him to turn around. He saw a vaguely human, deep red shape streak past him and did his best to keep his eyes on it. The shape stopped close to the other end of the clearing, looking behind it at Derrek. “Ohshitduck!” it yelled out at him in a booming, commanding voice. Derrek tried to turn around to see what it was yelling about, and suddenly felt like his entire skull caved in. He felt every nerve send every pain signal it could, and his perspective suddenly shifted an entire 90 degrees to his right, making the world look sideways to him. He felt himself hit the ground with his still-skewed perspective, and then he felt nothing.