Xenya waited until she could see them all.
Then she turned.
The last sparks ran along her daggers.
And she ran.
With them.
The engine roared again between the trees.
Closer.
Daniel was running behind Vega.
Branches struck his arms. Wet leaves gave way beneath their boots.
On his left, Iskander advanced with the shield held close to his body.
Alyra was a few steps behind.
Xenya appeared and disappeared between the trunks.
She was not running at full speed.
Daniel knew because he could still see her.
That did not mean he could keep up with her.
“Xenya!”
Vega’s voice cut through the forest.
Xenya slowed.
Very slightly.
“I’m here!”
“That’s not the same as being with us.”
Xenya looked over her shoulder.
Did not answer.
The engine sounded again.
Then:
a crash.
Metal against something hard.
And silence.
They all stopped short.
Vega raised a hand.
Daniel tried to control his breathing.
Nothing.
No engine.
No voices.
“What was that?” he asked.
Vega listened for a few seconds.
“The vehicle.”
Alyra looked ahead.
“It’s stopped.”
Xenya took a step.
Vega stretched her arm out in front of her.
“No.”
“Someone might be injured.”
“Exactly.”
“Then we have to get there.”
“We have to get there alive.”
Xenya tightened her grip.
For a moment, they stared at each other.
Finally, she stepped half a pace back.
“Fine.”
Vega pointed ahead.
“Open formation. Nobody more than ten metres away.”
She looked at Iskander.
“Centre.”
He raised his shield.
“Understood.”
“Alyra, with him.”
Alyra nodded.
“Daniel, right.”
Daniel drew his two short blades.
“Yes.”
Vega looked at Xenya last.
She sighed.
“I know.”
“No. That’s the problem.”
Xenya raised an eyebrow.
“You stay where we can see you.”
“That’s going to be incredibly boring.”
“Try to survive the boredom.”
A brief smile appeared on Xenya’s face.
“I’ll make the effort.”
They moved slowly.
The forest seemed different.
Daniel could not have explained why.
Perhaps because the birds had disappeared.
Perhaps because every sound came alone.
A branch.
Silence.
One leaf brushing another.
Silence.
Their own footsteps.
Silence.
Vega walked ahead.
Every now and then, she raised a hand slightly.
Aeris responded.
Not with a gust.
Only a thin current that passed through the trees and made a few leaves tremble before disappearing.
Xenya watched her twice before asking.
“What are you doing?”
“Listening.”
“That doesn’t look like listening.”
“Your ears aren’t always enough.”
Another current slipped between the branches.
Vega stopped.
Waited.
Continued.
Xenya looked at Daniel.
“She answered me without answering me.”
Iskander murmured:
“It’s an instructor skill.”
Vega kept walking.
“I’ve been awake for fourteen hours. Don’t expect poetry.”
Alyra gave a laugh.
A small one.
Daniel looked at her.
She caught him.
“What?”
“Nothing.”
“Then stop looking at me like that.”
Daniel raised his hands.
Both blades rose with them.
“I’ll try.”
Alyra shook her head.
Then she stopped.
“Wait.”
A deep groove cut through the mud.
Iskander came closer.
“Tyres.”
Alyra crouched.
Two black marks.
One sank deeper at the end.
“They braked here.”
She followed the track with her eyes.
The vehicle had turned sharply to the left.
Daniel looked that way.
“The track goes on over there.”
“They went off it.”
Vega crouched beside her.
The earth had been disturbed.
Small marks around it.
Alyra touched one.
“There are paw prints too.”
“Canids?” Xenya asked.
“Yes.”
Alyra traced the marks with her eyes.
They came in from one side.
Disappeared towards the other.
“It looks as though they crossed here.”
Vega watched her.
“Looks?”
Alyra raised her eyes.
“I wasn’t here. So it looks.”
Vega nodded.
“Good.”
Xenya smiled.
“Now that was a test.”
“No.”
“That’s what someone giving a test would say too.”
They found the van a few minutes later.
It lay across the gap between two trees.
The front right crumpled.
A side door open.
“A.E.E.!” Vega shouted. “Answer!”
Nothing.
Daniel looked around.
He could not see blood.
He did not know whether that was reassuring.
“A.E.E.!”
A voice answered from behind the vehicle.
“Here!”
Two people appeared.
Operational uniforms.
A woman kept her left arm close to her body.
The man held a long A.R.E. at the ready.
“How many of you?” Vega asked.
“Three.”
Daniel looked behind them.
“The third?”
“Driver.”
Alyra and Iskander reached the cab.
The driver was conscious.
A line of blood ran down from his forehead.
“I’m fine,” he said.
Alyra looked at him.
“You don’t get to decide that.”
Iskander let air out through his nose.
Daniel immediately thought of Melisa.
Vega approached the operator.
“What happened?”
“Something came out of the trees.”
“Did you see it?”
“Not clearly.”
“A canid?”
The man hesitated.
“I think so.”
Xenya examined the front of the van.
“Did you go off the track trying to avoid it?”
“No.”
The operator pointed to the side.
Three marks crossed the bodywork.
Deep.
Daniel came closer.
They were high up.
Too high.
Iskander looked at them too.
“That doesn’t look like one of the small ones.”
Xenya stopped smiling.
“The Alpha.”
Vega studied the marks.
“Possibly.”
“It was her.”
“Possibly.”
Xenya looked at her.
Vega’s expression did not change.
Alyra had moved away.
She followed the tyre groove back.
Ten metres.
Fifteen.
Crouched.
Daniel came over.
“What do you see?”
“Paw prints.”
There were several.
Overlapping.
Some deep.
Others barely marked.
“They come from there.”
She pointed to the right.
Then looked towards the opposite side.
“And continue over there.”
Xenya appeared behind her.
“Perfect. We’ll go the other way.”
Alyra did not answer.
Vega came over.
“What are you thinking?”
Alyra studied the ground.
“If they really moved west, we can head a little east and rejoin the track further on.”
The injured operator looked that way.
“We’ll be moving away from E-47.”
“A few hundred metres.”
Alyra stood up.
“But we’ll avoid going back through where this appeared.”
Vega studied the area.
Then nodded.
“We’ll do it.”
Alyra looked at the prints again.
She did not seem entirely satisfied.
Melisa answered almost immediately.
“E-47.”
Daniel brought the communicator to his ear.
“It’s us.”
Metallic noise.
Then:
“Are you all right?”
“Yes. We’ve found the support team.”
Daniel looked at the three of them.
“They have injured people.”
“How many?”
“Two, I think. A shoulder injury, and the driver hit his head.”
“Is he oriented?”
Daniel looked at the man.
“Yes.”
“Did he lose consciousness?”
The driver shook his head.
“No.”
“Nausea? Double vision?”
Daniel relayed the questions.
The man shook his head again.
“Nothing.”
“Tell him not to play the hero.”
Daniel smiled.
“She says don’t play the hero.”
“I wasn’t planning to.”
“Perfect,” Melisa replied. “A good start.”
Daniel looked in the direction of E-47.
“Serrano?”
There was a brief pause.
“Conscious.”
“His leg?”
“The same.”
Daniel tightened his grip on the communicator.
Melisa continued:
“The technician’s trying to keep the link up. We haven’t seen any more movement here.”
Alyra raised her head.
“None?”
“None.”
“Since when?”
“Since you left.”
Alyra looked at the prints again.
“All right.”
“What’s happening?”
“I don’t know yet.”
Seven of them moved off.
The driver could walk.
The injured woman stayed near the centre.
The third operator covered the rear.
Vega took the front.
Daniel noticed the change immediately.
More people.
More noise.
More ground to watch.
Alyra led them east.
Several minutes passed without them finding anything.
Then a long depression appeared in the ground.
Water collected by the rain.
It was not deep.
But it was wide.
Alyra stopped.
Extended a hand.
The surface trembled.
Some of the water rose.
Not too much.
Just enough.
Xenya watched a ribbon of liquid trace the edges.
“I like that face better.”
“What face?”
“The one that says you’ve had an idea.”
Alyra pointed to the centre.
“We go through here.”
Iskander looked at the mud.
“It’ll slow us down.”
Alyra moved her fingers.
The water partly withdrew from the central passage.
“Less now.”
Iskander raised a hand.
“I can freeze it.”
“Only the sides.”
He looked at her.
“Why?”
“If you freeze all of it, you give them a road.”
Iskander smiled.
“Understood.”
He placed a hand on the edge.
Ether responded.
Frost.
Then ice.
Only in two narrow patches.
“Injured first,” Vega ordered.
Xenya looked towards the trees.
“This seems too easy.”
Alyra glared at her.
“Never say that.”
Iskander raised a hand.
“I’m with her.”
The first canid appeared before they finished crossing.
It did not run.
It simply showed itself between the trunks.
About forty metres away.
Daniel raised both blades.
Electricity ran along Xenya’s arms.
Vega extended a hand.
“Hold.”
A second animal appeared on the other side.
Iskander raised his shield.
Alyra watched the water.
“Let them come in.”
Xenya turned towards her.
“That sounded considerably worse than you think.”
Alyra kept her eyes on the animals.
“If they step on the sides, they’ll lose their footing.”
Iskander added:
“And I can immobilise a paw.”
Vega studied the trees.
“We only react if they come closer.”
The first canid advanced.
Five metres.
Ten.
Alyra waited.
The animal accelerated.
“Now.”
Water covered the ground in front of it.
Iskander closed his fist.
Ice.
The canid stopped short before stepping on it.
Changed direction.
Daniel frowned.
The second did the same.
“They’ve seen it,” Daniel said.
“Yes.”
The first tried again.
Through the centre.
Daniel reacted.
One blade intercepted the jaws.
The blow shook his shoulders.
The second found its flank.
The animal backed away.
Vega barely moved her A.R.E.
A short gust struck the canid from the side.
Not spectacular.
Exact.
The animal rolled and disappeared between the trees.
Xenya took a step to follow it.
“No,” Vega said.
Xenya stopped short.
Came back.
Alyra was still watching the ground.
“They won’t step there again.”
Iskander breathed.
“That was the idea.”
Alyra shook her head.
“The idea was to make them step where I wanted.”
She looked towards the forest.
“Now they know where not to.”
They did not get much further.
A growl came from behind.
Then another ahead.
Vega raised her A.R.E.
“Circle.”
The group closed around the injured.
Daniel right.
Xenya left.
Iskander front.
Vega rear.
Alyra inside.
The canids gradually appeared between the trees.
Daniel counted.
One.
Two.
Three.
Four.
The same number they had seen around E-47.
Then something moved behind a trunk.
Daniel counted again.
Five.
He frowned.
Counted once more.
“There’s another.”
Vega had already seen it.
Xenya stopped watching the animal in front of her.
“Five?”
“Keep your eyes on it,” Vega ordered.
Xenya obeyed.
Alyra quickly checked their positions.
“Then we didn’t know how many there were.”
Nobody answered.
The first impact hit Iskander.
The shield took the animal’s body.
His boots sank several centimetres.
“I’M FINE!”
“Nobody asked,” Xenya said.
The canid came back.
Iskander froze a small strip beneath his own feet.
The second impact was worse.
This time he did not step back.
But his arm trembled.
Alyra sent water towards another animal.
The canid immediately changed course.
Dodged it before it touched the ground.
Alyra went still.
Another advanced towards Daniel.
He blocked.
Jaws against A.R.E.
His shoulder burned.
Xenya appeared.
A short discharge.
The animal backed away.
She immediately returned to position.
“You can congratulate me later.”
Daniel could barely answer.
“Later.”
Another canid feinted towards Alyra.
She raised her hand.
The animal changed course.
Alyra slowly lowered her fingers.
Raised them again.
The canid adjusted again.
Then she understood.
“They’re not avoiding the water.”
Daniel looked at her.
“What?”
Alyra followed the animal with her eyes.
“They’re watching me.”
Xenya barely turned her head.
“Then stop warning them.”
Alyra went motionless.
One breath.
Two.
Then she lowered her hand completely.
The water fell.
Daniel frowned.
“What are you doing?”
“Nothing.”
“That doesn’t seem like the best—”
“Daniel.”
He stopped talking.
The first canid attacked Iskander.
He blocked.
The second feinted towards Xenya.
She waited.
Alyra did nothing.
A third advanced along the right flank.
Daniel raised both blades.
The animal accelerated.
Five metres.
Four.
Three.
Alyra moved two fingers.
The water did not appear in front.
It came from behind.
A small amount struck one of the hind paws.
It did not knock the animal down.
Only changed its footing.
The canid adjusted.
To the left.
“Iskander!”
He reacted.
The water beneath that paw froze.
The animal slipped.
Daniel moved in.
One blade deflected its head.
The other struck its flank.
Xenya crossed behind.
Electricity.
An impact.
And out.
The canid lay on the ground for a few seconds.
The others stopped short.
Alyra did not look at the one that had fallen.
She was watching the next.
Daniel was breathing hard.
“That was definitely planned.”
Alyra shook her head.
“Only the place.”
Another animal advanced.
She waited.
“I don’t need to know exactly what it’s going to do.”
The canid feinted.
Alyra moved the water from another angle.
“Only where I want it to end up.”
Iskander smiled behind his shield.
“Now we’re talking.”
From then on, Alyra stopped trying to strike them.
Small amounts.
On a stone.
A root.
Beneath a paw.
Never the same way twice.
Vega understood.
Aeris began to work with her.
A current shifted a leap just slightly.
The animal adjusted.
And Alyra used that adjustment.
“Now.”
Iskander froze.
“Left.”
Daniel covered.
“Wait.”
Xenya waited.
Really waited.
And when Alyra pointed:
“Now!”
Xenya went in.
A flash.
Two daggers.
Electricity.
Out again.
One of the canids charged Iskander.
The shield trembled.
He held.
Another blow.
This time he breathed out through his teeth.
Alyra looked at him.
“Change arms.”
“I can keep going.”
“I didn’t ask that.”
“I control the ice better with this one.”
“And in five minutes, you might not control your fingers.”
Iskander opened his hand behind the shield.
It was difficult.
He closed it.
Opened it again.
Daniel saw him.
So did Xenya.
“Change,” she said.
Iskander looked at her.
“You too?”
“If your arm stops working, I’ll have to carry you.”
“What touching concern.”
“You weigh too much.”
Iskander gave a small laugh.
Switched the shield to his other hand.
The movement was clumsy.
Alyra said nothing.
She just moved a little closer to him.
The canids stopped coming in.
One backed away.
Then another.
Nobody followed them.
Vega kept her A.R.E. ready.
“Don’t let your guard down.”
Xenya was breathing with her mouth open.
Electricity still ran weakly along her daggers.
Daniel watched another animal disappear between the trees.
“Why are they stopping?”
Alyra looked at the place where it had been.
“Because it’s not working for them.”
Iskander rested his shield on the ground for a moment.
“Good.”
Alyra shook her head.
“I didn’t say it was good.”
The radio crackled.
“Daniel.”
Melisa.
“Here.”
“The technician’s recovered some of the exterior cameras.”
Daniel looked towards Vega.
“Anything?”
“Not around the station.”
Alyra came closer.
“Can you see the road?”
“A stretch of it.”
“Movement?”
A pause.
“Wait.”
Keys could be heard.
Then the technician’s voice, distant.
“Two signals.”
Melisa came back.
“We have two thermal readings near the south track.”
Vega approached the communicator.
“Direction?”
“I can’t be sure. They’re moving between the trees.”
Alyra looked towards the forest.
“Are they coming towards you?”
“I can’t tell.”
Alyra pressed her lips together.
Vega gave the order.
“We head back towards E-47.”
Xenya took a step.
This time she stopped on her own.
Waited.
Alyra looked at the prints around them again.
There were too many.
One mark crossed another.
Some seemed to go back over the same ground.
She crouched.
“Wait.”
Vega turned.
Alyra traced one of the marks with her fingers.
“Before, I thought they were simply crossing this area.”
Daniel came closer.
“And now?”
“I don’t know.”
Xenya frowned.
“That doesn’t help much.”
“I know.”
Alyra stood up.
“There are prints in both directions. Some overlap.”
Iskander looked at the ground.
“A route?”
Alyra hesitated.
“Could be.”
Vega studied the trees.
“Or?”
Alyra breathed.
“Or they’ve been moving around here for hours, and I’m trying to find a pattern where there isn’t one.”
She did not seem comfortable admitting it.
Vega nodded.
“That’s information too.”
Alyra looked at the prints one last time.
“Yes.”
They began moving again.
The three support team members in the centre.
Vega ahead.
Iskander covering the more open side.
Daniel and Xenya on the flanks.
Alyra changed position.
Watched.
For almost a minute, nothing happened.
Then a canid appeared on the right.
It did not attack.
Walked parallel to them.
Xenya followed it with her eyes.
“It’s here again.”
“The same one?” Daniel asked.
“I don’t know.”
The animal disappeared.
Another appeared further ahead.
Then it went away too.
“They’re following us,” Iskander said.
Alyra shook her head slightly.
“Or we’re still crossing their territory.”
Xenya looked at her.
“That’s not better.”
“It wasn’t meant to be.”
The communicator crackled.
“...here.”
Daniel brought it closer.
“Melisa.”
“The link’s dropping again.”
“Still no movement?”
A pause.
“One second.”
Another crackle.
“Now I have a reading.”
Alyra frowned.
“Where?”
“North.”
“That’s on the other side of the station.”
“Yes.”
“And the southern ones?”
“I can’t see them any more.”
Xenya was growing impatient.
“So are they heading towards E-47 or not?”
“I can’t tell,” Melisa replied.
Alyra closed her eyes for a moment.
Paw prints.
Animals.
Road.
Station.
Every time an answer seemed to appear, something changed.
She opened her eyes.
“Let’s not try to guess.”
Xenya turned.
“What?”
“Before, I got it wrong because I turned a possibility into a certainty.”
She looked at Vega.
“I don’t know if they’re going to E-47.”
Then she pointed towards the station.
“But we are.”
Vega nodded.
“Exactly.”
They rejoined part of the track.
A canid came out of a dip in the ground.
Daniel barely had time to raise a blade.
Aeris got there first.
A short current shifted the leap.
The animal passed beside him.
Xenya turned.
Did not pursue it.
“I’m learning.”
Vega did not even smile.
“A miracle.”
Another appeared behind.
Iskander took the impact.
The shield dropped.
His knee touched the ground.
“Iskander!”
He stood up.
Too quickly.
Daniel saw his face.
Pain.
So did Alyra.
“Give me your arm.”
“Not now.”
“I’m not asking.”
“Later.”
Alyra held his gaze.
Another growl.
“Later,” Iskander repeated.
She accepted it.
The canid came back.
Iskander raised his shield with his other hand.
Alyra spread water beneath a root.
The animal changed course.
Vega adjusted it with air.
Xenya went in.
Discharge.
Backed away.
The animal disappeared between the trees.
Vega looked around.
“They’re not trying to stay.”
Alyra watched the place where it had fled.
“No.”
“Then what are they doing?”
Alyra took a moment.
“Testing.”
Xenya raised an eyebrow.
“We already knew that.”
“I don’t mean us.”
Alyra looked towards the forest.
“They’re testing paths. Distances. Responses.”
Vega watched her.
Alyra added:
“I think.”
Vega nodded.
“That’ll do.”
Daniel looked at the place where the animal had disappeared.
Every time something stopped working, they changed.
The forest fell silent again.
Iskander took a deep breath.
“I don’t like it when they disappear.”
“Neither do I,” Daniel said.
Xenya looked at her daggers.
“Well, I do.”
They all looked at her.
“What?”
She raised one of the blades.
“When they disappear, they’re not biting me.”
Alyra gave an involuntary laugh.
Xenya smiled.
“Thank you.”
“It wasn’t that funny.”
“But you laughed.”
“I’m tired.”
“That’ll do too.”
For a few seconds, the tension eased.
Then the radio erupted into static.
“Daniel.”
Melisa.
Daniel brought the communicator to his ear.
“I can hear you.”
Her voice sounded different.
Faster.
“We have movement.”
Vega came closer.
“How many?”
“Two.”
A pause.
“Three.”
Daniel tightened his grip.
“Where?”
A metallic blow sounded on the other end.
Melisa did not answer.
“Melisa.”
Another blow.
Serrano shouted something in the background.
Then her:
“At the fence.”
Xenya turned towards the station.
“Let’s go.”
Vega raised a hand.
Xenya stopped short.
Not happy.
But she stopped.
“Are you inside?” Vega asked.
“Yes.”
“Door secure?”
“Yes.”
Another impact.
“For now.”
Alyra looked in the direction of E-47.
“Did you see where they came from?”
“No. They appeared on camera when they were already close.”
Xenya tightened her grip on the daggers.
“We have to go back.”
“Yes,” Alyra said.
Xenya stared at her.
Alyra pointed east.
“If we go straight, we’ll get there sooner.”
“Good.”
“It’s also the most enclosed path.”
Xenya closed her eyes for a moment.
“Alyra.”
“We go around that rise. Come in from the east side.”
“How long?”
“Thirty seconds.”
“Twenty.”
“Thirty.”
Another metallic blow came over the radio.
The electricity increased around Xenya’s hands.
Daniel watched her.
Her whole body seemed to be urging her to run.
But she did not.
Vega studied the rise.
“We gain visibility.”
Alyra nodded.
“And we don’t go in blind.”
Xenya looked towards E-47.
Then at Alyra.
“Twenty-nine.”
Iskander gave a tired laugh.
“What a negotiator.”
Alyra looked at him.
His arm was trembling again.
“Can you run?”
Iskander opened his hand.
Not fully.
Closed it.
“Yes.”
Alyra held his gaze.
“That doesn’t mean you’re fine.”
“I never said I was.”
Xenya raised an eyebrow.
“Progress.”
Vega raised her A.R.E.
Aeris swept along the side route.
The branches moved aside slightly.
“We move.”
Daniel adjusted both blades.
Xenya took two steps.
Stopped.
Looked back.
Daniel.
Alyra.
Iskander.
Vega.
The three members of the support team.
She waited.
Alyra watched her.
“What?”
Xenya raised a dagger.
“You chose the path.”
Alyra breathed.
Pointed east.
“Now.”
Xenya set off.
This time, everyone with her.
At E-47, something struck the fence.
Melisa stepped back.
The technician stayed in front of the screens.
“Again.”
“I see it.”
A second canid appeared on another camera.
It was not running.
It was walking beside the perimeter.
Serrano tried to get up.
His leg failed.
His hand struck the ground.
“Shit.”
Melisa went to him.
“No.”
“I need to see the door.”
“It’s still there when you’re on the ground.”
Serrano ignored her.
He placed a hand against the wall.
Managed to get partly upright.
Ignis appeared around his A.R.E.
Weak.
Unstable.
But present.
Melisa looked at his leg.
“If you put weight on it again—”
“Melisa.”
His tone stopped her.
Serrano was watching one of the screens.
A canid had stopped in front of the entrance.
It was not striking it.
It was not baring its teeth.
It was sniffing.
Then it raised its head.
“What’s it doing?” the technician asked.
Serrano did not answer.
The image from another camera flickered.
A shadow passed between two trees.
Large.
Melisa went motionless.
“Serrano.”
“Yes.”
The camera lost its picture.
Returned.
Nothing.
The canid in front of the door moved aside.
It did not flee.
It made room.
The vegetation moved.
The Alpha emerged from between the trees.
Slowly.
Serrano raised his A.R.E.
Ignis grew around his arm.
His leg gave way again.
Melisa caught him before he hit the ground.
The Alpha did not run.
She approached the perimeter.
Stopped.
Sniffed the air.
Looked at the canid in front of the entrance.
Then at the door.
Melisa tightened her grip on the communicator.
“Daniel.”
Static.
The Alpha took another step.
“Daniel.”
“Melisa!”
She kept her eyes on the camera.
“Hurry.”
The Alpha took a step towards the door.
CUT TO BLACK.
END OF EPISODE 19 — SURROUNDED