Waiting to Die

Astarte fell in line, still hugging herself under her clothes and breathing down her collar to keep warm.

Schreiber<You'd best get anything you may need now. You never know when you might be prevented from coming back.>

*Assuming they do so, they descend the mountain. Due to the setting sun & the overcast conditions, within a couple hours it's pitch black, forcing them to move towards the light of the town while trying not to trip over anything.*

Schreiber<(Don't use any flashlights you may have. They are always looking for you.)>

*The forest is deathly quiet, save for a rustling in the distance. Apparently, Schreiber has the route memorized, as she makes turns & detours on a dime. After a while, they begin to notice a pattern with the rustling: It goes silent every 10 minutes or so, resuming about 5 minutes later. Occasionally, it is joined by the sound of a snapping branch. Soon, they are close enough to see the town through the trees. By this point, the rustling is so loud that it seems to be coming from a few feet to their right, and is occasionally joined by the sounds of something sifting through the powdery snow. Schreiber looks around, which seems pointless unless she has super vision.*

Schreiber<(Someone may be on the lookout for us. Ordinarily, I'd cut through a ditch a few miles to our right, but I'm not sure I like the sound of that rustling.)>

Eve:<(Then should we go straight through?)>

"Anywhere but the rustling."

Schreiber<(There is one other option. It will only carry 2 of us at a time, but it would probably be best to split into smaller groups anyway.)>

V"(What is that?)"

Schreiber<(That branch seems like it would float.)>

V"(In the freezing river?!)"

Schreiber<(Would you prefer a freezing jail cell? At least until Ira finally found you. Besides, we would have taken the river anyway, if I had more time to gather supplies.)>

*Eve looks at the branch, then at her bag, looking concerned*

Eve:<(What's your plan once we split up?)>

"How will we avoid getting hypothermia?"

Schreiber<(You have cell phones, don't you? I can't be expected to figure out everything for you.)>

*She moves to take the branch from...Tirea?*

"We will die if we don't have a plan to warm up after that river," Astarte frowned. "It's not about comfort. Is there a clothing donation bin anywhere we know of? Can we break into one?"

*Tirea helps Schreiber get the branch*

Eve:<...Fine, we can meet up once we get into town then.>

Schreiber<(Oh, don't be so melodramatic, you're young, you'll bounce back.)>

*As they're dragging the branch into the water, Vanessa stops & listens.*

V"Wait, do you hear that? I think it's coming closer."

*There is still rustling, but much quieter now, seeming to be above them, & jumping every few seconds. It might just be a squirrel.*

*Tirea and Eve stop to listen for a moment*

Tirea:<(...It's right overhead...>

"...If it's one of them it might drown us in the water," Astarte whispered.

*They see a glint of white & red as a familiar friend swoops down out of the sky. Schreiber reveals that she'd drawn her nail gun by way of an impressive shot to its wing, causing it to veer slightly off-course, landing beside her instead of taking her head off. It whirls around, making a tearing noise as its claws shred the tree behind where her head was a second ago. It's prevented from taking another swing when the tree starts to creak & fall, & it has to grab it to prevent it from being bonked on the head, at which point Schreiber grabs the branch & dives in the river, still firing at it.*

Schreiber<Better already, huh? Damn monster...see, this is why we don't stand in the woods bickering for 10 minutes!>

*Vanessa follows her because fuck this shit.*

*Eve and Tirea both dive into the water and grab onto the branch*

As it may be as unclear to Astarte how feasible it would be for her to also attach herself to the branch, she leaps into the river after them and attaches herself to Vanessa.

V"Get off o--glubglubglub!"

*The branch promptly sinks because there's too much weight on it, plunging everyone into frigid, airless darkness. They have the sensation that they're moving, but who knows in which direction?*

*Eve and Tirea both head for the surface, or at least try to*

Astarte pushed herself off of Vanessa to attempt to stay above water and started a kind of desperate paddle towards where she thought the other side must be.

*Fortunately for Astarte, pushing Vanessa under allowed her to catch a glimpse at where she was heading. Unfortunately for her, she saw the ghostly light reflecting off of the white monster. Hopefully she's a good swimmer. Schreiber helps Vanessa back up as the branch rises above the water, now freed from most of its weight, & rapidly disappears under a bridge in the direction of town. Unsure of where the surface is, Eve & Tirea just wind up getting rolled around in the current.*

Astarte is capable of making it to the other side, but seeing that both sides are apparently occupied by monsters she opts to let the current carry her to the bridge where she would try to grab one of the piers and look back at the two sides of the river.

*Without anything else to do, they flounder around, trying to grab onto something*

*The bridge is too far above her head. Fortunately, being flipped around in the current allows Astarte to see what probably should have been the more common sense conclusion: That the opposite bank is clear & she was simply going the wrong way.*
-----------------------------------
*The water is pretty clear, so there's not really anything to grab onto. Also, their lungs are starting to burn.*

*Both try and get on their backs, feet in the direction of the current*

Astarte makes the painful effort to power over to the safe bank.