Even before he saw the shooter, he knew that she was a perfect shot — and that she didn't want Stryker dead — Only down and out of commission. But only for what happens next.
Standing in the dark archway of the middle tunnel, dressed in black cloth, with a matching black shirt, blood red short skirt, blood red hiking boots and a matching blood red scarf surrounding her neck, mouth and shoulders was a girl. She had a blood red, painted jacket with the ripped sleeves, making it a vest, and possessed hazel grey eyes, caramel-shaded skin, an athletic build and the gaze of an assassin. She had a small nose, choppy brown hair and radiated deadlines. She possessed a crimson bow, and a quiver of red feathered arrows.
The Annihilators may have been scary, but this girl was worse — Even the ones beside her — the 3 who ambushed Austin that fateful day before he woke up in the Meadows — did not scare him as much as this girl did. She had her bow aimed at Zach, as if daring him to try something, though Austin did not doubt she'd fire at him if he did something stupid either. He didn't know how, but, somehow, he knew this even before he saw the identical Owl's crest on the middle back of her vest —it was the same crest that Austin had on his own grey jacket and the pendant he wore hidden behind the layer of his shirt.
"Ahh!" Zach yelled, clutching his arm. Before Austin could do anything, the girl with the bow released an arrow in Zach's direction, and it flew threw Zach's arm, effectively immobilizing him.
This time, Horri, Feari and Pannica were armed, but didn't move to attack Austin, unless throwing shaded glares were considered attacks. This new girl was obviously the one who came up with this plain, and may have been the leader of this operation, Austin realized, as the girl drew and notched another arrow, aimed directly at Austin's skull, the meaning obvious and, if the three siblings' evil smirks were anything to go by — she was going to kill him for surivivng the ambush and attacking the other three siblings in the process.
There were a few bone-thin, zombie-like individuals in their group, too. Austin assumed they were Scavengers. One bone-thin Scavenger was at a least 17 years old boy - he had wabbled over to the corpse of an Annihilator, where he began to eat the innards remains of the beast. The action took Austin by surprise for a minute, but then he refocused on the dangerous girl and the siblings before him.
"I hear you're an owl," the dangerous girl said, inspecting Austin with a one-up. "It's a shame. I could've trained you in another life, as a brethren of mine. But... your death is mandatory, as ordered by the Bane Brothers."
But, just as she released the drawstring, the Sun had crept above the hole in the ceiling, temporarily blinding the girl, causing her to miss her target. Realising dawn had come, Austin thanked the cosmos for the distraction, before moving as fast as he could, grabbing both Zach and Stryker's arm, and dragging them down the way they'd came. And he didn't look back.
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As Austin ran, practically dragging an unconscious Stryker with the aid of Zackery, who, with the arrow still in his own arm, had Stryker's other arm, Austin realized that they weren't being chased when they were far enough away from what just happened.
The early violet blue and yellow dawn shown above the peaks of the Labyrinths' eastern walls, greeting the three scouts as Zackery led them to the place he mentioned earlier in the last night: One where Annihilators wouldn't bother going. They trudged corner after corner, passage after passage, corridor after corridor, barely making it out of the way of the annihilators they encountered. And, when they arrived, Austin noticed how the areas seemed more like an alcove in the giant maze surrounding the metal-walled, concrete-floored box of an enclosed space. Unlike most of the rest of the Labyrinth, it had no roofing, so the three scouts could see the dawn rising to their east, just the tip of it from the 25 foot high walls. Also unlike the rest of the labyrinth, where Austin could feel the Labyrinth moving, Austin couldn't feel this place moving at all; its passageways seems more solid, unmoving, stilled, even, and the Alcove itself was the size of a the Oakhouse in terms of area, with nothing b ut webs and one passageway per wall lining it.
"What is this place again?" Austin asked Zach as they propped the unconscious Stryker against the wall and both plopped down to join him themselves, overcome with exhaustion as they attempted to catch their breaths. "And why don't the Annihilators come here, anyway?"
"Aaron's first pupil, Jackson, found this place one day, during his scouts; he called it 'the Alcove'," Zach answered between huffs, out of just as much breath Austin was. "None of the other scouts know why the Annihilators don't bother coming here, but I don't think they can't; I just think they just don't. And I'm pretty sure it might have something to do with the fact that it is the only other part of this Labyrinth, aside from the Meadows, that doesn't shift. That's the best answer I got for ya, newbie. Now let's eat somethin' cuz I'm not liftin' our friend here if I don't have anythin' in my stomach."
Zackery pulled out a flask of water from his pouch along with half a sandwich he split between the two of them, and they shared the water. It was as he was putting the lid back on the flask and was giving it back to Zackery that a terrible thought occurred to Austin: What if the Scavengers followed them here? The battle wasn't necessarily silent, and everything, from the Annihilators' battle roars to their dying whines would've been loud enough to wake up a sleeping Cleo, which, in and of itself, would have to have beem quite loud.
Suddenly, a more horrified thought shot at Austin, having him to nearly drop the flask from where he was using a leather cord to tie on his waist. What if the Scavengers had found their unconscious friends, Alanna and Trevor? What then?
'Relax, Austin,' the Voice urged. 'Your pulse is likely to subject us to a heart attack if it climbs any higher. Besides, Scavengers scavenge, right? They don't hunt; they wander until they find what they're looking for. Your friends will be fine.'
'But they're also predators, too, and predators hunt,' Austin thought back, trying to calm his racing heart to no avail. 'We need to get back to them. We need—.'
"Austin," Zackery interrupted Austin from his thoughts, looking at the younger male beside him in barely concealed concern. "Can you stand? Can you walk?" the question Can you run? left unsaid, but it was there.
Austin honestly didn't know what to do with that, nor did he want him to worry about him. Afterall, his leader was out unconscious and could die at any moment at that point — He deserved worry more than Austin did.
"Yeah, yeah, just give me a few moments" Austin answered, shaking his head physically, as if that would clear his mental whirlwind of a mind. It did not. "Why? Where are we headed? Aren't we trapped in here? The Annihilators are still out there, right?"
"Back to the Meadows," Zack answered tiredly, exhaustion pouring off of him in waves. He said this while checking his watch, and glancing at the daylight pouring in from the few cracks in the roof above them Austin hadn't noticed before —The morning rays of sunlight were a warming and slightly welcoming sight. "It'll be another 30 minutes before all the Annihilators clear the Labyrinth for the day, but the Gates open up in an hour, and that's pretty much how long it'll take us to reach them, considering the fact that Stryker's unconscious and we'll have to help move." It also went unsaid that, by 'help him move', Zackery meant 'carry [spelled: 'drag'] Stryker back'.
Austin decided to try and focus on that then worrying about what could happen to his friends he had hidden from the Annihilators. It just made more sense. Besides, at least they were hidden; whenever he and Zackery leave the Alcove, they'll be sitting ducks waiting to be targetted.
"Yeah, almost, I'm ready…Or as ready as I'll ever be," Austin sighed heavily once, then twice, before getting off the wall he was leaning on. "Let's go."