'We need to move.'
Zarek had this thought immediately and swept Priya into his arms, letting her head and shoulders hang above him as he practically pinned her waist to his chest.
Priya understood why Zarek had chosen such a terribly un-ergonomic method immediately and aimed her gun over his shoulder.
Having reacted with such speed, Zarek had already cleared several trees and put a distance of over 20 meters between himself and the highway before there were calls.
The reason Zarek moved was simple. Although this was still the start of the apocalypse, any organization with two brain cells to rub together would understand the importance of Talents and maximizing them.
For Malik to send out this group to randomly drum up their engines on the highway, the only explanation was if one of them—or maybe even more than one of them—had some sort of ingrained scouting Talent.
It was also possible that Malik had chosen to farm the Hub by feeding it Godsfall Droplets too. In which case, if he found it worth the investment, he might have more with not just scouting Talents, but scouting Skills as well.
As expected, their hiding place was picked out almost instantly.
"Over there!"
"Whoever spoke," Zarek whispered. There was a hint of finality in his voice, a cold indifference.
Priya nodded, trying to keep her arms as steady as she could as she aimed. She calmed her breathing, and in that moment, she forgot the fact that this was the first human she had ever aimed a gun at.
The feeling of Godsfall circulating around her, pooling into her skin and concentrating in her eyes and hair, felt more real now than ever before.
She found a line through the trees, took a breath, and pressed the trigger with an exhale.
BANG!
The echo of the gun was almost dull beneath the hum of the motorcycle's engines, at least to the gang rapidly approaching them.
They had leapt off their bikes and charged for the forest line, some of them talking into walkie-talkies.
The bullet came fast and swift. The man that had spoken was ahead of the pack, something that was only natural as the scout among them. He didn't even feel anything when the bullet tore into his chest.
When he saw Priya aiming at him, he had hardly taken it seriously. He had been in a gang all his life; he had lost count of the number of times he had seen a barrel pointed right at him. It was hard to stop himself from laughing when he saw a girl of all things trying to aim while bouncing up and down like she was on some sort of trampoline.
Unfortunately for him, not only was Priya's aim decent enough, but the connection between her eyes and the energy she controlled wasn't so simple.
Even if she was off, she was still able to curve the bullet just the slightest little bit.
Melaloon. It was a Talent born from Priya's congenital disease, a variation of albinism that usually killed children very early on.
But now, her inability to form melanin in her hair and eyes had formed unique pathways for her Godsfall, pathways that would make her a powerhouse in the future.
The man took another step forward, and then his body suddenly gave out on him. He barely had time to look down at his chest, but by this point, his heart was obliterated.
The poor durability of the bullets Zarek created might make it harder for Priya to fire, but when she succeeded, the shrapnel it formed after the fact—albeit for a brief instant before the mirror image collapsed—was enough to devastate a body.
Zarek didn't even look back as he rushed forward. When he heard the single shot ring out, a grin spread across his face. There was no second shot, and that told him everything he needed to know.
He ducked and weaved behind trees. With the scout dead, he didn't need to keep an open line of fire for Priya anymore. Instead, he cut across horizontally.
They would take them down one by one.
Zarek launched himself forward, slamming a steel-toe boot into a tree and compressing the bark just enough to send himself flying up. Grabbing a branch with a free hand, he pulled himself to the canopy and threw Priya up.
"Cover me," Zarek said.
Priya had barely managed to land perched when Zarek had already hit the ground. He unsheathed his machetes, a deathly glow in his eye.
This group had most definitely already reported back to Malik—that would make getting out of here much more annoying. In that case, he would just have to take some interest first.
Slipping through a blind spot in the ground, Zarek's figure flashed.
BANG!
Priya shot another bullet, and someone who managed to get eyes on him fell.
'It doesn't seem like there's another scout,' Zarek realized.
The group immediately charged toward where the gunshot had come from, completely missing Zarek, who shot out from the side, rounding to their backs.
While they were closing the distance on Priya, Zarek had closed in on them. The two on their back line didn't even have the chance to react before their heads went flying.
Without a chance to hear the screams of their friends, the others reacted too late.
Zarek displayed a Dexterity he simply didn't have to, his Strength so overwhelming that the speed of his swings suffocated them.
His blade cut a man in half from his shoulder to the opposite hip, a kick of his leg peeling bark as he ran it through a man and almost the tree behind him.
One violent death after another was belied only by the third echo of a bullet's firing. It could be said that those who died under Priya's hands had gotten off far easier than the rest.
"Hop down," Zarek called.
Priya consciously flipped the safety of her gun on and jumped down into Zarek's arms.
"How are you feeling?" Zarek asked.
"… I'm fine," Priya nodded.
Zarek gave her a glance and then nodded before rushing toward the highway.
"There are probably more. Be ready."
Priya nodded, pulling the safety down again.
Zarek's plan was simple. Since they had so conveniently brought them bikes, he would use them.