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Mila ran for her life. The Pyrites behind her shot their lava weapons at her. She dodged and weaved, narrowly avoiding the blobs of molten rock hurled at her. The problem was that the projectiles splashed and scalded everything around their target. She got a good splash on her leg, and it hurt so much that she didn’t even feel it anymore. She’d definitely regret running on that leg later, but for now, she had no other choice. She held the backpack tight, its contents the most important thing in the world right now, and she stepped out of the compound and into the forest nearby, hoping to lose them under the cover of trees and darkness.

Not that the forest in itself was safe, Pyr was full of nasty creatures, its inhabitants were definitely not wussies in the survival aspects of life. She hid behind a big tree and tried to catch her breath a moment, her chest heaving up and down, her heart trying to burst out of her ribcage. There was shouting from afar, but it didn’t come any closer. With a gulp, she dared to peek from the side of the tree and figure out the status of her pursuers.

Pyrites weren’t hard to miss. Usually the biggest ones around, tall and muscular, their red skin made them stand out during the day. During the night, it was even easier to spot them, their ember eyes and their big weapons dripping lava were a dead giveaway of their position. No guile, no cowardice, no hesitation. That was the Pyrite way.

Mila frowned. She couldn’t see anyone near, the only embers she could spot were at the far ends of the forest, basically outside the treeline. Were they hesitating to chase her in this forest? Oh, no! Were they planning to set the entire forest on fire? Shitshitshit. Mila left the illusory safety of the big tree and started at a dead run through the forest. Which was doubly stupid, because nobody can run through a forest, let alone at night. Unless you’re a Dendrite, which she wasn’t.

She could surrender. They had the place surrounded, at least from this side. She could just step back, hands in surrender, and drop the backpack to them. It was the easy way out. Or, she could fight. One last stand. She reached for her laser pistol on her belt. She was a very good shot, but not that good. She was no match for the battle-hardened Pyrites. She ran. That’s what she did in life. Running from place to place.

She ran face-first into a tree trunk and it hit hollow as her vision blurred. She didn’t know if the hollow thud was from her stupid head or the tree itself, but she was seeing stars in her vision and the ground was wobbly. And then she saw it. The first flames. It wasn’t easy setting a forest on fire. It wasn’t that hard, either. And when you had an entire group of flaming pyromaniacs, it only took them 36 seconds, it seemed.

“No, are they crazy?” she asked herself, giving away her position to anyone who could hear. Did it even matter right now? She was gonna cook like a potato in the firepit, and she was gonna die a painful death. Get up, Mila. Get your ass up. Run now, mope later. She pushed herself up from the ground and she felt the entire planet shifting to the side. Or maybe, it was just her. Her vision tunnelled, she saw black all around and something blurry in the middle when it should be in focus.

“Ow…” she complained, touching her head. It came back bloody, and she could feel it throbbing with her elevated heartrate. A small voice spoke from somewhere out of the well she was apparently into. “You have a concussion. Lay down on the leaves.”

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