Flash Fiction #6

This week, I'm participating in the Flash Fiction Project founded by +Becket Moorby. Each day, there's an image for inspiration and we all write a piece. I'm excited about participating just for the promise that I will, indeed, write something every day. 

Today's image is:

Image courtesy of jenny downing via Flickr Creative Commons (Attribution Link)

 Here's my piece: Element of Surprise

Obviously she wasn't dragged. There were her footprints, long toed and slightly clawed. They moved steadily in a column. She was either a willing member of this party, or had decided not to resist.

They must have her flanked by the big girls--Thunderfeet. The footprints are wide and close set, pressed deeply into the sand.  He wasn't sure what they were, exactly, but they were tanks.  Hard to kill. He'd need some serious firepower and some luck. It would be like killing a polar bear. What doesn't kill it, pisses it off. And there were two. He missed Angelique. They used to do this sort of thing together. "You want the one on the left or the right?" Famous last words. May the Spirit Guard her Soul.

There must be a robot of some sort with them, too.  Something with a narrow track. That meant that they already knew he was coming. Downwind makes no difference to heat sensors and long range tracking. There would be no element of surprise.

Moreso than the robot, though, he was worried about the tiny holes in the sand. Those tracks came later and were intermixed among all the other tracks. There were a lot of them. Someone else was tracking them, too. He suspected their intentions were even less honorable than his. If it was who he thought it was, none of them were coming out of this alive.

If he could get her back, he was planning to sell her back to her family.  The Thunderfeet group probably wanted her for a breeding camp. It would kill her eventually, but she'd be treated well enough till then.  The Slashers probably didn't know or care who she was. They just liked to get at what was inside, to pull apart the soft things and study the pieces. 

Suddenly, he stopped. His entire body tensed. He whirled, just in time to dodge the first blade. The tracks must circle around up ahead. Damn he missed Angelique. No one had his back this time. Maybe he could surprise her in the afterworld.