[center][hider=Concerning:][@Xandrya][/hider][/center]She heard them minutes later, halves of hours later. The gunfire never seemed to really stop, pop-popping over hills, between trees; the noise bounced off stones and tree-trunks like the very shrapnel bursting from their guns. She must have been a mile away then, and still she heard them. Intensely at first, but as she walked the noises grew dull and faint; and further, the firefight began to die down. One side must have gained the upper hand, pinning the other, conserving their ammo while they waited for a head to peep out from behind a crumbling wall. And what did a single shot from a pistol mean? A warning shot? Or was it a [i]coup de grâce[/i]?...

She had reached a road now, a long road of naked mud, walled in on either side by dense forestry. The mud was brittle and glossy, smoothed over from many days of rain and snow which had all dried up. It cracked under the weight of her footsteps. It burrowed itself between her treads.

Stalkers could debate each other for hours on the merits of following roads. It made them more visible, yes, but they moved quickly. And it was harder to pin them down, when they could choose in a moment what cover they dashed for. But those who walked the woods; they were invisible. They slogged and trudged through the undergrowth, but theirs was a patient lot, ever in a greater position to lay an ambush, or to sneak past tight patrols.

If Amelia could hear Dmitriy and his crew doing battle even from this distance, she must have known that others would hear them, too. The type of men with spindly necks like a vulture's, and a way of slithering toward stink like a maggot. The scavengers of battles fought by others. Soon the hangar would be crawling, and if Dmitriy was alive, she had to hope he had to brains to know that he had to get out of there quickly.

[hider=OOC note][@TemplarKnight07] Just in case you missed it:

[quote=@Fyre Unholy]He caught Gideon's glaze and assumed that Gideon had been Max. "You like you get around. I was wondering if you could help me with something." He looked around the room again. [i]Wow, I'm attracting a lot of attention, aren't I?[/i] he thought to himself. [i]Oh well, I have to start somewhere.[/i]
He pulled up a chair as he spoke, and strung his backpack o'er the back of it. He opened it to check if his camera was still intact, and it was there snug in it's spot on top of the few things he had. "I'd pay you for any inconvenience, of course."[/quote][/hider]