Nameless didn't even glance back at the blaring sirens or the frantic shouts of his captors now fading behind him as the main gate creaked open.
Instead, he turned sharply into the deeper shadows of the forest, abandoning the gravel road that stretched toward the front of the facility.
The decision was instinctual: the path to his freedom lay in the wild route, not the manmade one.
But as he walked upon it, the forest ground fell away almost immediately.
Nameless found himself on steep slopes, covered in a treacherous tangle of roots and slick leaves.
The facility actually sat atop a large hill, an ugly crown upon the forest's lush head.
Each downward step sent jarring pain through Nameless's shrapnel-littered side and bullet-bruised limbs.
The cold night air bit at his exposed skin, a stark contrast to the sterile warmth of his sleeping unit in the laboratory he'd just broken out of.
His lungs burned as he continued trudging through the damp earth of the dark forest.
Every muscle screamed from the prolonged strain of the last half hour, a bone-aching fatigue settling into his very core.
Despite it all, Nameless kept pushing onward, a primal urge driving him away from the place that had been his cage.
He moved with a desperate, wounded pace, his enhanced senses hyper-alert to the unlit surroundings.
The faint sounds of the facility receded, replaced by the hushed noises of the forest: the rustle of leaves as wind whispered through the pine trees, the distant hoot of an owl on the hunt, the unseen scurry of small critters hiding in their holes.
For an agonizing stretch, only his ragged breathing and the wet squelch of his bare feet on damp earth broke the silence.
Nameless ran, he walked, stumbled, even crawled, every fiber of his being focused only upon putting distance between himself and the place of his torment.
He needed to be gone before dawn exposed him.
'Where to?' Nameless asked himself, then instantly answered: 'Away.'
But then, a new sound cut through the forest's quiet hum: the distant rumble of vehicles, fainter than before, now coming from his front.
His captors were rounding ahead in their pursuit of him, trying to cut him off from the wild path, his path to freedom.
Nameless pressed himself against the rough bark of an ancient pine, straining his enhanced ears to their limits, focusing only on the sounds that didn't belong in these woods.
The rumble of engines grew, before ceasing altogether, plunging his surrounding area back into an unnerving silence.
They were off their vehicles, now coming after him on foot.
'Then come.'
The wait of confrontation in the dark was unbearable, a quiet tension broken only by the frantic beat of his own heart.
'If you're willing to die to shackle me again,' Nameless challenged wordlessly, 'then don't blame me when I kill you—'
Two dark shapes burst through the undergrowth, their wet noses pressed to the ground before they lifted their floppy-eared heads, thick metallic collars around their necks.
Tracking hounds: with coal coats and bronze snouts, larger than any he'd seen inside the facility.
They snarled at him as they smelled his bloodied wounds, their eyes glinting in the dark.
Nameless held himself still, their guttural growls rumbling in his chest.
He merely hissed back with his forked tongue hanging out, for he didn't want to hurt the dogs, only keep them away.
Nameless shifted slightly, sending a subtle warning that made the lead hound hesitate, its large ears flopping down.
Then their barks intensified as footsteps sounded behind them, shrill alerts in the otherwise quiet night calling for their masters.
"Subject 13!" a shout cut through the night, followed by the crashing approach of heavy boots. "On me! I repeat: on me!"
Three guards, rifles raised, emerged from the tree line, flashlights sweeping wildly, then locking onto his position.
Nameless felt a surge of grim resolve. 'I'm not dead yet for you to think you can kill me.'
In the dense terrain of the dark forest, he was no longer backed into a concrete corner.
This was wilderness: a predator's home.
And it was him who had the Basilisk Venom coursing through his veins, not them.
Nameless didn't confront the nearing guards directly.
His injuries wouldn't allow a prolonged brawl against them, and his Vital Specks were too precious to spend on such low scum.
Instead, he hunted them from the shadows.
Like a snake in the dark, an assassin in the night.
Nameless stepped back into the denser undergrowth, where their flashlights were useless.
The first guard moved, sweeping around with his rifle raised.
Nameless crept behind him in an instant, each movement burning his battered muscles.
With a silent lunge, a fistful of dirt slammed into the guard's visor, blinding him.
Tripping the man before he could react, Nameless snatched a sharp rock from the ground and brought it down hard on the guard's throat.
The man gurgled, collapsing without another sound.
[Banal Mortal: Butchered!]
The remaining two guards of that group panicked, their lights crisscrossing the darkness.
"What was that?"
"Finch, report!"
Nameless was already gone, melting into the undergrowth once again.
He moved like a snake, low to the ground.
The second guard, frantic from no response from the first, stumbled over a root.
As he went down, Nameless was there, a thick log swinging from his shaking grip.
It slammed into the guard's knee with a sickening crack.
A choked cry echoed past the pine trees as the man collapsed to the ground screaming.
The third guard, mumbling something in terror, fired blindly into the darkness where the second one crawled with a broken knee.
Gunned down, his cries ended.
Nameless closed the distance on the shooter, grabbed the man from behind, and snapped his neck with a swift, brutal twist.
[Banal Mortal: Butchered!]
Down, all three.
The tracking hounds lowered their heads, snapping at him from beside their masters' corpses.
Then more shouts erupted, even closer.
A second group of three guards, drawn by their barking, crashed through the thicket.
"Finch? Trev? Report damn it!"
Body screaming from all his open wounds and the mounting fatigue from fighting so many of his slavers, Nameless still gathered enough resolve to return to the shadows.
The guards found the corpses, a stiffness overtaking their postures.
Their fear worked against them, and the terrain in favor of Nameless, making it far easier to pick them off one by one.
A sudden appearance, a disabling strike to the side of the head. A silent grapple around the throat, a lethal choke. A kick between the legs, a knee to the nose.
They were all down.
But still breathing.
'Curses,' Nameless spat, realizing he was now far too weak to get through the guard's armor, the force in his limbs not strong enough to break theirs. 'Don't fight. Just run.'
They would be punished in time—but not tonight, for judging his slavers didn't require him to execute himself.
The tracking hounds sensed his slowing movements as he backed away, making them bolder with their snarls and snaps.
All three guards of the new group struggled to get back onto their feet as Nameless flung their rifles down the hill's slope to make sure they couldn't fire at his back.
But just as one of the injured guards was frantically trying to pull out his sidearm pistol to keep him away: a monstrous shadow lunged from the deeper darkness of the silent forest.
However, it was neither a bulky soldier nor another of their large tracking hounds.
'By the Doomed Gods.' Nameless gulped, a chill running down his spine. 'What in this damned world is that thing?'
The wolfish creature was immense, twice as big in comparison to the dogs, with twice as many teeth and no ears at all.
Its body was a grotesque bundle of muscle and sinew covered in thin grey fur, its eyes glowing scarlet with bloodhungry hostility.
Its movements were far too fluid for it to be just another big dog, and far too silent for any mere wild beast.
This was something unnatural, different with a primal energy coursing through it that made the hairs on Nameless's scaly skin prickle.
'Have to kill it,' he told himself, clenching his fists, 'before it kills me—'
The earless hound lunged silently—but not at Nameless.
Surprisingly, it targeted the guard who aimed his pistol at it, but was too frozen by fear to pull its trigger.
And then Nameless noticed it:
There was no collar around the scarlet-eyed beast's throat.
The tracking hounds whimpered and bolted from their masters' side, as the attacked security guard's scream melted into a gurgling croak.
The earless beast's jaws closed around his throat, shaking him as if he were nothing but a fleshy sack of intestines.
This gave enough time for another guard to get up, but instead of reaching for his blade or pistol, he followed after the frightened dogs.
That seemed to be the only smart move to survive against this bloodhungry creature.
Run.
'Enjoy your meal.' Nameless took a step back. 'I'll leave you to feast alone—'
A dry branch snapped under his foot.
Lifting its bloodied maw from the ripped throat of the mauled guard, the earless hound's scarlet eyes locked onto Nameless, the one who'd just disturbed its dinner.
There was no warmth for him in those gleaming eyes either.
Nameless was nothing but yet another prey for the bloodhungry beast. 'Curse the Doomed Gods!'
It attacked.