Shadows of JiangXi

[mtjsmith]

Ling heard a beep, he must have dozed somewhat as his hour was up. There was no loud explosion, and when he checked the skinned bear - There was no explosion crater. He carefully removed the grenade from the bear and put the pin back in. It was his only one. Again, his superiors saw fit to limit the amount of weaponry he actually had.

"Time to run again. But which way...."

He looked at the path which seemed to come to an end. He quickly looked at the night sky, and saw Lightening streak across it. There was a heavy wind, and the rain kept falling. He checked his radiation meter, minimal. The bear fur seemed to be going an excellent job. He looked for clues to which way was south. The wind was blowing against his right side, and the lightening streaking to his left. When he dropped from the Social Credit, the weather had the same pattern. As such, forwards seemed the most logical.

"Forwards then, I have no plan in dying this night."

He ran about 2 kilometers before a huge river stood in his way. The river flowed rapidly, and it looked very deep. Ling shook his head. He could not swim.

"Great."

He tapped his TAC-COM, all he was greeted with was static. Of course it didn't work - Radiation. Ling shook his head again, the exhaustion beginning to take its toll. He had underestimated his old home, and overestimated himself.

"The tree's are high enough, the river.. well.. It might be too wide. I'd guess.. 300 meters.. Wait.. No.. Be more pessimistic, 350 meters. Trees, 200 meters tall.. Rope needed.. Hmm..

He tried to do the maths taught to him so long ago, but in the end it came down to guess work. He thought he could make it by tying the rope he had in his backpack to the top branches - then swinging across. If he had enough horizontal momentum - He might make it. If the rope was long enough, if the river wasn't as wide as he feared.

"Surely there's another way.. There must be..."

He felt more and more afraid and nervous, nothing could come to mind.

"Dammit!" - He screamed to the jungle.

He began his ascent up the tree closest to the river. The branches were prickly, and little Ling had difficultly getting through them. He reached near the top, the branches were still relatively strong here.

"Here goes nothing I guess."

Lightening struck across the sky again, Ling tied the rope to the branch, and descended as far as the rope would allow. He was on his tip-toes. He ran back as far as he could and swung!

"C'mon Chun, you gotta let go now.. Now?"

He swung back towards the tree he was tied to. And hit the branches. He was too afraid to let go. It seemed though, he could make it - If he could only, let go.
He tried again, and ran as fast as he could.. He jumped, swung, then let go. Gravity took over. He plunged downwards, and hit... mud... He was safe on the other side of the river. For now.

He checked his gear, and moved on - a lot less quickly and vigorously than before. He was much less confident than before.

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