Excerpt from To Retrieve A Spy - TRAS II
Sequel to TRAS I - 2004 FanQ Nominee for Best Standalone Gen Zine
Written by Marie-Louise Yately
Rating PG13

Illya Kuryakin was soaked to the skin in seconds by the torrential downpour outside the cabin walls. The cold rain shocked him back to full awareness in seconds as he plunged at random into the woods surrounding the misnamed cabin. The blinding downpour penetrated even the dense lower branches of the trees, and even the forest floor was soggy and slippery from oversaturation.

His only goal was escape; he didn’t know where he was and was in no state of mind to care. The ground sloped away from the cabin at a strong angle, and he skidded along, at times crashing into tree trunks or stumbling over unseen rocks and roots. The forest was dismal in the pouring rain. Even the trees seemed huddled in misery. It was difficult to see in the dimness. Aside from the occasional crack of lightning and accompanying roll of thunder, it was a silent, twilight world. Illya blundered on, the adrenaline rush that had given him strength failing now, and with it his stamina.

He had no idea how long he had been running now, he knew only that his lungs were burning from the effort to breathe, and he had developed a stabbing pain in his side with each ragged breath. The downslope he had been following was growing more acute, and he could hear the sound of something else now, even over the noise of the storm. Panting heavily, the sodden agent paused to lean on the nearest tree and wait for the worst of the pain in his side to subside. Directly ahead was an oddly open stretch of ground, with no trees of any size beyond knee high, aside from the oddly twisted barren stump of a tree that perched upside down in the midst of the area as if it had been dropped there by a careless giant.

When he could take a deep breath without pain, Illya pushed away from his supporting tree and resumed his journey down hill. As soon as he stepped into the open, he felt the unstable surface shift, and he took another quick step forward. His foot came down on a hidden rock, and he stumbled. The next thing he knew, he was falling down the steep slope. He clutched desperately at the stump as he slid by, and suddenly the entire hillside was in motion.

Heart stopping seconds later, his fall was abruptly halted at the bottom of the hill when his body slammed into a forest giant, and, simultaneously, the stump struck an outcropping of rock and a tangle of root broke off and arrowed directly for him.

As the section of root hurtled straight for him, Illya Kuryakin threw himself desperately to the right in a frantic attempt to get out of the way. He almost made it.

A numbing blow to the back of his left leg pinned him face down in the mucky soil. Choking and spitting, the dazed agent struggled to clear his mouth and nose of the clinging mud. He tried to roll over, but his knee was twisted, and the searing pain warned him to lie still.

© 2004 Marie-Louise Yately

Feel free to write to me if you have any comments.

Available through Twisted Tsisters Productions.