Laila's sensitive ears flickered, taking in the distant calls of the animals and the rustling of the leaves around her, always on guard. The lush foliage tugged at the bottom of her pant leg, some leaving behind a strange bioluminescent liquid streaked against her heavy boots as she trudged forward. Her breathing slightly labored, Laila inwardly grimaced at the dull ache in her calves, which screamed at her to take a break. Operation Na'vi Reconnaissance had begun only two weeks ago, and already the physical strain of her labor had begun to take its toll on her feet. The back of her heels were sporting blisters and she was sure the one on her right foot had popped sometime during her trek.

The mission itself had yet to be difficult. The Na'vi seemed none the wiser to their presence. If they had noticed, which Laila had the sneaking suspicion they did, the natives chose to ignore Laila and her team as they spied on the clan. The most taxing part of the job so far had been the journey back and forth between the Omatikaya territory and their camp at the Hallelujah Mountains. In order to reach the clan and have time to set up before sunrise, they had to leave camp no later than three in the morning. The trip took three and a half hours to complete by foot and they would remain at the location for four days before returning to their makeshift base. This was their fourth journey back.

The Hallelujah Mountains were nothing short of miraculous. The little islands seemed to defy logic as they hung like clouds in the sky, lazily orbiting around one another in tune to the planet's own gravitational pull. It was truly one of nature's most spectacular phenomena, in Laila's opinion. Although, she could do without the daunting climb up the ginormous spiral of roots that connected her island to the earth. Thankfully, the climb was behind her now, and the climb down in the morning would be a lot easier.

"I swear to God it happened!" Meyer exclaimed, his tail swishing back and forth around his legs in his excitement. Laila had thought the Corporal large when he was human, but this thought was quickly put to shame when witnessing the man in his Avatar. He towered over Laila like a building, his alien body far more muscular and bulky than what was considered normal for the Na'vi. He might have been intimidating if not for his, at times, child-like personality.

"No way, man," Ski shook her head. Her Na'vi was certainly quite beautiful. The blue coloring to her skin was a few shades darker than Laila's, which caused the white freckle-like spots splattered across her flattened nose to stand out like stars in a late evening sky. "There's no way you got that close to a native."

"Look here, motherfucker," Meyer stopped in his tracks, his hands hoovering before him as if he were explaining the next play in a football game. By his tone alone, Laila could have mistaken Meyer's seriousness as truth, though his somewhat agitated smile showed only jest. "I was sittin' in that big tree by the creek where the females and kids wash their clothes. I open up my chocolate bar and get about halfway through when I get that feelin'. You know, that weird feelin' that something's watchin' you? I look up and I'm face to face with a damn Na'vi kid!"

"Oh, that's why I caught you throwing away your underwear." Connell's North Midwestern accent was stark in contrast to Meyer's own Southern indication. It always brought a smile to Laila's face, especially when the two would argue and their accents drastically increased.

Meyer shoved the much smaller Connell forward. "Shut the hell up, man."

"Just tell us what happened already!" Connell shoved back.

"Well, it didn't move for a while. I actually thought I was seeing shit for a moment, but then it started sniffin' the air and waggin' its tail, acting like it was gonna pounce or somethin'."

"What did you do?" Ski asked with an eager pep in her step.

"Gave it my chocolate bar."

Connell gawked, his yellow cat-like eyes going wide. "Damn it, Meyer, why'd you go and do a thing like that?"

"I wanted to see what would happen?" He said it like it was the most obvious answer in the world.

Ski turned on her toes in excitement. "What did happen?"

"It snatched the bar right out of my hands and disappeared into the trees, the greedy little shit. No thank you or nothin."

Connell deadpanned. "You're such an idiot, Meyer. And you let that happen?"

The question was directed to Laila. The team had split up into two groups on this particular outing. Ski and Connell trailed a Na'vi hunting party while Laila and Meyer stayed near the creek. She had, indeed, been present for the altercation. At first, she thought the entire mission was a bust. As she watched the child eventually return to the others and saw no outraged reactions from the women, Laila's previous theory was all but confirmed. The Na'vi already knew they were there, yet they were allowing the humans to "spy" on them. The reason why they hadn't attacked yet, Laila did not know. Perhaps the Na'vi were watching them with the same intentions of gathering info. Or, maybe they knew the humans would be unable to gather anything useful on them.

Laila raised her hands in surrender at Connell's accusation. "Hey, don't look at me! It kept the kid from squealing, so it's fine by me." She was unsure if the others had caught on yet, so she refrained from telling them about her theory of the Na'vi. She was confident in her soldiers abilities, yet she wasn't sure she wanted to risk them becoming more relaxed during these missions.

The group returned to their walking, much to the outrage of Laila's sore feet. Thankfully, they didn't have much further to go until reaching base. It wasn't anything special; an old metal hangar acted as their home, harboring all the food, weapons, and oxygen their human bodies needed for survival while they set out in their Avatars. They had enough supplies to last for a further two months, though a supply drop was scheduled at the end of the following week. Laila suspected this was more of a check up on their well being than anything. Due to the magnetic fields surrounding the Hallelujah Mountains, most radio signals were scrambled and unable to reach back to Central Command. Practically dead in the water, there was no way to communicate outside of the supply drop.

Just as the thought entered her mind, the ground below her feet rumbled. The team of Marines came to a stop. Laila's yellow eyes flickered with confusion, much like her fellow comrades, while the tips of her pointed ears twitched. "The Hell was that?" Meyer asked, but his words were cut short by another great tremor that sent the group stumbling to the ground.

"Get to the base!" Laila ordered, her hands and feet slipping against the slick grass in her haste to regain her footing. Just as she was able to take a few steps forward, another quake and a following 'boom!' threw her chest-first into a thick tree root. A pained gasp escaped her and she wheezed, having lost her breath. She felt a pair of hands grappling at her arm, though she shook off their hold. "Go!" She pushed herself from the root, then she was running.

Laila ran so fast that it was impossible to see any further than a few feet in front of her, and yet she did not dare slow as she ducked and weaved her way through the forest. Her heart thumped against her breast bone so quickly that she could feel her entire body pulsate. And yet, she pushed on. Her chest burned with each inhale like a sharp thorn was piercing between the bones of her ribs and she was sure the blister on her heel had begun to bleed. She was close behind Connell with Ski right on her heels, while Meyer's much larger strides sent him flying ahead of the group. They jumped over a small bubbling stream, then rounded a thick cluster of brush and broke the treeline.

They had reached a clearing. On the other side of the small field stood the metal shack, and the group made a direct B-line towards it. As she ran, Laila noticed a dark shadow looming at the corner of her vision to the right. She took no note of it at first. That is, until the shadow grew. Within seconds, the entire right side of the field was blanketed in darkness similar to the eclipse that took place in the evening of the day. However, when Laila's eyes glanced in the direction of the reaching shadows, her heart simultaneously dropped to the pit of her stomach and lept into her throat and her legs came to a jutting halt.

It wasn't an eclipse, it was a mountain.

The island was large, nearly dwarfing the one in which the soldiers stood upon. They watched in a wondrous awe, their eyes following the dangling dirt and roots as the island hovered over the trees. "Woah," Connell breathed out while Meyer cursed. Laila could say nothing, stricken dumb and silent by the horror in which she felt. The floating mountain dipped down and touched the earth, sending the group to their knees again. The island did not bounce back up into the air like before. This time, the rocky bottom dragged against the forest floor, tearing the thick trees from their roots.

Laila raised herself into a crouch and steadied herself with her hands, unwilling to risk standing as the ground below her quivered and jerked in protest. She watched the enormous burst of dirt and tree bark explode high into the sky in the wake of the destruction, too stunned to properly think or even brush away the black dreadlocks that hung in her face. Many seconds passed, though it could have been minutes as Laila could not properly process exactly what was happening. The world around her had grown muffled both in sight and sound, like she had been dunked under water. Then, as if she had inhaled the water deep into her lungs, the sound of metallic bangs reached her ears and the reality of the situation was upon her.

Ski came to the realization just as fast as she had. "It's headed for the shack!"

"No!" Laila screamed as if the floating mountain could hear her plea. Her legs quaking like jell-o, the young Sergeant forced herself to stand and she was running again. There was no plan of action; nothing she could do to stop the inevitable, but that did little to slow her panicked strides.

The island was upon the shack before she could even get close. An onslaught of rock and dirt clods pummeled the metallic roof. At first, it was nothing more than a few fist-sized stones that hardly managed to dint the roof at all. Within seconds, the right side of the shack was buried. Laila flung herself forward and she plunged her arms into the rocky shower. Her claws dug deep into the growing mound of dirt, shoveling desperately as rubble continued to rain down upon her. Sharp, jagged rocks smacked her skull and sliced her arms, yet the metallic groans of the shack egged her on. The building was going to cave in on itself.

On either side of her, the other three soldiers dug as well. With each mound of dirt removed, more from above would slip and fall and replace the empty spaces. Pain blinded Laila, the rocks leaving behind bruises and blood upon her blue flesh, but she hardly seemed to notice with the rush of her adrenaline. Another harsh moan echoed within Laila's ears, rattling her brain, then the entire left side of the buried shack shifted. The structure bowed under the crushing weight of the rocks, and Ski fell to the ground unconscious.

"Holy shit," Meyer breathed, his eyes wide and horrified as he merely stared at the lifeless body of his friend lying at his feet. "The link units are being crushed!" No sooner had the words left him did the mighty soldier fall.

"Keep digging!" Laila yelled over the deafening noise, but when she looked to Connell for his answer, he was already on the ground. "Nathan-?"

She screamed. A jarring blast of lightning-like pain shot directly through the entire left side of her body, crippling her momentarily. From her elbow down, her arm had been buried by the piling dirt clods. She could feel the sickening crunch as her bones cracked under the pressure along with the tearing and ripping of her delicate skin against the rocks. Her vision darkened and images of the dull green glow of the inside of the link unit flashed inside her mind. She gasped, fighting against the pull to return to her human body, but it was to no avail. Laila crumbled to her knees and the blackness enveloped her.

When Laila awoke, she could not breathe. The pod in which she laid in had been pounded by rocks, causing the lid to pop open and allowing poisonous gas to leak in. The air on Pandora was unbreathable, and it was currently filtering into the room through the damaged walls. She would be unconscious within twenty seconds, and dead in four minutes.

Laila's mouth parted in a strangled, almost misshapen way; a silent scream for air. The peripheral around her vision had already begun to blur. Fire scorched the lining of her nostrils, down her throat, and inflamed her lungs. Her arms extended before her, blindly grappling at the foam-like ceiling of the lid to her pod. The door bobbed up and down above her, opening just enough for her to roll out and onto the floor. Her body fell heavily like a sack of bricks, the pain of which caused the muscles throughout her body to seize.

Somewhere deep in the muck of her fear, Laila remembered when she fell into a river when she was a child. This felt almost the same as when she inhaled the murky water into her lungs and drowned. She was on land now, and yet she was drowning. There were no thoughts, no plan of action or even awareness of what was happening around her. She forced an arm forward and she pulled, dragging her stiffened body across the cold floor by only her elbows. Maybe it was her last ditch effort to live; her natural instincts for survival overtaking her body's movements. Or, perhaps it was her dying brain sending signals to her muscles impulsively with no true meaning. Whatever the case, Laila suddenly found herself at the far wall, and she remembered the emergency exopack.

Her rigid fingers slid up the length of the wall, clawing at the hard metal for something - anything - that resembled the breathing mask. With her other arm, she lifted herself as high as she could, though the appendage trembled uncontrollably and many times she would slip back to the floor. Then she felt it; the casing which held the mask. Her fingers dug through the plastic flap and she could touch the mask. It was right there, she could feel it, but she could not get her grip. She felt herself lowering again, the ache in her left arm almost unbearable. She knew that, if she were to fall again, it would be her last time.

Please.

The single word crossed her mind.

Please..

A whisper that died softly into the darkness.

Please...

Her index finger hooked around tubing and she yanked. The oxygen mask came tumbling to the floor along with the rest of her body. She grappled with the mask, cupping the perimeter of her face crushingly so, and pressed a button on the box that, thankfully, remained connected to the mask by the plastic hose. Her other hand grabbed at the bottom of the mask and she flicked a small switch. Just like that, Laila Richardson could breathe again.

The woman gasped, her dry throat greedily sucking at the fresh air almost as quickly as the machine could convert it to safe oxygen. Her vision returned and the tautness to her body left her. Adrenaline continued to course heatedly through her veins with every thump of her heart, preventing her from staying still another moment. She jumped to her feet and staggered dumbly, using the wall to keep her upright as she impulsively trudged forward. The small pack containing the filters and power supply clattered behind her, dragged like a dog with the hose as its leash. The pads of her fingers slid across the cold metal, then met with another plastic case, this one much smaller than the one that held the exopack. She fumbled with the edges then flipped it open, revealing a large emergency handle. She pulled it down and a siren rang through the room.

Her head as heavy as a bowling ball, Laila lazily rolled her neck and she faced the opposite wall where a mound of rocks continued to come pouring down. From the ceiling, a thick slab of metal slowly began to fall; the emergency barricade. The woman watched as the new wall inched its way down, down, while the stampede of rubble only grew closer. With a metallic click, the emergency wall crushed through the buildup of dirt and locked in place. A great gush of wind and dust blew into the room, extinguishing the light in a flash as the north side of the building sealed off from the outside world.

Red warning lights began to flash; the only light through the darkness. Above the noise of the siren, a computer automated voice spoke through a staticy speaker. "Warning: oxygen stabilization in progress, please acquire an emergency exopack or a standby rebreather until completion." The sentence repeated two more times, then the siren grew louder. The two sounds continued to trade off, taking their fair share at their warnings until, finally, it all came to a stop. "Oxygen stabilization complete."

Laila ripped the mask from her face and dropped it at her feet. At the same time, her knees buckled and she fell back against the wall, which slowed her fall to the floor. As soon as her bottom made contact with the metal below, the young woman curled in on herself. She wrapped her numb arms loosely around her knees and she rested her forehead in the crook of her elbows. She stared unblinking at her baggy gray sweatpants, even as the overhead lights flickered on with a buzz as the backup generator kicked to life. Her breath came out in short-lived puffs and she could feel the heat building up within the small space between her thighs and her lips. Her body trembled so violently that an odd muscle would give a harsh jerk every few seconds. As the adrenaline ebbed from her, abandoning her, pain took its place. There was not one single part of her body that did not hurt. She took in a large, shuddering breath, then Laila began to cry.

The woman did not completely sob. The choked sounds came out in short bursts as her lungs battled against her cries in favor of more air. Tears dripped from her still unblinking eyes like water from a leaky faucet, which darkened the gray color of her pants to a shade close to black. The ground continued to quiver as the offending island slammed into the ground once more, though it was a great distance away by now.

Oh my God. The first real thought to enter her mind. Oh my God.

Laila screamed. The garroted sound raked its way up her raw throat with taloned claws, like a rat digging its way out. She screamed again, her voice momentarily breaking and leaving her, then returning for a third scream. The terrorized screaming and sobbing mixed with the dust in the air, spiraling pathetically within the enclosed room. It continued on for many minutes, and once Laila no longer had the energy to do so, she returned to her blank stare and rushed gasps. The suffocating atmosphere of her surroundings closed in on her, growing closer with every pulse of her heart until Laila felt as if a box had enclosed itself around her. She welcomed this box, allowing it to block out the reality of her world, if only for just a little while longer.

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A/N: Let me know if there were any grammar mistakes or anything. I was very eager to post this chapter and I may have jumped the gun in regards to editing. Review and tell me what you think!