<span style="font-size: 85%; line-height: 116%;"><span style="color: #BF0000">"Games almost over, Mikey"</span></span><br/><br/>The sound of his voice was distant but still pushed Micah's heart rate up just enough that he knew he wouldn't have much time before his brother noticed. The place where he'd taken cover was fairly devoid of underbrush, the massive pallid trunks of firs giving little opportunity for more than sparse grass to successfully take root. The cool dark put Micah at ease, maybe just as much mentally as physically. He placed his hand against a nearby trunk and took several deep breaths.<br/><br/>In...hold...out...In...hold...out...<br/><br/>The bark became warm against his hands. A sharp fruity smell permeated the air and lingered. Micah was painfully aware of his pulse as it began to beat powerfully but ever slower.<br/><br/>In...hold...out...In...hold...out...<br/><br/>The smell turned acrid and smokey and he moved his hand away from the tree, a handprint was scorched into the bark surface.  His heartbeat was shallower and slow now, it felt as if he couldn't get a full breath. He moved on unsteady legs in the opposite direction of his brother's voice before slowly working his way into a run. Each footstep sending a cascade of vibrations through the forest.<br/><br/>____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________<br/><br/>The silence was quickly replaced with the sudden but fairly meek sound of human sinus rhythm. Kai's head moved in the direction of the motion and he calmly made his way toward the sound. He didn't commit until he was truly sure it was making its way away from him. His pace slowly picking up into a run as well once he was sure that he was locked on. The need for stealth was over, it was a full out chase now. A roar of rustling low branches echoed out as Kai passed with the force of a bullet train barreling through the dense forest. Despite the startlingly loud sound, the heartbeat didn't change. He didn't know whether to be impressed or concerned as he made his way closer. The sound only getting closer and stronger as he made his way toward the source. He came to an abrupt stop as he approached the source of the beat. He slowly scanned over the dimly lit area, the orange and pink light of the setting sun failing to strongly break through the canopy of the trees.<br/><br/>As he approached, he noticed he was hearing not a single beat but multiple rhythms had begun all around him. Each rhythm had a similar tempo but they were slightly off sync with one another. Kai smiled as he made his way to one of the rhythms. As he scanned for where it could be, his attention was brought to a nearby pale barked tree; a burn mark on its surface. Just below it lied a small speaker, a small flickering blue light indicator on its unpolished surface flickered with each thump.<br/><br/><span style="font-size: 150%; line-height: 116%;"><span style="color: #FFFF80"> "Woah, you fell for that?" </span></span>Micah's raspy voice echoed from all around with a muffled bassy tone, each a fraction of a second off from another. He let out an artificial sigh,<span style="font-size: 150%; line-height: 116%;"><span style="color: #FFFF80">  "I guess being valedictorian isn't everything," </span></span>his smug tone was more irritating in surround sound.<br/><br/><span style="color: #BF0000">"Alright, I'll admit it's impressive, Mikey. A little OD for a game of manhunt though"</span>Kai remarked out loud as his attention was pulled from spot to spot, the sounds causing his attention to bounce about in a constant rhythm. The emitted sound waves were too similar to isolate from each other but the way Micah had set them up in a relay instead of from a single source created a progressively larger delay.<span style="color: #BF0000">"you waste your allowance on these speakers?" </span><br/><br/><span style="font-size: 150%; line-height: 116%;"><span style="color: #FFFF80"> "Naw, dad made 'em, he wanted me to test the prototype. Something about how I radiate low-level radio waves or something, I'm not even recording anything, I just turn them on and boom, I got my own station." </span></span><br/><br/><span style="color: #BF0000">"Not scared dad's gonna try to track your every move and word?" </span>Kai suggested it playfully but there was a hint of genuine concern.<br/><br/><span style="font-size: 150%; line-height: 116%;"><span style="color: #FFFF80"> "You assume he doesn't already?" </span></span>Micah chuckled through his words.<span style="font-size: 150%; line-height: 116%;"><span style="color: #FFFF80"> "Besides, even if he did, I feel like he'd be too busy making some new super countermeasure and containment device to be concerned about asking something like <span style="font-style: italic">'Whose that young lady you've been talking to at school, lately?'</span> </span></span><br/><br/><span style="color: #BF0000">"You talkin' to girls now?</span>Kai quickly interjected as he made his way around the area. He dug the heel of his white tennis shoe into the dirt once he reached a speaker that was significantly delayed. The pulse quickened in response to his question.