Becky takes the lead and Liv keeps watch.

“You post up against the wall there,” Becky said, pointing, “So you can keep everything in your sights. I’ll creep up to the entrance and see what’s going on. If the hut is empty, or if the shaman is ****, I’ll sneak in.”

Liv chambered a round, “Sounds good. Feel free to fall back if you need to. I can provide cover fire while you retreat. Be careful.”

Becky nodded, and the two bravos slunk to their respective positions. Liv, with a slight grimace, lowered herself down to the dirty cave floor and took aim from the prone position. She watched as Becky crept up to the wooden hut, her slender form difficult to track in the shadowy cave. Becky first approached the door from the near side, peering in sideways from a few feet away before carefully stepping away again. Then, slowly, carefully, silently, she circled around the entire hut to approach the entrance from the far side. Liv almost missed her when she reappeared from around the hut’s corner, and if she hadn’t been expecting her, Becky would have been impossible to spot.

Becky was closer to the entrance, now, and she peeked inside once more. Seemingly satisfied with whatever was inside the hut, she gave Liv a barely-perceptible nod and disappeared within. Liv held her breath and waited.

She ran out of breath before she ran out of patience, letting out a sharp exhale and furrowing her brow. What was taking so long? If the shaman was in there, it would have taken Becky only a few seconds to quickly dispatch him, and if the hut was empty, she probably would have sent Liv a signal. Even if something went wrong, Becky should have been able to get back out of the front door, at least. But instead, Liv had seen no sign of activity since Becky had entered the hut.

Liv had to assume the worst: that something in the hut had caught Becky off-guard and incapacitated her. That being the case, Liv wasn’t going to leave her friend behind. She was going to rescue Becky, or at least avenge her. Liv quickly surveilled the cavern, formulated a plan, and made her move...