Title: Barry Bones Fights Back
Fandom: Temple Run 2 (game)
Rating: G
Length: 507 words
Author notes: I seem to have devised an entire head canon for a bunch of game avatars. Huge thanks to china_shop for beta, and for indulging my insanity. <3
Summary: It's not just about ancient treasures any more.



Barry had memorised the map Guy sent him. He knew he'd be running for his life, no time to stop and check which way to go.

He counted the turns: left, right, right, zipline, right, left, the broken bridge that just held as he leapt the gap. Two more turns and there was the stone head breathing a jet of flame he could slide under without getting badly singed, and there was the curved stone wall he'd left his last pack behind. One hundred meters further was the aqueduct that would sluice him down to his next stash of supplies. The beast didn't like water, so he'd get a break from running if he didn't manage to stop it here.

His lungs burned in the thin air, and he strained to hear the pounding of the beast's feet on the path behind him over the pounding of his heart. He'd gotten a good lead with the last zipline, and part of him just wanted to keep running until he was on the other side of the continent. But the pile of bones at the bottom of the mountain, bones of his predecessors, bones of his rivals and his friends, they called out to him, pleading, cursing. The greedy smiles on the faces of the traders as they took his money in exchange for meagre supplies... yeah. He had to do this.

He flung himself over the low wall, grabbing for the shotgun and box of shells he'd stashed there in a canvas bag. The local legends claimed the beast was magical, that it couldn't be killed. All Barry knew was it was a creature unlike any other, but he was counting on it being no more unkillable than anything else on the planet. He rested the barrel of the gun on the stone ledge, desperately trying to calm his breathing.

The beast's long arms appeared at the near end of the bridge, hauling itself up out of the chasm. Barry didn't wait for it to get its feet under it, firing off two rounds into the mass of its body. It screamed, but he didn't look up as he quickly reloaded, firing again. It ran at him, straight through the flames, screaming louder and meaner. The smell of blood and burnt hair filled the air. He got off another couple of rounds at its legs before dropping the shotgun, running down the path and flinging himself into the water.

The cold shocked the breath out of him and he yelled, his sides aching as he tried to keep his head above the rushing water. This aqueduct wasn't long, but there was another further down, another chance to get ahead. He was starting to believe he could do this.

He knew now that the beast could be injured, that he'd scored some hits; he didn't trust that any of them had been fatal, he just hoped they were enough to slow it down until he could get to where he'd placed his next gun. This fight wasn't over yet.