Eternal Mankind and the Tree

Rachael heard the chop of helicopter blades overhead, and ducked behind a bush. She glared up at it nervously, but the search copter flew past without slowing or circling back. She was grateful the bushes on this island grew so large. It would've been impossible to hide her eight-foot-ten bulk behind one of those tiny shrubs that grew in the American deserts. She waited for the sound to die away in the distance, then started running again.

That's when she heard the footsteps behind her. She glanced over her shoulder; five soldiers in full gear — probably from the same Company she'd fought alongside just a few days ago — were closing in, blaster carbines in the underarm assault position. She upped her running pace. A blue-white bolt hissed past her on the left. Yikes! They were opening fire. She started jinking from side-to-side as she ran. Hopefully it'd make it harder for them to draw a bead on her. More blaster bolts zinged past, none of them hitting her. For a wooden monster, she was surprisingly agile.

She ran, and she ran, hoping to open up some distance . . . then ran right into a natural funnel between two ridges. There was only one direction she could go, into the gap where the two ridges met — and a boulder nearly four meters wide lay blocking her only exit. Damn. Nowhere to run. So, only one thing to do. She whirled on her assailants, and charged toward them.

She managed to dodge the first blaster shot, and the second — but not the third. It hit her squarely in the chest. It stung like mad . . . but . . . she wasn't injured. It hadn't even knocked the wind out of her. It didn't even knock her down. She kept on charging and managed to close the distance without getting hit again, then balled her hand into a massive fist and punched. The soldier's body armor cracked, and the poor fellow flew back and skidded across the dirt. She hadn't even hit him full force.

Now tangled together too closely to risk shooting each other, the soldiers swung at her with the butts of their blasters. These clacked ineffectually off her wooden torso and legs. She grabbed the soldier nearest her right hand and tossed him to one side. He flew into the ridge line; his armor and helmet hit with a sharp thud and he slumped to the ground unconscious. Damn, she'd thrown him way too hard. She'd better hold way back if she didn't want to accidentally kill one of her comrades. (Her former comrades now? The thought would've sent a chill down her spine if she'd still had one.)

Stuff I intend to have happen in this story:

• She runs into Hans, who agrees to help her escape.
• Her prodigious strength and toughness mean that standard troops aren't going to be able to stop her. So Mr. Eternal sends out ... Nova.
• Tree throws a wooden log or something at Nova, but it burns up before it reaches his (her? its?) body. She needs to find something less flammable to throw at him.
• She takes off in the motorboat that Hans led him to, but she knows T.H.E.M. can send planes after her. But just then, she hears a sound she's never heard before: The island's air raid siren. Instead of one or two U.S. fighter-bombers buzzing the island, there's a whole flight of them inbound, and the lead fighters actually drop bombs this time. The island's force shields fend off the bomb blasts, but they also prevent any T.H.E.M. planes from taking off and chasing her.
• She makes it ashore in the Los Angeles area. Now, with a wooden body that alienates everyone she meets, and with T.H.E.M. hot on her tail, she has to struggle to find new allies — a feat made all the more difficult by the fact that, even after all T.H.E.M. has put her through, she still believes in their basic premise of raising the rest of humanity to immortality through transhumanism.

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