Survivors

Woods

I followed Keith through the woods and Andrew was besides me. "You know, I've been through a forest like this," said Andrew while looking around. "Nice to know, do you know the way out of here?" I asked. He shook his head no and began to gaze at the trees. The forest wasn't a haunted place, its trees had dark green leaves with smoothly textured branches. I heard Lance's breathing behind me and Cathleen talking to him.

The light of the sun shined on me as I walked. I quickly glanced back and I saw Cathleen putting her head on Lance's shoulder. How sweet, I thought. "I love you," whispered Lance to Cathleen. "I love you too," replied Cathleen and pecked him on the cheek. Just gross!

"Guys, here we are," said Keith as he stopped. Zen investigated the cave by checking the grass and trees. "Why are you doing that?" asked Rachel irritated. "Investigating," replied Zen. He was probably ignoring her since she was a brat. I glanced around then went into the cave. "Hey, where are you going?" I heard Steve shout. "I'm going to explore!" I shouted back. "Stop yelling in my ear!" explained Rachel. Since Steve was irate, he started to follow me into the cave. "What's so interesting in this cave? There's just rocks and dirt."

"It's just not that, symbols that represent something and as I said, there's a way out of here," replied Keith. "I've already heard you say that and apparently there isn't any light leading the way!" said Steve aggravated. Just as Steve said it, the darkness suddenly started to surround us. "I can't see!" exclaimed Rachel. "Shh! Calm down you idiot," I heard Zen whisper. "Umm...excuse me? I'm not an idiot!" said Rachel. All of a sudden, there was a light behind me and I realized that Zen lit up a torch. "Nice going," I said to Zen. He nodded with approval. "Did you hear me? I said I'm not an idiot," I saw Rachel get into Zen's face. Zen cracks a smirk and replied, "it seems like you're not, but according to the grapevine you are."

We came to a stop and Keith studied the rocks that were covering the opening. "Hmm... it wasn't like this before," said Keith still studying the rocks. "You say it wasn't like this before and now it is?" asked Arson. He is a sturdy person who had an impressive bow for aiming and glittering grey eyes. I've always admired his eyes, I know his father has glittering eyes like him, but his father disappeared a while back. No one knew how and why he disappeared; his mother thought he might have committed suicide.

"Yes indeed. I wonder if someone or something knew we were coming here," said Keith in a strange tone. "Arson and I will walk further into the forest," said Zen to Keith. Keith glanced at him then back at the rocks. "No, we have to stay in a group. Whoever decided to block the opening wants us dead."

I heard Cathleen gasp when she heard the word 'dead'. "Cath it's ok," I said as I turned in her direction. Her beautiful light brown eyes were in shock. I felt desperately sorry for her; she was such a beautiful young teenager who has dealt with a brutal father and an annoying sister. "Look, Cathleen. It's going to be alright," I said, gently patting her back. She gazed at me and giggled. "Thank you J-Ray."

Keith finally decided that Zen and Arson could go deeper into the forest. "Fine, fine! But, here's something you'll need if you get into trouble," said Keith. He gave Zen a wooden craved whistle. "Umm, a whistle?" asked Zen looking confused. "Exactly, you can blow the whistle for help," replied Keith. Zen nodded slowly still disagreeing with him. The whistle was craved like a Blue Jay; Andrew must have made that whistle. I asked Zen if I could touch it, he nodded in approval and gave it to me. Its texture was so smooth and the lines were distinctive. "Hey kiddo, you can come with us if you want," said Zen while I was touching the lines. I looked up and saw Zen's expression; an expression that I've never seen before. With a grin on his face and his eyes lit up like a light, I knew something changed. "I'd love to," I replied to his request. I gave back the whistle to Zen and the three of us went out of the cave then deeper into the forest.

Hours after walking in the heat, I was exhausted. Sweat rapidly ran down my face and my mouth started to feel like a desert. "Now, I know how long this protection shield can cover," said Arson while walking. "Eh? How long?" asked Zen. "It's about a size of ten houses lined up together," he replied. "Wow, that's long," I said. They gazed at me for a while; thinking I was crazy or strange.

"Here, doesn't this smell strange?" I heard Arson say behind me. I was gazing at the tall, dark wood trees. It felt like they were gazing back at me, telling me something. "Hey, snap it," said Zen, snapping his fingers in my face. "Ahhh, yeah...so what's up?" I asked. Zen gazed at me with a puzzled look, "smell this."

I smelled the strange ooze that was on Zen's index finger. The black sparkling ooze odor crept into my nose and it stunk. It smelled like a skunk. "Eww, what is that?" I asked in disgust. He laughed and replied, "now you know, these werewolves aren't real werewolves. This black ooze is from that tree over there on your right-hand side."

I glanced to my right-hand side and saw a tall, dark oak tree standing there with tropical green leaves. Then, the black ooze that Zen was talking about, was spattered on the tree. "Oh my gosh," I said under my breath. I turned towards Zen and asked, "then if they weren't real werewolves, why did the werewolf that you killed have red blood?"

Zen gazed at me blankly for a few seconds and replied, "I don't know..."

"What if it was Reko's spirit in that werewolf?" said Arson joining in the conversation.

"That's nonsense Arson. Spirits going into a werewolf's body. No, no!"

"It might be true, you know."

"No, that sounds like a fairytale."

"If you say werewolves have black ooze stuff in them, then why, like Ray says; do they have red blood? The one werewolf that you killed that night trying to save Ray."

Zen fell silent. "Look, I don't know. I'm only guessing..." he said with his head down. "It's just a thought," I said. "Well, we better hurry up with the traveling. Dusk is hitting soon," said Arson patting Zen's back. "We'll report this to the others."