Captured by the Beast

Chapter 2

Chapter 2

Nuri

           We spent the next few days sleeping in another cave that Lily found using her powers. During the day, we would rest up and save our energy than at night, we'd go out and hunt one of the weird creatures to eat. Once we were full, we'd go bury the remains a little away from the cave to keep the monsters away and huddle together at night to keep warm. As the days grew on, Lily became more visibly sicker and the weather grew calmer. We were peacefully chatting about our awkward family dynamics while I peeked out of our hole.

"Guys! Something is coming and it's coming quickly!" I loudly proclaimed as I looked back at them with panic settling on my face. "How are we going to get out of here?" I asked as Lily slowly raised her left hand before roots pierced through the rock wall near Wren. It quickly became a bigger hole as Wren looked over at her with worry on her face.

"The roots seem to lead a little further away from here back to the surface. If you three follow them, you'll be able to get out of here in time." She softly panted as sweat began to quilt her orange shirt. Wren quickly rushed over to her as she gently swatted her away while I stood frozen in my spot. We couldn’t separate like this and leave her here on her own! But I knew deep down, we were in no position to help as none of us knew about this planet or its inhabitants. We didn’t even know what we could use to treat her for whatever was ailing her let alone ask the aliens for help. "There's no time to worry about me. I'll close up this hole once you three pass through it." She instructed, her breathing slowly grew haggard as we all looked at each other worriedly. Whatever great being could hear me, I prayed for Lily’s wellbeing.

"Please be safe, Lily. One day, we'll all meet again. We've made it this far." Yareli smiled sadly as Wren held Lily in her arms, which surprised us all.

"You better come meet up with us again!" Wren proclaimed as I nodded, scared that my voice would betray me before we quickly disappeared into the hole. As I crawled in behind Yareli, the opening quickly closed up before I could even change my mind and turn back. The hole was dark but I could feel the roots beneath my hands as we crawled on all fours. “Nuri, any chance you can get us some light without it taking away the little bit of oxygen we got?” Wren asked as I quietly hummed in thought.

“I could probably try a will-o-wisp but we’ll only have a short amount of time to get out of here before it fades.” I explained while stopping and sitting down as Yareli did the same.

“Sounds like a good idea to me, but it might be better if you led first since you have the will-o-wisp. You’ll just have to crawl past us.” Wren instructed while it sounded like one of them was brushing off their hands on their prison pants. Sighing, I focused my mind on a small will-o-wisp as it slowly formed over my hands before lighting the small cave. Turning towards Wren and Yareli, it lit up their faces as they smiled at me. “You okay?” Wren asked as I quietly shook my head.

“What if Lily dies back there with that creature that was chasing us? We practically left her for dead!” I quietly exclaimed as an unfamiliar thump made us all fall quiet before a male’s deep voice spoke out. I couldn’t make out exactly what he was saying but I knew they were in the cave with Lily now. We all listened for a little longer, hoping that he wouldn’t hurt Lily but when we didn’t hear her screams or shout, I quickly moved past Wren and Yareli.

“This won’t be our last meeting. I’m sure we’ll see Lily again.” Yareli told me while staring at me with her dark green eyes as I quickly turned away with a nod. I hope she was right about that more than anything. We quickly crawled through the cave as warmth surrounded us. We must’ve been closer to the top than we had expected. My thoughts were interrupted as a small ray of sun peeked in through a small hole further ahead of us. Quickly crawling over towards it, I gently pushed my will-o-wisp away before digging at the small hole above us. Seeing what I was doing, Wren helped me as well before sand poured into the small tunnel burying us underneath it.