Paradigm Rift

Chapter Six - Price of Blood

For hours we walked under the blazing sun, cutting through endless thick vines in a jungle that seemed to go on forever. I was sick of the green, missing the concrete world, the sounds of the city. I couldn't believe this was San Francisco, at least the very spot where it was supposed to be. There was nothing of that world and instead of skyscrapers there were towering trees just as tall.

I had my rift detector in hand, but it hadn't picked up any signals whatsoever. We needed to get out of the jungle and head to a place from where Iris could search for a rift. I took a drink of water and ran my arm sleeve across my forehead to keep the sweat from getting into my eyes. "How much farther do you think we need to go?"

"Not much, but like I said it's not going to be much better than this. Now how about you put the dagger I gave you to good use and start cutting."

I walked past her and led the way through the jungle. It was difficult to cut with this dagger yet she made it seem so easy and effortless. "Anything is better than this place."

We walked some more and I imagined her smiling, mocking me as I struggled to cut through the jungle with the small dagger. To her it might have been a joke, but I took it seriously. If I wanted to survive and find my dad, I needed to get stronger. Perhaps we would face the Hunters again and I knew I had to be ready for it.

Within the sounds of the jungle I heard a yell. I stopped, trying to find out where it was coming from. There it was again. It sounded like a young girl crying for help. I thought she could be in trouble so I ran as fast as I could.

"Adam, wait!"

I ran, ducking and jumping through old broken tree trunks. I could hear Iris running after me, but I couldn't slow down. If someone was in trouble, time could be running out. There was not time to waste.

Without thinking much of it, I rushed in like a fool. Soon enough I was standing in the center of an encampment. The girl was sitting down inside a cage made of wood and there were men with swords and daggers surrounding me.

"Well, well, well. Look what we have here boys," one of them said.

I slowly put my dagger on the floor. "I don't want any trouble. Just let the girl go and you'll never see us again, okay."

"Why would we do something foolish?" They slowly walked towards me, holding their weapons in a tight grip. I knew that they weren't going to let me go. Just then Iris appeared from behind the trees, driving her dagger into the back of one of the men.

Iris twirled the dagger around her fingers. The men watched their comrade fall and prepared to attack Iris. "Hold it right there," she said. "Now, there are only two ways this can end. You either run along on your merry way or I kill every one of you."

"You are delusional," one of the men said.

"I think you're right. Must be the heat. Otherwise I would have killed you without a second thought."

"You killed our comrade, so you must understand we can't let you go."

"All I understand is that you're all idiots and are about to throw your lives away." Iris turned to Adam and shrugged.

They all lunged at her and I watched as she evaded everything without much effort. I could tell she was playing around with them. Clearly, they had never fought someone like her before. They were probably used to ganging up on the weak and defenseless.

With Iris keeping their attention on her, I picked up my dagger off the ground and quickly made my way to the girl. I could see the fear in her eyes. Using the dagger, I cut the rope that kept the door closed.