The Raiders

Chapter 2 - Lost

Second chapter, Enjoy :)

xx

Madi

***

We kept on running forwards as fast as we could, but we were already tired from walking here and it was only a matter of time before we couldn’t run any further. Already we were slowing down. Grace started pulling us towards the sides of the crowd.

“Into the forest,” she called out to us. I shot Scarlette a panicked look, people were eaten in the forest just last week. Once we were far into the dense forest we stopped running. We had been running for about 10 minutes, I just hoped we would be able to find our way out.

“Were we followed?” Scarlette asked. I shrugged; I was busy focusing on breathing. Grace shook her head.

“I think they would have caught up to us if we were followed,” she replied. Scarlette nodded complacently. We sat down on the hard earth while our breathing slowed. I wrapped my arms around myself when a cold blast of wind surged through the spot where we were sitting.

“Should we keep on going?” Scarlette asked.

“Maryland is a two day walk from here.” I replied without much enthusiasm. Two days of walking in the cold, maybe even the snow, without warm clothes or food. We would probably freeze.

“What else could we do? Maryland is our only option,” Grace said hearing the doubt in my voice, “If we leave now we can get there on Monday.”

“Why don’t we just hang out here, near Samarqand? The raiders will just take what they want and then leave.”

“You didn’t see them.” Grace said quietly, “There were rows of them as far as I could see and they were carrying swords, all of them. They were killing people who got too close to them. I don’t think they are just going to stay for a little while.” We sat there in silence for a few minutes.

“You’re right. Let’s go.” We stood and started trudging forward in the general direction of Maryland.

*  *  *

“Are you sure we are going in the right direction?” Scarlette asked for what must have been the umpteenth time.

“Do you want to navigate?” I asked annoyed, “Yes, I am sure! We need to head towards that star, Maryland is underneath there.”

“I thought Maryland was under that star,” Grace said pointing towards a different star. It was almost pitch-black by now and we had been walking for hours, possibly in the wrong direction.

“I always heard that Maryland was under the tip of the star formation that looked like an arrow.”  Scarlette added.

“Well those stars are all kind of in the same direction,” Grace said positively.

“Maryland is North, right?” Scarlette asked.

“I think so,” I replied.

“Cool. Which way is north?”

“Near that star,” Grace said pointing in a totally opposite direction.

“That’s south.” I replied.

“We are sooo lost.” Scarlette butted in. I sat down feeling confused.

“Why don’t we wait until morning? Then we can see what direction the sun rises up in and figure it out from there.”

 “Do you think we should keep watch?” Scarlette asked.

“Ugh. No.” Grace replied. I didn’t bother to put in my advice. I lay down and was asleep within a few minutes.

*  *  *

In the morning when I woke, I couldn’t feel my fingers. So I shook them until they got some feeling back into them. I stood up and woke Scarlette and Grace; if we wanted to get to Maryland by tomorrow then we had better start walking. We watched the sun come up and figured out the rough direction that we needed to head in.

“Breakfast?” Scarlette asked after a few minutes of walking. She was holding out a handful of light blue berries.

“Do you think they are poisonous?” Grace asked poking one.

“Only one way to find out.” I picked up one of the berries and started chewing slowly.

“Tastes gross, but I haven’t collapsed.”

Scarlette and Grace ate a few of the berries before deciding that they weren’t really that hungry. One berry was enough for me, my mouth still tasted bitter. We started walking, our feet falling into the snow. A line started forming with Grace at the front and me at the back, falling a bit behind occasionally. It wasn’t my fault; their legs are too long. We kept on walking in this fashion for a few hours until we stopped for a break around lunchtime. It had been over twenty-four hours since we had last eaten (excluding the berries).

“We should have brought some of the meat with us,” I said.

“Yeah sure, we could have eaten it raw, and pushed it through the woods on a trolley.” Scarlette said sarcastically. I grinned at her.

“Still have some of those berries Grace?” I asked her. I was so hungry even those berries would taste all right. She didn’t reply.

“Grace?” Scarlette called out. I looked around the clearing for her but she wasn’t here.

“Maybe she didn’t hear us when we stopped and kept on walking.” Scarlette said. I bit my lip and called out Grace’s name as loud as I could. We kept walking in the direction we were going, calling out her name. It was a minute or two later that I heard voices. I told Scarlette to move quietly and we started creeping towards the sounds. Just as I was about to be able to see what was in the clearing, Scarlette stepped on a twig. The snap echoed loudly in the trees and there was sudden silence. I stood as still as a statue while crouching down looking at Scarlette. Then hands reached out and grabbed me dragging us towards the clearing.