Hybrid: The Awakening

Chapter 15-Tristen

"I can," said Tesha. "Map-reading is an important subject on Nibura, and I took multiple courses on it."

"Of course you did," I heard Diana mumble under her breath. "Well, Wise One. Here." She handed her the map.

Tesha lifted it up, eyebrows pinched together. "In order to read this, I need to know where we are. And unfortunately, we are in the middle of nowhere. Do one of you know if there are any human towns nearby?"

"Brevard shouldn't be too far," I answered. "Unless we traveled really far from Davis High School."

"But we don't know if the direction we choose will take us to the town, or away from it," said Diana, sighing loudly as she sat down.

"Well..." Asher started. "No matter which way we go, we're bound to reach some kind of settlement eventually. So I say we choose a direction and stick with it."

He was right—we all knew it. But at the same time, there was a feeling of false security in staying in one place. Hiding away from everything, hoping that someone other than the Axones would find us. We knew that doing so wasn't an option though. Every second we stayed in one place made it easier for the aliens to find us, and it was already known what would happen if they did.

"I agree," Tesha said to Asher's statement. "But what direction should we go?"

"We could just...close our eyes and spin?" I suggested.

"Oh, I'll do it!" Asher moved to the middle of us. "Just tell me when to stop spinning."

He held his hand out in front of him and spun in circles. Me, Diana, and Tesha watched until Diana yelled, "Stop!"

Asher opened his eyes, seeing which direction his finger pointed at. It was between me and Tesha.

"Guess we're going then," I said, pushing away the uneasiness that had crept inside of me. This was for the best. Not doing anything would be giving up. And no matter how tempting that was, it wasn't an option.

"Lead the way, Unicorn Boy," said Diana. I grumbled at the nickname but walked forward, starting our journey to the only place we could hide from the bloodthirsty Axones.

...

Time dragged slowly as we trekked through the forest. The scenery never changed. Just trees, trees, and guess what?

More trees.

Because of years of basketball, I was pretty fit when it came to exercise. But even my legs started to ache as we walked hour after hour.

I noticed Asher falling behind. He slowed down, leaning fully on his walking stick. His face was an ashy white, and he panted heavily. Running to his side, I held my arm out for support. Asher shoved it away.

"Don't worry, I'm okay," he said in between breaths. "I can do it."

"You sure?" I asked skeptically.

"He's not sure," Diana called from up ahead. She also seemed slightly out of breath. "He wants to be a big 'tough guy', but his appearance doesn't really sell it."

"Hey, I'm tougher than I look!" Asher tried straightening up, grimacing in the process.

"We know," I said. "But still, you look really tired."

He rolled his eyes. "A little tiredness never killed nobody."

"The best leaders accept help from others so that they can reach their full potential," Tesha stated.