Fire

Chapter 6

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"Will you slow down!" I holler into the forest as another branch smacks me in the face. The further I walked the more thick, humid, and difficult it was to follow his trail. The trees, even with the shade did nothing to block out the sun's wrath. Grumbling I plop down on a decaying log refusing to play hunter anymore. He can come back and find me later.

Closing my eyes I open my ears to welcome the sound of nature, except. I lean forward, elbow digging into my bony knees trying to catch even a tall-tale sign of life.

Dead silence.

I peek out at the still forest through squinted eyes. Other than the whistling of leaves in the wind nothing moved, like someone had hit the pause button. I had been so absorbed in my own noise while tracking his swift movements that I neglected to notice the obvious.

The hairs on my arm stand on end as the unmistakable feeling of being watched washes over me. Had they found us? The noticeable lack of fire begged other wise, it had to be something new.

Slowly, as to not disturb the veil of silence, I stand spinning full circle to watch the forest carefully, every sense on alert. Some part hopes it's just David trying to scare me, why else would he take off?

I don't dwell on my wishful thinking for long. The echoed emptiness should have been clue number one, not even ice-boy could be that silent

Snap!

I jerk towards the source, catching just the hint of a green blur. So not alone. Where the hell is David?

Another snap. Closer. Fight or flight?

Obviously fighting would require taking on an unknown adversary which is unadvised. Spinning on my heels I choose flight. Taking off into the thick leaves, the sound amplified in the dead silence. I try to place as much distance between me and the things as possible.

"David?" I risk shouting. The bushes rustle as whatever was out they're drew closer.

Slapping through a leaf the size of my person I run face first into a three hundred foot tall ivy covered wall. Resorting to basic climbing instincts I carefully begin scaling the mountain.

The vines bend and break under my weight but over half of them stayed rooted to the hill enough to climb on.

Halfway up I make the mistake of glancing down. Below dozens of leaf looking monsters gather at the base below. They were different then the trolls, they looked mostly like green humans but with vines for feet and flowers blooming all over their bodies. Too add to my horror they begin to scramble on top of each other fighting to climb the wall in unison.

Grabbing the next available vine I continue my ascend quicker than before. The branches quiver as I exceed the weight each plant was capable of holding.

Three-fourths the way up I quickly peek at the creatures progress not so far below. For monster comprised of plants they were having a difficult time climbing on vines. Some were missing holds, other had their branches snap, the rest were trying to build on top of one another.

Tired and shaky I struggle to haul myself the last couple of yards. Using the last bit of strength I could muster I heave myself over the top, wheezing.

I lay down for a minute letting my beaten body rest. I had to get moving, those things would eventually climb up and I need to find David.

Pushing myself up to a sitting position I glance up to see what was awaiting me on top of this cliff.

Two boys stood hovering over the body of a white haired boy collapsed on the ground. I rub my eyes to make sure I wasn't seeing things. Please don't be some sleep deprived hallucination.

Standing with another stranger stood Samuel in all of his blue headed glory. The other boy had his head in much the similar appearance as Sam except instead of an electric blue it was more of a sea foam green color.

The stranger took his attention off of the body to lock eyes with me. Something was off, he turned his attention back to an unconscious, yet unharmed, David laying on the ground. His bo staff laid thawing on the hard dirt floor under Samuel's surprisingly dry boots.

"Sam?" I find my voice through the strangeness of this. He had survived and I guess found another person? Maybe the other boy was also an ice angel too, though he was lacking the pale appearance I would expect from somebody cold.

"Marcy?" Sam whipped around to take me in under the other child's watchful gaze.

"Is that her Sam?" He spoke, softer than his harsh appearance lead me to believe.

"T, please, we can still let her go. Find someone else" Sams whisper fills my ear anyways as he tried to be non discrete about his talking.

"One alive at a time. That course of action will get us both killed." T responded back. What were they talking about. One alive at a time? If it wasn't so horrifying I would have complimented him on the rhyme even though I had no idea what that meant.

I could take their indecision as a chance to escape but the leaf creatures were still below the hill and Sam blocked the only way out.

"Yeah, I know. I tried Marcy, I really did." Samuel apologized. What was he sorry for, what was he going to do. I back up to the edge, maybe it would just be safer to jump.

"Sam?" I whisper as he winds up his closed fist. Was he planning on fighting me?

Opening his palm in front of him, fine blue powder scatter out of his hand like pixie dust as he exhales. The grains stinging my eyes and throat as I accidentally inhale.

"Sam?" I wheeze through the cloud of powder. Sams friend darts towards me, tugging me away from the edge as the world changing to a sick shade of blue before tipping me into darkness.

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P.s this is still a draft even though its published so expect minor changes.