The Pestilention

Chapter 15

My arms wrapped around her neck and my legs hung tightly around her waist. The impact caused us to tumble to the floor. Mona yelped in surprise, but collected herself swiftly enough to untangle me off of her. I fell onto my back. Mona placed one knee on my stomach.

"My lord, Kat," she panted. Her hair stuck to her forehead from sweat. The dirt followed, darkening her light skin. "What was that for?"

"You're one of them," I hissed through clenched teeth. "Aren't you?"

Mona's eyes widened. "What are you talking about?"

"Don't act dumb with me!" I shouted. "I know that you're a Backstabber."

"What? Kat, we don't have time for—"

"Why didn't you just leave?" I demanded. "Is it really worth the trouble to act like my friend? I've already killed a couple of you."

She rolled her eyes. "Don't be so cocky about it. You only killed one of them—at most."

All of my anger subsided. "Wh-what?" My brain went back to the wall. Weren't there five of them dead? Yeah, it couldn't be just one.

"I killed them while you were unconscious," she said. "It was that or us. Do you believe me?"

"But you said—"

"I didn't think that straight up telling you that I killed them would make you like me." Mona cracked a smile. "But apparently not telling you didn't work out, either."

The sounds of footsteps broke off my next response. With rounded eyes, Mona moved away from me. I took the chance to stand up. Mona snatched my arm, pulling me behind a large tree. The noise grew louder and more constant. I held my breath. The sound of growling and sniffing came from behind us.

Mona tensed next to me. Her hand shot to my wrist. I winced as I felt the sharp pain of her fingernails digging into my skin.

"What's going on?" I whispered.

She placed her finger to her lips. "Be as silent as possible. These aren't people."

"Then what are they?"

"Our next obstacle."

I peered past the trees and toward where the growling was coming from. Many pairs of golden eyes stared ahead, their pupils scanning the area. One locked eyes with me. I slid back into hiding.

Definitely not human.

"What are we going to do?" I whispered.

Mona wiped her hands on her pants. "We either run or hide, but I don't know which one will help us survive."

My hands began to tremble and my foot throbbed. God, how long will it take before my foot gets infected? I pressed all my weight on my good foot and placed my palm on a branch to balance myself.

It seemed like hours that we were waiting. What were we waiting for? I didn't know, honestly. For the chance to run? For the animals to go to sleep? For us to die? For the course to be over? Maybe it was all of the above.

A wet substance fell on my shoe. I looked down, watching the liquid slide off of the toe and onto the brown dirt. I tilted my head up slightly, my eyes locking with a pair of bronze ones. The eyes were attached to a square head and a thick snout, which was gaping open to show off its massive teeth. Its dark skin matched the dirt that was being thrown into piles as the creature's paws dug themselves into the ground.

It reminded me of a dog, but ten times larger. The animal bent its hind legs and prepared to pounce. Mona turned to the beast and rounded her eyes.