In my heart, in my head [PaperHat]

Chapter 4: Dark Forest

As soon as the sun began to rise, Flug and Blackhat set off down the cake-covered mountain side. Flug still had Blackhat's coat on his shoulders, but neither one of them said anything about it and his boss still hadn't made the move to get it back yet. The tail of the coat trailed behind him in the wind like some kind of cape, and it made Flug feel like some kind of superhero, and he actually felt pretty confident.

The treck down the mountain of cake was easy, but both of them now smelled of sticky chocolate and sugar and Blackhat felt gross, rubbing his hands together in an attempt to get some of the chocolate off of them but it only seemed to spread.
"Yuck..." Blackhat groaned under his breath. He promised himself he would wash his clothes, his everything, as soon as they got home.
Their next voyage would be through the forest. Something about it made Flug feel queezy and he was almost ready to turn around when Blackhat said "come on then!" and already began walking in.
"w-wait!!" Flug panicked and ran in after him, leaving all trace of sunlight behind them as the entrance closed up with nettles and vines and the forest was shrouded in darkness.
They stood back to back in the darkness for a moment as their eyes adjusted as best they could to their surroundings. Flug could faintly make out the outlines of the trees. They stood there menacingly in the dark as if they were threatening him, like tall and judgemental living things watching his every move.
Blackhat saw everything, every tree every leaf. He had good eyes.
"I'll lead the way," he said with confidence, but something was making Flug worried.
"sir, im not too sure about this..." he stammered, desperately looking around for the exit. His breathing got heavier and he felt like he was going to panic. He wasn't sure what it was about this place that made him feel so...weird but it made him anxious.
Blackhat grabbed the sides of his face.
"Calm down you're making me nervous!!" Blackhat cried out. Flug put his hands on Blackhat's arms out of instinct, just for something to grab onto to ground himself.
"I wont let anything happen to you!"
Flug felt like there was a fire in his chest.

The scientist kept his grip on one of Blackhat's arms as they walked further and further into the forest. It seemed to be getting darker and even Blackhat had to squint to see now. Flug kept hearing movement just behind him and he was too scared to move too much. He felt like he was being watched, and he clutched to his boss' arm even tighter still.

Just a few metres away a vine began to move by itself ever so slightly. Another joined it, and another, until eventually all of the vines in the forest began to come alive. They started to move like snakes, against the leaves and branches, as they detached themselves and began snaking along the forest floor towards their targets.

Flug really felt like there was something behind him now. He let go of Blackhats arm and stopped.
"Flug?"
He could barely hear that. He was really panicking now.
"sir I-"
Before he could finish his sentence something large and ropey wrapped itself around his leg and pulled hard. He fell forward and his chin hit the ground with a terrible crack.
He screamed, and Blackhat grabbed his hand as fast as he could trying to pull him from the grip of whatever had a hold of him. Their grip was tight but not tight enough, and something unseen flicked Blackhat's hand sharply. Then the rubber of Flug's gloves made a low quick squeak against Blackhat's own hand and he was gone, completely dragged out of Blackhat's sight.
"Flug?!" he yelped, running after the sound of his assistant's screams. He sprinted as fast as he could and dodged countless of vines, at one point tripping and almost losing the sound of Flug's yelling. He scraped at the leaves below him as he began to run again, faster this time, his expression morphing into a fiery, furious one and he snarled with every step he took.
He was angry. He was so angry.

Eventually, he came to a stop. He noticed a clearing where the sunlight was shining in through a large gap in the trees.
There was Flug!
The scientist was lying on the floor tangled tightly in a trap of vines. They were squeezing his limbs and neck so hard he was struggling to breathe. The other surrounding vines were whipping him hard on the stomach and Blackhat couldn't bare to watch. There was blood everywhere and there was hissing all around them. The vines were whispering: self loathing, self loathing over and over. He ran into the clearing without thinking and kneeled down over his co-worker. His fingers extended into huge claws and he began tearing at the vines around Flug, freeing him from the vine prison before he had a chance to think.
He kneeled over him to shield him from the whipping but his back was now receiving the lacerations instead.
Flug was screaming with terror. He had never heard him scream so loud before, but he was more focused on the blood trickling out of the long gashes appearing on his back, the blood coming out of his mouth.
Flug bawled under his protection, calling out things like run and stop!
He was terrified.
Blackhat passed out on top of him.