Short stories

Sparks of Hope (pt. 3)

        I was running for my life. I didn't care if my feet bled from banging against so many sharp rocks, my only goal was to get away from the Malum. My lungs burned, but I had to keep moving forward. Who knows what would happen if they caught up to me. Malum were vicious beings, I'm not even sure if they used to be human. Each one has a different type of ability, so it is impossible to know what you're up against. From what I remember, Malum were experiments and they went mad. Because their mental state was shot, their powers went out of control too. It's sad. The sick freaks that locked us in cages couldn't even let the Malum live in peace for the rest of their short lives. Instead they keep them and use them as brutal killing machines.

        I felt myself starting to fade, I couldn't go on much longer without some rest. I found a tree that was hidden by a whole lot of other brush and the dark shielded it from all else. I let out a sigh in relief and climbed up the tree, feeling the muscles in my legs aching as I did. Once I reached the top I made sure that the thick leaves covered me before laying against one of the branches. I closed my eyes and flinched when I heard a distant, pained screech pierce through the still air. I wanted to disappear right then and there. That was one down for the Malum, there were many more victims to go. I made myself a promise that I would not be one of them.

        A rustling in the tree I was in put me on hyper alert and I shot up, now in a crouched position. I had my claws extended and my tail was lashing. "Back!" I hissed, not knowing what else to say.

        A male probably a year or two older than me seemed to appear out of nowhere, it was as if the shadows suddenly bound together to make him appear. He had white hair that was choppy and very messy along with beautiful blue eyes. I felt my cheeks heat up, why? I wasn't sure.

        He looked like he was struggling to say something. "I w-won't hurt you." he finally spat out. So he was one of the more intelligent ones. One of the ones the whitecoats actually taught to speak.

        I was still on guard, who wouldn't be? I can't just trust him, he could be one of the Malum. I glared at him. "What you want?" I snapped, using my best English (note the sarcasm).

        "Sleep... safety. I won't hurt y-you. You w-won't hurt me." he replied, his voice soothing. No. I had to fight it. Had to stay on guard. He could attack me as I slept.

"...you sleep first. I take watch." I replied after a few, tense moments of silence. The boy nodded and laid back onto a branch before closing his eyes and relaxing. He was too trusting. I looked ahead. But who knew? Maybe if he wasn't a Malum, I could ask him for help in finding a way to escape.

I gently touched the collar on my neck and a low growl escaped my lips. I could get it off if I had my strength back, but I didn't know if they were watching me. If they were, I was bound to get shocked again, maybe even a harsher shock than the first one, and I sure as hell wasn't having that happen. That was too painful, even one of the whitecoats said that not many of the old experiments were able to survive that one shock.

Hours passed, and the boy next to me woke up, only to see that it was now dark. "Thank you." he whispered to me and I gave him a silent nod. "You get some sleep now." he said as he stood up. I felt a pain in my chest, I don't know why, but I felt like I needed him to stay. I reached up and grabbed his hand. He looked down at me and I shook my head.

"Stay." I said, stubbornness evident in my voice. "I... need to tell you something." jeez even my English was getting better just by being around him.

He looked down at me and his eyes seemed to soften. "Alright. I'll stay." he said softly and sat back down.
I nodded and laid down on a branch that was next to the one that he was sprawled across on. I slowly closed my eyes and allowed darkness to swallow my conscious.

I was surrounded by darkness and I seemed to be floating somehow. The dark was thick;I couldn't see a foot in front of me. I low voice made me jump and I twirled around, trying to find the source of it. "The day comes near where you will escape."

The voice was feminine, but I could not find the source of the sound. I whipped around. "W-what do you mean? Who are you!" I yelled, getting hostile.

The voice chuckled. "Do not be frightened. I am a friend. There is a way out of this forest you are in, but before you can leave, you must find the rest of you allies." she explained, now sounding urgent. "Keep your eye on the prize girl, keep to the ends, but don't fall off. I will help you as much as I can. Now, wake up!" I tried to get her to stop talking, because I had a few questions I wanted her to answer, but as soon as she yelled her last sentence I was thrown back into reality.

I gasped and sat up quickly, almost falling off of the branch I was on. What could that have meant? Could I trust that girl in my dream? Was she even real? Could I follow her advice. This was so stressful that I wanted to scream. I turned to look at the boy who was on the branch next to mine, only to find that he wasn't there.

"Damn it." I hissed out and punched the tree I was in. I spared his life and this was how he repaid me!

"Don't do that. You should save up your energy in case the Malum find us." a voice said behind me.

I let out a yelp in surprise and I whipped around sending a kick in the person's direction. It hit them square in the chest and all of the breath left their body. "Chill out! It's me!"

I stopped to get a good look at who it was and it turned out to be the white haired boy. "You scared the hell out of me!" I exclaimed while shooting a glare at him.

He shrugged in response and held a hand over his chest where I kicked him. "Yeah well, I left only to grab some food." he muttered and held a few berries out to me. I could hear my stomach growl and I quickly grabbed them before eating them, mumbling out a quick thanks.

He watched me and ate a few berries himself before looking down at the ground below us. "We should keep moving. The Malum probably already know where we are." he said, the breeze ruffling his white locks.

I sighed and looked at the ground as well. "I had a dream that I think we can use to our advantage." I said and that seemed to grab his attention. "There was a voice and it said that if we can get the others with us and stay towards the edge of the woods or something, we can escape." my voice was low, if they were watching me, I didn't want them to know what my plans were.

His eyes were wide and he looked like he was about to say something until I cut him off.

"I know it sounds crazy, but I feel like we should listen to it."

He sighed softly and nodded. "Alright, but we better hurry. I'm pretty sure that they are planning on taking the surviving experiments out of this damned forest in the next day or two." he informed and I sighed. This was going to be extremely hard, but what choice did we have? We could not spend the rest of our miserable lives in here.

"Alright. We might as well start now and pray that the Malum don't catch up to us."