Short stories

Sparks of Hope (pt. 8)

Just gotta say that I didn't think that this story would be going on for this long, so thank you for all of your support!! Now, onto the next chappie!!!
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        I could feel my energy starting to fade, but I continued thrashing, hoping someone, anyone, could come and save me. I could faintly hear a female's voice calling out to me, but the water that was crashing against me made it so that I was unable to make out what she was saying. The water was getting into my ears as well and my vision started going black at the ends. My eyes slowly started to close, I started losing feeling in my body. Going limp, my body was being dragged away with the river. I wasn't strong enough. I couldn't keep fighting.

        How long I stayed like that was a mystery, but a while later I could feel some pressure on my chest. Opening my eyes slowly, I sat up and started hacking up water, emptying out the contents in my stomach as well. I rubbed my eyes with one of my hands, still coughing. Pain and drowsiness overtook my body as my hazy gaze swept over the area. The boy was there next to me, concern and worry in his eyes. He was about to ask something, but he decided against it.

        We all sat there for a few minutes before I started trying to stand up. Yes, I almost died, but I was determined not to drag this team down. "C-come on," I whispered, my throat sore and voice coming out raspy, "we need to find the e-exit."

        The fox girl rolled her eyes. "You almost died genius!" she exclaimed.

        "She's got a point cat," the wolf girl muttered coldly, signaling that she wasn't going to hear me out, "I think we should stay here for a few hours, just until you are fully healed."

Sighing to myself, I leaned against a tree and I stood up fully, my legs almost buckling under my weight. "B-but we have to keep going. We can't stop now."

The boy looked at me sternly and placed his hands on my shoulders. "You need to sit down and rest. Like fox over there said, you almost died."

I growled back at him and got right up in his face, not caring that he was a good four inches taller than me. "We are going to die if we just sit here! We are targets and if we don't move, the Malum are going to catch up to us!"

The boy seemed to ponder this for a moment before letting out an annoyed sigh. "She's got a point wolf. We are moving targets and if we stop, we are going to die."

Wolf pinched the bridge of her nose before looking me dead in the eye, making me shiver. Her eyes, they were a beautiful blue, but they were cold. Colder than ice.

"Fine, we will keep moving, but Cat, Demon is going to carry you. You can barely stand up, much less walk," she replied, "don't say that I didn't respect your wishes Cat." With that, she and the others stood up and the boy picked me up, placing me on his back. So he was part demon? I wonder how they infused that into him... that must've been even more painful than animal DNA.

I wrapped my arms around Demon's neck and held on as he and the others started running. "Do you even know where we are supposed to go Cat?" Demon asked and I let out a shaky sigh.

"I think I figured out the riddle that was given to me. A cave. Isn't it where bears live and it's dark in there. If we hide there, the cameras that the whitecoats planted around probably won't be able to see us." I mumbled in his ear, low enough so that no recording system that was placed around could pick up what I just said.

Demon nodded before mumbling, "It's the best thing we have so far. I think you might be right. I'll keep my eyes open for any caves."

I laid my head against his shoulder and squeezed my eyes shut. My stomach was tied into knots. We were so close to getting out. I could feel it in every fiber of my being. I would give anything to get out of this hell hole, anything. I just pray that they don't ever find us again.

Drowsiness overcame me once again and I faded into unconsciousness.
I wasn't in a dark void like I normally was in my dream. This time I was laying down on something soft and there was a fluffy white object under my head. I sat up and looked around the room. The walls were painted a beige color and there were brown and green decorations on the walls. I heard the door creak open and anxiety filled me to the brim. I pulled the covers over my head and squeezed my eyes shut, not realizing that I was shaking.

I felt something gently touch my back and my breath hitched. A few seconds passed before the covers were slowly pulled off of me. I could tell the person was hesitant to do anything, probably scared that I would lash out at them. Something gently touched my head and I flinched, letting out a whimper of fear. The thing slowly ran down my hair, smoothing down the tousled locks.

Opening up my good eye, I saw that the thing touching me was a human hand. It was slightly tanned and the nails were short and smooth.

"Oh you poor thing," a female voice said, the voice was warm and soothing. It reminded me of the person in my earlier dreams, but this one seemed more...real and...motherly in a sense, "please don't be afraid. I will not hurt you. You are safe here."

I gulped and slowly looked up to see who the person was. My muscles were taut; I was ready to spring into action if this person tried to do anything funny. The woman in front of me had sharp features, but her eyes were soft and caring. Yeah, so were the whitecoats at first. See how nice they turned out to be?

"W-who are you? Where am I? What do you want?" I fired one question after another and a soft smile graced her lips. She seemed amused by my fear and confusion.

"Calm down little one. You are at my house. Don't you remember?" she asked, her voice was smooth like butter and I kind of wanted to hear more, but I had to resist. She could be working for them.

She seemed to notice my hesitance and she gently stroked my cheek, making me flinch, but I didn't push her away. I kind of enjoyed it. Her hand was warm, they were a bit calloused, but I didn't mind. She hugged me to her chest, all of her movements were slow and gentle.

I whimpered in fear, but I still didn't push her away. Instead, after a few moments of hesitation I slowly wrapped my skinny arms around her waist and hugged back the best that I could. "A young girl like you shouldn't live on the streets. Would you like to stay with me?" she asked softly, her brown hair lightly tickling my nose.

Before I could answer, the scene changed and all I could see was black.
Waking back up, I looked around and saw that everyone was leaning against trees and rocks, knocked out and snoring. I smiled softly when I saw this and I looked at our surroundings. The boulders were a good sign, there might be a cave nearby. I looked around and started crawling over to the boulders, seeing them start to grow in number.
I looked back, to make sure that I wasn't too far from the others. I looked back towards the large boulders and continued crawling forward only to gasp.

I was in the mouth of the cave and looking in. There was nothing but darkness. The cave seemed to go on for many miles. Excitement and anxiety filled my core. This could be it! Our ticket out of here! I turned around, getting ready to crawl back, but I saw a pair of feet in front of me, making me freeze in my spot. The feet weren't normal. They were hairy, long, skinny, and I could see more legs behind those pair. I hesitantly looked up, only to be greeted by six glowing red eyes, staring down at me viciously.

My throat closed and my legs started twitching, anxious to get me away from the Malum that was in front of me. She was by far one of the scariest things I had ever seen. Her skin was the same color as the moon in the middle of the night. Her hair was darker than the night sky. And her eyes...oh lord her eyes. They were a crimson red and there were six of them, all staring down at me meanly. The upper half of her body was that of a human, she must've been around eighteen years old. Her lower half would make a grown man run away crying. From her waist down she had an abdomen of a spider and jutting out from it were eight furry, black spider's legs. I wanted to barf and scream in fear at the same time.

She smirked, showing off her fangs that most likely held venom in them. "My my, what do we have here?~ a pretty little kitten~ I'll be sure to add your head to my collection. And what's better? I can use your body to lay my eggs in~"

Oh my gosh, that alone made me want to barf.