Escaping the End

Chapter 28

Another sharp rock penetrated Klara's foot and she groaned with pain. She hated being carried, but she no longer had shoes and the terrain refused her mercy. She realised she had fallen behind everyone and she ran to catch up, stepping on more rocks as she did so.

"Ashton," she quietly said, "I'm sorry, would you carry me until we have reached softer ground?"

He nodded and kneeled down and waited for Klara to get on his back. Once again, they had fallen behind and he had to run to catch up. Once they did Brant turned around and gave them a surprised look Gabriel did the same but his was much less convincing.

"She asked me to carry her," Ashton explained, but this didn't help Brant understand.

"I thought you hated being carried Miss Independent."

Klara puffed her cheeks, "I do, but look at my feet! The socks have worn through already and there are too many sharp rocks around here." she huffed.

Brant laughed at her before turning around walking away. Everyone followed silently, it seemed there might still be a long ways to go before the reached their destination. Klara just hoped and prayed that there would actually be people waiting for them when they reached it. After an hour, Ashton set Klara down and she felt the soft coolness of grass. She looked around and realised the grass just seemed to start. The land didn't slowly lead into it, it was just there and it was alive despite the little rain this area seemed to get.

"Isn't this a weird place for grass?" Klara asked, "I mean, the trees don't even start for another twenty feet and this area is extremely dry."

Brant turned to face her, "You know, you are one scary kid," he bluntly stated, "But yeah, I agree with you."

"Let's just get into the cover of the trees before we start trying to come up with conspiracy theories," Gabriel interjected before storming off into the tree line.

Klara quickly followed as everyone made their way into the trees. There was nothing of great mention to Klara, but she did notice a small trail that lead in a different direction that everyone was going. She started to go down it, but Brant grabbed her arm and demanded to know what she thought she was doing. She pointed down the trail, and looked back to Brant.

"It may be small, but that is definitely man made, let's see where it leads."

Brant let go of her, "No, I'll go down a bit of the way, if it seems safe then we can go if not we are going straight."

Klara nodded and watched as Gabriel and Brant went down the trail and before long, they were out of sight. Klara turned to Ashton and noticed how tired he looked, it didn't seem to be just physical exhaustion either. Klara kicked his knees, forcing Ashton to the ground. It took a second for him to realize what had happened but when he did he glared at Klara.

"If you want to be violent, then kick a tree, not me!" he seethed at her.

"Hmm, no. I wasn't being violent, but I couldn't get you to sit down if I just asked. Why do you look so tired?" Klara asked innocently.

He continued to glare at her, "I am not tired, don't go making assumptions yourself!"

Klara just looked at him with cold eyes, "No, you are tired, very tired. If you keep this up, you may not be able to function. Why are you so tired?"

Ashton opened his mouth to speak but Brant called down from the trail, "Alright you two, it's safe so let's get going."

Klara helped Ashton up and they both raced down the trail to Brant and Gabriel. Klara ran smack into Gabriel's side, nearly knocking him over and throwing her backwards into Ashton. Ashton caught her and smacked her head before letting Brant lead the way down the trail. Klara wasn't mad, but she was frustrated that Ashton wouldn't say anything, she was even more frustrated that Brant had interrupted when he finally was going to talk.

Klara felt a hand grab her shoulder and she froze solid, she was behind everyone so there was no way someone could have grabbed her. She slowly turned her head, almost too scared to do that much, and saw a tall woman with dark hair pulled up into a bun that was slowly coming apart. Klara tired to scream, but nothing would come out of her mouth, all she could do was glace to the side and see a tall, angry looking man and two other women.

Klara finally found a little strength and pulled away from the woman holding her but she fell to the ground. Brant ran up to her while Ashton and Gabriel followed. The woman glared down at Klara and then the other three and Klara's blood ran cold.

"Who are yall?" The woman asked.

The other three came forward and Brant readied himself, "Escapees, if you are with the Governor, I'll let you know we already outsmarted several swat teams and killed over half of the last one we encountered."

The woman's eyes hardened as she reached for Klara, "You're tellin' me that this girl is an escapee 'worthy', like that would happen?"

Brant grabbed the woman's hand just before she reached Klara, "She isn't. Once you hear her story you'll understand that." he calmly explained.

The woman backed off and the man came forward with the other two ladies. Klara stood up and looked at each one carefully. The man had very toned arms, but his hair was almost white from the obvious stress he was under. The other two women looked almost exactly like the first, but they were younger and had brighter features about them.

"So, you guys, you really are escapees? You ain't with the Governor's men?" the man inquired.

Brant stood squarely with the man, "Yes. We just escaped an attack by his men though. About three days ago, our leader was killed in the struggle and Kotone sent in this direction."

One of the younger women spoke up, "You know Kotone? Is she okay? Mama, they must be telling the truth!"

The older woman looked at Klara and then the rest of their group, "I am Joyce Herman, this is my husband Rajmond, and these are our daughters Booke and Lucy." she said, gesturing to each person respectively before turning to face another path that had been hidden in some bushes, "Follow us."

Klara looked to Brant and Gabriel, both seemed to be hesitant to follow but she quickly caught up with the family. Brooke grabbed Klara's hand and explained that it was easy to fall over and get lost on this trail. Klara nodded with acknowledgement and followed closely to the Brooke as they made their way down. Just to be sure the others followed, Klara turned around and looked up the trail. Everyone was there, but it was almost impossible to see the trail they had just been on not more than two minutes prior.