The Elements Collide

Chapter Six

We began our search again. The chirping of birds echoed around us. There was an eerie atmosphere in the forest. Suddenly, Sophie yelped. She had tripped over a root. Brandon was at her side in seconds, helping Sophie back up. I smiled internally. I noticed she landed in a bed of flowers. They were purple stars with yellow tips. Could they be...?

“Look, it's the flower we’re searching for!” I bent down to pick one. Just as I was about to break the stem, there was a rustle from the nearest bush. I immediately pulled out my blowpipe. The others did as well. I stared into the shrubbery and saw a pair of eyes.
“Michael, fire!” I yelled. He shot a dart into the middle of the bush. I heard a thunk as it hit wood and I swore under my breath, just as something jumped out directly at me. It collided with my chest, knocking the blowpipe out of my hand and I hit the ground. It was already back up and launched itself at Michael. Unlike me he was ready. He jumped to the side out of the way, but it hadn't been aiming for him. Brandon was hit by the full force of it. He yelled and fell down. The creature tried to jump back up, but he grabbed onto its leg, pulling it back down. As they wrestled, Sophie tried to get a clear shot, but there was no way she could without the chance of hitting Brandon. Michael ran over and pulled the creature off of him, it was quick. It wriggled out of his arms and jumped at Sophie. It grabbed her top and pushed her back into a tree. The creature held her there, while Sophie tried to squirm away. I grabbed my blowpipe and shot a tranquillizer directly into its neck. It flinched and put a hand up to touch the tranquillizer. It immediately tried to run, but the sedative was taking effect. The creature stumbled sideways and collapsed. We cautiously walked over to it and turned it over. Michael gasped.

It was a human. Female, by the looks of it. She was wearing a mask made of leaves. Her clothes were made from pieces of vines tightly woven together.
“What do we do with her, Alex?” Sophie asked.
“We’ll bring her back to the village, we can't just leave her here to die,” I said. I picked her up and put her over my shoulder. I told Michael to grab a flower for James and we began to go home. Sophie seemed pretty shaken, so Brandon offered to give her a piggyback home. She accepted after making him promise to put her down after a few minutes but fell asleep on his shoulders anyway. Michael, who had been walking beside the other two, caught up to me.
“How did she survive in the forest for so long?” he asked.
“I don't know how she managed to stay alive, but one thing for sure is that she knows how to protect herself. I wonder how long she's been out here,” I said. Michael was silent for a while then spoke again.
“You don't think it could be-”
“No. I watched her die.” I said firmly. I knew what I had seen. There was no chance she survived that fall.

Michael didn't speak again. He had never truly forgiven me for what had happened after the tsunami. I didn't blame him.

We had reached the border of our village. The girl had started to mutter incoherently and had begun to wake up. We passed through the gates and Katie ran to us.
“Did you find it?”
I nodded and told Michael to give her the flower.
“We also came across a girl. She attacked us. I shall hold a meeting to see what we will do with her.”
“Okay, I will go liquify this flower for James to drink.”
I reached the centre of the village and rung the bell on a tree. Everyone flocked towards us. The sound woke up Sophie up and she began to apologise to Brandon, who brushed it off. I lay the masked girl on the soft ground and waited for my classmates to calm down. When it had quieted down I began to speak.
“Class of 2020, we have retrieved the flower to save James.” A cheer erupted in the crowd.
“As we were looking for it, we were attacked by this girl.” I pointed at her.”We were barely able to sedate her. She is waking up now.” The girl opened her eyes. Her startlingly cold brown eyes bore into mine through her mask.  She tried to stand up again but she was still too weak and fell back down again. I took a step towards her, but she flinched and crawled away.
“I won't hurt you,” I said. She laughed.
I call over Katie asked for the antidote. She handed me small glass vile.
“Why did you try to stop us from taking this?” I asked. She stood up, shaking from the effort, but the effects of the blowdart were wearing off.
“Do you know what that is?” she had a firm and strong voice.
“Yes, it is an antidote to cure our friend who was poisoned.”
She laughed again and said
“It is a highly acidic flower that can burn through metal in its liquid form. I was trying to stop you from picking it because it can burn the skin off your bones in seconds.”
“And why should we trust you?”
“Oh I don’t know, maybe because I have seen the effects of that flower on a friend firsthand.” she said.
“Are there more people out in the forest?”
She looked directly into my eyes. “Not human.”
Suddenly she ran forwards, taking me by surprise. The girl kicked the antidote out of my hand. It fell in an arc towards the ground in slow motion. My heart stopped. I jumped to catch it, but she hit my hand away. The vile collided with the ground and shattered. The purple liquid started to seep into the grass. I watched James’s life drain away.
“I just saved the life of your friend.”
The feeling of utter sadness was replaced with a pure hatred. I slowly turned around to face the girl. The look of strength in her eyes had a spark of fear.
I swung my arm around, and it came into contact her chest. The force of it threw her back into a tree. She slid down and lay crumpled at the bottom. There was silence as I walked towards her. Just as I reached her, I gave her a swift kick in the stomach. She made a choking sound and blood dribbled out of the side of her mouth.
“You are a murderer.” I spat. I repeatedly kicked her, till she was barely breathing.
“You are killing me a second time, please stop before I do something I will regret.” she feebly coughed.
“What can you do, you are nobody. How about we pull off that mask and see how pathetic you really are.” As extended my hand to grab the edge of the mask, someone pushed it away. Sophie stood in front of her.
“Hey, you’re going too far!” she said, trying to hid her fear. I almost hit her away, but I controlled myself. She was just protecting someone she thought was innocent.
“Please move out of the way.” a calm voice hid the boiling rage inside.
“No.” she did her best to sound confident, but she was shaking with terror.
“Move.” I leaned in close to her and Sophie took a step back.
Michael put a hand on my shoulder, but I shrugged it off.
“Adam, you need to calm down,” he said firmly.
I growled and tried to walk forward, but he held me back.
“Wait!” Katie called behind me. I turned around.
“She wasn’t lying about the flower being poisonous!” the liquid that had smashed had created a blackened patch on the ground and was still foaming.
“You jumped to conclusions again, didn't you.” The girl's voice was feeble and weak.
“Who are you?” I questioned her.
“You already know me.” she grasped the edge of her mask and pulled it off. My heart stopped.

“Lily?!”