Beyond Her Final Breath (Book 1- Shadowland Duology) | Wattys2015

.Chapter Eight.

    “Hey! My man’s back, guys!” A black-haired boy held out his hand, and Nathan slapped it. Their fingers curled around each other and the boy pulled Nate in, slapping his back. “It’s about time you graced us with your presence. Where you’ve been?”

    “Ah, you know. Around.” Nathan dropped his bag on the bench and pulled his shirt over his head.

    “It’s a good thing you’re back. Regionals is only a month away. We’ve got to get you in shape.”

    A smile danced across Nathan’s lips. Blake never failed to make him smile.

    Pulling on his running shoes and tying the laces, he realized just how much he missed this. Being surrounded by the Cross-Country team distracted him, and he needed distraction. He needed to feel normal.

    “Come on, man.” Blake offered a calloused hand to Nathan. He accepted it and was pulled to his feet.

    Nathan and the others jogged out the locker rooms and into the cold gym. The air was cold and brisk despite the fact that the entire school was heated. It was as if the gym repelled heat.

    They stretched as they waited for the coach to enter the gym.

    A whistle shrilled through the air, echoing around the empty gym.

    Coach stood in the doorway, his hands on his hips and a silver whistle between his lips. His graying hair was tousled like always, and his brown eyes scanned over the group.

    “Nathan, I see you decided to come back.” He grinned at Nathan before it dropped off his face. “I’m sorry for your loss.”

    Nathan swallowed hard. “It’s okay, Coach.”

    Coach cleared his throat. “Anyways, Regionals are coming up, and we need to be ready. You guys are going to run two laps around the perimeter of the school grounds. Got it?”

    He blew his whistle, and they were off. Nathan walked beside Blake out the door of the gym. The evening air washed over them, and he took a deep breath in.

    The sky was pale gray, with storm clouds in the distance.

    Blake grinned. “Are you sure you can keep up with me? You haven’t ran in a while.”

    Nathan cracked his knuckles. “I’m sure I can. Are you sure you can keep up with me?”

    “You’re on.”

    Blake took off, leaving nothing but a slight rustle in his wake. Nathan went after him. His feet still hurt, but the pain was welcomed. It helped remind him that he was alive.

    The wind pushed his curls away from his face. His legs pushed him forward,  into the wind blowing in his face.

    Blake ran a couple of feet ahead, but Nathan knew he would tire eventually. He wasn’t the best at running distance.

They turned right, following a gravel road going through the forest.

    The forest part of the run was always Nathan’s favorite part, but after recent experiences in the woods, he felt uneasy.

    Nathan focused on keeping his breathing even, keeping it in time with his feet crunching over the gravel.

    Dying leaves drifted down from the trees, landing on the earth below.

    His feet were aching, but he refused to stop in the forest.

    The clouds darkened overhead. Suddenly, he was tripping over something.

    He threw his hands out to catch himself with a yelp. Rocks bit into his palms and knees.

    He groaned and rolled over, before pushing himself into a sitting position. The skin on his palms were shredded, the skin on his knees even worse. Blood oozed out of the scrapes, and he wiped it away with his hands.

    The clouds grew darker at an alarming rate. Fear coiled around Nathan’s body, slowly suffocating him.

    Blake was long gone.

    Nathan got to his feet, his hands and knees aching with a sharp pain.

    He glanced around, anxious to get out of the woods. He began to jog until a horrifying sight met his eyes.

    A creature stood in the middle of the gravel path, a rotting black finger outstretched towards him. Shredded black robes hung off the rotting corpse, and a black hood covered it’s face. Its other hand reached up and lowered the hood.

    Empty eye sockets gazed at Nathan, the flesh around one eye drooping and black. The nose was gone, leaving a gaping hole in the creature’s face. It opened it’s mouth to show a rotting  tongue.

    “Evelyn.” The word sounded like the creature was inhaling the air around it. “Where’s… Evelyn?”

    Nathan trembled with terror. His breath came in short pants, and his head felt dizzy from the lack of oxygen.

    “Where… is… Evelyn?” the creature asked. Its voice was grating, like he decided to swallow a bunch of rocks.

    “I-” Nathan swallowed hard. “I don’t know where she is.”

    “Give… her… to… me!” The creature’s voice grated against Nathan’s ears, sending another tremble of fear through him.

    “I don’t know where she is!” Nathan quickly backed away from the creature.

    It took a step forward. A pale gray foot stepped out from under the robe, the skin starting to fall off the bone.

    A strangled scream attempted to rip past Nathan’s lips as he stumbled backwards.

    Fear and terror thrummed in his ears, along with the primal urge to run. He turned his back to the creature, fear making his heart rate spike. He ran.

    He could feel the creature behind him- the sense of death and foreboding washing over him.

Every part of him screamed for him to push harder and to run faster.

The wind whipped against him, making his progress slow, but he kept on pushing.

Tree branches appeared to be reaching for him, skeleton fingers outreached.

The trees groaned in the harsh wind, and the leaves whispered. Death was coming for him, approaching on the cool wind.

The gravel beneath his feet morphed into grass, and the school lay up ahead. Never before had Nathan been so happy to see the gray concrete building.

A few of the track members stood by the back entrance of the school, drinking out of water bottles.

“Hey, man. What’s the matter?”

Nathan glanced over his shoulder. The creature was gone, but the clouds overhead were a threatening purple- gray. “Nothing. Just thought I would get back to the school before the storm hits.”

“Yeah,” one of the boys said, his brown hair plastered to his forehead with sweat, “Coach is rounding everyone back here ‘cause of that.”

“Here dude.” Somebody tossed Nathan a bottle of water.

“Thanks.” He twisted the cap off and took generous gulps of the water, relishing how it cooled his parched throat.

His heart finally slowed down, but the sense of uneasiness followed him home.

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-Sophia ^_^