The Camp

Chapter 5

Kinara's P.O.V

I was trembling, fear a deep pit in my stomach as we were led by a group of staff across a field that was blanketed in deep snow. I barely felt the cold with my special clothing on and the boots were high enough that the snow didn't go over the top, even when I sunk a bit.

 We were led across a field to a long wide trench, about 200m away, another trench was dug opposite, the first five cabin's trenches. A light breeze blew a few stray strands of my hair across my face. We climbed down into the trench. I could only see over the top if I dug a hole in the side with my foot and used it as a step. We were beside cabin 7. The snow was coming down heavily and I shifted from foot to foot.

"You okay?" Caleb asked, 

"Yeah" I whispered. If I spoke too loud I knew he would hear my voice crack with un-shed tears. I was petrified. All the cabins were lined up and weapons were sorted out, the gun was surprisingly light and I held it gingerly, concerned about what would happen if a so much as brushed the trigger.

Caleb saw my reaction and gave a soft chuckle, "Kee, it has the safety on." he said, adopting a nickname for me.

"Oh, my bad. Um... how do I get the safety off, I mean, if I have to use it?" I asked, feeling stupid. He shook his head, "You just flick this to the left." he said, pointing to the tiny lever on the back, "And then back to the right to put the safety back on." I nodded.

"Thanks."

"No problem, you need anything, don't hesitate to ask me." he smiled grimly. We sat there in silence before a boom echoed around us, bouncing off the trees to our right.

"It's started," he whispered to me. I shuddered slightly and Caleb gave me a reassuring look. Nobody moved, on our side, nor on theirs.

"It's usually like this until someone makes the first move. It can last ages," he whispered. I nodded, my heart was thumping so loud I was sure he could hear it, and bile was near the back of my throat.

"We need to get over to the left-hand forest, behind there we can backtrack round to the cabin on the right cliffs. It takes longer, but covers our route." A boy whose name I had learned was Mark told me. "Ok. How do we do that without getting shot?" I asked.

"Well, if anyone so much as sticks their head up too far, they'll get shot, and it will hurt like a bitch. So, we have to wait until someone on our side moves enough for everyone to take focus on them, and not notice us breaking away," he said. A crazy idea came into my mind. I was so scared, but I knew I had to do it, I couldn't be useless, I wouldn't be any help in a firefight.

"What if I make a break for the right trees. Then when they're focused on me, you guys leave?" I proposed.

"It's crazy, you'll get shot, bad. Trust me, Kee, it hurts like a real bullet." Caleb told me, but the other guys' eyes were shining with pride.

"You'd do that?" Mark asked.

"Anything so I don't have to stay here feeling like a sitting duck waiting to get ambushed." I murmured.

I slowly rose slightly and started crouching and moving to the further end of the trench so I had less distance to run. When I got there, I suddenly jumped up, rolled onto the snow and landed in a crouched position. Adrenaline kicked in and I sprinted for the trees. I ran, darting in various directions, in a vain attempt to get them to aim at the wrong area. I heard shots and jumped startled. I looked back. I saw Ivan grinned madly before I felt a searing pain in my thigh. I couldn't describe the agony. Hot tears streamed down my cheeks and I gritted my teeth to stop myself screaming out from the fiery pain.

I limped into the cover of trees as my head began to get heavier, my mouth feeling as if it were stuffed full of cotton. Tugging the dart from my skin, I managed to find a tall tree surrounded by stray roots and bushes, diving into them as I heard voices. I crawled under the roots into a tiny sanctuary, barely keeping my eyes open as pain and a weird light-headed feeling spread over my bones. A contrast to the lead-like feeling I had previously felt.

As I fell into sleep I felt a thick hand clasp around my ankle and drag me from my safe place.