I heard a sudden snapping of twigs, and where I'd usually think of it as the natural sound of the woods, I felt a twisting in my gut as I flashed a flashlight I had found in Luz's bag towards where the sound came from. I couldn't see anything but my gut knew better than I did most of the time so I knew something was wrong. I swallowed down my nerves and quietly made my way towards where Luz lay sleeping peacefully. "Luz!" I whispered worried as I shook her awake and she jumped, her hand gripping my arm tightly for a moment.
"I'm sorry, I forgot," I whispered looking at where her hand gripped my arm for a moment before looking back towards her. She must have seen the fear on my face because her expression shifted and her grip loosened.
"What's wrong?" She asked me with concern slipping in her tone leaving me to pause for a moment. I could see her eyes still looked tired making me feel a bit guilty for having to wake her.
"I don't know. I heard some normal sounds, but I have a bad feeling." I explained before looking towards the trees where the sounds had come from. It was still somewhat dark, though I could tell that the morning was going to come soon as it was a bit brighter out.
Luz closed her eyes and furrowed her brows as if she were listening in on the soundings around us. When her eyes opened, somehow, my gut knew something was wrong. I trusted Luz's face enough to know for certain that this was true.
I shifted to reach past her, picking up the bat from where I had placed it to wake Luz. I gripped my fist tightly as I trailed our surroundings with the flashlight. "Amity, turn that off." I heard Luz say in a serious tone and I did as she asked. With no light to help me see the world around me, I felt my heart drop with fear.
I heard some shuffling coming from beside me and I assumed it was Luz as I heard her bag being picked up. "Luz, I can't see," I whispered scared.
"It's okay Amity." She grew closer to me until she gently grasped my wrist and moved me to stand behind her. "Amity..." Luz started and her grip on my wrist grew loose. "I need you to turn around and I need you to run," Luz ordered me calmly.
"What?" My voice shook as the question slipped past my lips. That was when I saw multiple glowing eyes appear suddenly before us.
"Go now!" She shouted before turning me around and shoving me away. With that, I took off running as I heard the sound of multiple footsteps taking chase of Luz and me. How Luz knew they were there wasn't as important as us getting away from them. In my mind, she just had the same gut feeling I did.
I stumbled over sticks, kicked past long blades of grass, and jumped over holes as I ran across the field. The sounds behind me, the steps and groans of the monsters taking chase, I had to force myself not to look behind me. Keep running! I heard Edric's voice echo in my mind and so I did just that. My lungs were burning and my side began to feel swore as I ran into the side of a tree before pushing myself from it and rushing forward again.
There were so many that it had to of been the hoard. This is why Edric taught me to never stop, to keep going. And I stopped, why did I have to stop? Why did I have to throw everything I learned out the window because I felt like I could trust some girl I literally just met? I'm so stupid. How did I even make it this far?
Suddenly I heard gunshots coming from my left. Rapid and loud, drawing the attention of some of the monsters in the hoard. My ears began to ring yet I just kept running. I had almost made it out of the woods when I felt someone grab onto me pulling me back against them and behind a tree. I started to scream against their hands and attempt to fight out of their strong grip.
"Amity, it's me." I heard Luz whisper in my ear and I immediately relaxed back against her as she took her hand from covering my mouth. I turned towards her only to suddenly feel lightheaded, stumbling forward as I grew unsteady on my feet. I felt her strong arms go to catch me as she gripped my shoulders to keep me up. I went to hold my side as it became difficult to breathe. I tried to step back and give her space but she only held my shoulders tighter.
"I thought you hated when people got in your personal space?" I questioned her through faltering breaths while raising a brow.
"Only when I'm not expecting it. It's okay as long I'm the one who initiates it. It has to be my choice. Usually, it's better if someone asks me first and I give them my permission beforehand." She explained while slowly removing her hands. "I also don't want you to fall over." She suddenly snapped her head towards the town I had almost made it to bringing a question to cross my mind.
"I had to stop you from going there because the people who are tracking me down are there. They should be gone now though. They were only here to clear out the hoard." She answered reading my mind only leading me to have more questions.
"Wait, tracking you down? Are those people the same ones who showed up outside the building?" She nodded at me and I took a step back trying to keep my voice low at this new information. "So you're being hunted? Why?" I asked and she looked off to the side shutting down just like she had in the beginning.
I was fed up with it at this point. Those "bad people" she had talked about are hunting her down for reasons she wouldn't share with me and now she brought me into it without my knowledge. It was then that I realized just how little I knew about the girl before me and suddenly the way she had acted in the building made sense. She had acted calm and collected as she told me that they were breaking in, she moved around so easily as if she had done it all before, and now she was shutting down as she had been in the beginning. This was the reason she had been shutting me out. So I wouldn't find out whatever truth there is behind all of this.
"Luz, who are you? What all don't I know about you?" I asked as my voice cracked and her face faltered for just a moment before it became unreadable once more.
"Amity, I need you to trust me. If you can't do that then we have no reason to keep traveling with each other." She spoke tonelessly and I clenched my open fist.
"Are you kidding me right now? I just found out that you are being hunted by a group of very scary and supposedly "bad people" as you say! I have every right to feel the way I am currently." I crossed my arms and gave her a disapproving look. "And you're one to talk when you won't even tell me anything about yourself. Always choosing to shut down instead." I stomped towards her, my face a few inches from hers.
"I'm not the one who should be questioned about trust," I spoke before turning and heading towards the town, stabbing a monster in passing with my pocket knife and wiping the blood off on my pants.
... ... ... ...
After gathering the supplies we could from the town Luz and I continued our journey in silence. I was reasonably upset, yet I had been over it for a while, though I had also taken most of my frustration out on the monsters I had run into. I wasn't giving her the silent treatment because I was mad anymore. I was only doing it now because I didn't know what to say to her. Sure she hadn't opened up to me, but neither did I while thinking back on it. We both barely knew each other and we were both keeping things to ourselves.
Staying mad at her would only label me as a hypocrite. Now I stood a few feet behind her as she gazed off to the world below us from the mountainside. Silently I took a few steps closer trying to find the proper words while also hesitating from the height we had been at currently. I had been a few inches from her as I raised my hand before remembering better and letting it fall back to my side.
"Don't get too close to me. I told you I have personal space issues." Luz said while still staring absentmindedly off in the distance.
"How do you always know when I'm near you? It's like you have super senses or something." I said frustrated with a joking undertone and chuckled. Her body seemed to tense up at this and I tilted my head after getting such a reaction from her. She's been doing this all too often for it to be explained away by my brain any longer. I just couldn't come up with any reason she would react like this whenever she did.
I shifted my stance and went to stand next to her at a noticeable distance. "I'm sorry I reacted the way I did. It's wrong of me to get upset about you doing something that I do as well. It's just, people are hunting you down and I have no idea why?" I turned to face her during this.
"It's hard to wrap my head around. But I do mean it when I say that I trust you. I have no reason not to after all that you've done for me in such a short time." I chuckled to myself and watch her stoic face fall as she finally let a smile grow on her face for the first time around me. It made her look beautiful and I had to turn away after such a thought, my face flushing.
Watching Luz close her eyes as if she were listening to the world around her peacefully. I felt my heart flutter at the sight and I watched as her expression shifted, her brows furrowing before she opened her eyes and turned to look at me. I looked away from her quickly feeling my heart pound and hoping that she couldn't hear it. But of course, she couldn't hear it, that would be impossible.
The longer I felt her gaze on me the more flustered I became and I cleared my throat to try and clear up this weird tension building between us. "So, are we ready to get back on the road?" I asked stealing a glimpse at her face before turning around and starting to walk without waiting for her answer.