Chapter 2
Nuri
We spent the next few days sleeping in another cave that Lily found using her powers. During the day, we would rest up and save our energy than at night, we'd go out and hunt one of the weird creatures to eat. Once we were full, we'd go bury the remains a little away from the cave to keep the monsters away and huddle together at night to keep warm. As the days grew on, Lily became more visibly sicker and the weather grew calmer. We were peacefully chatting about our awkward family dynamics while I peeked out of our hole.
"Guys! Something is coming and it's coming quickly!" I loudly proclaimed as I looked back at them with panic settling on my face. "How are we going to get out of here?" I asked as Lily slowly raised her left hand before roots pierced through the rock wall near Wren. It quickly became a bigger hole as Wren looked over at her with worry on her face.
"The roots seem to lead a little further away from here back to the surface. If you three follow them, you'll be able to get out of here in time." She softly panted as sweat began to quilt her orange shirt. Wren quickly rushed over to her as she gently swatted her away while I stood frozen in my spot. We couldn’t separate like this and leave her here on her own! But I knew deep down, we were in no position to help as none of us knew about this planet or its inhabitants. We didn’t even know what we could use to treat her for whatever was ailing her let alone ask the aliens for help. "There's no time to worry about me. I'll close up this hole once you three pass through it." She instructed, her breathing slowly grew haggard as we all looked at each other worriedly. Whatever great being could hear me, I prayed for Lily’s wellbeing.
"Please be safe, Lily. One day, we'll all meet again. We've made it this far." Yareli smiled sadly as Wren held Lily in her arms, which surprised us all.
"You better come meet up with us again!" Wren proclaimed as I nodded, scared that my voice would betray me before we quickly disappeared into the hole. As I crawled in behind Yareli, the opening quickly closed up before I could even change my mind and turn back. The hole was dark but I could feel the roots beneath my hands as we crawled on all fours. “Nuri, any chance you can get us some light without it taking away the little bit of oxygen we got?” Wren asked as I quietly hummed in thought.
“I could probably try a will-o-wisp but we’ll only have a short amount of time to get out of here before it fades.” I explained while stopping and sitting down as Yareli did the same.
“Sounds like a good idea to me, but it might be better if you led first since you have the will-o-wisp. You’ll just have to crawl past us.” Wren instructed while it sounded like one of them was brushing off their hands on their prison pants. Sighing, I focused my mind on a small will-o-wisp as it slowly formed over my hands before lighting the small cave. Turning towards Wren and Yareli, it lit up their faces as they smiled at me. “You okay?” Wren asked as I quietly shook my head.
“What if Lily dies back there with that creature that was chasing us? We practically left her for dead!” I quietly exclaimed as an unfamiliar thump made us all fall quiet before a male’s deep voice spoke out. I couldn’t make out exactly what he was saying but I knew they were in the cave with Lily now. We all listened for a little longer, hoping that he wouldn’t hurt Lily but when we didn’t hear her screams or shout, I quickly moved past Wren and Yareli.
“This won’t be our last meeting. I’m sure we’ll see Lily again.” Yareli told me while staring at me with her dark green eyes as I quickly turned away with a nod. I hope she was right about that more than anything. We quickly crawled through the cave as warmth surrounded us. We must’ve been closer to the top than we had expected. My thoughts were interrupted as a small ray of sun peeked in through a small hole further ahead of us. Quickly crawling over towards it, I gently pushed my will-o-wisp away before digging at the small hole above us. Seeing what I was doing, Wren helped me as well before sand poured into the small tunnel burying us underneath it.
“Everybody okay?” Wren called out as I quickly pushed the hot sand off of me while trying to shake it out of my hair and my ears. Light had poured into our little tunnel as well. I squinted around for both Wren and Yareli as I spotted them a little away from me. Yareli had barely been buried in sand since she was a little further from the entrance than I was but she was still trying to shake some of it off her.
“Yeah, I’m good. Still got sand in places that it shouldn’t be since we got here.” I grumbled as her and Yareli quietly laughed at me before Wren slowly slid past me to look out the hole.
“The coast is clear. I don’t see any aliens nor creatures.” She quietly whispered like somebody would hear us. I didn’t blame her though after the things we’ve seen these few days. “Before we climb out of this hole, we need to make a plan on what we’ll do next. You were right before, Nuri.” She explained while ducking back down into our little tunnel. “We’ll have to move from cave to cave to survive but at least we’re free.” She smiled as I quickly shook my head.
“Without Lily helping us, we’re stuck. And if you haven’t noticed, the weather has become calmer. It’s the calm before the storm but I have no idea what’s coming. None of us do. We could die tonight, Wren.” I stressed as she nodded at me while Yareli frowned at me.
“If we were to keep thinking like that, we wouldn’t get anywhere. Our fate is no longer in our hands, Nuri.” Yareli piped up as it was my turn to frown at her now. “As somebody who has trained with a doctor, I didn’t want to leave Lily behind either but we can’t change that now. We have to keep moving forward and hope that we’ll see her again.” She added as I glared at her.
“A doctor? So, you could see that Lily suffering but didn’t do anything about it? How heartless of you.” I sneered as Yareli looked at me like I was stupid before she inched closer, the light from the opening shining down on her tanned face.
“Heartless? There was nothing I could do! I have no supplies, Nuri! And last time I checked, we were all dropped off in the same desert! Do you see a clinic anywhere around here?” Yareli seethed while glaring back at me as I took in her words. “Lily suggested we leave her behind as much as I didn’t want to either! Just like what Wren said, you three are the closest thing I have to a family now!” She shouted while huffing and puffing as Wren stepped between us. She was right, I was just being an ass.
“Nuri, Yareli, cut it out. Fighting won’t solve anything between us. If anything, it’ll make us sicker and exhaust us before we can find another cavern to camp out in.” Wren stated as I sighed while leaning back against the dirt wall of the small tunnel. “Nuri’s right about the weather. Whatever is coming, it’ll be dangerous for us either way. We need to find shelter before it hits us and we need to be prepared in case another one of us grows sick as well. We’re not leaving another person behind. We have powers for a reason whether we want them or not. So, put your differences aside until we find shelter and have food in our bellies.” Wren sternly stated as I nodded before looking over at Yareli who sighed.
“You’re right but how are we supposed to find another cave without Lily? Unless one of you can sense roots or vines like she did, we’re in a little bit of trouble.” I spoke up as Yareli nodded before peeping out of the entrance overhead.
“How about we take our time looking around carefully while the two suns are high in the sky?” Yareli asked while ducking back down into the tunnel. “With the suns up, we can see.” She explained as I shook my head before looking at them both.
“But, we’ll be exposed to the sun since we left our shirts.” I frowned as Wren made a weird noise before we turned her way. We quietly watched as she unwrapped a shirt from beneath the waistband of her prison pants. “What the hell?”
“It was a neat little trick I learned whenever my lawyer was visiting me in prison. I got them to smuggle me in a shirt from an old band I used to listen to. I was able to successfully smuggle it out of the visitation room thanks to the fact that the guards were afraid of me.” She smiled while handing me my prison shirt as I unrolled it. Glancing over at Yareli, I noticed her pulling her shirt from her waistband as well but she didn’t have it tucked like Wren.
“Wren, what exactly caused the guards to be afraid of you?” I asked, turning my attention back to her as she smiled.
“Ever heard of the Mad Dog of the West?” Yareli answered as I turned to her before nodding. “That was Wren. I didn’t realize it at first but her tattoo looked too familiar. It took my brain a second to recognize it.” She shook her head as I turned back to Wren with my mouth agape. Wren was in a gang?! A notorious one at that! “And here I was asking if you were working in your family’s restaurant or some shit.” Yareli mumbled while pulling on her shirt before freeing her hair.
“That was me. Though I’m not proud of some of the things that gang did, I’m proud that I killed them all.” Wren all but smiled as I almost caught whiplash from quickly looking her way. For a split second, I forgot we were all here because we were criminals.