Zero wakes up a few hours later to a burning campfire and two exhausted girls.
He takes one look at me before storming off into the jungle, obviously upset.
I attempt to stand up to go after him, but Becky gives a sharp jerk of her head and I collapse back into a sitting position. I hope Zero's not too upset with me.
In those few seconds after I had sent that horrible sound down the bond, Zero had completely changed. Anything even remotely close to human vanished, and he looked exactly how I would imagine a cornered animal to look. Is this Island changing him? Or has he always been this ferocious? Have I not noticed it because I have never been on the receiving line of that ferocity?
A strong smell hits me and sends me soaring out of my thoughts, and I glance at Becky, who's chowing down on meat on a stick like it's a kabob.
"Where did you get that?" I ask, hating how hoarse my voice sounds at the moment.
She pauses to chew, looking unimpressed at me. "I hunted it. Duh."
I decide to not question It and grab another one of the mystery meat kabobs. I slowly start to eat, glancing from the remaining food to the forest where Zero dissapeared into.
Becky suddenly abruptly stands up, discarding her now bare stick and glaring down at me with a hand on her hip.
"Just go to him. We don't want the meat to be wasted anyway."
I stare at her for a split second, before cracking a small smile.
"For a Lightling, you sure act like a Darkling."
"Yeah, yeah." She says waving her hand. "Just go away."
Nodding, I stand up, grabbing a few of the extra sticks with meat on them. The jungle lurks in front of me, now giving off the sense of danger in the night. Swallowing, I start forward.
"Zero?" I whisper yell. I would use the bond to communicate, but after what went down between Zero and I, I don't think he would like it.
I continue walking, the light from the fire behind me getting more and more distant.
"Zero!" I whisper yell again, surveying the jungle. A shadow appears out of the corner of my eye and before I can turn to face it I'm hit with something huge.
A shriek escapes me as I'm tackled to the ground by what seems at first to be a boulder.
My eyes squeezed shut, I struggle, grunting and squirming, but the thing won't move. Finally I fling my eyes open only to be met with familiar light brown colored hair.
"Zero?" I ask.
There's a small whimper as he buries his head into my neck.
"Hey! That tickles!" I say, attempting to reach my hands up and push his head away, but he refuses to budge. "Hey." I say more softly. "What's wrong?"
He peels his head away only to stare directly into my eyes, those sharp blades which are his eyes cutting into my soul.
"Why?" Is all he whispers. And I instantly know what he's talking about.
Why hurt him? Why send that terrible sound down the bond? Why do that when he was just trying to protect me?
"I wanted to be put down and you refused." I say gently, stroking a side of his head. "You can't do something against another person's will, even if it was for my own good I wanted to go back and protect my father, just like you wanted to protect me."
Zero stares into my eyes for a second longer, before scooping me up in his arms. Once he's stood up, he gently sets me down, although not releasing his arms from around me.
"Oh no!" I exclaim, pushing out of his arms and bending down. "I dropped the food! And laid on it! Dang it, now my shirts more dirty than it already was and stained with fat juices."
Zero rumbles something close to a laugh before shaking his head.
"It's alright." He says gruffly. "I already ate."
"But how-" I trail off, looking into the jungle and wondering what he ate. Shivering, I realize I don't want to know. "Never mind, let's just get back to camp. Who knows what's lurking out here."
I should really choose my words more wisely, because the second I mention possible danger Zero is on high alert, grabbing me and pulling me into his side as he scans the jungle.
Sighing, I tug his arm and lead him in the direction of camp, just happy to know Zero doesn't seem to want to kill me anymore.
I can see the fire up ahead and we emerge through the last trees to find the camp abandoned, the fire left unattended.
"Becky?" I call out.
Where could she have gone? Did she think we were useless and run away? Or is she just hunting for more food.
I open my mouth to call out for her again when I hear a rustling above me. I look up only to gasp and stumble backwards.
Becky is sitting on a tree branch right above me, clutching onto the trunk as if her life depends on it. I step a few feet back so i can see her face, and the fear in it surprises me.
"What are you doing up there?" I ask, a tiny bit worried. If she fell, she would seriously be hurt.
"Shut up!" She hisses glaring down at me. "Or it will come back!"
"It?" I ask, and she nods, gulping.
That doesn't sound too good. Sure enough there's a loud thud through the jungle, as if something huge had taken a step.
"It's too late." Becky whispers. "It smells you."
"What smells me?" I whisper yell, starting to grow scared. She scowls down at me from her branch.
"A Lyncher. They are one of the most terrifying creatures on this island and are used to guard the Lightling and Darkling borders. We must be close to one of the territories. They are said to be great hunters, and impossible to escape once tracking a scent. This is all your fault."
She jumps down from the tree, glaring at me. I turn to see even Zero looks a little shaken, scanning the forests for any movement.
"There has to be some way to escape them." I try, more scared than I'll ever admit of this Lyncher thing.
"Well, there is one thing. We have to make it into a territory, once there, the Lyncher will think we belong to that territory and won't kill us for intruding."
"How do we know which ways a territory?" I ask, looking in every direction.
"We don't." She says at the exact time another thump sounds, much closer to the small camp. "We just run!"
With that she takes off into the forest in a random direction. Gulping, I Sprint to follow her when Zero places a hand on my shoulder.
"Up?" He asks.
I hesitate for a second, but when I hear another thump I nod hurriedly. "Up."
With that he lifts me up into his arms, already running after Becky who he catches up to in no time.
The ting behind us must sense us running, for the thumps pick up speed, until I'm scared to look back and see what kind of monster is chasing us.
"Whatever you do," Zero says, his mouth close to my ear, causing me to shiver. "Don't look behind you."
"Have you ever seen a Lyncher?" I ask back, turning to face him but he's looking straight ahead, focused on running as fast as he can.
"Yes." Is all he says, obviously not wanting to talk about it from the look on his face.
"I don't think this is a good place for a vacation." I comment stupidly, my mind a little dizzy thanks to the fast passing landscape.
Zero snorts, a little amused even at a time like this.
"Well it does have some great places, but right now we're in the wildside of things."
"The wildside?" I say, raising an eyebrow. "Is that the name of this territory?"
Is it just me, or did Zero start to blush?
"Uh, no. I named it that, although no one else refers to it as that."
I'm almost tempted to smile if it wasn't for the scary thing right on our heels. Wait a minute, why am I joking around with Zero? A monster is on our tail!
"Well never out run it!" Becky calls from up ahead, not glancing back. Maybe she doesn't want to see the Lyncher either. "We have to find a shining place or a distraction."
"Can't you use your illusion power to distract it?" I yell to Becky, cause what's the use of whispering if the thing already has us in its sight
"I'm not a Darkling!" She growls and I bet if she looked back her glare would be deadly.
"You sure act like on." I mutter, which makes Zero snort.
"I heard that." Becky says icily.
"Distraction, distraction, I need a distraction." I murmur to myself, glancing around at the passing jungle. How far have we run now? Miles?
Something flies past my vision and I gasp, tugging on Zero's arm.
"We need to go back!" I yell, excited now that I found something.
Zero looks down at me like I'm crazy, which I'm nearly one hundred percent sure I'm not........well almost sure. Anyway, I plead with Zero with my eyes.
"There was a small cave, big enough for the three of us, but most likely not that thing. If we have any hope of escaping we need to take it!"
Zero looks a little torn, before nodding.
"Becky!" I yell at her. "Follow Zero's lead. We're going to circle around to a cave."
Becky slows down, although only enough so she's side by side with us.
"The cave won't keep the thing away for long, but it's worth a shot. Lead the way Overgrown child."
Zero bares his teeth slightly at her, but curves his running so it's not in a straight line. The path were running will make us circle back, and will keep us from running into the Lyncher. I silently applaud myself.
I take it on as my duty to be the eyes, even though Zero's eyesight is probably ten times better than mine. The moment I spot the tiny sliver of the opening of the cave, I lean forward in his arms, pointing.
"There it is!" I yell, excitedly. "We've almost made it."
A few more strides and were breaking into a clearing. Now with the trees gone I can see the cave is connected to a Mountain, one of the few Mountains that resides on this island. We're only a few more strides away.
Becky suddenly picks up speed, dashing in front of us and reaching the opening first, which makes Zero growl. He sprints at full speed the rest of the distance, finally passing the opening of the cave.
I make a move to squirm out of his arms, but Zero who's panting for once, shakes his head.
"We have to go farther."
So I let him carry me a little while more into the cave, wondering where Becky dissapeared to up ahead. Zero was right to venture farther, because a few seconds later the whole cave shakes as something crashes against the cave mouth. A shattering roar rips the air, and a few more bangs ensue, as if it's trying to bust its way in. Each shudder of the cave sends a shiver down my spine, but finally the shaking stops.
It's silence.
"Lets go find Becky." I say, squinting into the darkness up ahead.
We begin walking, and soon it's so dark, I can't even see my hand in front of my face. Luckily, Zero grabbed a hold of my hand, leading the way.
"Is that light up ahead?" I ask after a few seconds of walking in silence. Sure enough the light grows brighter and brighter, until Becky appears, her hands cupping a golden orb of light.
"There you are." I say in relief. Then I realize she went ahead and didn't bother to see if we were fine. "Hey weren't you worried that we might be dead?"
"Not really." She replies nonchantly. "This looks like a good place to camp, but there's no way to start a fire, so well have to use the light from my powers."
"Uh, Becky." I interrupt.
"Quiet Ashley, I'm going over important plans. Can you just listen for once? As I was saying-"
"Becky." I try more firmly.
"Damn it Ashley just be quiet!"
"Becky!" I yell more forcefully.
"What?!" She snaps, looking ready to bite my head off.
I point into the darkness of the cave, where two glowing blue eyes peer back at us.
Dear Readers, please don't kill me because of the cliff hanger. I hope this chapter was too your liking. The request and comments for more updates really gets me motivated along with all the votes and support! The writing process is slower as I mentioned because of the kindle thing, but I'm getting it done one way or another. Thanks for all your loyal support! Vote, comment, and watch America's Got Talent!
Lots of love,
Dangeroustoken.