Shadows of the Night | BOOK 2 DRAFT

21

21. 

The wind carries hollower voices towards us, making them feel much closer than they really are. An occasional shout, a call in the distance, it only propels me to go faster, adrenaline pumping my blood. My mind plays tricks of me; each patch of darkness we shove through I expect to skid to a halt, face to face with Cynthia. Each time we sludge through a stream I see blood, thick and red and staining the bank. But I blink and it's gone.

It's been hours since we last stopped. The sun has long descended, surrendering to the sinister moon grinning above us, creating shadows that stretch towards me as I run.

We're on foot, human form. We can't let them get too behind or they'll lose track of us. Eric and Malik lead us, Cassia and Elias pulling up the rear. My lungs burn and I'm making so much more noise than the others as I gasp for air, but I don't stop moving, I can't stop moving. Adrenaline pulses through my body like lightning, powering my legs and pumping blood to my pounding heart.

Sometimes, it's silent, only our panting breaths piercing the air. Other times, you can hear their voices bouncing off the trees—an occasional shout, an order in a certain direction. They're tracking us. And even though it's what we hoped, it doesn't ease the anxieties building in my stomach. Cassia said my old village was abandoned, but when was the last time anyone checked? I can't escape the nagging thought that we could be running straight into the grasps of those we're trying to lose.

All of a sudden, an excruciating scream echoes from behind us. Ahead, Eric stops so abruptly I nearly slam into his back. We stand in silence as Elias and Cassia catch up, skidding to a stop.

"What was that?" I ask.

"They've stopped," Malik says. "They're not tracking us anymore."

"What... why would they..." I trail off, wrapping my arms around my body as a chill runs down my spine. "What was that scream?"

Nobody answers. I don't know if that's because they don't know the answer or because they don't want to tell me. The trees overhead crowd around us, blocking the light from the moon. My eyes had almost adjusted to the light, but with three pairs of glowing eyes staring at me, everything else seems pitched black in comparison.

"How far are we from the village?" Malik asks.

"Another hour, maybe less," Elias says.

"What do we do, then?" I ask. "Just wait for them to start following us again?"

"No, we're too exposed in the middle of the forest to be sitting around twiddling our thumbs, anybody could stumble across us and we'd be too distracted by that group of hollowers to notice," Cassia says. "We should keep going. Get to the village and decide what to do from there."

"If they lose our trail this will all be for nothing," Elias says. "We can't risk that. They could go straight for our village."

"But—"

An excruciating scream cuts her off. It echoes towards us and rattles my bones. I take a step backwards, closer to Elias, and gaze around us. A thick fog is settling around us, making it difficult to see very far. Whatever that scream was, they can't ignore it twice.

"We'll split up," Elias says. I dart my eyes to him. It doesn't matter how angry I am with him, separating from Elias terrified me because of what happened the last time we split. But I press my lips together and shove the protests down.

"You three go ahead," Elias says, nodding at me, Eric, and Malik. "Get to the village and make sure it's empty, and then wait for us so we can set up. Cassia and I will track backwards, see what's made them stop."