The new student ~ ZarryStylik

Chapter 13 - come to rescue

It is far away and is almost swallowed up by the forest. But someone calls, Zayn is sure of that. "Hello." He calls out as loudly as he can. "Here, here I am." Groaning, he stumbles forward. His feet sink into the mud, his fingers dig into the soft earth of the embankment. "Help!"

"Zayn?" Calls the voice. "Zaynnnnnn? Where are you?" Zayn's heart beats faster. There is someone and that someone is calling his name. "Here," he calls again. "In the ditch." he pauses and listens. Does he just imagine it or does he actually hear steps.

It rustles. A branch breaks. A flashlight flashes very briefly. Zayn holds his breath. Please, please, he pleads softly. I want to get out of here.

Suddenly something touches his shoulder. Zayn screams, then lashes out like crazy. Rowing with both arms, clenching his hands, he takes a step back and swings his foot. Snorting in panic, he kicks with full force. He seems to have hit. In any case, he felt resistance.

At the same moment someone yelps and curses. "Ouch, damn Zayn. Get yourself back in It's me."

"Harry, is that you?"

The flashlight flashes again. The glow falls on Harry's face, twisted with pain. His hair is disheveled. "Who did you expect? The forest spirit maybe." Zayn has to laugh. "Yes." he admits. "Something like that." He leans forward. "Sorry for the kick. Does it hurt a lot?" "No, only when I laugh." "Why did you turn off the flashlight?" Asks Zayn reproachfully. "In the light I would have recognized you and not walked right in. You totally frightened me." "Firstly, I needed both hands for the descent and, secondly, I wanted to save batteries. " As if to confirm, he turns off the flashlight. "I don't have a extra batterie with me. Do you?" "No." Zayn meekly admits. "What are you actually doing here?" "Looking for you. Want do you think?" comes back. Then a little more conciliatory "Jannik told me that you actually wanted to go with us when you weren't at the meeting point on time, I was worried." He pauses. Zayn swallows. "You were worried?" Harry nods. Zayn can only guess since he can't really see in the dark. "Yes, we left without you, but I had such a strange feeling the whole time. Well and then I turned back." "To look for me." "Exactly." "And now?" Asks Zayn. "How do we get out of here?" "I'm afraid we have to climb a bit. Do you think you can do it?" "Sure." Zayn says optimistically.

But when he tries to take a step he flinches. "Ouch, dammit." Harry is at his side immediately. He turns on the flashlight and asks worried "Are you hurt?" Zayn presses his lips together. "Nothing bad, just a few scratches." The light from the flashlight wanders to his leg. Zayn startled. The shin is completely encrusted with blood. "Wow, that looks really tough," says Harry.

A little later they crawl up the slope on all fours. The embankment hardly offers any support and they have to pull and push each other. Even so, they keep slipping back and have to start over. Zayn groans. "That's more exhausting than two hours of sport in a row."

After half an eternity, they finally made it. With shaky legs and pretty out of breath, they are at the top of the path.