Dark Tides

Chapter 12

(a/n) Ayyyyy sorry for the long wait <3 There's a concept from the movie Annihilation that I included in here because it freaked me out when I first watched it aha.

CW: description of drug-like effects, and also violence...like usual for this fic lol.

Fog billows out from underneath Kylo's foot as he takes another step, the sound muffled by the damp forest floor. The soil is soft, giving way as Kylo's boot compresses the collection of dead plants further into itself.

Ap'lek and Vicrul are close behind him, trudging along the narrow path that their swords have made through the ferns. Another thwack of Vicrul's blade covers up the sigh he lets out, a wearied exhale absorbed into the thick fog surrounded the three men.

They've been walking for hours, only having stopped when Ap'lek points them in another direction. Vicrul laughed when his crewmate climbed that first tree. Couldn't help but make fun of his intention to look over the canopy. "To map our location, you dimwit," he had shouted down after Vicrul's cackling became audible. But by the fifth time Ap'lek scurried up a trunk covered in vines, Vicrul had opted to rest his eyes, silently waiting until they got moving again.

The trees are so close together, there are gnarled roots to climb over every couple of feet. Vicrul lifts his pouch of water as he takes another step, cool liquid running down his parched throat while sweat beads on his brow. As he swipes the back of his hand over his mouth, only one thing comes to mind. He needs a break.

Kylo's walking like a man possessed. As if he doesn't even need to breathe to keep going. His lungs are frozen at the peak point of an inhale. All Kylo can hear is the thumping of his heart in his ears as he steps over another moss-covered log. His shirt clings to his skin from the moisture, leather strap diagonal across his chest heavy from the daggers carried in it.

Until the rest of his men see a smoke signal they're ordered to stay on the beach. If they don't, by tomorrow they're to set sail for a town along the coast and wait. Kylo hadn't even stopped to gather supplies, opting to go straight into the trees as he shouted orders behind him. Ap'lek had caught up to him straight away, the tracker followed by a hesitant Vicrul.

A streak of golden sunlight hits Kylo's eyes, blinding him momentarily as he looks up. The lungful of air rushes out, his breath shuddering when he realizes it's the sunset that's breaking through the trees. You're still out there. It's going to be dark soon.

They've come to a small clearing. Lush green grass is now under their boots as the men step through a break in the trees. There's a small stream running across their path up ahead, surprising all of them. It seemed so quiet just moments ago.

Ap'lek hurries towards it, pulling out the piece of parchment he's been scribbling on all day. "We- we would have seen this much earlier." He's unsure when he speaks, wildly turning his head both ways before carefully scanning the ground for your footprints.

It's the subtle indentations in the grass that leave Ap'lek with a puzzled look on his face. It had been relatively easy to follow your path up until now. As much experience that he has tracking people, he's never seen such an unusual path. You doubled back so many times throughout the day. Ap'lek is sure he has most of the valley mapped out. It seems as though you're winding your way through the forest with no goal in mind. Not hurried at all, so why can't they catch up with you?

Ap'lek sees your path disappear into the water and cold fingers of dread wind their way around the back of his neck.

The water flows along lazily, trickling sounds finally reaching Kylo's ears as he comes to the side of Ap'lek. "Did you hear the water," Kylo says, voice gravelly from not being used in so many hours.