Save Me

CHAPTER 7: HANGING ON

Jamie's POV

My lungs burn with every step I take, my arms feel like jello and tremble the more I carry Twen. My legs shake and are exhausted, they buckle on me the more I run. I don't know how long I've been running but it feels like I've been running for eternity.

This forest doesn't help, I've been running through thick trees, rocks, and hills, going up and down. There are cuts all over my feet and are bleeding. We haven't run into any water which makes it worse, my throat is dry, and I catch myself gagging because of how dry it is.

Not being able to go any further I stopped at a tree, I place a hand on it and semi-lean on it trying to catch my breath. I feel Twen slide off my back and place his hand on my shoulder, then I feel him slide his hand into my hand and pull me with him.

"No stop."

I look at Twen still trying to catch my breath and nod at his statement. I let him pull me and we jog ahead not knowing where we are going.

"Do you hear that?" Twen looks at me and stares for a while without saying anything. "Twen?"

He eventually nods his head in agreement with my question. With our hands still holding onto each other, we make our way to the trickle of water that we hear. When we reach the sound of water a small stream appears before our eyes. Without any hesitation, we dive straight into the stream shoving our faces first. We quench our thirst and drink as much water as possible.

I cup my hands and get some water to wash my face, when I remove my hands, I see that Twen is staring at me again. "Twen?"

Twen lifts his arm and places his hand on my cheek. "Jamie."

I smile at him and place my hand over his, I guess this is the first time he has gotten a good look at me. I remove his hand from my face and hold it.

"We'll have to start moving soon, now that the sun is almost gone it'll be harder for them to spot us. Though it won't be impossible, and it will be harder for us to see."

"Okay," nods Twen.

"Since we're already resting, I think it's a good time to remove these cuffs."

I begin with removing the cuffs from my ankles, first the left and then the right. Then I move on to my wrists, I rub both my ankles and wrists upon removing the cuffs. The skin under the cuffs is raw and tender, burned, and damaged from long-term use. Once I'm done with my cuffs, I move on to remove Twen's, I start with his wrists and then move on to his ankles.

As I go to remove the last cuff on his ankle, I hear them. I whip my head back in the direction we came from, I can't see anything, but I can definitely hear them. I quickly get up and then help Twen up.

"They're close we have to go." I don't wait for a response, and I quickly grab Twen's hand and break into a sprint, pulling him with me. Instead of going straight in the direction we were going, we go left following the stream, making sure we don't step on the water.

We have to find somewhere we can hide; I don't think we'll make it if we don't have a chance to rest. Though I don't know if that will even be possible, they would be able to find us through their sense of smell. First, we'll have to find a way to cover our scents.

We continue running, bobbing, and weaving through the trees, it's completely dark now, but like all my life I don't have trouble seeing in the dark. Twen on the other hand is having a little trouble, I can feel him slightly trip at times, but it's not as bad. I think the light from the moon is helping him see in the dark for the most part.

I can't hear them behind us anymore, but this doesn't make me stop running, we must create as much distance from them. We only stopped for a moment, but they caught up to us so quickly, does this mean that Zero is dead? I'm sure she put up a good fight, I feel guilty that she died protecting two people she didn't even know. She didn't even get to save her child.