A taste of freedom

Chapter 29

I've been running for almost 7 hours straight and it's like a living hell. I decided to grab a piece of bread from my bag and eat it while I'm walking. I've asked Lucas about what's out here before and he told me that there were packs of demons. I'll have to be extra careful. It's pretty much dawn and I decided that I'll walk till around mid day and then start running again. The only way that I'll be able to navigate around here and find lambda is if I find the wasteland just outside of this forest. From what I can guess with my speed, I can make it in around 4 days at most. So I just have to keep going.

I checked Ray's pocket watch and saw that it was around 1:45. "I should start running soon." I mumbled under my breath. I started to run and soon heard a really loud noise. It sounded like a demon screeching. I'm a little wary of this 'packs of demons' thing so I climbed into a tree and started jumping around in them, towards the noise. When I finally came across what cause the noise, my breath hitched in my throat- I couldn't breathe. It was like I was having a mini heart attack. There I saw an adult man but most importantly three other kids. I knew all of them too. They all had coats on similar to the one that Violet had cut for me. One held a bow and arrow and the two others had guns. One ginger and the other to with dark black hair.

Emma. Marko. Ray.

I watched as the adult man only viewed there attempts at trying to kill the demon. Ray and Marko both shot at it and it fell to the ground. 'They didn't hit its fucking eye!' I screamed in my head and pulled out my guns just in time to see the demon about to eat Emma. Marko and Ray couldn't react and I was almost sure that the man wouldn't try to save her. Something told me that he wasn't particularly fond of them. I watched as Emma held a terrified smile on her face as the demon was about to kill her. I shot. I hit the demon in the eye and it fell straight to the ground and Emma remained unharmed. Though, Marko, Ray, and the man all looked up in my direction held in the tree.

The man finally pulled out his gun and pointed it in my direction. I knew from the way he held his gun that he was a very sharp shooter so, if he did shoot- I would probably get shot. I jumped into a different tree at the last second but made a few leaves fall to the ground. I started to jump down to lower branches and ended up standing on and open branch wher they could all see my figure but not necessarily who it was. I want to keep this a secret for a while. I stood there as they all stared at me before Emma spoke up. "T-thank you for saving my life!" She stuttered and I only kept looking down at her. I smiled but figured that she couldn't see it. I was up far enough that I could jump down but decided against it.

Ray pointed his gun straight at me "who the hell are you?!" He sounded cautious but not super angry- probably because I had saved Emma. I turned around into my backpack and pulled out the drawing of us all- well except for Marko, who has remained silent the whole time. I hesitantly dropped the drawing to the forests floor from my tree and Ray picked it up and unfolded it. His eyes widened and stared back up at me with some tears welling in his eyes. Emma and Marko walked up behind him to look at the drawing. "How do you have this? Both of those people are dead!" Emma yelled at me and Marko looked down before snapping her head back up to me. 'She figured it out' I smiled softly from the shadows before stepping to the edge of the branch and into the sunshine.

Emma fell over in fright and pointed her finger at me like she had seen a ghost. And- from her standpoint I was dead. Marko started crying and smiling like crazy and Ray just stood. That's all. He just- stood there. The man who had no idea what was going on pulled his gun up and shot at me again. He just barely missed but I didn't flinch. I jumped down from the tree and shoved both of my guns into their holsters. In a matter of seconds, all of the others- yes even the man's faces turned into that of pure terror. I knew what was causing this too. There was a demon right behind me, trying to kill me but I only held up my fist. They were all confused until they saw that the demon had completely stopped moving. I whispered my first words to them in almost a year. "shoot it" and that's what they did. They all hit it straight in the eye as well and I let my fist go as I walked up to them. The sun perfectly glinting on my face.

Marko pushed through Emma and Ray who were still dumbfounded. You know what that bitch did. YOU WANNA KNOW?! She fucking slapped me. So, I did the only thing that a person could do in this situation. I slapped her back. She started to cry. I thought I hit her to hard because of my added strength but she soon pulled me into a tight embrace. "Fuck you. You have no idea how much I missed you." I hugged her back because I in fact did know how she felt, I missed all of them more than they could imagine. She let go of me and sniffled before Emma tackled me to the ground, crying I might add. "You liar! You said you were dead you liar!" I only smiled into her hug and spoke, "I couldn't have you guys risking your asses to come find mine, now could I?" I asked her and she shook her head "we would've found you one way or another!" She shook my shoulders and I only laughed.

I turned to look at Ray with a loving smile and walk towards him but felt something touch my shoulder and temple. "Who the fuck are you?" The man asked with a hand in my shoulder and a gun to my head. "An old friend that got shipped out a long time ago." I answered but he was persistent and asked another question "where did you get that coat? It belongs to a dead person." He spoke harshly and tightened his grip on my shoulder. "I know that dead person that you refer to and basically work for him. What's your name again-" I was soon cut off by him slamming the butt of the gun into my head. That mother fucker. I fell onto one knee but was only a little dizzy. I looked up at him, glaring intensely. He backed off and I assumed it's because he thought that he couldn't beat me. He could have though, if he had the right shot.

   I stood up and turned back to Ray who was still somewhat frozen in place. The next thing I knew: I got pulled into a warm embrace. Ray pulled back but still held my shoulders. All I can remember after that is him smashing his lips onto mine. I kissed him back, enjoying this very special moment. We pulled back and spoke the words that we never got to when we were back at the house. "I love you."

Word count: 1320