Division Forty One

Six - Deeper In The Forest

Will seemed to notice about a second or two after Belle did. The only sounds she could hear were the pair's white shoes against the floor, which were undoubtedly now brown and covered with mud, the whistling of the cool wind, and of course the grey wall scraping across the floor ominously and making a sort of rumbling sound. The only things she felt were the cold air rushing around her head, and an aching coming from the evidently strong wristband they'd put on her.

Suddenly it began sinking in. Death could come to her easily here, and the terror constantly became more heightened as the wall came closer. She began to blurt out words.

"Let us out of here! Let us out now! HELP!"

There was no way she could break down here. She'd get squashed like a fly by that wall and that couldn't happen when she had Will to help get out too. She'd actually started to take a liking to him, and they needed to work together to escape here first. Before escaping the whole 'Division' and eventually the whole Paradox. It wouldn't be simple, definitely not. But they had to try.

So, Belle wiped the little tears she had off of her face, and began to run faster than maybe ever before.

She looked over to Will, who was rapidly teleporting forwards, at a rate Belle couldn't catch up to.

She realised he missed a crucial point. Why couldn't he just get the two of them out of here quickly? It was literally so easy with his power, wasn't it? Belle figured it was either the people testing on them were mission on this, or that she was the one missing something out.

Will was too far ahead, and she had to catch up to him in some way or another. She couldn't blame him for doing what he was doing, racing ahead. The two shared a common goal. However, if she had to get to him quicker she'd have to run faster, or she'd have to shout. Belle chose the latter.

"WILL! COME HERE!" she screamed, in a voice tinted with fury.

He turned back, and shot a quick look at her.

"What?"

"Are you missing the point? You can literally teleport us out!"

"I can't! Didn't I say earlier, I haven't seen the exit before, so I can't-"

"Just get us to where we started! Get us to the main hall place!"

He stopped running, and it seemed there was no time for words. He told her "I'll try. You'd better hold on."

She expected that same new feeling, that she felt in the yard when Will got her out of there. But she felt nothing at all, and found she was still in the same place.

"Are you going to do it or what?"

"I'm trying! It's not working!"

She knew he was telling the truth, and that's what made it ever the more frustrating. In her fury, she noticed her wristband was aching more than it had since she put it on. And she then realised that this was the cause. Glancing at her own, she saw it read 'TK resistor.' TK- telekinesis.

To test it out, she focused on a leaf on the ground, and tried to move it, which worked. The leaf twirled in the air. She did the same with a tree which also moved.

Then, she glanced at the giant ever-moving wall. However, when she tried to move that, she couldn't. This was strange. She had never, ever not been able to do it! And thus her theory was confirmed true.

So, whoever these people were, they were experimenting on people with superpowers, but they weren't even going to let us use them fully? Before she had a chance to ponder why this was the case, she noticed the wall was getting ever closer to her and Will.

She heard him cry out, from about a metre or so infront of her. "We have to keep on running. Do you want to die or what?"

She did so, trying to catch up to him as he headed towards a clearing covered by some trees, taller than those they had been travelling through this far.

He stopped when he reached the edge of this small clearing.

"You can stop here for a bit if you want, I'm going to go further back and see if I can find a boulder or two to stop that wall. I think I saw one coming up here. Oh, don't bother about coming with me."

Before she was able to retort back at his suggestion, he carried on talking.

"I can get there without having to run. You know what I can do! It's best if you stay here."

After a moment of hesitation, Belle silently agreed. And then he was gone.

Belle felt she couldn't just stand there and do nothing, so she tucked behind a tree, keeping the wall, meaning Will too, in the corner of her eye.

She picked up the sharpest rock from the ground she could find, and began to attempt chipping at her bracelet with it. This seemed to be to no avail, and all it did was leave some scratch marks both on the wristband, and on her wrist itself as the rock slipped off.

Great.

It must have been a very strong metal. The exact type didn't matter, but what did was it wasn't worth trying to break it when there was much else to do.

She had to make some kind of signal to show Will where to come back to after he finished what he was doing. The first thing that came to her mind was fire. Oh, how she wished Tansy was here.

She decided to re-utilise the rock and metal bracelets, and to try and create a spark from them. After a couple of tries, the hard metal and spiky rock had somehow lit a small fire. With her other hand, Belle gathered together some sticks hastily and transferred the small flame to them before it grew larger. This was a success, until she got burnt by a small part of the flame, which charred her skin slightly.

The twigs began to burn quicker than kindling, so Belle shoved a huge log on top, hoping for the best, before going to look for Will.

Sure enough, she could see him there. There was a boulder against the ever moving wall. It seemed to have slowed it, but not stopped it.

Belle carried on standing still and watching, while moving the fire out of the clearing and next to where she was standing. Will seemed to notice the fire and before she knew it, he, like the fire, was by her side.

"Did it work?"

Will nodded back, and Belle felt relief.

"The thing is, the boulder might have slowed the wall down but it's still moving."

"At what pace?"

"Not that fast, but I think the bad news is that there's nothing else heavy enough to stop it moving. Even though it's retreating slowly, I'd say there's about what would be around an hour left until it crushes us. Unless we either find a key, or we-"

He stared despairingly at her.

"Or we what?"

"When I was over at the wall, I touched a bit of it by accident, and it made a crack. The crack grew into some kind of crevice, enough space for one person I think. If you brought some sort of sharp rock or axe in there, you wouldn't be rushed and you could break yourself out when the wall hits the back."

A brief pause.

"Let's go back into the clearing. There's something I want to tell you."
"What? Do you just want to get away in that crevice and leave me to die? Is that what you're saying?" Belle replied, and she wasn't even sarcastic. Will's face immediately changed from serious to guilty-looking.

"Oh, no no! Of course not! I wouldn't suggest for myself to take the crevice in a thousand years."

"But we've only just met! I don't understand why you'd want to protect me like this. I'm not getting in there. I can't. Just tell me. Why would you want me to survive in the first place?"

He spoke to her almost in a whisper which she could barely hear against the wind and the

wall. As she spoke she could see him shed a tear or two.

"Belle. Listen. There's not an easier way to say this, but I think I'm that in love with you."