The Girl from the Trees(Completed)

Unnatural

Taylor awoke, several hours later, a severe pain in his neck. It was still dark outside the window, but he attributed that to the thick canopy of the trees surrounding the cabin. Everyone else was asleep, except the girl, who was cocooned in her blanket, just her eyes and the top of her head sticking out, her gaze locked on him. He reached down and pulled a small lantern from his bag. The lantern was small, but it was bright, casting light around the small space. Taylor once again looked at the girl, who he could see more clearly now. She had black hair, that he believed hung halfway down her back, but could not remember from when she was off the bed. Her eyes were large, and amber in color.

"Are you hungry?" he asked her, pulling a meal bar from his bag. "I have plenty, so you do not need worry about eating my food." A sudden realization hit him, he was offering her food, but he did not feel hungry, his last meal being when they ate the evening prior. He looked at his watch, but the digital face was blank.

"No thank you," she replied.

The two sat in silence, Taylor no longer bothering to look out the window, but he could hear the occasional claw scratch across the small porch. Before long, the others began to stir, Jakub startling himself awake.

"Jakub, what's the time?" Taylor asked when he had recovered his bearings.

Jakub stared at his watch, clearly confused by what he was seeing. "I am not sure; my watch is acting weird."

"What do you mean?" Evan asked groggily before looking down at his own wrist. "Mine is not working," he informed the others as he flashed them the blank face of his digital watch.

"That is what mine is doing," Taylor responded to Evan's display. "Jakub, your watch is not digital, what is it doing?"

He held his wrist out for the others to see, the minute hand was slowly turning counterclockwise, while the hour hand was moving clockwise, both constantly moving. "This is impossible," Evan stated quietly, his hands on the sides of his head. "There is no way our watches all malfunctioned at the same time."

"It's not a coincident," a small voice squeaked from the corner. All four boys turned and faced her: eyes wide. "You should have never come here."

"What do you mean?" Jakub asked.

She shifted the blankets slightly, revealing more of her face. Her face was long and slender, her amber eyes were larger than normal, and her black hair hung down and partially remained hidden by the fabric. "You are outside of your own understanding," her soft voice whispered. Their eyes were still locked on to her, confusion plastering their faces. "This area is not of your world but exist within time, and you have broken the barriers."

"How did we break a barrier that is beyond our own understanding?" Evan inquired, unsure of whether the girl was speaking the truth.

"The murkrels have been trying to penetrate the barrier since they discovered its existence," she informed them. "They used you four as a means to an end. Even after you cut a hole in the barrier, they still could not enter on their own, they needed to follow you in, to bypass its protection."

"What in the world are you then?" Sam asked with a laugh.

Sarzali locked her large, round, amber eyes onto him. "I am now in danger. While it is indeed your doing that has endangered me, I do not blame you, for you had no way of knowing the consequences of your actions." Silence filled the cabin as she looked from one to the next. "Soon this instance will cease to exist and if we remain, we too will be lost."

"Do you mean we have to go out there?" Sam asked, his laughter gone. "Those things are dangerous! Look what they did to my leg, look what they did to Jakub's arm!"

Taylor sighed. "From the sounds of it, we do not stand a chance if we remain here, but we may survive if we make a run for safety. We need to make it to the cliffs, then we will have a better view of them coming."

Evan nodded, "That is a promising idea, but it is a long way away. We will need something to keep them off us."

"They avoided the fire," Sam added. "Maybe some torches will work."

Jakub turned back to Sarzali, "Do you have anything that might help us?"

"You can have anything you see in my home, but I have no weapons," she told him softly. "I may be able to help with the torches, once you find some good enough objects to make them."

"Leave anything you do not need," Taylor told the others. "We will take the food and water, but if it is not able to be used as a weapon, leave it."

They all agreed and began to unpack their bags, tossing their extra cloths onto the bed. Taylor grabbed his extra pants and cut the legs off them. He then folded them over themselves and slid them onto his arms. Cutting a shirt into ribbons, he motioned for Jakub to tie them around his arms. The others followed suit, creating forearm armor to hopefully prevent some damage if they were to take a hit.

Evan pulled down two cast iron curtain rods that were hung on the wall and grabbed a couple of fireplace tools. "These are a bit heavy, but we can use them to create torches if we can find something to wrap around the ends. Is there any oil or anything here?" he asked Sarzali.

She shook her head in response, "No, but you will not need any. Cut the blanket and wrap it tightly around the ends you want lit."

Not sure what her plan was fully, Evan obliged, handing a tool to each of the others and helping cut the blanket into shreds. They each tightly wrapped the fabric around the iron and held it out in front of them. "Now what?" Sam asked sarcastically.

Sarzali ignored him and stood up off the bed. It was the first time any of them had fully seen her, Jakub's mouth fell slightly open. He was immediately smitten with her. She was taller than everyone except Taylor, her skin was pale white which seemed to glow, and she had long slender arms and legs. Adorning her figure was a smooth silk gold robe. They could not help but feel she looked very out of place in the shabby little cabin.

Taylor glanced at Jakub and smirked at his expression. Realizing what he was doing, Jakub closed his mouth and looked away from her. Sarzali put her hands around the cloth on Sam's torch, which burst into flames. Sam nearly dropped the item but manage to grasp it with his fingertips. "What the hell?"

She moved on to the next and set ablaze to them without touch the cloth. Evan stared at his torch and could see that the cloth was unaffected by the flames. "How did you do that?" he asked her, amazed. "That could be very useful against the murkrels."

Sarzali shook her head once more, her black and shiny sheet of hair flowing like water. "I am not built for combat; it is not in my nature. It is unfortunate but I must impose myself on you all in hopes of protection."

Jakub stepped forward, "We will protect you." His eyes were wide, and he blushed as her eyes met his. "Stay close to me," he motioned to Taylor. "You can take point, I will follow behind, then Evan and Sam."

Their plan was set, and they took their positions by the door. "Keep your eyes open, keep running, and keep track of the person next to you."