ROSE

Chapter Eleven - Predator

The sky dimmed; smearing a purple and orange gradient running from the east to the west, It was beautiful but at the wrong time.
 
Evening creatures began creeping out of their hiding places: owls flew out of their nests, bats flew swiftly in the air obscuring the purple sky, foxes scavenged for food. Frogs and crickets monotonously cloaked and chirped respectively, creating a din in the forest.
 
Kimberly used her phone as a flashlight to beam their way while they plodded through the thick forest: turning, ducking and jumping. The forest had no effect on Kimberly because she grew up in a family of campers; in the holidays, she would visit a forest with her parents for a day, sometimes even for a week sleeping under the moon. Thomas, on the other hand, was cheerless walking in the forest, he couldn’t stand the obnoxious sounds. He grew up buried in technology; he barely had time to indulge in camps.
 
Thomas lost hope of finding Emily, he suggested returning to the hotel, fearing for the worst, but Kimberly stubbornly refused.
 
He muttered about going back to the hotel, while Kimberly pondered on the three mysterious melodies emitted by the music box: one at the hotel, the second and third in the forest. She glanced at Thomas and began, "Have you ever heard of a music box which--"
 
"Plays by itself?" he finished the sentence.
 
"How did you know what I was about to say?" She blinded him with the phone's flashlight.
 
He squinted and covered his face with his hands. "Ouch! The light."
 
She smiled innocently. "Oh, sorry…" and pointed the light in the other direction.
 
Relieved from the bright light, he spoke calmly, "I don’t need a computer to tell me what you are thinking; It is written all over your face. Anyway, I have heard of strange things that happen in this world, but never in my life have I heard of a music box play by itself… Twice!”
 
"Three times actually," she commented.
 
He replied, “Three times? I didn't hear the first one.”
 
“Oh, yes. I heard the first one back at the hotel.”
 
He was intrigued by the mystery of the box's melody. "Where did you get the music box?" He paused to scratch an itch on his cheek. "Was it a present?"
 
"No, it wasn't. It was handed to me by a fortune-teller at the Family World Park."
 
"A fortune-teller?" he interrupted. "Do you believe in such things?"
 
"Not really. Except this one was different. I've heard of fortune-tellers using cards to predict the future, but Harriet used a different method; she instructed me to touch her crystal b--"
 
"Wait!" Thomas halted abruptly and crouched down. "I saw something moving upfront."
 
"Where?" her facial expression had fear written over it, her heart almost skipped a beat. She pointed her flashlight upfront.
 
Thomas burst into laughter over Kimberly's fright. "I was only kidding. You should have seen your face though. It was priceless!"
 
Kimberly was furious, her face almost red, she grunted. "It's not funny, Thomas!" She never liked his jokes and pranks.
 
He stopped laughing and wiped a tear on his chick. “But seriously, I can’t continue walking, my feet are killing me. Let us rest for a while.” He dragged himself over to a log, sat down, and began massaging his feet.
 
Kimberly was unhappy with Thomas's decision. “Do you know that the time that we are spending resting is decreasing our chances of finding Emily?”
 
Little did they know that they were being watched by a leopard in the bushes; Its eyes glowered at them, its tail wagged slowly.
 
“The sun is long gone,” began Thomas. “We've been looking for her since morning. Don't forget that we promised Lucy and George that we would return before sunset. I am sure they are getting worried."
 
Kimberly sighed silently. “You are the one who promised, not me.”
 
He continued, “I understand that you are angry with Lucy but that won’t help. We came on this holiday with happy faces, why should we return with frown faces? You have to understand one thing; we are all worried about Emily but that doesn’t mean we should ignore our safety.”
 
Kimberly was silent for a while and replied, “You are--” Her flashlight began to flicker and soon switched off. "No-No-No not now. How are we going to navigate through the forest?"
 
"Well, your phone gave you numerous warnings, but you ignored them, same way you ignored me back at the hotel. But luckily, we have the luminous light from the moon. It’s quite bright if you ask me."
 
She shoved her phone into her pocket. "Hand me your phone."
 
"Unfortunately, I forgot to carry my phone," he replied in disappointment.
 
"Great… Now we are stuck in this forest with no phone. How are we--" she heard a snap from the bushes. "Shhh…" hushed Kimberly, turning around slowly, rolling her eyes sideways trying to locate the source of the snap. She squinted in the bushes, and was startled by the two glowing eyes staring back at her.
 
She whispered to Thomas while walking backwards. “Thomas… Get up quietly, we have to run."
 
"Why? You speak of running when I can barely walk," he replied stubbornly, unaware of the leopard in the bushes.
 
"Stop your foolishness and listen to me, something is watching us from the bushes. Get up now, we have to run."
 
He chucked mockingly, "I know what you are trying to do; you are trying to scare me. That won't work on me."
 
"I’m not joking you fool. Run!" She turned around swiftly and ran as fast as she could.
 
He scoffed at her, "Why are you running? There is nothing here!"
 
The leopard growled as it leaped out of the bushes, bending down for momentum, it's razor sharp teeth visible, its claws extended. A shot of adrenaline rushed through Thomas's body; his pupils dilated, his muscles contracted, the pain in his feet diminished, he felt hollow in his stomach.
 
He jumped to his feet and raced in Kimberly's direction, surpassing her almost immediately. The leopard chased after them while growling loudly. It soon caught up with Kimberly, extending its paw, it bruised her ankle. she screamed in pain but continued running.
 
Thomas glanced back and was saddened by the proximity of Kimberly and the leopard. Her life was at risk, if she was to trip and fall then she would be caught. He thought of a way to assist her. He swiftly slid to the ground; scooping a handful of dirt. He hid himself behind a tree, awaiting to blind the leopard by throwing dirt in its eyes. “Kimberly, follow my voice but don’t stop running!” he instructed.
 
As soon as Kimberly ran passed the tree where Thomas was hiding, he threw the dirt in its eyes; blinding it, it stopped to shake off the dirt while it grunted in pain.
 
Kimberly had ample time to run ahead of Thomas. Thereafter, he followed her behind. A sharp pain developed in his abdomen making it difficult for him to keep up with Kimberly.
 
The leopard recovered from the blindness and resumed its chase, ducking and leaping over bushes following their scent.
 
Thomas’s pulse increased; wheezing his respiration, he pressed his hand on his abdomen. Each step he took added to his pain making it more difficult to run. His speed began to decrease.
 
Kimberly realized that Thomas wasn't by her side, he was far behind, fighting for speed. Kimberly's mind pondered of pulling off a stunt of blinding the leopard. No sooner had she halted than Thomas commanded, “I am going to buy you more time. Make sure you ran faster!”
 
Sacrifice echoed in Thomas's voice, which worried Kimberly. She was hesitating to make a decision; as much as she wanted to run, she didn’t want to leave Thomas behind.
 
"Don't stop running!" he commanded with authority.
 
Knowing his intentions, tears streamed down her chicks. She sobbed. "Please keep running. We can still make it!"
 
He commanded, "Go and don't look back!"
 
She obeyed his command, furthermore, she began blaming herself of Emily's disappearance and Thomas's current peril.
 
The leopard was closing in on Thomas. He was weak, he began limping, his heart pounded hard in his chest, his blood boiled in his veins, his mind was blurred by the feeling of death, sweat drizzled down his face. He gathered enough strength to jump over a massive log obstructing his way, but he was too feeble to complete the jump, he tripped over and fell to the ground.

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Authors Note: Cheers for making it to Chapter 11. I hope you are enjoying the story so far. Please don't hesitate to drop a comment and let me know your view, or you can give it a vote; otherwise I appreciate your support.