Blood Moon Lake

Chapter 9

Blinking my eyes open, I pushed myself up. Reaching to keep the backpack from falling, my hands met space. Leo!

Searching the space, I spotted Leo with the bag next to him, sipping his water. My shoulders relaxed.

"Can I have that back?" I asked.

He jumped slightly at the sound of my voice. "Yeah, sure."

Putting the bottle back inside, he tossed it to me.

Catching it, I set it beside me. I glanced back at Leo. His curly blonde hair was sticking up, and he had dark circles beneath his eyes.

"Did you manage to get any sleep?" I asked.

He shrugged.

I rolled my eyes and sighed.

"No," he said after a beat of silence, "Didn't bother."

I blinked in surprise. I wasn't expecting him to answer.

I tilted my head. "Why?"

"Someone has to keep watch," he replied.

"You could have woken me up," I said, "I would have taken over."

He shook his head. "No. It's fine."

I studied him. His shoulders were stiff, and his eyes held a fire that lit when he was ready to argue. Why doesn't he want to sleep? Hmm, whatever it is, something tells me to drop it.

I shrugged. "If you say so, just know I can do it if you want me to."

His shoulders relaxed, and the fire dimmed. "Okay."

The sun beamed through the leaves. We should get a move on before it's too late. Standing up, I went over to Anna and shook her awake. Groaning, she opened her eyes.

"Time to get up," I said.

Moving over to Jack, I did the same to him. As soon as he peeled his eyes open, my focus fell on Ella. It's time to wake the beast.

Tip-toeing over to her, I shook her hard. "Sorry, but we have to go."

Her eyes shot open and narrowed at me.

I let go and held my hands up in surrender. "Again, I'm sorry, but we have to go."

Standing up, she brushed herself off.

I let out a sigh of relief. I would live for now.

Passing out the granola bars, we nibbled on them a bit before setting out.

Walking in silence, I kept an eye out for anything unusual. Every once in a while, someone would start some chatter, but it never lasted.

People had to have noticed we were missing, right? Someone should have noticed the wrecked cabin and investigated it. We made a mistake leaving that spot. We could have been found. But the sooner we get out of this place, the higher the chance everyone has of living.

Turning my attention to the conversation, Anna was talking with Jack about a show they had watched. Ella kept interrupting to ask who the characters were.

I smiled as Ella got increasingly frustrated with her lack of an answer. I listened, grinning as Anna rambled about characters I'd never heard of. Jack chimed in every once in a while, adding his thoughts. My friends' voices filled the air. It felt like we were in my dorm talking about random things. It felt like home.

"Luke!" Ella called, "Do YOU know what these two are talking about!?"

I shook my head. "No, why?"

Ella threw her hands in the air. "Because! They keep talking about this Malissa character and I have no idea what they're going on about!"