Exile

Part 24

Dimitri ran so hard he thought his lungs were going to collapse. He was almost to Crane. He decided that Italzi and Cindie wouldn't take the straight route to Crane because they weren't that stupid. Dimitri entered Crane Forest, running through there as well. He was about an hour from Crane when he heard a group of people on the main path. They were carrying a girl with a gag in her mouth, and her hands had gloves and rope tied around her wrists.

Dimitri had never been to Crane, and these guys looked sketchy.

"Hey!" he yelled from the edge of the forest. "Let her go."

"In your dreams, emo boy," said the leader and all the others laughed.

"Huh, that's funny, but I wasn't joking."

Dimitri ran towards the man holding the little girl and punched him in the stomach. The man held his stomach in pain and dropped the girl. Dimitri caught her, and he ran as far as he could. In the chaos, the group couldn't catch up. Eventually, he stopped and set the girl down. He untied her hands and removed her gag.

"Thank you," she said in a very high-pitched accented voice. She looked like she could be cute when she was cleaned up. She was about half Dimitri's height with the bluest eyes and such blonde hair it looked white.

"Yeah, sure," Dimitri mumbled. "Where's your family, friends, or... anybody?"

"Well, uh, my friends and I were going camping and those guys took me from my tent. I have no idea where they are," she said. After she said the last part she started breaking down into tears.

"Hey, hey, it's fine," said Dimitri. "I'm sure they'll find you. How old are you, kid?"

"Seventeen," she answered through her sobs.

What? Dimitri thought, There's no way.

"Oh, sorry," Dimitri said. "I thought you were younger."

"It's ok," she sniffled. "How old are you?"

"Seventeen, also," he said.

"Cool."

She cried more.

"Um, what's your name?" Dimitri asked.

"Immi Oliver," she said and wiped her nose.

"I'm, um, Dimitri Smith."

"Nice to meet you, Dimitri."

"Nice to meet you, Immi," said Dimitri. "Is anyone looking for you?"

"I think so. My best friend probably will; I think." Immi started to cry again.

As soon as she said that, a man became visible on the horizon. Dimitri wondered if this would be Immi's savior. Then, a few seconds after the man appeared, Italzi appeared. Dimitri spun around.

"Immi, we should go," he said. "Can you walk?"

"Noooooo," Immi cried.

"Fine," Dimitri mumbled and picked her up. Luckily, Immi was only probably about ninety pounds. Nevertheless, she was still slowing Dimitri down. Italzi and the man were gaining on them. He didn't want Italzi to harm this innocent girl. A hundred feet away, eighty, fifty, twenty.

"STOP!" screamed the man, "GIVE HER BACK!"

The man punched Dimitri in the face. Dimitri staggered back, dazed, but did not drop Immi.

"Dimitri, let me go, this is my friend!" yelled Immi.

Dimitri gently set Immi down and Immi and the man ran to each other.

"Atlas!" Immi cried and broke down in his arms.

"I swear Immi if you ever do that again-"

"I don't want to," she shuddered and buried her face deeper into his shirt.

The man, Atlas, picked her up and turned to Dimitri.

"Thanks for saving her. You'll never know how much I owe you. Oh, and sorry for punching you."

"Yeah, all good," said Dimitri. Italzi and he had been staring at each other the whole time. What should he do? He just saved that kid and now he's supposed to kill her friend. He liked Immi, she was sweet. He didn't want to see her shed any more tears.

From what seemed like out of nowhere, a tall, tan girl with cropped brown hair and green eyes and another girl with dark skin, curly black hair, and brown eyes appeared; Cindie.
"Dimitri?" said Cindie looking at him with such excitement he knew he couldn't kill Italzi now. He also knew he could never kill her. It had been a year since Dimitri had seen Cindie and he had forgotten how much he missed her; how much he loved her.

"I-I-I got to go," Dimitri said like an idiot and ran away. Literally ran away.