Veiled Horizons

Chapter Eleven: Anderson

It's been half an hour since Anderson and Ms. Lauren started walking after splitting up from the group. Avoiding the fact that the forest had abnormal species of trees and plants, which he hadn't seen before, Anderson couldn't find anything else that was strange, until he noticed the trees were becoming less as they moved forward. After some more distance, he saw the ground ahead had no trees or grass, just dirt and stones.

From somewhere around them, he could hear low growls, then some heavy footsteps-a group of them. Anderson looked up and saw dark clouds forming, as it would rain soon.

Then suddenly, a loud howling came, and a group of 'creatures' appeared in front of them, almost circling them from the front.

He could hear Lauren's terrified voice saying, "What do we do now?" each word barely coming out of her mouth.

Before that, Anderson couldn't figure out what exactly was standing there. It looked like a panther with a lion's head, and its jaw wasn't flesh-it was steel, including its teeth. Anderson's mind filled with questions like, what the hell was it? Or how is it even possible?

The creatures were slowly stepping towards Anderson and Lauren. The dark clouds finally let out small drops of rain, which slowly became more intense until it was raining heavily.

"Let's run," Anderson said as he turned back and ran with Lauren ahead of him.

The creatures chased them, howling. Anderson's breath was shivering, and his legs were shaking while he ran. He knew it wouldn't be long before the creatures caught them. He wasn't sure what else to do, since those creatures looked unnatural and strong, and he didn't stand a chance.

"Ouch!" Lauren screamed as she tripped over a tree root and fell down. Anderson had to stop and check on her. He glanced back and saw the creatures were closer. He quickly helped her up, and they ran again.

But this time, they both fell down as one of the creatures jumped from a tree and onto their front.

The creature slowly observed Anderson as he was lying on his back. The other creatures seemed to slow down now. The creature in front of Anderson was now sniffing his mouth and then his face. It licked him and slowly opened its mouth, showing its sharp silver teeth.

Out of fear, Anderson grabbed a stone near him and hit the creature's head. As it went down, Anderson stood up and ran. Then he realized Lauren was still there. But he had no time to go back and help her this time because all the creatures had already surrounded her. One of them noticed Anderson standing there and came for him. He ran as fast as he could, with tears in his eyes, as he heard the sound of bones breaking and cracking coming from behind him.

The creature chasing him retreated after a few meters. Anderson sat under a tree and started sobbing. He blamed himself for what happened to Lauren. He thought he was a coward and that he should have been the one to die, and Lauren should have lived. He didn't know how he would live with this.

But at the very least, he shouldn't let Lauren's death go to waste. He could think she saved him and wanted him to solve the truth about the creatures and this island.

Feeling motivated, Anderson stood up and started going back to where he should meet with the others after one hour. He glanced at his watch, and it wasn't working anymore.

While walking, other regrets came to Anderson's mind about how this wouldn't have happened if he didn't suggest splitting up. If everyone had stayed close, they would have survived.

He was a few meters away from the meeting point. He could see some of the others were already there. He could see Vanessa shivering, like she was frightened, while Bellamy covered her with his jacket and calmed her down. Zane was saying something, but Anderson's head was full of other things to listen to Zane's story.

Anderson, too tired and worried, collapsed to the ground behind Zane and sat on his knees. Zane turned to look as Bellamy stood up, and Sia helped Anderson by giving him water. After a moment's rest, the world came back to Anderson, then questions from the students followed.

"What happened?" Zane asked.

Then Bellamy, "Where is Ms. Lauren?"

Anderson sat while leaning back onto a tree and started to answer each question, his head raised back, raindrops flowing from his head to chin, then dropped to his upper chest.

After hearing what happened, the students fell silent. Anderson expected this.

"I wish I could've been the one to die in her place," Anderson said, small drops of water flowing from his eyes. He wasn't sure if it was tears or just the rain.

"Don't blame yourself, Sir," Sia started to calm him, but it was cut off by another voice.

"G-Guysss!" A scream from Harvin startled everyone. Anderson turned his head from where he was sitting to see what it was, while the others stood up. But Anderson couldn't stand up; he was still trying to get over what happened. When he turned, he saw Adlyn carrying someone-a girl-while Harvin was using a stick to walk and was missing a leg.

"What the hell happened, Fox?" Bellamy asked, fear showing in his face. "And who is this?"

But Adlyn ignored him.

"Anderson may be able to help her" Cassie said and Adlyn settled the girl he was carrying to the ground beside Anderson.

"Can you help her?" he asked. Since Anderson was the only one there with even a little knowledge about first aid and medical treatment, he was the best option.

Though Anderson had taken classes in medical science and biology, he wasn't a doctor. Still, he sat up and the others watched as he checked the girl before him. The girl had reddish hair. He opened her eyes and saw her dark red eyes were still, indicating she was unconscious but stable. He then checked her pulse.

"She's fine, just unconscious. Let her rest and give her this; she'll be alright," Anderson said as he took a medicine from his pack and gave it to Adlyn, who took it hurriedly. Adlyn took a cloth from his bag, kept it under the girl's head to use as a pillow, and let her rest.

As Adlyn came back, Harvin was about to finish explaining, "And when we asked her what took her friends, she said: Monsters." Harvin raised both his hands to show the terror he felt.

"We really were the only ones who didn't see anything strange" Cassie said with a stare at Finn.

Anderson could feel an awful feeling wash over him. It was not fear. He didn't know why, but he wasn't afraid of what was coming or what they were about to find on this island.

"So, you are sure she didn't mean that big-plant-thing you said you saw there, by monsters?" Zane asked, thinking of a possibility.

"I don't think so. We were only two and still managed to escape from it. There's no way all her friends could be taken by a thing like that," Adlyn replied quietly, crossing his arms.

"It's been nearly two hours. Ron and Eva aren't back," Zane said, worried.

"You are right," Bellamy said. "I hope they're doing alright."