The ending to peace.

Chapter 24: Survival

My eyes were burning from the sight of the sun. My whole body was sore. It felt like I just fell off a building. Then I remembered, I fell from a plane with Emma and Artemis. Emma! Artemis! I thought to myself. Where are they! I picked myself off the ground, even though it hurt just breathing, and examined my surroundings. I was surrounded by trees, vines, and by water. I could hear the singing of birds all around me, the howling of monkeys, and the very annoying ribbits of frogs. I looked and looked for several minutes trying desperately to find my two friends. I was about to start panicking when I saw a body lying face down in the grass. The figure was a female with golden, blonde hair. She was wearing denim jeans and a silver t shirt. She was one of my friends.  I rushed over to her, each step feeling like a mile.

When I finally reached the figure, her face was in the dirt. A lump started to form in my throat. What if she is dead? I do not think I could handle it, if she is dead. I roll her over and stare at the face. Even though it was covered in mud, I could still make out who it was. The person on the ground was Artemis. She was breathing slowly and steady. I sighed in relief. She was unconscious, but alive.  I was about to just sit down next to her and wait for her to wake up on her own. But just as I was about to wait, I heard the screeching of a locus. The monster that was obeyed the commands of Abaddon. I had to get Artemis out of here.

I tried to carry her out of here, but I was too sore to lift anything, but myself. I tried scooping the cold water in my hands and splashing her. But alas, that failed too. I was running out of options and I started to hear the locust more often, which was getting closer.  I had one last thing I could try. I saw it in a movie once and it woke the person up. So I did what any sane person would do. I slapped her in the face. Hard.

It worked, but it might have worked to good. The second my hand came in contact with her face, she woke up and punched me in the nose. I whipped my head back in pain and my nose started to bleed. “Ow. My nose is bleeding. Thanks a lot.” I said to Artemis.

“Well, weren’t you taught never to hit a girl. This is why.” Artemis replied.

“Well it was the only way to wake you up. Now get up, we have to search for Emma. There are locust coming this way, we have to hurry.”

Artemis looked me in the eyes and said in the gentlest voice possible, “Michael, do you remember what happened when we fell? How we survived the fall?”

I shook my head and said “No. The last thing I remember is letting go of the plane and falling for a few seconds.”

Artemis sighed, “Well let’s get going. I really don’t want to fight any monsters right now. I am still sore from the fall and it looks like it will be night soon.” I looked up at the sky and Artemis was right. The sun was starting to set. We had about an hour before it got dark.

Artemis started to walk off deeper into the forest, opposite of where the howls came from. Right before she was out of sight, I ran to catch up. I followed her in silence until it got dark. We stopped in an area of closely packed trees. Vines draped all around us. Artemis stared up at the trees and said “Lets camp here. If we climb up the trees we should be hidden enough. We should not make a fire; the locust may find us from it. Hopefully we can find some food tomorrow and if we are lucky we could get the sword. I have heard of many tales of this place before, so let’s be careful.”

Artemis climbed up the tree and laid down on several braches layer out perfectly like a bed. I followed her, but went higher up and found a larger version of Artemis’s bed. “Hey, Artemis.”

“Yeah?”

“What happened to Emma and how are we still alive?”

“Michael, it is going to upset you. Are you sure you want to talk about it right now?”