The Cure Is The Curse

Chapter Three

"Miri! Are you two okay?" Quinna threw her arms around my neck when Taveon and I walked in.

"We're fine," I laughed while I hugged her back.

"Why did you two not wake us all up?" Axton asked.

"There were only four so it wasn't a big deal," I answered.

"Come here you two so I can check for wounds," Celeste said. Taveon and I walked over and sat down in front of her. She moved to get her supplies and turned back to us. I already knew the routine so I stripped down to my underwear and bra. I felt Taveon's eyes on me and I looked over. His normally light grey eyes were darker than normal as he looked at me. My body heated up with the way he looked at me. I had never thought twice about being in my bra and underwear. Then again the only male I've been around is Jax and I'm pretty sure he's gay. Since Axton has been around he's talked more to him than I've ever heard that kid talk in a year.

"What?" I asked rudely.

"You're just...uh..." Taveon tried to answer, but I could tell that he was uncomfortable.

"If you don't like it then don't look." I really just wanted him to stop looking at me because it was making me uncomfortable when it shouldn't be.

Celeste looked over me first and I tried to ignore Taveon's lingering looks at me. "You're all good," Celeste said.

"Thank you," I said while pulling on my clothes. I stood up and start pulling on my pants. I made the mistake of looking up and catching sight of a shirtless Taveon. His chest and stomach were nicely toned and flexed with the smallest movement.

"If you don't like it then don't look," Taveon threw my words back at my face. I glared at him as I finished zipping up my pants. I grabbed my boots and walked to Quinna.

Quinna was grinning from ear to ear and so was Niva. "So...Taveon-"

"Don't," I interrupted harshly. "Don't talk about it again. Please."

"Miri, it's natural to think of guys in that way. It's nothing to be ashamed about," Niva stated.

"It doesn't matter, Niva," I practically growled at her. "Nothing that used to be natural is realistic anymore."

Niva was about to say something else, but Quinna stopped her from saying it. I was thankful for Quinna because she knew when to stop questioning me. I slipped on my boots and took my blonde hair down from my braid since it had fallen out a little and it was giving me a headache. I looked up and met eyes with Taveon. He was scanning his eyes over my face and hair as if he had never seen anything like it before. I looked away from him and scanned my eyes over the rest of my group.

"Everyone try to get some more sleep. We will try to find a stream or something to wash off in tomorrow," I announced to the group.

"You aren't going to stay up. I'll take the next shift," Quinna said.

"Fine," I mumbled. I didn't feel like arguing with her tonight. I slid off my boots and positioned my coat underneath my head.

~

I was able to sleep. Not well, but that's normal for me now. The creatures didn't show up again. We had been walking for a while. The air was thick with humidity. At least the trees protected us from the burning sun. I felt the ground sink in a little when I stepped on it. I stopped and lifted up my boot. It was mud so that meant that water was close by.

"Hey guys. This way," I motioned for them to follow me. I headed further into the forest. I felt someone strong grab my arm and pull me back.

"Is this safe?" Taveon asked.

"Of course it is."

"But the creatures-"

"live in forest, yes, but they are creatures of the night. They're nocturnal. Did you not know that?"

An odd look crossed his face and he puffed out his chest. "Of course I knew," He defended. I could tell he was lying. "I just thought that it would be dangerous if we came across a pack of sleeping creatures."

"They usually tend to sleep further in and we aren't even a forth of a mile from the forest edge. I've been doing this for eight years. I think we will be fine, but if we aren't fine then we can just fight them off."

I slid his arm off of mine and continued to walk until I met the stream of water. It was a large stream and probably about three or four feet deep. It was clear and had a slow current going through it.

I instantly took my hair out of the braid that I redid this morning and started stripping down to my bra and undies. My group followed lead, but Taveon's group was a little cautious. I turned to them and raised my eyebrow in question. Taveon eyes snapped up from my body to meet my eyes.

"We always took separate turns to bathe," Niva explained.

"Do what you want. We're getting in. None of us are getting completely naked anyway. It's pretty much a swim suit," I said. I turned and jumped in. I sank to the bottom and stayed there for a little bit. When I came back up Taveon jumped in beside me. My eyes had a mind of their own and traveled down his muscular body.

"It's just like a swim suit, Miri." I glared at him and dove underwater. I swam downstream to get away from him and from the rest of the group.

I didn't like him. I didn't like how stubborn he was. I didn't like the way he looked at me. I didn't like the way my eyes subconsciously looked at him. I didn't like the way my body reacted to him. It was like I was drawn to him even though I barely knew him.

I came up for breath and realized that I was far away from the group. I couldn't even see them anymore. The stream must curve somewhere. I got out of the stream and decided that I would walk back instead of trying to fight the current by swimming upstream. I rung out my wet hair and tried to pat out the water in my underwear. I started walking back and I hadn't got very far when I heard a twig snap. I turned around and then heard something growl. Oh shit. One of the creatures slowly came out of a bush and started growling at me. It was alone.

I started backing up slowly and it matched me step for step. I had never seen one of these creatures in daylight before. I knew it was a male because it had the mane of a lion. Some parts of its fur was completely black like a panthers, some was just tan like a mountain lion, and other parts had tiger stripes, leopard print, and cheetah print. It had extremely sharp teeth and bright yellow, almost neon, eyes.

"Quinna!" I yelled as loud as I could and ducked as the creature jumped towards me. It leaped over me and turned as I stood up. It was snarling at me and eyeing me up and down. It leaped for me and I ducked again. It was smarter this time and swatted out towards me. Its claws scraped against my arm. I kicked its foot and it pounced on top of me. I punched its throat which gave me the ability to wrap my hands around its throat in order to keep its mouth away from me. Its paw swatted at me again and cut down my chest and stomach. I screamed out in pain as I heard a male voice call out my name. Then suddenly the creature wasn't on top of me. I heard it cry out its final time and everything went black.