Through The Ascension Room***Book One COMPLETE***

CHAPTER FORTY-THREE ~PART FOUR~

I try sitting up slightly, propping my upper body up with my arms. They quickly give out and I lay back down on the ground. I feel the gentle flowing of a sticky liquid cascading down my forehead, pooling up in my eyebrows. I swipe my finger over my eyebrow and see a crimson red displayed on my finger tip. I swipe the blood off of my finger and examine my head. A tender spot reveals itself to me near the crown of my head. Pain seeps from it as my hand grazes over it in my examination.

Feeling that the rest I've gotten lying on the ground has rejuvenated me enough to start trying to get up, I force myself through the pain to first sit upright. Then I push to my knees. Then to my feet. It's a slow and arduous process but I finally make it to my feet. I take a few stumbled steps to where Cynthia and Tristis are lying on the ground.

"Hey, you gu—," my foot catches on a root jutting out of the ground and I collapse to the ground still not strong or balanced enough to maintain my footing. I must have gotten hit in the head by something amongst all the chaos. That means—concussion. I must have some sort of concussion.

I try not to think too much into it and climb again to my feet, determined this time to stay on them.

"Hey Tris. . . Cynth. You guys ok?" I ask as I continue to stumble to where they are. The limited moving I've already exerted sets the world around me on a spinning carousel ride. I can't help it, the dizzy feeling gets the best of me. I drop to my knees and my stomach releases its contents. It lurches as the arsenal of partially digested food and bile runs out.

"Better than you look. Man, you look terrible. Are you ok?" Tristis says; I can see him during the few brave moments that I hold my eyes open. The spinning has somewhat begun to relent, but I decide to take it easy at first. Only opening them enough to get some sort of bearing. Close them. Then move.

"I'll be fine, just a little dizzy," I spit the residual aftermath from my mouth and it makes me gag, causing me to dry heave a couple of time. "How's. . . How's Cynthia?"

"I'm. . . I'm ok. Just a little shaken up. That's all," Cynthia says also staggering to her feet.

I finally feel a reliable strength begin to return to my legs and I can now hold my eyes open for longer periods of time. I see scattered around the forest floor shards of metal that once compiled the Angron device. I walk over to it and begin to kick through it looking for the key. If it still is intact, I could take it and possible use t at a later period in time. If anything else it will at least stop them from being able to reassemble it and use it again. Valde was right, back in the holding cell. I did have the key. He was just a few days to early. Lucky for me.

"What are you doing?" Tristis asks walking over to Cynthia. He helps her to her feet.

"I'm looking for—"

I kick over a small pile of metal chunks and the key is revealed, "this," I say holding up the key to them. A small victorious smile parts my lips. I grip the key tightly and shove it deep into my pocket.

Off in the distance the sound of branches and leaves crunching under heavy footfall comes through the trees. All three of us freeze in our spots. Like a bunch of deer in headlights. Shouts and hollers follow the initial noise.

Before any of us can even say anything, a quick glance is exchanged between the three of us and we all simultaneously take off into the trees in the opposite direction of the nearing commotion. I figured it was just a matter of time before they start to catch onto us. I just wish we had a few more minutes to recoup. . . So much for that.

The jostling of my body while running begins to point out a few new injured spots on my body that I hadn't noticed till I started running. My left leg sends a sharp pain up my leg and into my lower back every time it hits the ground. My right shoulder feels almost as if it is clicking in and out of the socket as my arms move forward and back. I stop swinging it as drastically and try to cradle it as much as I can without losing too much speed. I try to push the pain to the side.