The Orbist

Chapter 6

 My body cured all its little problems with complete and peaceful nothingness. Then I got a bucket of ice water poured on my head. 

    "Aghhh!" I fell off the chair holding a wet pillow in my hands. I spit and turned around only to see the whole group laughing it up. I let them. They looked happy.

    "Guys, guys!" Ralph laughed. "Prank's over. Back to today's events."

 I looked up.

    "Which is?"

    "Well, we have no food! Didn't you notice we had no dinner last night?" Bryan replied. "We have to get off our rears and go hunt."

    "For what?" Now Elian got curious. "This whole forest is moist. I don't think there are any rabbits or-"

    "We find what we find." Ralph said, and pulled me up.

    "Well, do you have guns?" I asked.

    "Of course not! We don't need 'em." Ralph smiled. "I go with Bryan. He has good eyesight. He finds an animal worth eating, I use my telekinesis to put it right in my hand. Hopefully, it's a small animal, because I haven't exactly mastered my power yet. Levi goes by herself. She camouflages with her color ability, so animals always roam by, thinking the area's clear. Barry has practically the same tactic, but his way of camouflaging is by turning into a tree. Now you two..."

 He looked us over.

    "You two don't know your abilities yet. This might be a chance for you to finally find out. Go together out there."

 We all climbed up on to the ground. Ralph was the last one, so he shut the door.

    "Everyone go whatever direction you want-"

    "We know how to do it, Ralph." Levi interrupted.

    "These two don't, so shush". He started over, "Everyone go whatever direction you want, but don't go too far because we'll regroup right here in an hour. Don't go across the road over there-" He pointed North, "or you'll risk getting seen. And remember if you didn't kill it..."

    "...don't bring it!" Everyone but Elian and I responded.

    "Go!"

 Everyone ran off in different directions. Elian and I ran west, past the hideout. We ran for a while until there was nothing but trees. I dropped and took a breath.

    "So what are we supposed to do, catch a bird or something?" Elian gasped.

    "Yeah, I guess." I responded. My hospital pants were wet from the knee down from the moist grass below.

    "Then I found a target" Elian grinned. I looked up and saw a raven sitting on a branch.

    "Hmm." I raised my eyebrows. "Kind of thought that all birds in rain forests were colorful."

    "I'm sure it doesn't live here. Maybe it's just dropping by." Elian grinned and stepped a little closer.         "Biggest mistake it ever made."

    "Well we need to have a plan." I stood up too. "Can't just leap for it, it'll be out of sight before you hit the ground."

 We both thought for a moment, knowing we had to think fast.

    "Wait, wait. It looks comfy. Maybe if we climbed the tree, nice and steady, maybe we can grab it."

 Elian looked at me with a "that's the stupidest plan I've ever heard of" face.

    "C'mon. It's worth a shot."

    "No, no. If you reach your arm out to get it it'll scram. I like the climbing idea though. Maybe if we climb over it, and throw a rock at it from above it won't see it coming."

    "Yeah, I don't think that would-" The raven took off.

    "Aw, c'mon!" Elian chased after it and tossed a rock at it. Of course, he missed.

 Then we heard a roar.

 We both turned around fast, frightened out of our minds, and saw a big head peak out of a group of trees.

    "T-tiger. It's a tiger." Elian whispered.

 The creature walked out of the trees, revealing its whole body. By it's disposition, I knew it was a panther, but it didn't seem like the best moment to correct him.

 The panther turned its head and looked over at us. We both were silent in fright. Then it started to walk at us.

    "Run." I whispered. Elian stood.

    "Run! Run now!" I yelled. We both turned and raced away. The bobcat began to run, quickly and steadily.

    "Listen to me, Elian. Elian! Listen! We can't outrun it but we can confuse it! Run in zig-zags! You have to!"

 He followed my directions immediately. Truth is, I had no idea what I was doing. The creature gained on us faster than I thought, but ran right past us, shoving me.

     "Ugh!" The impact tossed me over a hill, about ten feet down. I hit the ground hard and felt a sharp pain in my hip.

     "Cayson!!!" Elian climbed down the hill as fast as he could. "Look at me, buddy. Are you alright?"

     "Ugh...ugh. My hip. Check my hip, it really hurts."

He nodded and wiped blood off my chin.

    "Yeah, okay. Lie on your side." He instructed.

 I did.

    "Let me-aw no. God no!!!"

    "Wha-what? What is it? What's going on? I'm dizzy. tell me."

    "The syringe...Cayson the syringe the Ecators left...you landed on it."

 I tried to look at him but everything got black.

    "I guess... I guess I finished their job."