Trapped in Twilight, Help!

Chapter 5

I woke up on a wet surface. it was wet above me, too, but the wetness seemed to have had a pattern to it. Like rain. Oh, oh; I was on the ground and it was raining. I was on my back, my hair in a reddish/brown halo around my head. My arm hurt, too; it was awkwardly bent behind my back. It wasn't broken (I've broken my arm before and it wasn't the same pain); it was probably dislocated.

I carefully sat up, looking around the woods. No, forest. the trees here were different from the ones back home. Did someone kidnap me? No, I don't think so. Maybe it was food poisoning and I was so delusional that I walked into a different state. No, I would have remembered it all. Was I drugged and brought out here to be killed? That's the most likely possibility.

I looked around, it was too green to be in South Dakota and much too wet. I jumped up when I thought of my dad. I jostled my shoulder, causing me to cry out in pain. I took a sharp intake of breath before remembering what Dad told me last year when Lily and I went camping.

"If you can fix it yourself, do it as soon as you can." He had said. "And remember what you learned in your self-defense class. Love you, honey."

I squeezed my eyes shut and popped my arm back into its socket. I screamed and fell to the ground, cradling my arm. I started to cry but I had to get out of here. I stayed on the ground for a while, waiting for the pain to ebb away.  

Soon I was back on my feet, and decided to try and find north.  I was looking at the nearest tree to see which side had the moss on it. It was mossy on every-freaking-side. Dang. So then I looked up, the sun was right over-head. Dang. Then I jumped, remembering that I could find north by using my watch. Boo- yeah! then I remembered that I left my watch at home because I didn't think I'd need it. 

I sighed and decided to walk the way the tree's shadows fell. To me, it seemed like I was veering farther and farther away from civilization. It was freezing, so I figured I was someplace far north of South Dakota; was it possible I had somehow gotten to Washington? 

I was shaking from the cold and when I stopped at a river to get a drink, I jumped back; the water was frigid cold. I clambered onto rocks to climb across the river but fell in twice. I was sure I'd have hypothermia by the time I got help. I was crying, too, to make my situation just that much better. I staggered along, trying to keep from passing out again.

Contrary to popular belief, I was not alone with my thoughts. Basically, I was trying to memorize everything I could incase I had to come back the way I went. Though, to be perfectly honest, I thought I was moving like a zombie. I was numb, cold, starving and I could bear to think about what I looked like so I focused my energy on trying to get to some help.

The sun sank lower behind the trees, making it harder to see. I didn't have my purse anymore, I didn't wake up with it, causing me to think I was mugged. I could see my breath now even more clearly than before. My headache worsened, my legs were heavy, my arm was on fire, my stomach was sick from the lack of food and I was cold all over. My mother's sweatshirt did nothing against the icy wind and too-cold-to-be-out temperature. Where ever I was, Mother Nature took January seriously here.

A low growl made me freeze. No, several growls; some sounded like bears, others were inhuman. One was right behind me. I froze, squeezing my eyes shut; I didn't dare turn around. It was a bear's growl and I tried to remember what to do if it was a bear but I couldn't think properly.

Something swooshed over me and I whimpered, my eyes flying open and I stiffened. My vision was too fuzzy; everything too blurred to see properly. It sounded like someone was wrestling with the bear, but that wasn't possible. The bear's claws racked the person (or whatever it was) and made a sound like knifes on steels, causing me to cringe and shake with fear. My eyes focused and suddenly I could see someone slowly walking towards me.

Their footsteps were too careful; too quiet. I couldn't make out their features but I knew that they somehow glimmered in the sun; it looked like an animatronic made out of snow. The figure laughed, like they heard what I thought, but I knew I didn't say anything; I was to scared to move, let alone speak.

"Get her out of here!" A musical, female voice was urgent. "Now! Or she won't make it!"

I didn't know what she meant but suddenly I was aware that my legs were shaking and I could hardly breath. My head was light and I wondered why it was that I couldn't see properly. For a second I thought it was because I could be on a mountain. But then my legs gave way and I crumpled, but the figure in front of me moved so quickly I didn't see them move. They had one arm wrapped wrapped around my middle and one hand cradling my head before they swept me up effortlessly.

"Get the blanket!" The voice came from above me, it was silky-like velvet-and smooth but spoke with the same urgency the female did.

My vision started to blur again and the person holding me noticed again; like they could hear my thoughts. "No," they murmured. "Stay awake. I know-I know, please; stay awake!"