Freedom Bound

Chapter 2

When I opened my eyes I could only see a faint light. It was as if I was in a dark tunnel with the light at the end of it. Someone saying "Were you trying to get yourself killed?" startled me.

Turning towards the voice, I saw a man. His hair was short and light brown. Clearly he was muscular and towered over me. He definitely seemed older than me. Due to the darkness, I couldn't make out much else. But at the moment, I wasn't sure whether to be afraid or not. While examining the knife in his hand, he stated "I'm Nix."

"How did I get here? Where's my bag?" I asked with more confidence in my voice than I was expecting. Nix slid his knife back into its sheath at his side "I saved your ass from the patrols, that's how you got here. You're lucky you fell where you did, but I didn't have time to grab your bag."

Crap. My bag had food and water and supplies in it. Now all I had was my knife. "Thanks." I stated, "I think."

He glanced out towards the light, which I now realized was the opening of a cave. His eyes looked me up and down. The light wasn't allowing me to get a better look at Nix. "Name?" he demanded.

I dusted off my jacket, "Lusa."

His eye brow raised as he looked at me. "Your name is Lusa?"

"It's a family name, I think," I shrugged. Nix started towards the exit of the cave. I yelled after him, "What? You're just gonna leave me here?"

Without even glancing back he stated, "Yep. That was the plan."

I jogged after him to try and catch up. "So you just save me then leave me in a cave?"

As we exited the cave, the sunlight reflecting off the snow blinded me for a second. My eyes eventually adjusted as I kept trying to keep up with Nix. "I don't need the extra concern. I've got enough to take care of."

"What do you mean?"

He pushed aside a few low branches which snapped back and hit me. Rude! He replied coldly "I've got people I need to take care of. I don't need to add you to the list."

His strides as he walked were much larger than mine. I pretty much had to jog to keep up with him. "Wait, so there's more people out here?"

Next thing I knew I landed with my butt in the snow after slamming into Nix. He just randomly stopped in front of me. I started to ask "Why did you--"

He cut me off and knelt down next to me. "Listen, kid, there are lots of people out here. Some nicer than others. Just run your ass back into the woods and be thankful you ran into me instead of someone else."

Briskly, he continued off into the woods. I quickly scrambled to my feet. His tall figure grew smaller and smaller as he pushed on.

I didn't want to be alone again. It terrified me. Being alone was one of the scariest things, especially when you don't even know where you are in these God forsaken woods.

The trees and brush obscured my view of Nix, but I followed his footsteps. After pushing through a few branches, I could see Nix clearly up ahead. The closer I got, the slower Nix seemed to walk.

Out of nowhere, Nix was tackled to the ground. Unsheathing my knife, I sprinted towards him.

Nix struggled on the ground with a man holding a knife to his throat. I ran and tackled the man on Nix. He and I both tumbled over Nix. In a panic, I just threw my knife at him.

With an unsettling thunk, the knife plunged into his chest. His breathing became staggered before it stopped all together.

I killed him. I just killed someone. I hadn't realized it, but my hand started shaking violently. I stammered "I, I didn't mean to I swear. I didn't want to kill him. I just meant to hurt him, not kill him!"

Nix pulled my knife out of the man and wiped it off. He knelt down next to me and helped me to my feet. "Here's your knife back."

I mumbled "Thanks." I glanced over at the man I had just killed. His skin was almost as white as the snow and his eyes were wide open. In the center of his chest was a growing blood stain from where my knife had gone into him. "Hey," Nix said as he turned me away from the body, "It'll make it harder the next time if you keep staring at him."

I didn't want there to be a next time. Brushing a little snow off of his pants, Nix said "Well, come on."

"Come where?" I asked.

"Out of the cold," he stopped. "Well, unless you'd rather stay here by yourself."

"I thought you didn't want the 'extra concern'?"

He chuckled a little, "Well now that I see you're not totally helpless, you might be able to help."

"With what?"

Starting off into the woods he said "You'll see."

I glanced back at the direction I'd just come from. "Are you coming or not?"

Avoiding a glance at the body, I ran to catch up to Nix.