Beyond Loaded Guns

(2) Forest of Fear

I was immobilized by shock and fear. I was lying on my back, my body covered in bruises and ash. Shrapnel and metal all around me from the aftermath of the bombing. My family was gone, they didn't die in the explosion, they we with me when it hit, but soldiers took them away.

Why didn't they take me? I thought to myself. Maybe they didn't see me. I realized. I managed to sit up, my whole body ached and I wondered how the hell I would get up.

I heard a something....footsteps. Marching footsteps. I hauled myself up as quietly and as easily as I could. I found my hunting rifle and backpack lying a few meters from me covered in dirt. I slung both of them over my shoulder and sprinted into the forest.
Fear shivered through me as I felt I was being followed.

I ran until my legs screamed for me to stop. My lungs heaved and I was still scared as hell. I didn't want to be caught be the same people who took my family or bombed our town. I dropped down to my knees and broke down in tears. My family was gone, my home was gone, and I didn't know where to go or who to look to. I was alone, and completely terrified.

<><><><><><><><><><><><><>

I was cold, sore and especially scared. I walked over to the nearest tree and leaned against it while i searched my backpack for my pink iPhone 5c. I pressed the 'on' button and the screen lit up with a picture of Ella and I on a boat, the clock said 6:15am. I realized i had no service, but i wasn't surprised, i shoved my phone into the front pocket of my backpack and started to walk, trying to pull myself together.

I needed to be strong so that i could find my family. The second priority was to find some sort of shelter or hiding place, I felt too out in the open even thought the above me was a canopy of of pine and gum trees with hardly any gaps. If somebody was behind me they could easily just shoot me in the back of the head and move onto their next innocent victim.

I walked for about an hour and a half, until i found a weird looking tree. Its trunk stopped about halfway up and the branches were shaped like when all of your fingertips touched. I decided to stay there for now, and try to figure some things out.

I threw by bag up into the tree and climbed after it. I sat in amongst all the branches, i was about two meters from the ground. I felt i was still quite easy to spot even though i wore my brown leather jacket. o covered myself in leaves and pulled the rifle from my back. I pointed it in the direction I came.

I waited for any sign of life or threat. I waited until about 8am, when i heard footsteps and fear rippled through me as they grew louder. Until a man appeared dressed in army-wear.

I aimed as carefully as i could as the soldier bent sown to examine my footsteps. If i missed this shot he could look up and shoot me instantly. I tried to stop my hands from shaking as i aimed at the man's head. This was not something a 17 year old should do, but i had to.

I made sure everything was lined up, then i held my breath and pulled the trigger. The sound of my firing rifle rippled though the forest, leaving behind an eerie silence. I slowly opened my eyes, and the soldier was lying face first in the leaf litter with blood trickling out of his head.

I couldn't help feeling terrible for taking someone's life, but I tried to think about how the soldiers blew up my home and took my family. It made me feel a little better. I descended from my tree and creeped over to the dead soldier.

I reached down and pulled off the gun from his hands. From I can remember from what my father used to teach me, it was an AK47. It was heavy, but i held it as if i was ready to shoot. I kind of was, i was as ready as a 17 year old girl should be.

<><><><><><><><><><>

Still, I walked, trying to think of where to go next, the trees stretched on for kilometer after kilometer, but i i could only find a road, i could follow it from a safe distance. I can't believe this war is happening, I wonder what Australia could have done to cause a bombing. I wondered to myself.

I wished all of this never happened, and i wished i never had to kill that man. I checked my phone, it was 10:03am, if none of this happened Ella and I would be sitting on the couch around the fire. I would be drinking coffee and she would be drinking tea.

Then we would pick out each others outfits for our family's fort-nightly Sunday shopping trip. She would pick out something chic and modern for me, and i would pick out something Boho and flowery for her. We never had one set style, we had a massive range.

One day i could be wearing a punk dress with heel boots, and the next i could be wearing acid wash jeans with a floral off-the-shoulder top and white sandals. A tear ran down my face.

No, don't cry, your family is alive, you just have to keep going!. I willed myself on. But I didn't know where i was going. I held my new weapon out, poised for firing, and kelp walking on.

But then i started to figure that in this forest was pretty safe, if I found the King river, and a good shelter, i could live here for a while. I was also starving and the night was ticking closer with every second. I figures out i as walking west, i needed to go north, because the King River zigzagged throughout the forest but was mostly north.

The air smelt like it was going to rain, and when it rains here it goes on for hours and it is just freezing, especially since it was winter. My starvation  was growing, obviously i hadn't had my morning coffee due to destruction reasons.

My legs were growing tired, and my arms were too, from holding the heavy gun. But then i heard something, i stopped dead in my tracks... running water! It sounded a little far but i heard it. I practically jogged in it's direction. It took about ten minutes of walking and jogging to find the King river. I dipped my ash and dirt covered hands in.

The water was icy cold but refreshing as i splashed it on my face to wash the dirt off. I stood up and looked around. There was one tree that stood out to me among the others, it was the same shape as the tree I sat it before except bigger, and it was next to the water source. 

I threw my backpack up there, but slung the AK47 over my shoulder with my hunting rifle, and gathered some sticks. I wanted to build a camouflage sort of thing around me once i was up there. I threw the sticks up too and began to climb.

I would have made a fire, but the smoke or the light at night would give away my whereabouts. I reached the middle of the tree. I hung my hunting rifle on a short branch and my backpack lay next to me. There wasn't enough space to stretch out, I could have to sleep in a ball shape.

I began to build my camouflage wall, when i heard another sound.... footsteps. Fear gripped my so I grabbed the hunting rifle and loaded it. I waited, looking in the direction of the noise. But then, an animal appeared, It was a deer.

I sighed with relief. I used to go deer hunting with my dad, they made good food. I lined up the scope with the deer's head as it grazed on the grass. I pulled the trigger. The rifle was A LOT quieter than the AK47. I leaped gracefully down from my tree and retrieved the deer. I had to make a fire to cook the meat.

I sawed the thickest meat from the dear with my hunters knife that I found in my bag and disposed of the carcass a little while away. I took bark from a tree and placed it above the fire, with stick underneath it like a tripod or a table. Once the meat was cooked I put the fire out and covered it in dirt and wet sticks from the river.

Then I sat in my tree eating the mea, and waited through dusk for night to fall.

-{Authors Note}-

Thanks for reading, I am sorry this chapter took so long but I worked really hard on it.

Plus I was sick so I didn't get much chance to write
What did u think of this chapter?
Please comment what you think so far

Chapter four will be written to by one of my besties Mikayala7700

It will be from Ella's POV

•Vote•comment•enjoy!
Thanks :)