~Rain~

Chapter Thirteen

Chapter thirteen

They were on the road once more, this time lugging three stuffed backpacks, which unfortunately reeked of raw meat.

Miles walked with his eyes closed, blocking the rain from his pupils. He thought as he walked, concentrating on what he had read and what he remembered from before. In his fist, squashed against the strained strap of the backpack, were the crumpled remains of the letter, containing the address they were headed for.

 The eerie scene of the bird falling, limp, from the branch played over and over in his mind. The shrill cry that it had let out a second before its death was still fresh in his ears. He had no doubt about what the bird was crying out in pain; the bloodcurdling scream that had escaped from the dying creature could never have been mistaken as lighthearted song.

To Miles, nothing matched up at all. The bird, the deer.  Tyron the mysteries he was hiding from them. Alice and her father. The letter. The Nelia.

Dark was almost falling. It couldn’t have been later than three in the afternoon, but the clouds had blocked the sun from shining down on them, and the winter nights were long.

This did not bother them so much. They were not in town; they were out on the hill, on one of the long, long roads that connected the town to the city. Behind them, far, far to their right, lay the school.

Tyron winced in memory of the school. He couldn’t quite shake the image of the little girl, lying motionless in the snow, from his mind. He wondered if foxes had carried her away, or the wolves had come from the woods at the prospect of a fresh meal.

Maybe all the wolves and foxes were dead, like the deer and the bird. Who knew?

Alice had learned to ignore the rain that was falling insistently into her hair. She hadn’t showered in weeks, but the constant soaking she was getting rendered her clean enough. Mud still streaked her cheeks, and her hair hung in dripping clumps, but her stormy eyes blazed brighter than ever. Not sure what to think about next, Alice felt uncomfortable in the silence that had fallen a couple of hours ago.

‘We can’t keep this up,’ Alice said, shifting the weight of her backpack onto her other shoulder before finally releasing it into the mud. A thin stream of water ran over it, soaking through the material instantly. Like it wasn’t already wet.

Tyron looked up in surprise, wheeling around to face Alice, who had fallen a few paces behind, ‘What do you mean?’

Looking hurt, Miles stopped too, shooting her a hurt look.

Frantically trying to back out of what she had just said, Alice closed her eyes and shook her head, ‘No. What I mean is…’ she looked around for inspiration, ‘…it’s getting dark.’

That was all she had to say. The others knew the consequences of the darkness only too well.

‘Should we stop here?’ Alice looked warily at Miles, shocked that he had given in so easily. The motivation and power in his eyes surprised even her, and she had thought that he would never stop until they reached Noah Jackson.

She had been wrong.

‘Not here,’ Tyron said, stepping in front of Alice and surveying the scene with a watchful eye, ‘there’s really nowhere to hide. The place is so…open.’

‘Trap?’ Alice asked, narrowing her eyes suspiciously.

‘I doubt it,’ Tyron said with a smile, ‘Who would be trying to trap us?’

Alice shot him a look, ‘Well, to start with-‘

‘Shut up, you!’ Tyron grinned at her, and she frowned determinedly back at him, the tiniest hint of a smile flickering in her eyes.