The Lost Gems

Chapter 13

March 7th 1,034
3:00 p.m

Sometimes in life there are points where you get so scared that all your muscles tighten and you can't move because you are literally frozen with fear and this was one of these moments.

Sal saw the fear in my eyes and stood in front of me as if he was a shield protecting me. He moved foreword into the cave and Clay followed.

"Someone's in there!" Tanz yelled while pointing in the direction of where she saw the person.

"Who's there?" Sal demanded in his deep smooth voice. There was no answer. Only a groan.

Clay pulled a box of matches out of his bag and lit a torch he also had and moved it toward the groan. Clay let out a gasp and he nearly dropped the fire. He ran and the torch lit up the cave illuminating the limp body. It was Rod.

"Rod! Your alive.. How?... I saw them attack you. I'm so sorry for leaving I thought you were gone." Clay yelled as he was trying to get Rod to sit up.

"He's hurt!" Tanz yelled. Rod's eyes were closed and blood was dried onto his shirt. He hadn't said a single word.

I grabbed my bag and dug through it till I found the cloth filled with berries and carrots. We walked by the spot that Sal and I had found them and grabbed lots more for the walk. I knelt by Clay and opened the cloth. I grabbed Rod's hand a placed them on the food and told him to eat it. At first he only groaned but soon he slowly started swallowing the berries. His grey eyes soon slowly peeled open and they were bloodshot. How did he survive? I thought Clay said the other mutants took his life. He probably would tell us the whole story once he got water and healed from all his wounds.

Clay was ecstatic to see Rod alive and extremely emotional. He wasn't doing very good but we might be able to save him, he was almost gone by the time we found him in the cave. Clay calmly told Rod about how he came across us while we were sleeping and our plan to take down the Onyx for good.

Around Thirty minutes after everything had calmed down Sal had gathered wood for a fire, I had arranged the beds, Tanz and Diamond were still out looking for water, and Clay was making sure that Rod got all of the things he had needed. He ate all the food we had brought and we were happy that he was getting energy. He gained his ability to speak and we all introduced or selves. He told us that when he was attacked he had been stabbed by another mutant. This is when Clay thought he was a goner and ran away to save himself after he heard Rod scream from the stab. At the last second Rod reached into his bag and pulled out the first thing he could touch. Thankfully it was a smoke grenade he took from the base, he threw it causing confusion grabbed his bag and ran as far as he could with his open wound. He found the cave and has been struggling to survive here for a few days. He had lost a lot of blood. After he told us the story I remembered how I cut off a sleeve and that we could use that as a bandage for his stab. He told us that there were healing leaves somewhere in the woods and that they could help. Sal and I decided to go look.

It was around four in the afternoon, we had a few hours to search for the leaves until dark. Hopefully Diamond and Tanz were okay and found water close by. Rod told us that the leaves were glossy looking with four points and had a reddish tint to them. I drew a quick picture of them in my journal so i could remember the details. We were both tired but we wanted to do all we could to help. We started to search the nearing woods. It was starting to cool down as we walked. Sal told me old story's about his little sisters. He loved and missed them and I missed my family too.

"They were always so happy." Sal talked about his sisters. "Never fighting and they always wanted there big brother to play with them. I hope they are still happy and together." Sal said looking up towards the sky. "I miss my Dad too, it was hard for him raising three kids by himself. It was even harder for him to raise me because I was different from everyone else. Nobody would go near me because they were scared. I wasn't normal some people even wanted to kill me or other kids would throw stuff at me when I walked by. I never had any friends besides my Dad and sisters and I didn't go to school a lot because nobody wanted me around. So i spent lots of my time at home reading and learning by myself. I didn't mind it but I spent my days alone. Looking forward to everyone coming home from work or school. We were a big happy family until that one day where everything was taken from me the only things I cared about, it was the worst day of my life."

I stopped walking and wrapped my arms around Sal he was still hurting. Nothing's worse than loosing the ones you love.

"But hey now I have someone else to care about." Sal smirked at me.

He put one hand behind my ear and pulled me in. His lips met mine. It was quick and short but it was all I needed. Our kiss gave me hope that we were going to be able to survive and change the place we lived on for good where everyone can be equal and live free.

"I care about you so much Aqua." Sal cooed and planted a kiss on my cheek.

"I care about you too." I said back with a giggle.

After that I couldn't stop smiling and so many emotions rushed through me. Each day we spent together my feelings for him grew, I couldn't imagine being without him and each day I also grew even more scared that I was going to loose him. But I cant afford to even think like that I have to be happy right now too. I truly did care about him and he truly cared about me too. From the moment we met i had a special feeling that i had never felt before.

We happily searched the area and finally found the leaves we picked a big bundle of them and headed back to the cave. On the way back we found some more fruit and grabbed that. It was enough to last us tonight and a little tomorrow morning.

When we had finally returned to the cave we were happy to see that Tanz and Diamond where there too and they had cans full of water. Everyone was laughing and happy and Rod had color in his face. We brought him the leaves and placed them around his wound and he faintly thanked us. There were a few extra left so Sal wanted to put them on my cut.

As Sal unwrapped the bandage on my left hand it started to throb as it always had. It was still swollen and yellow but it didn't look like the infection had spread which was great. The skin was starting to repair itself but not enough to to remove the stitches. Sal took a little cup of water and poured it on my hand to wash the cut. It stung and felt weird. He took a red leaf and placed it facing down on my cut. I didn't feel anything at first but then thirty seconds later it started to warm up and tingle. He placed a few more on my hand and wrapped my hand in a new clean wrap and told me to wait and see how it was in the morning.

Everything seemed perfect after that. We all sat down with each other and watched the sun go down out of the mouth of the cave. It was beautiful and peaceful. We ate the new food and drank the water the girls had found. It might not have been the safest option but we drank all the bottles we had brought with us and would drink any water we could get. Rod had an extra blanket which was perfect. Sal and I slept together and that left the other four and two blankets. Tanz suggested that Clay and Rod shared a blanket but they both agreed that it would be weird for two teenage boys to be sleeping together. So Tanz agreed to share with Rod and Clay share with Diamond. It was a cold night and we were going to need all the extra warmth we could get. Everyone settled down for bed and said goodnight.

Everyone had fallen asleep except for me, I sat up and looked around the small area everyone looked happy and peaceful all cuddled up to one another. I laid back down next to Sal and smiled wishing that this moment could just last forever.

Vote and comment -Ellsa