My New World

My New World: Day 3

I woke up with a crick in my neck. Sleeping on the ground isn't the comfiest of places to sleep, but there's not much of a choice. I got dressed, and decided to just sit in my tent for a moment. I took out my book from my bag and a pencil. On the first day here, I drew what I found the most beautiful and the most horrible thing I've seen. On day one, I drew the four moons in the cyan blue sky for the most beautiful thing, and the emptiness of the land for the most horrible. Of course, my drawings are black and white, but I can remember the colors, the feeling it gave me. On day two I drew everyone walking, searching for something as the most beautiful. I think teamwork is a beautiful thing. The most horrible thing was the rocks, finding nothing. I stared at my drawings and wondered what I'd draw today. It could be something amazing, but it could also be something as simple as another bunch of rocks. I put my book and pencil back into my bag, then sat there and took a long sigh. I don't understand anything on this planet and I want to understand. Suddenly, I heard a short but blood curdling scream.
       "Flora! Get up! Get out now, lets go!" Alex came into my tent and forcefully pulled me out and I pulled my bag with me.
       "What's wrong?! What's happening?" I didn't understand, the camp was being hurriedly taken down and put away by Jake, Connor, and Daniel. Emily, Peri, and Kiana were nowhere to be seen.
       "What's going on? Where are the others?" Don't tell me it was them who screamed...
       "Flora, they... They left. Without saying anything! They left a note on their tents saying they wanted to look for water because they 'couldn't stand being this dirty' and out of nowhere we heard... W-We heard the scream so we're gonna go try and find them!" Alex had totally lost his mind. He may have been cool and relaxed before, but he's panicking now that we've lost three of our friends. I'm worried about them.
We partnered up into two groups, Connor with Daniel, and Alex, Jake and I were a group. The two groups headed in opposite directions. "Peri! Kiana! Emily! Where are you guys? Say something!" We called out for them over and over again, but never got a reply. What happened? I don't understand, and I'm worried about them. They screamed, something scared them, something happened.
       "*pant* *pant* Lets... Stop... For a sec... *pant* *pant*" Alex threw himself onto the ground.
       "Alex?!"
       "No, no don't worry. I just need a break. Non-stop running isn't what I'm built for. Just hang on a bit."
       "Okay... Jake, lets just take a break. I'm pretty tired too, I don't think I can go any farther." He looked at me seriously, again.
       "A break? Our friends need help! Who knows what—"
       "AHHH! Somebody please help us!" Kiana and Peri! They're running towards us, but where's Emily??
       "Kiana! Peri! How could you have been so stupid?!" I ran to them and hugged the two. "Where's Em?"
       "*sob* *sob* W-we just w-wanted some water to shower...!"
       "Clam down, Kiana. What happened? What---Huh? Guys! What happened?! T-there's blood!"
       "There was a monster! We found trees and, and we got lost! A-a thing came out of nowhere and...AHH!"
       "...Kiana... Take me to the trees!"
Kiana and Peri lead us to where they came from, but suddenly stopped. "Guys, what's the matter?! We have to keep going to find Emily!" I'm not being patient, but I'm really worried that something bad has happened to her.
"Well... You see, Kiana and I haven't found you guys quickly because we were, well, lost. We were somewhere around here, but we're not so sure.... We're sorry..."
Jake ran his fingers through his hair and looked at the ground. "So you're saying that now you've gotten us lost?!"
We all sat on the ground, but I got up and walked around in circles. What are we gonna do now? "Connor! Daniel! Can you hear me?! Connor! Dan—" Alex came up behind me and put his hand over my mouth. "Mmmpph?!" I was struggling to get out of his grip, but he's stronger than I am. His lips were beside my ear, "*whispers* Shhh... Don't you hear that?" I stopped trying to get out of his grip and listened. I can hear... Footsteps. Big, heavy footsteps. Alex let go of me and I stood in my place, searching for what made those footsteps. Jake also heard and immediately got off the ground, pulled up Kiana and Peri and whispered something in their ears. I could just barely hear what he said, "Was the thing big?" We all stood there, quiet. Roooooaaaarr!! The loud roar scared us and we began to run to who knows where. We just ran and ran. I could hear the steps getting louder and louder, closer and closer. I was scared out of my mind but I kept on running. "Oof!" I tumbled onto the ground.
"Hey! What's the deal?"
"Ah! I'm sorry, I didn't see you Danny!" I got off of Daniel. We've found them! "Guys we have to run! Now!" I pulled on Daniel and Connor's hands and they reluctantly began to run.
"What are we running from?!"
"I don't even know..."
                         *******
       We all stopped running, gasping for breath. I think the coast is clear, but I still feel uneasy. We still haven't found Emily. What if... What if that thing got her? No, Flora! Don't think negatively, only positive. Em is alright, she'll be okay. She is okay, safe and sound. I turned to the group and said, "Guys, let's find Em." I got back to running but Connor took my arm, stopping me in my tracks. "What? We have to find her! She needs us, let's go!" I tried to run again but he wouldn't let go of my arm. "Connor! Let go!"
"Flora, stop!"
Connor suddenly raised his voice at me, and it caught me off guard.
"Flora... Dan and I, we found Em on our way here and..."
"You found Em?! Where is sh—"
"She's dead."
"W-what..? N-no! You're, you're wrong! She's not dead! What kind of sick joke are you trying to pull, Connor?! Let's go find her now!"
I couldn't believe what I heard. He's lying, he's lying, he's lying. I repeat that over and over in my mind. I turned to run and look for her again, but this time Connor wrapped his long, large arms around my small body. He held me back and wouldn't let go no matter how hard I tried to get out of his grasp. I could feel everyone's eyes on me, I could hear Kiana and Peri's soft wailing, but at the same time I couldn't feel anything. I couldn't see anything, hear anything, everything was just dark. The last thing I remember was a whisper in my ear saying "I'm sorry..." and I was soon consumed into darkness.
                         *******