EXAMINATION

Chapter Nine

Hi guys .. sorry for the late update .. hope you enjoy it :)

As they entered the jungle, they felt it's cool air wash around them. The sun was going down, and after the heat of the desert, this place felt colder than usual. The trees here were huge, their topmost branches lost from view. Their path went straight between them, and ended somewhere way on the other side of the forest.

Soon it became dark so they decided the stop for the night under a huge tree that jutted out almost onto their path.

"Whew, man I'm beat!" Shad said, sitting with his back against the tree for support.

"Me too." Asbar replied plopping down beside him.

"We'll set camp here then. Get up and help me, you lazy bottoms!" Khizar said. Both of them got up grumbling something about "slavery".

Khizar raised his eyebrows at them, and they shut up.

The girls laughed. "You guys do that, we'll start a fire." Sehr said, walking towards the trees on their side of their path to look for twigs. Mah-Rukh went to help her.

"Hey, Don't go too far you guys! And don't get off the path! Remember what Mahad said!" Asbar called out to their retreating backs.

"Yeah yeah we know!" Mah-Rukh called back raising a hand into the air.

"Don't worry! We'll stay close!" Sehr said.

Both of them began collecting sticks and pieces of wood.

"Hey, Mah-Rukh?" Sehr said, after a little while of silence.

"Yeah?" Mah-Rukh replied looking curiously at her.

"Do you think we'll survive this?" She asked.

"Yes. We will survive this." Mah-Rukh said resolutely.

"But, in that last test, if Khizar hadn't called out, I was doomed. I couldn't do anything about it!" Worry was evident in her voice.

"Hey." Mah-Rukh said, grabbing Sehr by the shoulder and turning her towards herself. "Look at me!"

Sehr raised her lowered eyes to look at Mah-Rukh.

"That's why we have each other! We're all going to help one another to get through this. We're in this together and NONE of us are backing out now! Understand?"

Sehr smiled. "Yeah."

Mah-Rukh grinned back at her. "Good. C'mon let's get this fire started."

And they headed back to the camp. The boys had finished putting up the tents. They built a fire, added water, then opened a packet of soup. Soon after, they were passing the pan around, drinking directly from it since they didn't have any bowls to lade it out in. They put out the fire in silence, too tired after their long day to talk much, and went to sleep.

The next morning, they woke up to the sound of the wind and birds flying through the trees. They had a quick breakfast and began  gathering up their stuff to move again.

"Man! I'm so hot! It's been 2 days since any of us have taken a bath and Asabr's really beginning to smell." Shad said, looking sideways at Asbar at the last part.

Asbar shoved him sideways. "You smell worse than I ever could!" He protested.

Shad laughed, straightening back up again. "Yeah, yeah, whatever helps you sleep at night, but-!" He said, backing away both hands raised in front of him, as Asbar moved to give him another shove.