I SURVIVE (#Wattys2017)

CHAPTER 7

*New and Improved Version*

John caught my arm after I passed the campfire where the others were resting.

"I heard that. About Hokuto and Maya. Well, the thing is, I met this place where you might like to try and seek them there first."

I widened my eyes and asked him to repeat what he just said. John got excited and repeated what he told me and at the end of his sentence, he mentioned the word, 'a gate'. I remained calm as he gave me a sheepish grin and spoke on.

"Yesterday, I accidentally made Tatum's temper rise again, and I quickly ran into the woods, climbed up a hill and stopped on top of there. Then, when I went to another cliff beside the previous one, I stumbled upon a rock and tumbled, and landed on the stairs of the gate."

Dumbstruck by his 'speech', he went on talking about his search. I never knew he had actually a brave feeling in his heart and usually, he was a coward and only known to cause troubles. John said he was willing to show where the gate was if William agreed. Immediately, I ran to William and discussed the matter. I was too busy that suddenly, I remembered that I had not eaten yet.

Kate came with a roasted deer in a banana leaf in her delicate hands and she gave it to me. Finally, a moment to ease down.

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The moon shone brightly high in the dark sky. A plan was already laid out, waiting to be put in action. According to the plan, Levi, Tatum, Sam and Kate will stay at the camp and I, William and John were the running team, which means we would go and inspect the gate. We said goodbyes and headed downhill, passed the cascade, now gloomy in the dark waterfall, waded in the stream and headed to the bunker. I noticed that the blood from my slaughtered deer which had been roasted and eaten was all drained. Perhaps rain had washed it. Or the blood had flown into the stream.

I shivered and make a note to self, 'Never touch or drink the stream again!'

We proceeded after John rested for a bit nearby the bunker. That was when William interrupted my wonders.

"Where did you get that bow? It looks new."

"Huh? Oh, yeah," I came back to reality and John said to continue. I answered William's question whilst running in a low voice.

"See that big tree next to the bunker? Well, there was a dangling dead body on one of the branches. It had this bow, so I climbed up the bunker, headed to the tree and grabbed for it. The branch broke and I and the body fell together. Then, I tugged at the bow and ran away."

"Wait, you just simply take it without feeling dirty or disgusting towards the corpse?"

"Why would I? I mean, I am a highly trained spy William," I said to him, carefully with the running to avoid mishaps. "Blood, dead bodies, they're practically normal to me! But then, I just did not took the bow, I also washed it. See, I take matter in hygiene too!"

William replied by shaking his head and laughed softly. "Hey, I am a military soldier. And I seldom see you. Every time I come home, you're on a mission. So both of us are busy doing our jobs, right?"

We focused back with John in the lead for the moon had floated above us, indicating it was midnight already. All three of us were keeping our eyes alert for everywhere and everything was pitch black and we were straining our eyes to see clearly.

"Such a pity we left the batteries for our flashlights back at the copter," William cried.

"Who needs flashlights when you have the moon to light up the night?" John responded.

I heard something and hissed at both of the men to stop talking at once. All of us sprang into action. John stood there, trembled in fear. William held his dagger at his chest with the sharp blade sticking out. However, it was all a waste of time and energy for nothing happened. Not a shadow to be neither seen nor soft sounds to be heard.

"Wind," I said and put back my bow. But I was wrong.

We continued further until a yell of pain broke the anticipation and I witnessed before me, a wolf who was hungrily biting for William's flesh. He shoved the dagger in the wolf's stomach and pushed it off his body. It had given him three lines of blood, yet William acted like nothing happened. I helped him on his feet and brushed off the leaves and dirt on his shirt. He motioned us to resume, whilst he washed the blood at a nearby river.

Instead of running freely like before, we were half running and half walking to keep our profiles low. John climbed a hill with us tagging along, crossed a small wooden humpback bridge that connected to another hill and stopped.

"Here!" He pointed from where he was standing. John peered down below to the trees. Another moment to rest again. I collapsed on the ground and wiped the sweat from my forehead. It seemed harmless from up here, but everywhere, dangers were lurking each corner.

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Dedicated to dressinggownmadness for opening my eyes to see the mistakes in this book. Without her help, I will never learn from my mistakes. You must go and read her masterpieces! If you want constructive critiques, then she is the person you will want advice and suggestion from. She deserves an award for that!

~NSAN~

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