I SURVIVE (#Wattys2017)

CHAPTER 11

*New and Improved Version*

Sam, John and Levi were to stay at the campsite and wait for us to return. Me and the others headed to west instead of climbing the same hill, pretended to tumble down and play unconscious. We just took the shortcut, straight into the woods. I held my bow at a steady position and sometimes the bow nearly slipped out of my fingers, afraid of misfits that came to us to harm. Kate immediately ran her fingers on the carved wheels by the time we reached the gate as I sat on the damp ground and nursed my unlucky leg.

She examined both carved wheels and also the gears on the gate. A fawn passed by and gave us a blank look as it pranced along. We let Kate do the hard work. In the meantime, I looked around us and started to limp about. Soon, I realized that I was too far from them but I kept going deeper into the woods.

An owl hooted with its pair of striking yellow eyes that glowed and was staring sternly at me. I also heard the slithering of a snake and its hissing. Animal sounds became the closest companion since I was now lost. This was like one of the reasons why nocturnal animals were created, to accompany the ones that were alone. Deeper and deeper I roamed. Until I saw two shining circles moving and I froze. There were sounds of whispering behind the light and straightaway I turned around to save my life.

When all of a sudden, one of the shining light fell on me.

'Oh shit! I am dead!' I cried.

I heard a man cried out and the light from the flashlight he held blinked and went dim as I took the opportunity to hide behind a tree. There came a sound of refilling a firearm with bullets as the two strangers came closer to where I was hiding myself. The man with the dim light grumbled and hit hard at the flashlight with his hands. Unexpectedly, a gruff voice made my heart slid down to my boots.

"There she is!"

In a blink of my eyes, bullet darted after a cracking sound and a squeal responded. I thought for a second that they missed me but I was wrong. They were shooting something else. It was a small, white rabbit with blood rapidly gushing out. Instead of picking up the rabbit and leave, they ignored it and walked away.

"Nah, it's useless," the man with the gruff voice said. "It's actually part of my training. You look like you had seen a ghost!" He chuckled.

They trudged off and suddenly I could feel the zephyr swept passed me. Fear had gripped onto my heart as I abruptly slid to the ground with trembling hands. I nearly fainted there. Nevertheless, cringing never solve any mistake that I made.

After a few ticks in the clock, assuring the no one was about, I ran like a swarm of bees were pursuing me while clenching my teeth to hold the pain. Passing animals that watched me running and wondered. Left the two strangers that I met in an addled condition. Scared a sleeping fox as it scrambled away, thinking it was an earthquake. Lastly, collided into a sleeping bear outside an enormous cave.

Luckily, it gave a grunt and slept on. I was out of breath and whenever I forced myself to suck in more oxygen, losing the carbon dioxide was much easier. More like a fool and his money are soon parted.

A short distance away from the gate where the others were still trying to open the gate, I collapsed on the ground as my chest went up and down rapidly.

"What's that?" Kate asked with the silvery voice of her that sounded light and pleasant to listen all day. The leaves crunched and rustled beneath footsteps that walked boldly to me.

"Oh, it's Perrie!" William exclaimed. He peered closer to me and grinned, I could see his white as pearl teeth even in the darkness. "Where'd you been little sister?"

My heart beat vigorously at the same time he asked that question. I replied to him by waving my hand slightly and he carried me to the gate, then put me down on the ground and let me unwind for a moment. Afterwards, he went back to lend a helping hand at Tatum who founded a bottle of oil that was heavy. The soldiers must have left it under a tree and forgot about it. At least that was what Tatum said.

She poured the liquid slowly at the interlocking gears while William and Kate pushed the two wheels. By that time, I had sat up after collecting enough air. The wheels turned forcibly around until it became lower than Kate's knees and stopped. They backed away from the steering wheels as they turned around by themselves and became part of the floored stone, disappearing almost completely.

The gate swung wide open revealing a dark corridor. Finally the adventure had begun.

We walked through the gate and shivered together at the corridor. A plunk abrupt and we jumped out of our skin as I instantly took out my bow and aimed anything that moved. Tatum had stepped on a plank that was painted in white and a 'Mountain Pass' was scrawled on it in black. The plank was broken into two. Long, green and beautifully creeping vines decorated the plain walls. However, if I had seen few vines right, there was a dried spot of blood. A horrible vision came into my mind.

We stopped at a stairway that leaded up to the grounds above. They nudged at me to go first since I had a rest awhile ago. I nodded and thought that it was fair enough. So I crept quietly upstairs with my bow lowered. The sight above made my bow dropped even lower.

There were fireflies flying above a lake nearby, landing on the surface from time to time deliberately. Owls with pure blue eyes like William screwed their heads and stared at me. Curious at the sight of a strange creature on two legs. But when I turned around to tell them to climb upstairs, a sharp, pointy blade appeared in front of my throat.

It nearly sliced a bit of my skin. The sword was very sharp as if it threatened me to gulp so it could poke inside my flesh.

In addition, a gun was pressed at the side of my head.

"Go ahead," A man with a croaking voice whispered in my ears. "Call you friends up here."

Although I was very scared, I would not like him to feel it. "I don't need to," I snapped.

Muffled voices echoed from below. Within a second, all three familiar faces emerged. William was startled to see a man holding a blade at my throat plus a pistol directed at my head like it was not enough. "Let her go!" He demanded angrily.

"I do not think so," The man snickered. "One step closer and I will pulverize you. All of you!"

"You and what army?" Tatum asked bravely whilst raising an eyebrow.

Shadows came behind trees from each side. Germans and Russians in a team stood beside the man. Tatum went red as a beetroot and alarmed. The man who I assumed as the leader was about to trigger the gun at me, but Kate put her life into danger alternatively.

"Stop!" She shouted and appeared from behind William. "Remember me?"

The bully let go of me and pushed me aside as one of his men locked my hands with rope and forced to kneel down. The man smiled at us like were the lost treasures that he was dying to find for a long time ago. Now, we were trapped and they had found Kate.

I may as well hope for a miracle to come flying on wings.