Beware! Book 1: The River

Chapter 4-Brandon

              My head hurt. Actually, my entire body was aching, and for some reason, I felt very, very  wet.

     Groaning, I force my eyes to open. Green. Fuzzy-looking green things. Above my head. Then my vision clears. It’s a fern.

     WHAT?

     I sit straight up, and instantly my back forces me to lie back down. Slowly, my memory comes back. CAST. Beast Boys. Alex. Alligator. River. Rapids. Rock. Black-out.

     Alex, Prim, Alexia, and Luke. Where are they? Desperately, I look around, but see nothing but trees and ferns to my right and the river to my left. I spot a long, sturdy branch nearby and crawl over to it. Using the stick as a support post, I slowly force my  aching body to stand. My head continues to throb.

     Oh great. I hit it again, and I don’t even have an ice pack.

     I take a closer look at my surroundings. This time, I notice some wreckage, consisting of chunks of wood and one of my old backpacks. I reach down and pick it up.

     Inside are Ziploc-ed strawberries, oranges, apples, and smashed bananas. There’s also a coil of rope. I find my pocketknife in a secret compartment in the bottom of my backpack, which I made a long time ago (so that’s where it went). I hate to admit it right now, but Alex packed some pretty smart things.

     I dump out as much water as possible and collect some useful-looking pieces of wood and rope. When the sail comes floating along, I use my branch to pluck it out of the water. I squeeze out some of the water and shove it in the backpack. Afterwards, I take off my soaked jacket and sit in the sun to dry off.

     Now, the next order of business– where to go? Obviously, I need to go find the others, but do I go upstream or downstream? Only the sail came from upstream, so I guess the rest already ended up downstream somewhere. So, with that as my only idea of where to go, I pack up and head downstream. The shore is always either a little rocky or too muddy, so I go a little inland, always staying in sight of the river. My super-handy branch serves as a hiking stick and something to shove annoying plants out of the way.

     As I walk along, I begin think about the argument I had with Alex earlier. Would I have helped him before? I begin to realize what he was right. I would have helped him, not actually sail with him, but would have given him supplies or given tips on the safest way to go. Thinking back, my spirits did drop when Kalina was kidnapped. Am I that attached to her? Now, I know that while Kalina was gone, I was feeling a lot of pain without     knowing it. Why do I have such strong feelings for her? All this thinking is giving me a headache.

     After a while, I stop and take off my jacket to dry it further, and find a nice boulder to sit on. As tired as I am, I find myself        admiring the scenery around me. The combination of bright   sunlight  filtering through luscious green plants with the swift gurgling of the crystal-clear river makes me feel at peace.

     Filled with renewed energy, I put away my jacket and         continue my trek along the riverbank. This time, I begin noticing things around me. I begin to hear more noises, and even catch glimpses of rabbits and squirrels right before they vanish into the trees or bushes. Weird… are my senses getting better… this isn’t  natural…

     Suddenly, the loud sound of cawing makes me look up, where I see a cloud of black birds rises into the air. I stop and stare at the rising mass. A cold breeze chills me as it causes the leaves to rustle. It felt more like a shockwave in the air, like a small bomb went off somewhere. I try to listen for more noises and realize– the forest has gone silent.

     Slowly, I start on my way. I hadn't gone more than 3 yards when—

     CRACK!

     I stop and look down at my feet, but I see no branch or stick that I could have stepped on. I take another step and stop. Once again, my strangely acute senses detect noise coming from my right: some rustling, and a small whistling sound that was getting closer and louder, fast. Instinctively, I jerk backwards as the object impales itself into the tree next to me, right in front of my face.

     THUD!

     I stumble back and land on my hands, staring at the arrow that almost killed me. I’m in so much shock I’m barely able to keep my hand from being impaled by another arrow. At this    point, I finally realize- run.

     I bolt onto my feet as fast as possible, and begin sprinting to a little ridge further inland as another arrow impales the tree.

      Maybe, I’ll be less visible in the cover of the forest, I hope.

     I began to run  up the slope. Near the top, another arrow shoots upward and cuts my arm, ripping my jacket. As I grab my arm to numb the pain, I fail to notice a tree root jutting out of the ground, and trip over it. I fall, tumbling down the other side of the ridge, earning quite a few scratches along the way. I come to an abrupt stop at the edge of some bushes.

     I glance upwards, and a hooded figure comes over the top of the ridge, holding a bow, drawn back and aimed at me. I wait for the person to let go of the arrow, but he (I believe) lowered his bow and took of his hood.

     Mental take-back. It was a girl.

     She has brown hair and brown eyes and was staring at me with a confused look.

     And she looked very, very familiar.

      She said one word.

     "Brandon?!"