Playing with Fire

Chapter 2

 CHAPTER 2

I didn’t realise I’d fallen asleep, until the screeching sound of guns awoke me and I found myself drenched in sweat. I scrambled onto my feet and sped away into the forest as fast as I could, and launched myself behind a fallen log, gasping for breath. I could hear the crunching of leaves under feet as something became closer, and besides my heart pounding in my ears, I could hear soft mumbling between what I assumed were Manicks as they crept through the forest. Squeezing my body as close as I could to my fallen friend, a twig snapped within close proximity to me, and I stiffened.

All was silent, and I lay there, waiting to die. I held my breath as something sneaked painfully slowly towards me, and my heart skipped a beat as it brushed against the log and sniffed at the air. Pain filled my lungs. I had never held my breath for so long. It was as if time had literally stopped in its tracks, and I was blocking the road. Another shot was suddenly fired into the air, and the creature that was next to me let out a loud squeal and bolted off into the bushes, tail between its legs.

I’m sure if I had a tail it’d be between my legs as well, as I leapt back up and burst through the bushes and headed even deeper into the forest. I reached for my bag to pull out my knife- only to realise I had left the bag back next to the rock I had been sitting on before. Making a heart-wrenching decision and deciding I didn’t have that much to live for anyway, I altered my course back to the river and scooped up my bag as I raced past it.

Let me tell you this, rummaging through a bag while running as fast as you can through a bloody forest isn’t as easy as it may seem, especially when you’re also on the run from a heap of freaky as monsters with glowing eyes and huge gaping mouths who are, by the way, out to get you. But jeez, these guys had horrible aim. So I sprinted on through the thick foliage and of course, ran smack bang into the back a Manick. I fell back onto the ground and he went soaring forwards and slammed his head on a rock, which rendered him immobile.

With my headache beginning to return, I got back up and nudged him with my foot. He remained still, so I rolled the guy over onto his back. It had been so long since I’d seen one of them so close up, but he looked exactly the same as I remembered. Pale white leathery skin,  oversized forehead, no hair, wide lipless mouth hanging open as if it was made to catch flies, and large eerie eyes that glowed bright blue, even though closed eyelids. It broke my heart to finish him off, but I simply had to. In this place it was either kill or be killed, and this guy just about blew my head off already. I wasn’t going to slit his throat though; I didn’t want blood all over me and my knife. I scanned my surroundings for a suitable specimen, and came across a suitably sized rock, shaped a little like a sphere. Of course, this was an extremely primitive and gory way to kill him, but at the time it was the only way I could think of to finish him off for sure.

Surprisingly relaxed, I wandered over and tried lifting the rock, but it was pretty firmly planted into the ground. I got down on my hands and knees and dug around it, sending leaf litter and soil flying everywhere. It came loose quite easily after that, so I picked it up and hauled it over to the Manick. It was much too heavy to throw from a distance, and I needed one hundred per cent accuracy in this situation, so I said a quick prayer (not all that “forgive me what I am about to” kind of crap, I just wanted him to die easily) and with a heave I lifted the rock high above my head.

I closed my eyes, and tried to psyche myself up. I decided a countdown from ten would be sufficient, so I began. “10…9…8...come on you can do this...7…6…5…” (By this point the rock was getting pretty heavy to hold) “4…” I took a deep breath. “3...2...1!” I began to hurl the rock in front of me, only to be kicked harshly in the stomach by the now very awake Manick. It was now my turn to fly backwards, and as I was thumped into the ground, the crystal I had stolen before shot out of it and slid along the ground, bumping softly into a tree.

I winced with fear and shuddered with pain, because when he realised I took whatever the hell that stone was, I was sure he was going to be pretty pissed. He staggered to his feet and tore out his gun from its holster. “Why the fuck didn’t I use that?” I thought to myself. He let out a bellowing screech, which may as well meant “Hasta La Vista, baby” to me. His hands were shaking, and to my luck when he let out his first shot it missed me by a few inches.

The Manick was about to shoot at me again, but instead glanced over past my shoulder and suddenly howled with fear and turned around and began to run as fast as it could away from me. Confused, I turned around to see that his first shot didn’t slam into the ground or a tree, but it must have hit the gem, because it began to glow and shake unexpectedly, and throbs of orange and red were released from it with each pulsation.

Hypnotized by the pure beauty of it, I reached for it so examine it closer. As my hand closed around it, something human-like ripped it out of my hands and yelled “Get down!” There was no way I was going to miss this, so I watched with fascination and panic as the figure swung his arm back and propelled the stone soaring into the sky. Just as it was beginning to descend, it gave off a brilliant white light and suddenly burst apart, causing an explosion that would have killed both me and the Manick easily, as well as whoever this mysterious figure was.

The sky turned bright orange, and an immense shockwave was sent from the explosion, which sent me flying time into a tree trunk, knocking me unconscious yet again. I didn’t really have time to prepare myself, but as I lay there in my state of oblivion, I felt hands touching my body and picking me up, and I could faintly hear the sweet sound of people’s voices talking.