Escaping the Dead ~ H.S

Chapter Four

A/N: Hey guys, I got pretty stuck on this chapter so I'm sorry if you don't think it's very good. But it's not that long, so you won't have to withstand another 5000+ words worth of chapter this time :p

CHAPTER FOUR: SKINNED

Eric

"I'm hungry," Lilly whimpered – her head collapsing tiredly against my back as her little arms wrapped weakly around my neck from behind, "I'm hungry, Eric."

"I know you are, Lilly. I'm sorry," I replied sheepishly, "I'm trying to find food for you. I really am," I reached into my pocket and pulled out a small can of beans, "are you sure you don't want these beans?"

"No. Beans are yucky," she mumbled with a shake of her head, "I want fruit salad. Fruit salad like daddy used to make me...cut up in little pieces in my favourite unicorn bowl."

I sighed. "Lilly, daddy could make you fruit salad because he had fresh fruit, clean knives, and your unicorn bowl. We don't have those things with us, Lilly, so we can't have fruit salad."

"Daddy would make me fruit salad if he was here," Lilly whined.

"Froggy, daddy wouldn't be able to make fruit salad for you in these conditions, either. He can't summon fresh fruit, clean knives and your unicorn bowl out of nowhere."

"Yes he could!" Lilly insisted, "Daddy can do anything!"

I sighed again. "Alright, Lilly. If you say so."

I made sure she was still secure on my back before continuing to walk. We trudged down the forest path in silence for about half an hour, but then she spoke up again.

"Eric," she said softly, "are the monsters still out here with us?"

"Yes, Lilly," I replied with a slow nod, "the monsters are still out here, hiding somewhere...and they always will be, Froggy. But don't worry – I'll never let them get you. That's a promise."

Lilly remained silent for a moment.

"...where did the monsters even come from?" She asked me quietly.

"No-one knows for sure...but one thing's for certain..." I took a deep breath, "...it all started with one person. One very sick, very unlucky person."

"Who, Eric?"

"I don't know, Lilly," I shook my head slowly, "nobody knows that, either. All we know is the fact that that one person completely changed the world...and not at all for the better."

"What was the world like before that one person changed it?"

"Way better than what it is now, that's for sure," I sighed, "I'm sorry you never got to see it, Lilly. The world was a beautiful place, once...but that was a long, long time ago."

"Why was it beautiful? Were there unicorns in it?"

I chuckled. "Nope. No unicorns. But there were a couple of animals pretty close to them...called a 'pony' or a 'horse'. They looked a lot like unicorns."

"What else made the world beautiful, Eric?" Lilly was definitely intrigued now.

"Chocolate," I replied without hesitation, "and the internet."

"What are those?"

"Chocolate was ones of the best foods ever. It was milky and sweet...and it would come in all sorts of different types...like bars, or ice cream, or hot drinks...but no matter what it came in, it was always delicious," I licked my lips as I began to relish the memory of chocolate in my brain, "and the internet, was awesome. The internet let you play games on computers – they were like these box-shaped things with screens on them – and you could watch cool videos on the internet, too. Mostly on this thing called 'YouTube'."