Survive Or Die

Chapter 17- Alaska Forbes

Archers POV
"Archer!" I hear Alaska's joyful voice call. I immediately straighten up from where I was waiting patiently for her to climb back down from her tree. "I see people, Archer! I see people!" She drops down from her high branch and I flinch, thinking that surely she would snap her leg in half. She rolls her eyes and walks past me but I don't miss the proud smirk on her dirt smudged face.
"I've done that landing a thousand times, don't be a baby." She grabs my hand and starts dragging me through the forest.
"Wait, where are we going?" I ask as we walk.
She sighs as if it were the most obvious thing in the world. "To the people obviously. It's like this cool little city. You'll love it," she insists and we go back to storming through the forest.
Suddenly she freezes, causing me to run into her back. Before I can complain, she shoves me into a bush and clamps her hand over my mouth. I don't protest once I see the wild look in her eyes. Flesh Eaters. I try to slow my breathing once I hear the crunch and snap of leaves and twigs as the Flesh Eaters stomp their way through the bush. With her hand still clamped over my mouth, she leans in to my ear, making my heartbeat pound in my ears. "There's only about three. We can take them," she whispers to me.
Shock courses through me. "What? No!" I hiss back. "We can easily sneak past them."
She narrows her light blue eyes at me. There is a sharp snap and it's suddenly silent. "If only that was still an option," she sighs. I don't look past the slightly scary glint of mischief in her beautiful eyes. Suddenly, she whips around, pulling her bow loose in the process, and shoots the approaching Flesh Dater between the eyes. She tries her best to contain her grin with no luck. I feel the berries we had for breakfast, making an appearance. I gulp back my worries and shakily pull my daggers from my belt. Alaska curses under her breath and offers me a weak apology smile. "My calculations may have been a bit off..."
Now it's my turn to narrow my eyes suspiciously. "What do you mean 'a bit off'?"
She grins sheepishly. "Like thirty... forty off."
I have to force back the yell that so desperately wants to scream at her for her stupidity. But one glance at her crystal blue eyes and shy smile, and I know she is sorry. Too late for apologies now. "I guess we have to fight our way through again," I grumble.
Her face lights up and she quickly wraps her arms around me. "You'll be fine," she promises before another Flesh Eater breaks through our bush. She pushes me away and grabs her bow, firing it into the monsters nose. I gag but pick up my daggers again. Great.
She runs into the forest and out of sight so I do as well. The place is almost swarming with the creatures. A few charge at me but I duck under their legs and shove the daggers into the back of their heads. They fall limply to the ground. I begin to feel sick but I have no time to focus on that when four more Flesh Eaters charge at me. I duck down and swipe their legs from under them. As soon as they are on the floor I close my eyes and jump on their heads. I feel their rotten skulls give way and the thick, icky blood leaks all over my shoes. I'm quickly swarmed by at least six Flesh Eaters. Adrenaline mixed with fear courses through my veins. And I freeze. "Arch!" Is Alaska's panicked shout. I snap back to my senses and duck out of the way. I'm too slow and the Fleshy manages to scratch my back. It burns and stings but I try my best to ignore it. I duck under a Flesh Eaters arm as it attempts to swipe at me. As I do, another one grabs my arm. It's sharp claws dig into my arm and I cry out. I'm shoved to the ground by four of them. I reach for my knives and start swiping frantically. For the first time since this started, I feel real fear for my life. But more importantly, for Alaska's. "Archer!" Her panicked cry calls out again. Fear grips at my heart and squeezes the air from my lungs. My face hardens and I swipe sharply at a Flesh Eater. My knife opens a large cut across it's face. It falls down, clutching its disgusting face as black blood seeps through it's hands. I kick off at the closest Flesh Eater to my feet and it reels backwards. By now my entire body aches, stings, and burn, but I ignore it. I need to get to her. "Archer!"
I'm still on the ground so I take another swipe and connect with the Flesh Eaters eye. My dagger pierces its eyeball and diggs into its skull. It screeches and stumbles backward, taking me with it. It starts to frantically claw at its face so I hastily let go of the dagger. I stumble back a few steps and elbow another Flesh Eater in the stomach. It doesn't seem to realise and goes to bite my shoulder.
"Archer! Help! Arch-" her cry is sharply cut off. I need to stop wasting my time.
I dig my last remaining dagger into the Flesh Eater's stomach and pull upward. It falls to the ground. I remove my dagger from its stomach and force it through the monsters head.
Suddenly I hear a piercing, high pitched  scream that rattles my bone and causes all the blood to leave my face.
"Alaska!" I shout and start running in the direction of the scream. As I pass a Fleshy, I remove my dagger from its eye. "Alaska, I'm coming!" I sprint through the trees, shoves them aside, as I near the ear piercing scream. Suddenly it's silent except for the sound of branches breaking under my feet. I slam through the trees, fear drumming my heart and pounding in my head.
There is a group of Flesh Eaters in a tight circle. I run up to them with rage burning in my vision and dig my dagger into the back of the first ones head. He falls to the ground without a sound. Then the rest of them turn to me. There only seems to be about four more. I shove my dagger sharply into the second ones throat and rip it aside. It falls to the ground in a puddle of blood goop. The third comes clawing wildly with no strategy whatsoever. I swipe its legs from under it and spear it through the head with a stray arrow of Alaska's. Then the fourth leaps at me, over its dead friends, with crazed eyes and wild movements. I cry out as it latches onto my back. I throw myself down onto the ground and the monster lets go. I whip around and shove my last dagger through its forehead. All of them are dead.
I stand there in a bit of daze until I hear the sick gurgling sound from the ground where the Flesh Eaters were gathered. I sprint to her side to find the mangled remains of Alaska Forbes. Her stomach is cut open in so many places I'm surprised she is even breathing, well, gasping for breath. Crimson blood and dirt cover her face. The only features I can plainly see is her gorgeous eyes, scared and pained. Her eyes lock on mine and she sharply grabs my arm. Her lips move but no sound leaves her lips. "Alaska?" I gasp, aghast. "W-What happened? D-Does it h-hurt? Are you g-gonna be o-okay?" Tears sting my eyes and I try my best to keep them at bay and speak past the lump in my throat. Horror mixed with fear curdles my stomach.
Something resembling a smile tugs at her lips. "Again with the stuttering." Her voice is barely a whisper soI have to duck my head near her bloodied lips.
I shake my head as if this is all a dream and it'll go away. Before I know it, I'll wake up in my bed with my Mum and Dad tucking me in. "You're going to be okay,"I say as determined as I possibly can. "I-I'll get you somewhere. The city! I'll get you to the-the..." I trail into a sob. Her head moves slightly back and forth and her eyes turn sad. "I'll save you." I press my palms to her stomach, trying to stop the blood. All the quickly my hands are stained red so I press harder. She winces so I must be hurting her. My fear is suddenly turned to anger. "Why couldn't you just listen to me for once!" I yell at her. She seems completely unsurprised and merely lies there. Her lack in reaction only fuels my anger. "You are always doing this! You are always putting yourself in stupid situations! What did you expect to happen! You just so stupid!" Tears prick my eyes and a few lonely tears run down my dirty cheeks. I can still hear her rigid, painful breaths. "Are you even listening to me? Are you trying? Did you even try? Did you ever, ever just stop and think about others? About me?" My voice cracks. Her eyes are sad and pleading. Tears create roads down her cheeks where the mud and grime once were.
Her lips move silently and I let them, not making any move to actually hear her. Finally after a few moments that seem to both pain and frustrate her, she gets the words out, barely audible. "L-Love... y-y-you... Arch..." she trails off, her words seem to have drained her and her eyelids slowly flutter closed.
Panic grips my heart and terror strangles my brain. My eyes widen and my blood soaked hands start trembling. "Alaska?" I ask shakily. When there is no reply I start yelling. "Alaska! Alaska!" Her breathe is shallow and begins quieten. "Alaska, wake up!" I start to shake her frail body but she doesn't budge. Finally her breathe stops. And so does her heart.
"Alaska," I sob, leaning my head on her corpse. "Alaska, I need you... don't go..."
And suddenly I'm consumed by a loneliness, so strong that it takes all I have not to lie down next to her and die. After what feels like hours I decide to stand, shakily at first, but I stand. I force myself to look at her. She doesn't look beautiful or peaceful like I had imagined her to; like the books and movies portrayed her to. Her skin is tight and her hands are blue. Her once soft pink lips are now chapped and pale. Her entire body is rigid and white with a blue tinge and appears waxy. Now that I see her, a pain, so sharp and so bad, stabs my chest and my stomach. I double over and a cry raises from my throat. I can't stay here. It's all my fault. She's dead because I couldn't save her. She's dead. She's dead. She's dead.
I gingerly pick up her bow, thinking it will be able to help me. An electric shock runs up my arm so I drop it sharply. I immediately start backing away. I need to get away from here. From her.
So I start running.

I run and run and run. I run until my legs give way and my breathe feels like fire. So I rest. I sleep, eat and start running again, slower this time. I have cuts and scrapes covering my body, making every step excruciating.
I step through another lot of trees before I freeze. Voices. I hear human voice. I get the first shot of joy that I have had since I left Alaska. As soon as I think about her, guilt stabs my gut. I hesitantly step forward and push a few stay branches out of my way. I stop and gawk at the small city. Alas- she wasn't wrong about this place. It's amazing. There don't seem to be many people but they scatter around the small space. They all seem to be busy, working or building or mending. A few stop to watch me but everyone else continues walking. Two people burst out of the crowd and come storming towards me. They hold guns on their hip and looks of confusion and superiority are on their faces. They stop right in front me, causing my heart to race. "Who are you, kid?" He has dirty red hair and sharp blue eyes. Like Alaska. Another sharp pain.
"I-I..." I stutter. More people have started to gather. "I'm Archer." I gulp. "I ran here from-from another camp." Tears sting my eyes but I force them back, not wanting to cry in front of a total stranger.
The man, who looks to only be a teenager, surveys me doubtfully. "I'm Collin," then to someone else, "go get Heda."
A confused whisper has filled the crowd as the man next to Collin jogs towards a tall building. "Don't worry, kid. You're safe." Collin scratches the back of his neck and waits awkwardly.
Finally, I see the man returning. Only he is bring someone else behind him. She looks completely different, new, cold, hard. But it's definitely her. Aria.
She stops in front of me and scans my sore body. "Archer, eh?" I nod my head frantically. "What do you want?" Her voice comes out sharp and hard, causing me to flinch. A single glance at her dark war paint only scares me further.
"I-I want t-to..."
"Speak up," she barks.
My eyes dart around the crowd to see a few faces looking uncomfortable. My small arms hug my body in fear. "I want to j-join your group." I try to hold my head as high as possible and puff out my bloodied chest.
Once again, chatter fills the crowd. Aria is quick to silence it. Suddenly a wide smile breaks out on her face, which appears creepier than before. "I'm glad we found a place for our little initiation project. Someone go fetch him. Now." I gulp. Initiation? What? This time the crowd is filled with nervous chatter that grows louder and louder with the minute. The six guys return before I noticed that they had even left. And they appear to be carrying a cage. Inside is something that quakes my bones and makes my blood run from my face. A Flesh Eater in inside, thrashing crazily and pounding on the bars. I look frantically at Aria in hopes that this is all just a joke and she will welcome me with open arms. I find her face hard and unreadable, only adding to my fear. She turns to me with her hands behind her back. "This is how this will work," she begins, "we will create a circle and you may choose a weapon. As soon as I give the word, my guards will release the monster and you will show us your strength by defeating it. Is that clear?" The blood leaves my face and my heart pounds in my ears. No way can I do this! Not in the condition I'm in anyway... shouts of protest can barely be heard over the pounding on my heart and ringing in my ears. Aria yells for silence and it is. Everyone hesitantly gets in a circle and I remove my last blood soaked dagger from my belt. "Now."
As soon as she says the word, the doors to the cage open and the Flesh Eater dives for me. I'm barely able to dash out of the way as he takes his first swipe. Next he goes for my face, screaming and clawing like a crazy man. This time I'm too slow. His sharp claws manage to rake up the side of my face. My vision goes blurry and I begin to get dizzy. I stumble for my balance as the creature dives at me. This time I really am too slow. He knocks me to the ground and the air is sucked from my lungs. I swipe at him with the dagger but it only makes shallow cuts on his arms and stomach that he doesn't seem to notice. I cry out as his claws dig into my arms, centimetres from where the last nail marks are. Blood starts running down my arm. There are shouts from the people but no one steps forward to help me. The monster pins down my arm, knocking the dagger from it. Without hesitation, his teeth dig into my flesh, breaking it easily. I hear a scream and it takes a while to realise that it was my own scream for help. My throat feels raw and my limbs are weak.
I give up.
I can barely hear the shouts help me and I can barely feel the creature being teared away from me.
All I see is Alaska Forbes. Her smiling face. Her beautiful brown hair. Her crystal blue eyes. Her joyful chatter.
I black out.
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Hello my lovelies!
I am so proud of myself. I did 2906 words in half a day for you guys. So proud.
I know that some of you may hate me if you even remember Alaska Forbes. In my defence, she was literally created for this exact purpose; to hurt Archer and to leave me, ruined, at Aria's feet.
What will she do? Will she kill him? Will she save him? Will she watch him become a Fleshy? Oooh the mystery.
Aria- 27
Celia- 26
I really hope you guys enjoy my story and bear with me...
Love you guys xxx