Shade of Shadow- Other Side Trilogy

Chapter Ten- Coming Up Short

Chapter Ten- Coming Up Short

It has now been twenty-eight days in counting since our last encounter with the darkness, and twenty-eight days since Laney was killed by it.  Nathanial and I were continuing to learn from one another, while Michael seemed to be building up a jealous wall against me.

“Michael are you going to eat the rest of that?” I asked carefully.

“No, you can have it Amanda,” he snapped and handed the dead rabbit to me in an impolite manner.

“Is everything alright Michael?” I asked.

“Why wouldn’t it be?” He replied sharply.

“Never-mind I asked,” I shouted, and hurried to catch up to Nathanial who was walking incredibly faster than the two of us.

“How do you have so much energy?” I asked Nathanial.

“I was one of the best athletes in my community,” he smiled back to me.

“What is an athlete?” I asked.

“An athlete is someone who excels well at a sport of any kind.”

“I see,” I replied, unsure of what he meant by sports.

“Sports are different games Amanda,” Michael said.

“Thank you for explaining that to her Michael, I am sure I could not have explained it in a better manner than you,” Nathanial snorted.

“Would you too please stop fighting, we are all working towards the same goal, and it does not help when we are all fighting.”

“You are right Amanda, I am sorry,” Michael said.

I looked at Nathanial and waited for his apology, and of course ten minutes later he still never spoke a word.

“Hey, what is that up there in the distance?” I asked.

Nathanial took a close look, “it appears to be some sort of a community,” he replied.

“What is there a community doing in the middle of a forest?” I asked.

“We will need to proceed with caution,” Michael advised.

“Now why must we proceed with caution it is obvious that there is no one living there,” Nathanial laughed.

“Wrong you are my friend,” a strange man spoke.

The three of us stopped startled in our tracks, and gazed our eyes upon the small man.  Why was he so tiny?

“What brings you folks out this way?  Is there other’s beside yourselves?” He asked.

“No, there is only the three of us,” Nathanial replied.

“What happened to the rest of you?” The man asked.

“How did you know there were more of us?” I snapped.

“Because youngsters do not travel in un-even numbers.  There was a girl, what happened to her?” He demanded.

“She was killed by the plague,” Michael replied.

“Not killed, captured,” the man chuckled.

“What do you find so amusing Nathanial growled.

The man locked eyes on Nathanial, and launched himself toward him incredibly quickly.

“Do not test my mercy young one,” the man replied.

“How do you move so quickly?” I asked.