Man Down

Chapter 3

Harsh light bombarded Marty's eyes as he blinked them open. He turned onto his front triggering a sharp pain in his hip as he used his hands to push his himself onto his knees. Groaning he rubbed his eyes clearing dirt and crust from them and surveyed his surroundings, he was surrounded by trees and tangled in a thick network of vines and leaves. How long had he been lying here? Birds chirped as a lazy breeze flowed through the leaves and ruffled his clothes, focusing Marty's mind on the severity of the situation at hand. 'Where the fuck am I?' He mumbled to himself as he stood up snapping the vines wrapped loosely around him as he did so. He took a step and felt another sharp pain in his side, it shot up through his upper thigh to just below his ribs, Marty pulled his shirt up revealing a huge bruise, wincing he prodded it. The bruise was yellow in the centre, it was at least a few days old Marty thought maybe even a week. He started limping through the trees, leaning on low hanging branches for support he travelled slowly.

All the trees looked the same as Marty searched for a clearing. It had been at least 45 minutes since he started walking Marty decided. Images of Ruby at the train station invaded his thoughts. He clenched his fist digging his nails into his palm as she stared at him, her eyes boring into his head, Begging him to look at her. He shook the thought out of his head.

Finally he came to a clearing, he limped to the edge of the dandelions that lined the ground and looked down where the bank disappeared. It was a straight drop down the cliff face at least 100 feet down to another expanse of trees that went on further than his eyes could see. He turned around looking at a semi-circle of trees surrounding him. There was no way he had walked this far away from the train station in one night, what happened last night? He thought running his hand along his jaw in frustration, his hand scraped over something and he yanked it away in surprise. He put his hand back to his face, the rough hairs prickling along his fingers confirmed it. This was at least a week of growth from his clean shaven face he kept because of school regulations. His breath caught in his throat choking him. Had that night with Ruby really been that long ago? How could it have been? How did he get here? Marty's mind spun as he tried to make sense of everything. He took a step back rubbing his hands on the back of his neck. Another step back and he felt the ground disappear from beneath his foot as it crumbled away. Marty grasped desperately at the air as he over balanced and began plummeting head first over the edge. The trees below grew rapidly. Air whipped his hair back. Marty's screams were ripped from his lungs as he snapped his eyes shut.