DNA

Chapter Nine

The forest at night would have been a beautiful sight if Lilium hadn't been scared out of her mind. She didn't even know what would happen in the next day, week or month. This sense of not knowing was giving her anxiety.
As she walked through the path memories started filling her brain. Some just plain horrible, others scary, and the others were filled with melancholy. Her whole life was so messed up. How did she even make it here? How did she last so many years?
Lilium tried to forget everything and just enjoy the scenery.
The dark oak wood trees were turned to a jet black. The only thing she could see around were the golden leaves from the start of fall. The path was made of dirt and stones. The sky couldn't be seen because of the trees. However, the stars were visible dancing through the leaves. The moon was their flashlight. Lilium could almost see the thickness of the air. It was wrapping the earth like a nice, warm blanket in the middle of January.
The path looked like it went on forever. Nothing is forever, though. Lilium was starting to see this.
It had been a while since anybody spoke. It must have been midnight by this time. Shivering, Lilium grabbed onto her father's arm. He looked down as they continued to walk and wrapped his arm around her shoulders. There was still silence.
Noir, Formosa, and Cale were a little ways behind. They were clearly getting tired. Lilium was wondering how she could make it if they couldn't. Maybe her insomnia was coming back. Or she had a lot more energy lately. Either way, she didn't care.
Honestly, Veta didn't even know exactly where they were going. He couldn't check the GPS. His phone was losing solar power and he didn't have a power generator with him since they had no place to plug it in. It would take only ten minutes to charge completely if only they could find an outlet and generator. This was obviously impossible to them, though, seeing how they were in the forest at night.
After another half hour or so of walking Veta spoke.
"Maybe we should go check that little cave and stop until morning. You guys can rest, I'll watch out for trouble."
Everybody agreed on this but Lilium felt bad that he'd have to stay awake.
"I'll try to stay awake with you," she told him. Her kind offer was turned down.
"No, Lilium. You need to sleep, you're still young. Now all of you sleep."
With that, the four young people closed their tired eyes as Veta watched over them.

A loud gunshot rang out in the forest. Lilium called out to Veta and waited for an answer. She didn't get one. Panicking, she quickly began to search the forest's perimeter by the meadow. That's when she noticed something out of the corner of her eye. A relatively smaller guy was standing behind a tree watching her. Lilium turned and screamed, running to find her father and friends. She didn't make it far, though. The man grabbed her from behind and threw her to the ground. The cold metal of the gun was on her head and with a small yell everything faded to black.

"Lilium, wake up! You're having a nightmare."
Lilium's eyes shot open. She saw everyone staring down at her. Had she been screaming?
Embarrassed, she sat up and looked out at the forest. The sun was out and Veta's phone was fully charged. Her own would be charged soon as well.
"We should probably continue forward. I have the location set on my GPS. Lox said he was coming to London in a voice mail on the phone I never told you about. DNA Laboratory has five locations; Japan, Ireland, Paris, Russia, and London. He's coming to the one here. The walk there should take another twelve hours. It's nine. Let's get started."
They walked for miles, nothing but trees and plants. The occasional squirrel would run by looking for food. Nothing seemed out of the ordinary until Lilium realized something.
The scenery, the end of the forest, and the meadow. It was all in her dream. It took her only a moment to look over and see the man as he lunged for her.