Speechless

Chapter two

Even though the dead were at our feet, moaning, reaching up to grab us, we were out of reach. So this moment wasn't all that bad until Jason said this, "So how do we get down? It's not like these things get tired or bored. As long as we are here, they are here," I nod in agreement coming to the realization too. The realization that we are trapped.

Right then, as if the world was reading our mind and the Heavens decided to give us a break, to show us hope, a gunshot went off in the distance.

A very loud gunshot.

Yes, I think, yes. This is it. This is when we get out of here and survive. This is the match to the light the fire. The fire resembling the flame of hope rising inside of us. "Jump on three," I whisper to Jason. He silently nods in understanding. The Gone are turning their heads and looking toward the direction if the gunshot. But some Goners stay, barely fazed by the noise. It wasn't enough, I think to myself, it wasn't enough noise. And then, the great happens.

Another gunshot. Then another soon after. Except these two follow with a painful cry, sounding like a plead for mercy. But The Gone don't give mercy. I don't think they know how.

After these gunshots, all of The Gone turn their heads, at least. Some start to wander off and others follow. Some only turn their heads, though. "One," I whisper. Then I hear the girl off in the distance scream again, much louder this time. It was clear what she was saying,

"Oh dear... No. I can't go out like this! I can't! I can't! I can't! Oh Lord, please forgive me," then we heard a fourth gunshot, then silence. No more cries. No more screams of terror. Silence.

Most of The Gone start walking toward the, what I highly assume, dead girl. "Two," I whisper to Jason. He gets in the position to jump. Some Goners still won't leave, or at least give us enough room to make a break for it. I look above me, I see a few pine cones just in my reach. "Thank you," I whisper to myself, not totally aware of who I was thanking, as I grabbed two pine cones, one in each hand.

I look to my left, which is the direction I want to go, but I also see some of The Gone blocking our path. Then I look to my right, which is the direction where I will set the distraction. I throw one pine cone to my right, landing in the open grass. About half of The Gone walk toward the pine cone, but the others only look. While they are still intrigued, I throw the second one stronger and faster, creating more noise. Now, all of The Gone look in that direction and walk toward it. "Three!" I say, a little too loud. But The Gone are not even fazed by my noise, we jump from the tree and run.

After what seemed like forever, we had to stop running. We made it decently far but I was resisting the urge to take a break; we don't know these creatures to the best of our ability yet and I don't want to risk it. I'm pretty positive that they can't follow our tracks, but what about our smell? Is it still lingering in the air where The Gone can get a whiff? I'm not sure if they follow our smell, but I would rather not find out right now. But we found a small lake in a forest we came across. "I'm going to fill up some bottles so when we move out we have a ton of water," says Jason. "You just relax for once," so I did. I rested my back on a tree, again. Just like when Jason and I were stuck up in that tree. Except this time my feet are not dangling from a branch, they are on the ground, crushing Autumn leaves below them. I rest my head on the tree, too. I close my eyes and try to relax, try to think of better days. Even days with Jim. But that only haunts me, only reminds me of the time when I still had hope, and reminds me of when Jim died. When I lost that hope.

After Jason comes back with all of the water bottles, which were ten, he started placing them carefully in his bag. "We need to hunt," he says. "We have no more food because we lost it when we ran from the school and into that tree back there. Let's go hunting in the morning, at sunrise?" He says. I nod to say yes, sunrise is fine. "Now where to sleep..." Starts Jason as he trails off. We couldn't just sleep in the open, even with one person on guard. We need a cave or shelter of some kind to stay the night in.

"Let's get moving then," I say. "We need to find shelter soon, the sun is going down and it's only going to be harder when it's dark,"

"Let's go," he agrees. Jason started walking away from the lake and I slowly got up, very sore. Jason turned his head back toward my direction, stopping in his tracks, and comes over to help me up. "Are you alright?" He asks me. I hesitate to answer, because I'm not entirely sure.

"No. But are you? I mean, is anyone?" I ask. He looks down while he has a hold of my arm, helping me to my feet. I catch him slightly shaking his head and I help myself the rest of the way up. "Come on," I start. "Let's find some shelter," then we were off.

After some walking, maybe for an hour, we came across a little den. The size of a small cave, hidden from the outside world. "Maybe we should stay here," suggests Jason. I nod and we head in. I feel uncomfortable in here, it's very cramped and we don't have much room. But it will have to suffice, we don't have any safer option.

"It's a little cramped, don't you think?" I ask him. He looks down at the ground of the cave and throws that wide smile at it and chuckles.

"Don't worry, Aubrey," he starts. "Sleeping with me will be the least of your worries," and I can't help but playfully punch him in the shoulder and throw that wide smile back at him.