Ashes Of Angeline

Part VII

I nearly fell out of the tree.

My limbs decided to rattle with panic while my brain had a miniature freak out, resulting in my slim figure feeling as though it were teetering over the edge of the rough branch. The skin along my arms sprouted goose bumps brought on by the chill that swept through my body, and I tried to keep my breathing steady as I climbed back out of the tree.

No matter how many thoughts were whirling around in my head, one was clear and repetitive. Emmet.

It was not hard to understand that the fog was bad news. The way it coiled through the night like a demonic cloud sent shivers down my spine. The realization that it was approaching the camp as though someone was holding down the fast forward button during a horror flick was another thing. I looked above me at the stars, my imagination toying with me as it cast dark splotches of ink over the twinkling lights above.

I drew in a breath, held it captive until my chest began to ache, and finally released. I had to find Emmet and somehow get him out of here. Uneven rolling waves of tents spread out before me and my task felt impossible. Not only was it dark, but as I waded further into the ocean I became more and more aware of my diminishing memory of the location of Emmet's tent. My heart rate picked up, thrumming within my slim figure.

"Emmet!" I hollered into the abyss. The tent grounds felt endless, and I was beginning to feel hopeless. Each tent held another person deep in slumber, unprepared for the deadly beast creeping in from the city. The thought had my heart thrashing around like a caged animal. I needed to calm down if I planned on finding Emmet.

His tent was between two trees, nestled between them like the hammock in his backyard that we would fight over in the summer until we both were sent sprawling onto the grass. My eyes scanned around me, searching in the dark until they settled on a set of tall silhouettes looming four rows over.

I felt the pressure of my feet taking off in a sprint before I could blink. Heat spread through my legs as they moved past row after row, the sheer satisfaction of running lifting in my stomach involuntarily. When I reached Emmet's tent in less than two minutes, my body felt unmistakably warmer than it had in weeks.

Only when I stood in front of Emmet's temporary residence, it began to dawn on me that I had not the slightest clue as to how I was going to wake him, never mind warn him of the grim fog approaching. Stepping towards the partially open fabric, I ignored the unease I felt like a cold whisper being breathed against the back of my neck.

The thin tent fabric that was unavoidable while sneaking back into the compact space was like a tongue of flame that caused me to grit my teeth as I moved the cloth aside. I was tampering with the living world and my body rejected it. Once within the small shelter, my hand released the searing fabric from its grasp and my focus moved to the body lying unconscious. The battery powered lantern with adjustable luminosity still rested a forearms length away from him, its faint light casting shadows across Emmet's face. Although his expression was vulnerable in his dormancy, the splashes of darkness made my stomach tighten into a knot laced delicately with fear.

I looked at the receding dark patches on my right palm where the flesh felt raw from entering the tent only seconds ago. The idea that grew inside my skull was one that would hurt, but undoubtedly would cause myself less pain than outright shaking Emmet out of his sleep.

Biting down on the edge of my bottom lip to brace myself, my slender fingers pinched the knob of the light and turned it. Or attempted to. Prickles of pain danced from the tips of my fingers down my arm yet the light stayed consistent, the knob refusing to move. Pushing past the growing pain coursing through my arm, I tried the knob again only to be disappointed.