X-Marks: Stealing Shadows

Chills

The harsh wind cleansed the forest of the yellow fog and hardened the dirt beneath us. My fingers were numb. How long had we been here, encased in these vines? It was hard to know for sure, but the sun was setting, and it was only going to get colder.

"We have to go back," V33 said, her crying ceased.

"Go back to what? You heard them," S51 said, "It's gone."

The girl with the book had never stopped crying. It seemed like she never would.

More faceless people had passed by. Their destructive tanks cut through the forest like shears to a patch of weeds. Each time as distressing as the last.

The faceless people walked in pairs, sometimes groups, but always in silence. It was the silence that terrified me the most. Every one of our movements stopped until they disappeared like ghosts into the fog.

Soon the forest had fallen into a whisper. If there was any time to move, it was now.

"What other choice do we have?" I said.

"Well we better do it before it gets too dark," S51 said and stood from his corner of the vines.

S51 hobbled on his on his way up. Thick vines wrapped around his ankles. I struggled to stand on my own stiff legs. V33 had shards of leaves stuck in her curls but was quick on her feet. Her short stature had been an asset.

I settled my bare feet into the frosty soil and looked back into the twisted vines. The girl with the book stumbled back into the brush. I took her by her forearm. Her skin was like touching an icicle.

We're we all this cold? I could barely feel my own skin anymore.

"We have to get somewhere soon," I said, "It's getting too cold."

S51 recovered the only remaining gun of our captors.

"We'll get there when we get there," he said and vanished into a thicket of trees, the barrel of the gun pointed into the murky path ahead.

It was clear who was in charge.

Even the coldest winds couldn't send more of a chill up my spine.