Savored Poison

New Encounters

Gaining my composure I looked at Damien with a smile on my face, "Thank god your here! I'm about to freeze my toes off!" 

He laughed, "oh yeah? Well good thing I'm here on time. Now where's Chris?" I made sure not to let my voice shake, "He's in the restroom." 

Praying that he wouldn't start calling out again, then I asked Damien if he could start the fire right away. 

He agreed. 

And right as he did, I slowly snuck my way to the door. Enough to not be noticed, not be heard. Then I suddenly heard another voice yelling out.

 Shit!

 Right as Damien looked up at me in shock I made sure to blow him a kiss before rushing out the door. 

Don't look back.

 Don't look back. I convinced myself. 

Damien was fast, but I had the head start and I was even faster, well...when I didn't have a concussion. This was a bad idea. I knew it but what other choice did I have, I wasn't ever going to get another opportunity like this.

 So I kept running. Damien wasn't anywhere near me, I could feel it. He was probably getting Chris out of the room and then he would come to get me. 

 I hoped.

Making a bunch of different twists and turns I knew exactly where I was going. Maliki didn't know how good of a tracker I was, and soon enough I found our old footprints back to camp. I was getting Shanik out of there. 

 So I ran and ran and ran.

 It would take me half as long to get there as last time, I'd  keep my pace and limit my breaks. But I knew I needed to stop at least once. I needed to keep my concussion in check, it couldn't get worse than it already was. I couldn't afford it. not now.  

Not when I was so close.

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For the next two hours I had to slow down, take a break and catch my breath. Of course Damien and Chris were long gone, but part of my mind kept thinking, 'what if they're trackers too?' or 'what if they're right behind you and they're just so skilled that you know nothing?' 

It made me shiver.

Every once and a while I would look over my shoulder and think that someone was watching me. But then I dismissed it, if someone was there then why would they wait to get me? 

By the time I was back at camp it was sundown, several soldiers were eating at the fire, I could see them, but they couldn't see me. Hopefully the food was blocking my scent or else I wouldn't have the element of surprise. 

Putting my hood up I continued to walk in the darkness, letting it shield my presence. Then I walked back to one of the tents and creeped in. I held my breath, hoping nobody would see me and then closed it behind me. Inside I could see the outline of the cage and a figure, it was hard to make out but it was there. 

It was Shanik. 

Unzipping my bag I got my little flashlight and cupped my hand over it, making sure that nobody would see it, and it would be aimed at only one thing. 

And there I saw him, it was.... 

Sean?

 My breath caught in my throat. He was here. And he was staring right at me, almost as if I was foreign . As if I wasn't real. 

He was one of THEM.

Like Makala and Jermey. I knew it. 

Right when I saw his photo I knew it, but I just didn't want to admit it. This was unbelievable, I wanted to cry and scream at the same time. I mean, this was Sean we were talking about. My best friend...

How could he keep this secret from me? What didn't he tell me? All these years I'd thought I'd  known Sean more than anyone but now, I wasn't so sure.

Walking towards him I reached my arm out through the bars and took his hand, holding it in mine.

"Are you real?" I flinched, his voice sounded...broken. 

"Yes Sean it's me. It's okay, everything is going to be okay,"I felt tears go down my cheeks, I'd found him. I had finally found him.

I could feel him sigh, "I...I thought I'd never see you again." 

Then he started to cry, never in four years had I seen him cry. 

It made my heart want to go out to him.

I wanted to hold him until all of his problems went away. But I knew that it wouldn't do anything, we needed to leave. So letting go of his hand I found the pick I had placed under the cage, barely able to get it out.

" I tried" he said, "I tried to get myself out but I couldn't reach the pick. It was right there and yet I couldn't do it. I'm so useless!" He grit his teeth, "and you've been so brave, so so so brave Alex. Trying to help me, I'm not worth it."

 I frowned, choking back a sob. 

Did he really think he was like that?

 "It's alright," I cooed, " I'm safe and so are you. That's all that matters right now okay? Then we can discuss this later."

I couldn't get into this right now. If I did I'd have trouble getting him out of that cage at all. I wouldn't be able to see cause I'd cry so much. All my emotions would engulf me and I'd have trouble being able to get him to freedom, that was my priority right now. 

Even if that meant me staying behind in his place.

So I stayed focused. Pushing away all my emotions and tucking them in the corner in my mind. 

Jiggling the pick I was able to pop open the lock, hearing it  click. That's   when I was finally able to show how I was feeling.

 I sobbed. 

"It was so hard! It was so hard for me! I couldn't even think straight without you!" He hugged me tight, tight enough that i thought he feared to let me go.

Cause I thought the same thing.

Putting his hand in my hair, he whispered things in my ear, trying to comfort me. "It's all because of you, you did well and I'm so proud." 

I laughed, pulling back from his grasp, "you have no fucking clue how long I've been waiting to see you, you should've told me!" 

He smiled, "yeah. That's another thing to talk about for another day." 

I nodded, remembering our surroundings. We had to leave.

Unzipping the tent we crept out, back into the darkness.

Once we were far enough away Sean spoke again, "Alright come on.." walking into the bushes I heard some rustling before he came out in his true form,  in his teeth he held his shirt and pants, giving them to me for safekeeping. 

My eyes widened again, I know that I've seen him several times already but I just couldn't believe it. This was my best friend I was talking about. It made my heart pound, this was scary. Now knowing all the things that he was there for, how he'd risked his life for me... several times. 

I just never knew it. 

But pushing my thoughts aside, he nudged me, basically knocking me over with his huge figure. Then he got down on the floor, he wanted me to get on him? 

No freaking way. He nudged me again.

Looking into his eyes I could see him try and sway me. "Okay fine. But only because you have really freaking pretty eyes!" He huffed, giving me a look that told me that he was pleased.

But I ignored him.

Instead I focused on getting onto him. 

Kicking my legs up I made sure they wouldn't drag on the floor and I placed his clothes in my bag. 

This was gonna take a while, "take us to the lake. That's where Makala and Jeremy are, they are waiting for us to come home." 

Then we were off.