Darke Night

Searching Out

The hunt was on. I sniffed the air, searched for any sign of them. 12 weeks. 12 weeks had passed and no word, no sound, no nothing of Ash and Larien had appeared. We knew better. Communication was the key to survival in this world. Zane had volunteered us to go. He'd beat me to it. I know that we no longer feel fear. But with family, it went so much farther than that, so much deeper. It sank into the blood and the soul. One of us missing, was like a limb removed. Recovery was the only option. 4 weeks out now and still we scrabbled for clues.

“There!” The smallest of molecules assaulted my senses. They'd passed by this way. Days, weeks ago... Zane nodded in agreement. Suddenly the nausea hit me. Wave after wave of heat and whirling. I fell to the ground, concealed behind the remains of some building. Zane was on top of me in moments.

“What's happened?” Worry was embedded within his features.

I couldn't open my mouth to reply. Any movement, any thought would cause the nausea to consume me. I didn't need this right now. Swirling colors of purple, pink and red crossed through my head. Stomach clenching and repelling. Not now. We had a path, a way... Slowly, my other senses returned.

“I'll be OK.” I whispered.

“Good. Because we don't have anymore time. They've picked up our scent.” They were on us after that.

There was no time to think after that. We fought. We'd picked up a horde. Multitudes of them came at us. We used our natural surroundings to battle them. The trees were good coverage and good climbing. Running through, sliding through expanded thighs, coming up behind one to the next. I carried a short sword with me now. It was easy, with the extended reach. A single slice along the back of the neck could severe the vertebrae and bring them down. It was a simple maneuver and it worked well in combat like this, when they were one on top of the other. Packed in.

Zane swung down from above. Ricocheting the zombies like they were bowling pins. A quick cartwheel sprung me into action to match his moves with my own. One slice, two, three...the numbers disappear as I continue my way through, Zane covering me from behind. How many more were there?

We'd had to of been close to one of their nests. As they poured in, we continued.

Swinging from one tree to the next. Back into flight we did somersaults in the air to gain leverage above them. Me slicing from above, Zane using his brute strength to twist and throw them into the groups below. The battle raged, we raged. One after the next. Suddenly, the swirls of red and pink descended upon me again. I grabbed onto the tree limb beneath me. I'd climbed higher, was above the noise of below. Breathe. I tried to focus of what was happening...this was enough. This could not happen now. I could not leave Zane to fight for himself. There was a haze to my vision as I raced back into the fight. The scene in front of me opaque and fuzzy. But the anger of it, made me even more dangerous than I already was. I finished slashing as Zane had to fight to keep up with me.

We reached the end of them, covered in the filth that we'd battled through. I needed cleansing, I needed relief. And as Zane walked closer, I felt myself fall. The red had gone black and their was no more. I never felt the impact of the ground below.

© 2014, Aelfwynn MacGregor, AMB