Silver Lines (Sky Forever Volume 2)

Chapter 7: Darkats

The darkat stared us down as we stared back. Bob started slowly packing things away.

"We have to get out o' here quickly." Bob said, "When I say go."

"Can we outrun it?" I asked.

"It's either that or fight it." Bob replied.

I grabbed Amber's hand. Bob slowly stood up, followed by Storm and Lonely Soul, followed by Amber and I.

"Go!" Bob ordered.

We set off running in the opposite direction to the darkat, leaving the fire, the blankets and, stupidly, the weapons behind in the clearing. We entered a thick bunch of trees as the beast pursued us.

"Keep zigzagging!" Bob shouted to us, "It'll confuse it!"

This gave me a quick flash back to the tank machine in the City of Ashes and Gold destroying buildings on it's way to kill us and how we'd zigzagged away from it.

I looked back and saw the beast pounding through shrubbery, ripping apart branches and bushes so it could get past.

We all ran through different routes and kept changing direction. I had now completely lost my bearings. I heard the snarls coming from behind us.

Suddenly, a scream resounded through the forest.

I looked back but couldn't see the darkat anywhere.

"What's happened?" Amber asked.

"I don't know," I said, "I can't see the others."

At that moment, Storm and Lonely Soul emerged from some foliage.

"Who screamed?" Lonely Soul asked.

"Well, it wasn't us." I said.

"And if it wasn't you two," Amber continued, "It was Bob!"

Another scream sounded, followed by a snarl and a growl. We ran towards the source of the noise and emerged into a different clearing. In the middle were two darkats, but beneath them was Sly Bob. I picked up a stone and threw it at one of the beasts, but it didn't even react. It just carried on ripping apart Bob's jacket that it had torn off. Bob cowered on the floor, his arms over his head.

"We have to help him!" Amber cried.

"What can we do?" Storm said, "They'll just kill us as well."

"What happened to your crossbows?" Lonely Soul asked.

"In the moment of panic, we left them in the clearing." I explained, "I've no idea where it is from here."

I threw another stone at the nearest darkat. It turned its head to look at us, growled, and went back to his prey. The other darkat didn't seem bothered by this at all, and kept ripping Bob's boots up.

"Maybe we could get Bob out whilst they're distracted on his clothing." I said.

I took a couple of steps forward. Leaves crunched under my feet and the darkat looked at me again. I froze. It opened its mouth and roared, saliva flying across it's huge fangs and onto the ground.

"Don't go any furthur." Amber warned.

The darkat slowly started stalking towards me. I took a step backwards.

In a flash of black fur, red eyes, and white fangs it pounced. I tried to jump out of the way, but wasn't quick enough and it's claws caught my shoulder. The fabric of my jacket and my t-shirt ripped. It didn't quite penetrate my skin. I stumbled to the ground and it lurched over me.

I heard Bob shout something and suddenly he was tackling the darkat to the floor. They disappeared from my view as I lay, looking upwards. Amber appeared and helped me up.

Both darkats were now fighting with Bob. I could barely look. I saw blood, but wasn't sure which one of them it was from.

"GO!" Bob yelled, as he punched and struggled, "Leave me! Get out of here!"

I hesitated.

"Jared, there's nothing we can do." Amber said, taking my hand.

She dragged me away but my vision was still locked on the combat. Bob was fighting well but was soon overwhelmed by the huge beasts.

The four of us ran off in the opposite direction through the shrubbery. Bob's screams could be heard, resonating through the trees.

And then they stopped.

We ran in silence until we were far enough away from the darkats. We stopped and stood for a moment, breathing heavily.

"What now?" Storm asked.

"You're good at navigating forests," I said, "You need to get us out of here."

"I know the Guild Road runs through Redkarth somewhere." She replied, "Maybe we could find that. It leads down to The Juggernaut Complex."

"Don't you think we should go back to Crowstown?" Amber asked.

"What is there for us back there?" I said, "We left all our stuff in that clearing. All we have are the clothes on our backs."

"What about Valerie?" Amber said, "Shouldn't we tell her."

"Tell her that her husband just got mauled to death by darkats?" Storm asked, "I'm not sure she'd be very pleased."

"So, we're just going to disappear?"

"Sometimes that's what you've got to do." Storm said.

Amber looked at me, "Can't we at least try and find the clearing?"

"We could be searching for hours or even days." I said, "This forest is massive. I think our only hope is finding the Guild Road and following it out."

Amber paused for a bit.

"Yeah." She said, simply.

So, we walked. Storm used her moss trick to navigate through the trees. As we walked, I could sense Amber was unhappy.

Lonely Soul and Storm were busy talking a few metres ahead of us.

I touched Amber's arm, "You okay?"

"I think so." She said, "Just a bit shaken by that whole experience."

I nodded, looking up at the canopy.

"Is this journey going to be worth it, Jared?" She asked me, suddenly.

"What do you mean?" I replied, looking back at her.

"I mean, you don't even know if your father is actually in Azterak. Or even alive. And we've already come near to death twice in the last week."

"Yeah, but we're still here." I said.

She looked at me, "But how long for?"

"Amber, we're going to survive whether we find my father or not.." I said, "You're the strongest person I know. With you here, of course we'll get through this alive."

She smiled. I kissed her head and put my arm around her.

"Guys?" Storm called back to us.

They had stopped so we caught up with them.

"Look." Storm said.

We had reached a gap in the trees, where a huge wooden fence now stood. On the other side of the fence was the Guild Road; a wide path of stone leading through a dense forest, protected by the barriers. But it wasn't just that. It was our escape route.

"Looks like we're getting out of here." I said.