Salvation [manxman]

Chapter 1

Hi! This book is part of a series. Obviously, I can't tell you what to do but for a deeper unterstanding of all the characters and their backgrounds, I advice you to read Desolation first. Have fun reading!

A picture of Matthew Clavane for inspiration on what Caleb looks like.

Chapter 1

I came to a slithering halt, almost slipping and falling but I caught myself just in time. I pressed myself against a tree and tried to calm my breathing that was coming out ragged and in warm clouds that contrasted against the icy cold, black air in the forest. My heart was thundering vigorously against the inside of my chest from running for so long and it drowned out the howl of one of the hell hounds chasing me. 

After a few seconds I managed to calm myself down to the point I could clearly think again. The shouting and whistling had grown more and more quiet which made it safe to assume that they had lost my track and had continued searching somewhere else. I sighed relieved and brushed my bangs that were wet with rain and sticking to my forehead, out of my face. That was close.

"Found you." One of the hunters laughed into my ear.

I screamed in fear and started running again, tears pooling out of my eyes and running down my face, mixing with the rain. The leaves on the ground were wet and my bare feet continued to lose grip and I was more slipping than actually running. I could hear the hell hounds snarl behind me, taking a snap at me, making me whine and throw myself to the other side to avoid getting bitten.

I managed to keep control over my fall and was back on my feet within milliseconds, sprinting down the hill. I dug under a few low hanging branches and bypassed a few trees before tripping over a root, pain exploding in my left leg. I slammed down face first into the wet dirt, getting leaves into my mouth but instead of my fall being slowed down, I just kicked lose the soaked earth as well as the surrounding leaves and branches and tumbled down in an avalanche of mud.

I tried to grab onto anything that I could reach but all I could grab onto was grass that ripped and branches that snapped right in half with a dry sound. I cried out in panic and pain as my skin got ripped open from skittering over a few jagged rocks. Just as I thought I was going to fall forever my body was abruptly halted as I collided with a tree, head smacking into the dark trunk, busting my lip open.

Everything hurt. My left lower leg felt weirdly wobbly and hot and I knew I had seriously injured it. I didn't know if I could still step on it but I couldn't keep running with it, that's for sure. I let out a groan and heaved myself up, my body reminding me not to kindly of what I had just endured by hurting like bitch. The only good thing was that I couldn't hear the hell hounds and hunters behind me anymore.

I used one of the many broken branches that were lying on the ground as an underarm crutch to be able to walk after a fashion and started to limp further down the hill until I reached a small, almost non existent path. I continued to follow it until I had to take a break and set down on the side of it. I pulled off the decorative scarf which was tied around my ankle, that used to be a beautiful navy color, heavily decorated with intricate, gold embroidery that was now ruined, to get a closer look at my foot.

It was the middle of the night and there wasn't much light provided due to the rain clouds blocking out the moon and the stars above but even I knew that your ankle wasn't supposed to be swollen twice its size and forming a dark blue bruise. I felt the tears well up in my eyes again. I was never going to make it. If by some miracle the hunters gave up looking for me and I figured out where I was, there was nowhere I could go. I tossed the scarf away in a fit of anger, pulling off the other one and throwing it as far as I could.