I'm Not an Animal (Slow Updates)

Chapter 13

It was all a blur.

Coughing and screaming. A burning throat that must have been my own.
The faint feeling of hands on my arms.
The crackling of flames.
Someone screaming Marion's name. Me.
Smoke curling around us.
My legs dragging on the ground.
Water thrown over me.
Nothing.

~#*#~

"She's awake!" There was a chorus of animals cries as I opened my eyes. Footsteps pounded towards me. It all hurt my ears but I was so glad that I was alive to hear it all. Ruby ran towards me and pulled me up, spinning me around in a hug.

"You're alive! Oh, thank God you're alive!"

"You don't believe in God." I choked out, chuckling slightly.

"No, but if there is one up there, he may as well be thanked." I shrugged gently, and looked around to see all the survivors in their animals forms, except Ruby. I stared counting them off. 22.

"There's only twenty-two of us." I looked at Ruby, horrified. "Twenty-four made it before I fell. Who's missing?" I scanned the crowd to see Zaki and Marion weren't there. Right before the tears fell, Eleanor came over and put her hand on my shoulder.

"It's okay. Marion and Zaki survived. Marion is resting up, and Zaki was walking around outside, waiting to see if you survived. Come to think of it... Did anyone see Zaki come in?"

"No," a boy called at the back, "he went the other way. He walked off into the trees."

"Why would- Oh." Ruby turned to me. "He thinks you're dead."

"Why would he think that?"

"Our call must have sounded like the mourning call, not the celebration call. He thinks you died, Tora! You have to go find him!" I nodded. Ruby handed me a canteen bottle and I looped it around my neck, taking a sip of water. Then I walked out.

We were in some sort of tent. It looked like lots of small tents put together to make on big one. Packs were littered around it, so I thought there must have been a tent in each pack. I found Lion tracks leading off in to the trees, and followed them. After a couple of minutes, I found Zaki sitting on a branch, his head hung low.

"Zaki?" My voice came out a whisper. Zaki sat up straighter, then swung forward on the branch so he was hanging upside down.

"Tora! I thought you died!"

"I know the others told me." I walked forward so I was just in front of him. He had chosen a relatively low branch, so his face was right in front of mine. We stood still for a minute, staring at each other. Then he shook his head and jumped down from the branch.

"Come on. We should go back to camp. Now that you're up, they'll start taking the big tent apart and making it into the little ones again."

"Okay."

"Tora, I don't want you to help them."

"Huh?"

"I mean, I want you to help them. But for now, just relax. You can help us all. Later. When you fell better."

"Yes, sir." I put my hand to my head and pulled it off like a soldier. Zaki rolled his eyes. But he didn't smile. He hadn't even smiled when he had seen me alive, he was more in shock.

What did I really mean to him?

~#*#~

"They work together so well..." Zaki trailed off. We were sitting on a branch near the clearing we were camped in. "It' said shame we'll have to leave the tents here."

"Why?"

"Because we'll be too easy to see, and it'll take too much time packing and unpacking them. That's why we have you the cloak." The cloak. I had forgotten about it. I fingered the soft, black material.

"I'm so sorry, Zaki."

"For what?"

"For everything."

"You haven't done anything."

"I lead them right to you! I got six people killed because I was stupid enough to leave my Viewer on!"

"I know a guy who can fix it. He can take away the part that lets them track you, but leave it fully functional."

"Can he let me still get calls from my friend?"

"Who?"

"She's been my friend for years, and I trust her with my life. Misha."

"Ruby told me a little about your conversation with her. Okay, I'll let you. But if she spills our location-"

"She won't. She won't freely tell them. But if they catch her..." I trailed off.

"She'll tell them?"

"No, Zaki! She's not that kind of person! If they catch her and try to make her tell them where we are, she'll probably end up dying because she won't give me up!" For some reason, I couldn't find any tears to cry.

"You have a very wild spirit." In my peripheral vision, I saw Zaki turn his head to look at me.

"What, are you gonna try and tame me? Too wild for your little group?" I looked over at him.

"No. Because, maybe some girls are not meant to be tamed. Maybe they are supposed to run wild until they find someone, just as wild, to run with." My eyes fell to his hand, which he had lifted to put on my own. When I looked up he was smiling. Genuinely smiling.

~#*#~

"So, I heard you made Zaki smile." Marion stood against my tent pole.

"Stop leaning on that, it took me ten minutes to put this thing up."

"Liar. Zaki put it up for you."

"I helped." I whined.

"Whatever. Now, spill it. Did you, or did you not, make Zaki smile?"

"Yeah, I made him smile."

"I'm so happy! He hasn't smiled in days." She groaned. "Don't make him too happy, though. We don't want a smiling lunatic running around."

"Oh, shut up." I threw my balled-up cloak at her. She swatted it away. Then she rolled her eyes and walked out.

~#*#~

I lay shivering on my bed. My cloak was on the other side of the tent. I went to stand and retrieve it, but I stopped and laid back down when the tent flap opened. A figure walked in, dark against the near-black sky. It was definitely a he, since I hadn't seen any girls with hair as short as him. I studied him through my eyelashes. When he bent down to pick up my cloak, the light from the moon shone on his face.

It was Zaki.

He made his way over to my shivering body, thinking I was asleep. He lay the cloak down over me and smiled. He turned, went to leave, and stopped. He turned around to me an leant down, gently kissing my temple. Shivers ran down my spine and I struggled not to move.

~#*#~

I climbed up the tree and hung upside down from the branch, next to Zaki. He turned to face me, a small smile on his face.

"Thanks for warming me up last night." I winked at him. He started and opened his mouth, trying to find the right words. As he did, I inched closer to him.

"I- um, I... You... Um, I, um..." I was right beside him.

"Shut up." I said, leaning over just enough that my lips brushed his. He went wide eyed, then it kissed him again and he kissed back. "I found someone to run with," I whispered into his mouth. Then I went back to kissing him.