Who Am I? (Book 1)

Chapter 12

As we went further into the wood the world around us darkened. It hadn't been too bad the first hours, but now the darkness and mist surrounded us and the trees were all clustered together, giving off the impression of a cage or prison. We hadn't had much hunting luck either, there wasn't a single animal here, the only thing we could hear was the wind howling ... but occasionally I could hear faint howls far in the distance ... "Hey ... Natasha ... the demons cannot get us unless it's nighttime, right?" I looked into her sapphire blue eyes, she seemed a bit concerned. And this feeling welled up inside me, the feeling of reassurance, I didn't like to see her concerned, I wanted to ease them and comfort her. "This forest, it's their home, but they are asleep during the day. However, the possessed are active both day and night, so don't let your guard down. The only time the demons are active during the daytime is when the mist is thick. We should hurry, it would not be wise to stay at the same place for too long, let's take this ... RUN!" She took off sprinting and I struggled to keep up. "Why ... are ... we ... running?" I panted while trying to look behind me. Natasha didn't answer me, but she didn't need to. I could hear the howling growing louder and louder. She looked behind herself and looked at me. She knew I couldn't run as fast or as long as she could. "Climb!" She stopped by a big tree and gracefully climbed up. 

I, however, was a terrible climber (I couldn't even climb the apple trees at the age of 15) and it went painfully slow. "Come on Julie! Climb faster, I know you can do it!" She reached out for me, but I was too far away to take her hand. Nevertheless, her words motivated me and I climbed a little faster then I made a huge mistake. I looked behind me, at the beasts chasing us. They were identical to the ones chasing me and Julia. "Julie! Keep your eyes on me, everything will be fine!" I continued to climb, but before I could take her hand something painful locked around my foot. "Arg!" I screamed in agony and held on to the tree for dear life. It felt as if my leg was being torn off and when I looked down I could see that one of the beasts had its jaws around my foot, pulling me down. "Natasha!" I looked up in desperation, I couldn't hold on for much longer, but she was gone. I could hear my heart beating, and then a whistling sound followed by a howl. The beast let go of my foot, an arrow sticking out of its eye. I whimpered and tried to climb further up when Natasha grabbed my belt and pulled me up (she, as well as the others, were a lot stronger than they looked like). "We need more distance ... can you climb further up?" My foot didn't look too good, it was quite ... torn up but I could move it, albeit it was incredibly painful. "Yeah, I can probably climb a little". It was a lie, but I didn't want to let her down. We climbed to the next branch, which was big enough for both of us to sit down. My foot felt even worse than before. "You need treatment now, and while we're at it, let me see your wrist". Natasha's face was unreadable as she studied the black mark. "So ... not that I'm complaining, but why aren't I like the other possessed persons?" I hadn't seen any possessed yet, but from the descriptions, I knew they were easy to spot. "It's on your wrist, not the head. As long as it's not on your head you have full control. It will still spread though, once it reaches your heart it takes away your empathy ... But even if it has reached your head you are still salvageable, as long as your eyes don't turn bloodred. The mark spreads slowly, I don't think it will reach your head for at least two years".