Sector 4

SEVEN

CHAPTER SEVEN

ELDON

Everyone had found a place to sleep for the night except for two men left on watch. They were stationed on both sides of the small camp with the wagon--our prison-- in the middle. Cara and I pretended to be asleep, but I watched the two guards for a possibility to escape.

The perfect opportunity came sometime in the night when even the soldiers standing guard were growing drowsy. The two fires had died down to only a few embers left smoldering, leaving the camp dark and hard to guard.

I gripped the metal around my wrists to keep it from clanking and roused Cara. I could just make out her face in the darkness as she sat up, holding her chains as well. I waited several more seconds to make sure that no one had heard anything, then climbed out of the wagon. Cara followed right behind as I weaved my way around the sleeping Black Militia and their commander. I held my breath the whole way, amazed that not one of them stirred.

We reached the edge of the camp not guarded by the two men on watch, then slipped away into the darkness. The forest concealed us well, the heavy underbrush swallowing us whole the minute we left the small camp.

Cara grabbed my hand and I held onto her so she wouldn't get lost. The forest owned this land and if we weren't careful it would claim us too. I lifted heavy vines out of they way as Cara stepped past them. Then she disappeared. And not due to the dark.

I stepped after her, her name on my lips, when I fell. The ground opened up beneath me and I tumbled down a steep incline into the darkness below. I fell, weightless, then I hit the ground, the breath leaving my lungs. I flailed around in the darkness, trying to catch my breath and find Cara.

Pain struck me square in the chest, knocking what little breath I had gathered once again from my lungs. I fell back to the hard ground, struggling to breathe.

A growl, low and vicious, echoed from somewhere to my right. I pressed one hand to my chest and managed to stand with my other.
  
"Cara?" I called out, keeping my eyes strained to see whatever was down here with us. No answer. I tried again, then heard another growl. This time, it sounded a lot like some type of wolf.

Dread weighed me down; wolves had changed along with the world. They were fiercer, tougher, and not scared of anything. If this was a den we fell into, then we were in trouble.

Something grabbed at my leg, and I jerked away, trying to kick whatever it was. Pain laced my calf, but I was rewarded with a yelp as my foot struck something firm. Definitely a wolf.

I stumbled back a few steps, then practically tripped over something. At first, I thought it was another wolf, then I heard a groan. I leaned down, feeling around until my hands came into contact with Cara. I reached up and felt something warm and sticky on her forehead. Blood. She must have hit her head when she fell.

"It's okay, I'm gonna get us out of here," I told her, though she didn't respond. I hoisted her over my shoulders, trying to come up with some way to get out of here.

The wolf growled again, and I could sense it was closer. I took a step back, only just realizing that my eyes had adjusted better to the dark. I could see the outline of a dark figure approaching. The wolf.

I turned around, and to my relief, caught a glimpse of the moon shining in a few yards away. We could make it.

I heaved Cara higher on my shoulders then I ran as fast as I could for the opening. I could hear the wolf on my tail and soon several other growls joined it.
We were so close! Only a few... more... feet.

There! It was an opening in the den where the wolves must have entered and exited before. I hoisted Cara out of the darkness and into the moonlight before climbing out after her.

Wolves snapped at my legs, ripping and tearing at them. They grabbed my boots and shredded the edges of the pants, but didn't cut into the skin too much.

Once I was fully out, I kicked at the loose dirt above the hole, collapsing it inward. Yips and howls came from within as the wolves became trapped.

Only once I was sure we were safe did I sit back beside Cara and catch my breath. My legs burned and throbbed along with my neck and the back of my head. The adrenaline was wearing off now, but at least we are alive.

"Don't move."

A cold barrel pressed against the back of my neck, sending dread deep within me.