The Lady Darkness

Chapter 9

The first hour and a half walking back is quiet. Neither of us speak, not knowing what to say, we have only just met after all, we have nothing to talk about. So I have spent most of that time stuck in my own head, blindly following Damien, trusting him not to lead me astray, which if I look back on was a stupid decision on my part.

I believe the silence would continue all the way back to the camp and potentially on the way back as well if I didn't have to use the restroom. I don't want to come right out and say I have to go pee, that would be embarrassing for both of us.

"Damien, I need to stop for a quick break," Damien stops and looks back at me before getting the look of understanding across his face. It might have been the fact that my legs were crossed and knees bent, the cliche "I need to pee" stance. The only way I could have made it more obvious was if I started bouncing up and down on the spot, but I wasn't that far along yet.

"Don't wander off too far and be quick about it," Damien replies in quick tone indicating that he was in a hurry. I don't blame him either, being alone in the woods when people are potentially out hunting you would put anyone in a hurry to get where they are going.

Nodding, I quickly take a step off the beaten path we have been following and make my way further into the dense forest. The leaves crunch under my feet as I move behind a tree only a few feet from the path. Damien doesn't seem like the type of guy to be trying to sneak a peek. Quickly doing my business I am just able to pull my pants up, not even at my full standing height, when Damien is in front of me pulling me back down to a squatting position, with his hand held over my mouth. At first I don't understand why, but it doesn't take me long to hear the sound of footsteps coming from the general direction that we were walking towards. If I hadn't needed to go pee and we kept walking we would have eventually ran into who ever those footsteps belong to. Damien slowly takes his hand from my mouth and instead brings it to his own, finger over his lips, making the shh symbol before crouching down lower and motioning for me to do the same.

It takes a few minutes before the steps get closer, but one thing is for certain, they are on the path that we were just on. They are following the path that the crew had made when we first left. Damien lifts his head a little, taking a glance through the leaves trying to get a look at whoever is on the trail. We hear them talking before we see them though.

"If we keep following this trail we will eventually locate them and then we can send their location back to the commander, who by the way was very upset upon arrival to see that the camp had already been abandoned by them." A male voice speaks out in the middle of the woods. It's so quiet that it doesn't take much straining for us to be able to hear him.

"Their group is too large to travel at a quick pace. It will not take us that long to catch up with them," another male voice speaks up. They are planning to follow the trail until they catch up. If they aren't stopped then we could lose everyone before the hike has even really started. We have to stop them somehow. I need to tell Damien that we have to stop them but with them so close, I can't even whisper without the chance of them hearing me with how quiet this forest is. I need to tell him, we could lose everyone. We need to come up with a plan to stop them. I wonder if Damien realizes that same thing that I do. He needs to know. I put my hand on his arm, he needs to know what they plan and that we have to stop them. I don't know how to stop them, but he might. I want him to know that we need to stop these two men before they get too far because they are bound to bring others.

All of the sudden Damien's head spins to look at me, eyes wide, shock thrown across his features. All he does is nod, agreeing with whatever is going on in his head. The two men pass us as we slink lower to the ground, not wanting to be spotted by the two men who plan to kill the community that took me in without a second thought. Damien stays low even after they pass us by, so I follow suit not standing until he does.