Stranger To Kind ✔

EPI 21

My body was swaying above the ground when I regained my consciousness. In the instant, a throbbing pain came rushing at the side of my head. I looked up to see a silhouette. The person was manoeuvring through the still darkness.

I tried to talk, but exhaustion made words stuck in my throat. I blinked, waiting for my sight to adjust to the surrounding. Only rustles disclosed our movement inside the small space of dried up leafy walls. After a while, the sky opened up without the roof of trees, and the moon provided light for me to see the person's face. Identifying him waned the burden of my worry.

When I managed to gather enough strength, I raised my hand and touched the side of his face. "Alfie," I breathed.

Our cruising stopped, and he lowered his head to me. A look of worry was distinct on his face. "Where are we going? It's okay, put me down," I let out weakly.

He placed me slowly on the ground, and the second my body touched the solid surface, pain registered. Excruciating pain made my eyes sting.

I wanted to cry in agony. But I heard the barking sound again, so I pressed my lips and held it in. I started searching for my backpack. Luckily, I wore it on my front before we started the trek, so it was still intact to my body.

I fished out the map and my phone. My  fingers struggled over panic, but I managed to spread the plan to Alfie. I reckoned the chances of him to understand was close to none, but my mind couldn't think better. Pain was also pulling on my will.

"Alfie, listen to me," I called.

Darkness encircled us, and I had lost my torch during the fall. My phone was the only option for light. But after pushing the power button over and over, it stayed dead. Pessimism hit harder to win the situation.

Unlike me, my strength and even tears had successfully fled. Yet here I remained, succumbing onto my belief of defeat as the barking sound reverberated louder in the night. I remembered those sounds, they are from the FOS guard dogs.

"Just go, Alfie. Run!" I cried, vain forced the thoughts out of me.

He didn't budge, instead he looked at me with confusion, and that made my heart break even more. I was afraid for him, the thought of what HEROIN might do to him was killing me. It made something in me ignite, putting off the spark of fear.

No! I won't let them!

I forced my body to a sitting and a sharp pain blew up in my head instantly from the sudden jolt. I almost fell back but I grabbed on the nearest tree to brace myself. Then I scrambled into my bag for the first aid kit. There was a 10mg morphine sulphate injection in it.

I didn't think twice before I jabbed it to my shoulder. Then I put everything back into my bag and curled my arm around Alfie. "Alfie help me up. Let's go," I told him.

He understood or he was moving with instinct, I wasn't sure. We ambled to north east, guided by the compass and the moon's simmer light. The barking sound hot on our tail and nausea started to build up in my throat from the medicine. My tears never dried up, my body was still aching, but my feet refused to let me down.

Our pace quickened as more of the pain relief took over my body. Before I knew it, we were running while hands joined together. We sprinted, pushing through the thick jungle that was slowly turning dense.

Then I saw it, the tall fence. Our goal was right in front of us. Yellow lights of the awakening day were peeking from the distance to tell time was running out.

"Hurry! Hurry Alfie!" I said with heavy breath.

When we reached the end, I hustled to find the gap. The darkness made the search time consuming. My heart was pounding uncontrollably under my rib cage, desperate to locate the way to our freedom.

After scrapping behind some more thick bush near the fence, I finally found it, spotting it from the newly tilled soil. Without wasting even a second, I dug direly with my bare hands. And being the curious Alfie, he joined me at once.

The steel wire fence was planted deep in the ground. But as my mother said, there was a hole, and it was big enough to fit us.

Victory was within our grasp when the obstruction was finally set aside. But when I turned around, Alfie was on his feet, looking behind me. I followed his line of sight and saw two glowing eyes, accompanying it was a growling sound.

"What is it girl!" A woman's voice echoed from the distance.

Vigilance had taken over me so I grasped Alfie's arm, dragging him back behind the bush and started crawling into the hole. He followed me as he always did but his shoulder was wider so he was having a hard time getting through. I saw the dog clearly, but it was running around and barking only at the side of the fence.

Suddenly Alfie writhed in pain. When I accidentally touched the fence, I almost fell back from the sudden jolt of voltage. I discerned the reason my mother told me to get through before sunrise.

Refusing defeat, I tugged on his shirt. Instantly, a surge of electricity coursed through my body, but I got him through in a single pull. We fell back in unison and I hugged him.

I scrambled to my feet with Alfie wobbling behind me. We were almost out of the open, but suddenly I heard a clicking sound. My eyes widened in shock when I saw a woman on the other side of the gate. I wasn't alarmed because she saw us --we were far enough for her not to see clearly-- but the thing she was holding in her hand, it was a gun.

My movement couldn't outmatch the velocity of the weapon. With horror I witnessed as she pulled the trigger then a booming sound registered. The bullet course through the air and hit its target.

Alfie came crashing onto the ground before my very eye. But I didn't scream, sound wasn't my reflex on the event.

I ran to him. I ran to save my Alfie.

To be continued...

***

Thank you for reading. Yes, this time no foreshadowing, dear Alfie really got shot.

So what do you think will happen next?