The Corrupted Soul

Chapter 10

My breathing was heavy as I ran at full tilt through the dence foliage. At this point I had left the city entirely, and was running aimlessly through the forest. I hadn't stopped to rest for hours now, no one knew where I was - I barely knew where I was - and there was only one thing on my mind. I had to find Martian.

My Crawler legs were strained to the point it was almost too painful to think past. I shook my head hard with a growl, pushing ahead still, panting heavily, each time leaving a foggy cloud in front of my face. It was freezing out here, I had lost most feeling in my face and hands an hour ago.

I knew what had to have happened, only one thing happens when a Crawler grabs an animal and hauls it off. It didn't matter how obvious it was, I refused to listen to reason. I shot down the logic that small voice kept whispering in my ear, and instead chose to listen to blind hope.

He can't be dead...

If anything happened to Martian, Olive would kill me. And that would be the very least of my worries. I would never be able to live with myself, it was my fault we were in that park! Yes we had all deemed it safe for the time being, but I still should have gone somewhere else after my encounter with the beast.

I didn't know what I would do in the long haul if Martian had died because of me, but I did know I would never be able to return to the city. Maybe I would just keep running in a straight line until I died, eventually come back, and keep running to repeat the cycle.

I shook my head once again. No, that won't be happening. He is out here. He has to be. There was no blood when he got grabbed, so maybe he got away unharmed around when I lost sight of them?

I hadn't caught any scent in the woods but pine and cedar trees, as well as the occasional deer or bear trail. I hadn't encountered a single living thing but a few small birds. How hard can it be to smell a damned Crawler in the woods?! I used to do it all the time!

I started running along an old deer trail, as there was much less in the way of plant matter blocking my path. Maybe the Feral took this path too, as the path of least resistance? It was unlikely as the snow was untouched and I still couldn't smell a thing.

My vision began to blur slightly, and it startled me to realize it was due to tears welling up. I hadn't even realized I started crying. What shocked me even more was how it took me several long minutes to notice I wasn't actually crying, but my glasses had fallen off somewhere in the woods, and the sun was burning itself into my sensitive eyes.

Snarling at the sudden pain I hadn't even noticed until now, I shut my eyes tightly and kept running, refusing to stop and simply relying on my sense of smell and my hearing to get me through the woods. I couldn't just go back for my glasses, they could have fallen anywhere, and I had lost them several minutes ago. Crawlers could run at a maximum of 120 miles per hour at our max speed, and I had been charging through these woods for three hours at least.

I was hundreds of miles from the city, I hadn't realized these woods were so big. This Crawler could be anywhere, but it must have been blinded long ago, it shouldn't be this hard to find it!! I should have easily been able to smell the metallic tang of blood in the air if it had attacked Martian further, but even so, there was nothing. That was the only good sign, but it barely counted as I could just be missing the scent trail.

Apparently sight was indeed necessary to run through uneven terrain covered in snow. As I lifted one Crawler leg to take another stride forward, it smashed full force into the base of a tree, and I was unable to correct my position before it came down and bent backwards against the roots of the tree. The faint crack was easily drowned out by me shouting obscenities as I smashed into the forest floor.

Maybe it was a good thing I crashed when I did, as if I hadn't I would have run directly into a massive pine tree. Though with my unplanned stop, and the momentum I had built up, I merely smashed my head against the rough bark. Because that was a much better outcome.

I held my now steadily bleeding forehead in both hands, pulling my legs to my chest as I layed on my side in the snow. The splitting pain and pounding in my skull was not going to let up anytime soon, and my Crawler legs now refused to move much more than a twitch as the exhaustion was finally catching up with me, not to mention I had just broken an ankle.

I lifted my head to the sky, disregarding the seering pain in my eyes, and screeched up at the clouds above. No one would hear me. No one knew I was here, and at this point, I didn't know where I was either. It didn't matter though. I had failed to find my friend, there was no possible way he could be anything but dead now because of me.

The normal screech for a Crawler would last for just under a second, but mine stayed full voice for many more. I didn't count how long I continued screeching, but I only stopped when I was completely out of breath, and truly couldn't continue even if I tried.

The ear-splitting noise did not help my growing headache any, and now a ringing in my ears added to the cacophony of feelings and sounds. I panted hard, staring with blind eyes at the ground below me.

Maybe when night fell, I would be able to find my way somewhere I could go back to living as a wild Crawler and try to forget what I had caused. Olive and I both would never forgive me if I came back to town without him.

So I won't return.