How much do you really know?

twenty two

    We hobbled along at a painfully slow rate through the forest. I could tell that the non-injured people wanted to go a lot faster than we were going, but they were not willing to leave us injured people behind. Carson kept glancing nervously around, never looking at one spot for more than a couple seconds. He would glance at the sky, where we could still hear the helicopter blades, then flicked his eyes to the forest, then quickly glanced behind him at Connor, then me, Justin, and Daniel. I wasn't too nervous because the sound of the blades was moving in and out, meaning GORG didn't know where in the forest we were, yet. I stared ahead of me the whole time, absent-mindedly looking at Bryce's muscles strain as he grew tired from carrying Connor's body weight.
    My own body weight was too much for my leg. I leaned against the crutch so much that I thought it would break. Every time I took a step, a pain shot through my whole body, starting where the bone of my leg had broken through my skin. It was starting to give me a headache.
    I never dared to look down for fear that the blood would be seeping through the bandage. I didn't even risk a glance when I started feeling something drip down my leg. I knew that I wouldn't be able to get myself to keep going.
    It felt as if we were walking for hours, but there was no way to tell the time as the forest was so thick that we could not see where the sun was above us.
The only sounds were the crunching of debris beneath our feet and labored breathing. I tried to forget about the sound of the helicopter blades that were
fluctuating in volume, searching all over for us but not being able to see us through the thick leaves. The cars we had heard earlier would not be able to make it this far into the forest. Where we had to switch to walking, they would also have to resort to traveling my foot.
    It slowly became harder and harder to see where I was stepping as the pain in my head grew. I guess also that the sun had gradually gone down, taking all light from the forest. I thought it had been nighttime a long time ago because it was so dark in the forest, but it got even darker, proving me wrong.
    Then came the point where I couldn't see my hand two feet away from my face, let alone see Bryce and Carson in front of me. The only thing that kept me going was the sound of footsteps ahead and behind me, knowing that I had not strayed from the group.
    But I couldn't see where I was stepping, and just one step led me wrong. The ankle of my good leg caught a hole in the ground and I went tumbling down. Luckily, I landed on my side, so I didn't injure my leg any more. The next thing I felt was someone tripping over me. Justin yelled, "shit!" as he hit the ground next to me. The sounds of footsteps stopped.
    "Where are you guys?" Aspen whispered.
    A dozen different voices saying 'over here' sounded from all around us.
    "That doesn't help," Aspen sighed. "Who fell?"
    "Me," me and Justin yelled out.
    "Oh yeah, 'me' helps a lot."
    "Eliana," I called out.
    "Justin."
    "There we go, some actually helpful information."
    I rolled my eyes as I listened to someone fish around in a bag. Finally, something clicked and my eyes were blinded by a light. I closed my eyes tight. I hurt several people around me groan or say "ow!" After a couple of seconds, I was slowly able to open my eyes. Aspen had found a flashlight and decided to shine it right at us. It wasn't even that bright, but it had been so dark that we had all been surprised by it.
    "Great. A flashlight. You couldn't have found that three hours ago?" Justin sneered. I agreed with him of course, but others did not appreciate the snarky remark.
    Carson pulled me up by my arm and Aspen did the same to Justin.
    "Are you guys okay?" Carson asked. We both nodded. "I haven't heard the cars in a while, so they must also be on foot by now. We need to hurry up the pace. They will be moving faster than us."
    So again started our journey, with no rest or food, but this time with a flashlight. At least I could finally see where I was stepping. We were moving at a slightly faster pace. Why hadn't Aspen thought about her flashlight sooner? I was beginning to feel like how Justin had sounded. I was irritated and tired.
    We walked for a while longer, having an easier time with the light, until we heard the helicopters that we hadn't heard in hours. At first we just suspected they were patrolling.
    But then the sounds of the blades whirring got louder and louder, until they were right above us.
    "Shit!" Justin yelled. "The flashlight! It's pitch black outside and we're holding a fucking flashlight. They can see the light through the trees!" The light immediately went out, but everyone was in a panic.
    "We'll only go slower now," I heard.
    "We're doomed," another voice said.
    "Shut up!" Carson yelled in his authoritative voice. "Shut up and get moving!"
    We did. Carson scared the crap out of me and I bet he did to the others too.
    But it was too late. Within the next hour, we suspected the guards would catch up to us.