The Sprout

Burning Embers: Part Three

Posted by Sambow from Cardiff - Published on 09/08/2010 at 11:23
1 comments » - Tagged as Creative Writing

Tweet

Burning Embers: Part One
Burning Embers: Part Two

Burning Embers: Part Three

To be honest, pain was a myth now.

Well more like an unwanted truth. We walked, ran, crawled for our lives just like we had from the beginning until Flint and I found ourselves lost, lost in the jungle of our nightmares.

I can’t remember how long it had been since we last ate, a day or two maybe? I rubbed a dirty hand across my sweaty face and collapsed on the floor.

“That’s it.” I said, gesturing towards my defeat. Flint looked at me and chuckled weakly.
“You give up to easily.” He wheezed, stretching up to the tree above my head. He grabbed two yellow apples, soft by the looks of them, and handed one to me. Despite my particular disliking for fruit, and vegetables for that matter, I ate the thing gratefully feeling it slide down my throat like stubborn mud.

I choked when I finished, and coughed for air. “You like apples then?” He laughed as he helped me to my feet. I glared at him for a second before dusting myself off of dirt. The effort, however, was futile. No matter what I did to brush the dirt off I was still covered. Flint and I had made sure so thoroughly that we wouldn’t be caught by the hunter and in doing so had neglected ourselves.

“Where now?” I asked pessimistically, looking up at the mocking grey sky. Flint followed me faze.
“We keep going.” His voice was hollow, his words unenthusiastic. I expected that answer. Without another word I got myself up and lead us deeper into the thick forest, having no clue where we were supposed to be going.

As the day drew closer and closer to an end I became slightly cautious of rain. From my hesitant movements Flint noticed my worry. “If it rains we can stop you know. We haven’t heard anything from that woman in a while; we don’t want to risk either of us fainting.” Flint sounded like my body, terrified and exhausted. I nodded and carried on walking.

The problem we had with rain was that it kept on falling, and sure, we could deal with water it was just rain didn’t know when to stop. When it fell it literally felt like it was draining of us of our energy, a monster of pure hunger - eating away our strength and breathing on us fatigue. The sun set slowly, taking it’s time to change the sky from blazing orange to serene purple. It didn’t rain.

By this time I was tired, the travelling, lack of food and sleep had finally caught up with me. Without warning I slumped to the ground and instantly fell drowsy. Flint seemed slightly annoyed by my sudden drop and dragged me over to a tree as I lazily remained still.

“Damn, you’re so awkward...” he mumbled trailing his words off. I only managed a weak smile before unconsciousness took over and I was submerged into a hazy, dreamless sleep.

******

I was awoken quite suddenly in the morning; Flint violently nudged me to wake. “Ember! For love of... Wake up!” Flint was slightly hysterical and it only took me a moment to realise why. Rain fell heavily around us; I could see Flint was already drenched.

“Flint!” I screamed, taking in his pale complexion and the haunting purple circles around his eyes. I jumped up immediately and the two of us pelted our way through the forest. We looked desperately for cover, trees, fallen logs, mud holes. Everywhere we searched we found was already drowned in a tempest of water. I began to feel tears burning my eyes, threatening to escape, as the search for shelter began to prove futile. Flint was slowing down with every step he took; it then occurred to me that he covered me from the rain as he tried to wake me up. I stumbled back a bit, trying to urge him to go faster. As I pulled him though, he fainted.

All of my fears spiralled out at once, we were stranded and it was raining.

I dashed back to help him, picking him up clumsily and trying to carry him before he... he... I didn’t know what would happen to him, or me, unless we got out of the rain. His heavy body was a struggle for me but nonetheless I scampered on. As I scurried through the trees and bushes I felt my arms become torn and cut from the nettles and thorns. The rain showed no signs of stopping as my own body began to deteriorate.

I looked a Flint's helpless body in my arms as they gave way and I dropped him. As I did so my own body lost its footing and I slipped on the harsh muddy forest floor. I looked at Flint, a few meters away from me, as I felt all motion leave my body. I lay helpless, paralysed, as the two of us drowned in the rain.

“Flint!” I screamed again, as if it would help anything. Slowly I tried to edge my way closer to him, but with every movement my body got weaker, more tired. He still remained unconscious, as if his breath was slipping away with every second he remained submerged in the rain. I lay my hand on him, as that’s all that would reach, as my body lost all of its motion. I didn’t even have the energy to cry in self pity as my own mind delved into the state of submersion to the rain.

Everything went black and all I could hear was the eerie sound of water and then, nothing.

IMAGE: OUCHcharley

Burning Embers: Part Four