2 Bad Luck (2)

Laying on the ground in silence after falling and rolling on the ground once again, I took a few deep breaths because of the pain and tried to relax my body. My chest and waist still hurt, as did everything else in my body.

Since I woke up, I've been suffering bad luck after bad luck. I am full of wounds and pain in my body, but that bad luck seems far from over.

Lying on the ground with my belly up, I could see the moon in the sky, and I was finally able to calm down. The pain in my body seemed to lose its importance slowly, while my mind was occupied by the beautiful and glorious blue moon in the sky.

"I'm so tired..."

My eyelids started to drop, and I felt like I was going to fall asleep. A voice in the back of my mind, though, kept telling me not to sleep. I tried to focus on that voice to find out why I couldn't sleep, but in the end, my tiredness won out, and I did.

I woke up feeling pain all over my body. When I opened my eyes, I realized it was still dark. I can't say how long I slept. I got up and sat on the ground. I looked around and realized that there was nothing unusual, although I heard some noises of the forest moving. In my mouth, however, I felt a strange and bitter taste.

Spitting whatever was in my mouth, I took one last look around and finally looked at the lake again. I was thirsty, and I had an idea when I woke up. Approaching the lake, I hit the invisible wall again. Sitting on the ground beside the invisible wall, I leaned back and waited in silence.

A few seconds later, the same phenomenon happened, and I fell backward on the ground. This time, I didn't get up immediately, and just crouched, watching the lake in silence.

Nothing happened.

I stood watching the lake for a few seconds, and when I tried to get closer, I received a jet of water from the direction of the lake, and again I was thrown back. This time I was prepared, so I didn't get hurt much, but I still rolled on the ground a few meters back.

When I finally stopped, I felt the water that came into my throat, and relaxed. This time, the jet of water hit my face. It was less painful than the last time, so even though it hit my face, I just felt like I'd been punched.

Completing my goal, I massaged my aching jaw and got up from the ground, but when I was looking at the lake thinking about what that jet of water was, I heard a noise and felt a sharp pain in my leg.

When I looked down, I saw a snake biting my leg hard. Lowering my body, I grabbed the snake and tossed it away, freeing its fangs from my leg and making it hurt even more.

I looked at my leg and saw two bite marks. Seeing a yellowish liquid coming out of the bite holes, my heart froze. I think it was a poisonous snake. I looked at the snake, and it had blue and green tones, I have never seen this snake in my life before. It was long but thin, and at that moment, it was in a defense position, looking at me cautiously.

I knew enough about snakes to know that they only spent poison on their prey, and due to the size, I doubt that it saw me as its prey. In other words, it only attacked me to defend itself, which means that when I was hit by the jet of water and fell backward, I fell close to or even on top of it, which is why it bit me, it felt threatened.

I used all my strength to calm myself down. I knew I couldn't panic for two reasons. The first, I had read somewhere that if my blood pumps too fast, it increases the speed at which the poison spreads, so I definitely couldn't get desperate and let my heart beat fast.

The second reason, which is the most important is that when we are anxious we cannot think straight. I've already been poisoned, I can't do anything about it. What I must focus on now is finding a city. If I can get to a hospital on time, I'll be fine.

My biggest chance is if this snake has a paralyzing type poison or one that just makes the person feel a lot of pain. If it is, I will suffer, and be paralyzed, but I won't die even if I cannot find a city.

Ideally, I should be stood still, but to find a city, I need to walk. So, calmly, I'll move, walking slowly.

Looking at the lake one last time, I chose a direction and went on my way. I needed to find civilization, other people. I didn't even know where I was. The giant blue moon in the sky and the phenomenon in the lake left me with a bad feeling, but I didn't want to jump to conclusions before I had all the facts.

As I walked, I continued to take all possible precautions using my previous experiences. The spot on my leg where the snake bit was very swollen, but luckily, I wasn't in much pain anymore. It seems the poison anesthetized the spot. It became more difficult to move that leg, though.

Well, I just need to walk slowly anyway.

On the way, I had bad luck again. I fell twice, hit my toe on a rock, and some birds and bats scared me by making me fall more times.

I can't take this anymore. I'm tired, sore, and anxious thinking about my mother. At worst, I'm going to die here to the snake's poison. Why does this have to happen to me?

Several negative thoughts crossed my mind at this delicate moment, but I kept walking, I had hope. My mom was waiting for me. As long as I can move, I have to keep moving. I can't stop, I can't give up.

I walked so much that I don't even know how much time has passed. My mind, little by little, started to get cloudy. I was able to keep my body moving, but gradually I was losing consciousness. Will I die?

Before I pass out, though, I saw something that gave me an energy boost.

A person!

I finally found a person!

With my vision a little blurry, I couldn't tell if it was a man or a woman. I could see the silhouette, however. Without a doubt, it was a person. This person was leaning against a tree, sitting in silence.

Getting closer, I made some noises, hoping to announce my presence to not scare him, but the person didn't even move. When I got close enough, I finally saw: he was a boy, he looked to be about fifteen or sixteen. He had short and dirty blond hair, and his clothes were torn and dirty.

His eyes were closed, his head hanging to the side. His clothes were in very bad shape, but what caught my attention the most were the clothes themselves: they were very strange. He wore a very big boot, with long, wide pants. The pants were so loose they needed a suspender so they wouldn't fall off.

He wore a dirty white shirt with a long sleeve that had only two buttons open near the neck. Overall, he looked like he was wearing a farmer's outfit, and the design looked strange, it didn't look like something done nowadays.

When I got close enough and saw that he was all dirty and with some bruises on his face, I thought for a few seconds that he was dead, but I managed to hear his breathing after a while.

Getting closer, I tried to wake him up by shaking his body, but he didn't wake up. In his mouth, I saw a trace of a strange purple liquid. Did he eat anything before bed? Maybe a poisoned fruit?

"Hey, hey, hey, wake up. Are you alright? Hey."

After trying for a while, I saw his eyes slowly open. He looked kind of groggy, as he just looked around for a moment. The first thing he did when he woke up, however, was to cough hard. A strange purple liquid came out of his mouth and soiled, even more, his white shirt.

After he calmed down from the violent cough, he noticed my presence and his eyes widened. I tried to talk to him, but without saying anything, he just jumped on top of me, pushing me to the ground.

Before I could react, he bit my arm hard. I felt a sharp pain, and I was afraid, he was acting very odd.

Seeing that he didn't let go of my arm even after a while, I tried to push him away, but he kept holding my arm tightly. I smelled blood, and I knew it had penetrated deep enough to make a bleeding wound.

Tired of being kind, I pushed him away hard, and he finally let go of my arm. When I looked, I saw blood coming out of a bite wound. If I hadn't pushed him away, he could have taken a piece of my arm off.

Using the moonlight, I took a closer look at my wound and realized that some kind of weird insect was on my arm. It looked like a little purple spider. The spider entered the wound, and before I could react, it disappeared into my flesh, making me feel even more acute pain.

Getting up quickly, I moved away from the boy, but I realized that after I pushed him, he fell to the ground and didn't get up anymore. Seeing that it seemed I was no longer in danger, I looked at my arm. Taking a deep breath, I tried to open the wound to find the spider, but I couldn't find it.

My heart was shaking because of recent events. A person bit me, almost tearing a piece off my arm, and a spider entered my body. What else will happen to me?

No, calm down, don't give up yet. Taking a deep breath, I cautiously approached the boy lying on the ground. He was completely stretched out on the ground, not moving.

I tried to touch him with my foot to see if he would move, but it stayed still. I moved closer and knelt beside him, preparing for any movement of him.

I couldn't listen to his breathing. I put my hand on his wrist and tried to feel the blood pulse: nothing. I put my hand in front of his nose, and I didn't feel the breath.

He died.

My mind went blank for a moment. One person died in front of me. And that person attacked me a few moments ago. Is it for me to feel relieved?

Honestly, I don't know what I'm feeling, but my logical side knew this was bad since I wouldn't be able to get any new information that way. I needed to know how to get out of this forest.

Honestly, I don't know what I'm feeling, but my logical side knew it was bad since I wouldn't be able to get any new information that way. I needed to know how to get out of this forest.

And he wasn't well either. Maybe he was poisoned by a snake, and he was on the verge of death. That bite may have been a last-ditch before dying, I'm not sure.

I investigated his body and found several injuries. One was bigger than the others, a bruise on his left arm. It looked like a dog bite. By the color of the skin around it, it was already rotting. It had been a long time since he had received this bite and he didn't try to heal it properly.

Did he get lost in the forest? Perhaps he was attacked by a wild dog and just died of infection... But he isn't hot, he didn't have a fever. He was alive a few minutes ago, so I thought he was still warm, but his skin was very cold, and he was sweating.

What killed him? I didn't see any snake bite marks. Maybe some virus? Or something he ate? He was spitting out a purple liquid earlier.

I opened his mouth to smell what he had eaten, but I only smelled blood. That's weird.

Apart from the clothes he was wearing, he had nothing else with him.

Wiping some of the dirt off his face, I sighed. Fifteen or sixteen. So young, and died that way. I won't be able to give him a proper burial either, I don't have the strength to dig a hole in the ground with my hands.

If I manage to find a city, I'll let the police know about this boy's body so they can give him a decent burial.

Taking a deep breath, I took one last look at the boy and went on my way.