Chapter 7: "...it's time"

Just as I anticipated and imagined, moving in almost complete darkness was nearly impossible, we just had to trust our guts to direct us to a straight path. Kin was in front of me, I was running behind him, whenever I saw him jump or whatever movement he made or I assumed he made I followed 'cause I trusted his intuition. The sounds behind us sounded like we were being pursued by more pursuers. I was assured that Kin had a lot of questions to throw at me, not even questions, bewilderment why I came after and anger at me why I left his only surviving sibling, even as we were ruining his aura felt intimidating, I knew the questions he will ask me if we survived our pursuers.

" Are you armed ?" I asked Kin bending as we ran and ducked.

" You said ?" Kin said annoyed at something, he was annoyed at me.

"Are you armed?" I said ignoring his mood.

" Do you see me with a spear or anything?"Kin asked even more annoyed at me.

" I know how we can lose them," I said, we were now running side by side. I handed him my shortened spear. He took it from me glad I gave it, to him it felt like a missing piece was found or he was alive again.

"What are your ideas, Dane? we are running out of time, am getting exhausted and they are closing in on us" Kin said as his pace grew slower.

" We can't keep running forever, let's find a good tree to climb," I said nearly forgetting I was tensed

" And how are we going to do that, we are still being chased you know, and we haven't lost them," Kin Said even slowing down more.

"There let's climb that tree" Through the dark, I managed to point at a tall tree. From what I saw and analyzed the tree was tall and massive. The branches were way up high and they could contain me and Kin if we got there fast. even though we were surrounded by many trees that particular tree felt safe, as if it called for me.

"You go, I'll lure the zombies," Kin said giving me a pat on my back. I slightly turned my head to the back to confirm how close or how far our pursuers were but I was terrified by what I saw, we were not chased by one or two or three not even four zombies, through the dark and my scanty vision I estimated them to be six Orr seven and they were not that far from us. Their speed was to our advantage, they weren't fast or slow. It was a good sign, that their bones and bodies had decayed or had started the process of decaying that's why they weren't as fast as when they just turned.

" It's suicide if you turn around and lure them, we have some time to climb the tree let's head there together," I said assuring Kin of a possible death if he went after the zombies.

" How did these freaks get here? "Kin's voice showed despair and anger. He felt despair because of the hope and belief he had for the woods. And I knew he felt despair because he couldn't see the faces of the zombies whether they were that of our friends or not.

I was the first to get to the tree, I removed my shoes and sweaty socks almost as quickly as I got there I opened my bag with the same speed and kept my shoes in it. The moment of truth befell us, no befell me, I hugged the tee with my legs tucked around it also and used the weight of my hands to pull me up. It was painful but did I dare remember pain? I kept on pulling myself onto the tree as I moved higher.

"Dane ... " Kin said, I knew what he meant the zombies were closing on him he had no time to wait, so he hugged the tree and pulled himself higher also."Hah!" Kin exclaimed, I turned my eyes down below me. I couldn't see what was going on clearly. I squinted my eyes, I saw a zombie holding onto Kin's leg.

"Help me," Kin said, for the first time his voice had fear in it.

" Kick at it," I said from the position I was. My friend followed my advice and kicked at the zombie. After the zombie let go of his legs he immediately climbed higher until he got out of arm's reach. I felt safe even though I was hugging a tree.

We were now surrounded and swarmed by the zombies. Their sound was intimidatingly loud. My hands hurt as I held the tree.

" I don't think I can hold on much longer," I said trying my best not to let go.

"Dane if you let go, we both die, end of story. I wanna see my sister you also do, so don't you dare let go... Just give a little push so we can get to the top" Kin said trying his best to save our lives with his words.

My brain betrayed me entirely, a sharp and tingling pain came from my nose, I was tempted to touch it and check if it was broken, I didn't even dare do that. My head ached badly and I felt dizzy almost instantly.

"Yo Dane, what are you doing?"

"I think am dizzy," I said as my eyes spun and got blurry. It was dark and it even got darker

"Don't let go... hang on. I'll jump back down and lure them away and you run the other direction, I'll leave the spear you gave me right beside the tree ". I heard what Kin said but my mouth felt heavy to lift. My grip on the tree loosened with every second that passed by, it was share luck that kept hanging.

I didn't notice when Kin jumped. The zombies had gone after him. I let go of the tree and I fell to the ground on my back. My bag insulated the impact but my head did not, I heard a sound, it was loud, and it was the sound of my head hitting the ground. My body was too weak to move and I suffered I might have had a concussion.

I blacked out.

I opened my eyes slowly and everything seemed to be in black and white. My head still ached and my nose still hurts. I slowly got into a kneeling position to lift myself. My neck felt stiff so I turned it to the right and I heard my bone crack giving me relief.

Wait where's Kin, I thought to myself. After all, there was no sign of the zombies anywhere. I finally Stoddard to my feet. I touched my nose to feel if it was broken, but it wasn't, there was dried-up blood on it.

The moon came out slightly still covered by clouds giving a little bit of light to the night, I tried recalling what Kin said before he saved me. I passed out for some minutes. I cursed at myself for not waking up at dawn.

" Where do I go too ?" I asked myself still disoriented and confused. my memories came to me like waves swirling at the shores of the sea. I was a bit worried about Kin my mind wanted to accept despair but I shut it down.

I took one big look at the tree I fell from and I knew this was my only hope of survival, Kin was safe, somewhere inside of me felt sure that he was, If I went after him I knew I could complicate things. As Kin said the spear was beside the tree I picked it up and put it in my bag

I gave a big look at the tree and said: "Huuuuu... It's time" I said taking a very deep breath...