Chapter 20: Fierce winds

   "I think I need to rest a little bit more." I said, while I still munched on the tasty rabbit "Am thirsty, do we have any water?" 

 "No, we don't. That's one of the reasons I said we should head out. Your ankle?" Kin asked about my ankle. 

   I wiggled my ankle to see if it still hurt, and it did.

  "It still hurts," I said belching.

  "Well. Am a bit worried about our people back at camp." Kin said and sat beside me.

 "Me too," I said chewing the bone of the delicious rabbit, "this is good." 

   "You know the food we are eating?" He said, raising his eyebrows.

 "Yeah, what about it?" I said nodding my head still devouring the food.

 "It was dead. I did not kill the rabbit, it was already dead" Kin was smiling.

  "No... You are kidding" I said trying my best not to throw up.

 "Of course. I killed it some hours ago." He said,

  "How long was I out?" I asked as I stretched my body.

  "Hmmm...let me see. You were out for about half a day" When Kin told me this, I realized that it was already mid-day.

 "Wow. And it just feels like I just slept and woke up" 

 "Seems so." 

  "Kin, buddy, tell me. What happened last night? how did you carry me here? and the hordes where are they?" I said as I ate the last piece of my meal.

  Kin took a very deep breath, his facial expression changed, he looked grim, angry, and frustrated.

   "I was trying to get off the hill, then I saw something fall, at first I thought it was a zombie. Then I saw you crashing down and rolling down the hill. There was a sound above me. I did not know what it was until I saw splinters scattering in the air"

  "When I got down I rushed towards you, I checked your pulse to confirm if you were alive. You were "

   I knew all the parts Kin was telling me about aside from him climbing down the hill and checking my pulse.

  "Bro, how did we escape?" I asked

  "The zombies. I never knew they could climb, I don't remember them ever climbing a high place. but yesterday they did. It was as if they were being controlled. The hybrid." Kin paused. He was traumatized by something, "I'm sorry bro', I can't continue." He stood up and walked to a tree, he placed his head on the tree.

       "Kin, please give me a hand" I called. my right hand was stretched forward waiting for him to pull me up.

   He did as I requested. He pulled me up. I felt a sharp pain in my ribs, it was excruciatingly painful.

 "Hahhh..." I exclaimed, " I think I fractured my ribs," I said limping a little bit.

  "You didn't fracture it, you just hit it, in a day or two you'll be fine," Kin said, he put my arms across his shoulders. "We have to find a source of freshwater".

 "True," I said, removing my arms across His shoulder. 

   I could walk but I was very slow. One of my ribs hurts my ankle and some new places. 

  "Dane there is something I have to tell you." My friend said as he walked in front of me, "I think we are lost."

  "Don't think. I know" I corrected him, "And we are not." 

  "Okay, I have a plan." Kin did not wait for me to ask what his plan was, "We are going in search of water after we find water, we rest for two days and begin our journey back to camp... "

I nodded my head and agreed.

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             TWO WEEKS LATER 

  Yes, I was dying, lying on the ground after hitting my head on a tree. There were flashes of lightning in the sky and thunder accompanied it.

   It was my fault Kin and I were lost and stranded. If I had stopped him from going after the deer, we would be at camp. If I had not told us to head west instead of east we would have been at camp and if we didn't head west would we find out the existence of a hybrid? 

   My consciousness was fading, I felt my eyes roll into its sockets, my body was moving uncontrollably, and my toes felt numb. My teeth were joined together as if I was gritting it.

   The first drops of water from the sky I think were directed to me. It drooped in little quantities and then rose. The drops fell on my face and my body. My mouths were opened talking the water into my system. My thirst began to subside. My eyes came back to its normal state. I wiggled my toes and I felt them. I wasn't dying anymore, I was back.

       "Dane.. " my hearing was poor. I couldn't hear what he was saying or trying to say.

   I lay on the ground trying to move, I was still weak. The rain fell heavily, it fell directly on me. Thirst wasn't the problem anymore, the new problem was the exposure to the cold from the rain. Three was every tendency of me to get hyperthermia.

    I saw some things running at me, There were two, one was a familiar face, it was Kin, and the other was a zombie.

   The zombie fell to the ground, my friend used his stick on his head. The zombie wasn't dead, it was just knocked to the ground. Kin was enraged, he used the stick on the zombie's head with all his might repeatedly stopping until his stick broke. 

  Black rotten blood flowed on the ground with the rain. The zombie's head was split open Kin's eyes were still on the zombie he killed. 

   I got into a sitting position and stood on my feet The rain dripped endlessly on my body.

   I was still suffering from the impact of the tree. Now was our opportunity to have water. I removed my water bottle from my back and I raised it high. Before I knew it was already full. 

   "We need to find shelter", Kin said, using his bag as a shield from the rain.

 "There is no shelter Kin. We might as well just keep walking." I said walking past him.

   The rain wasn't ready to stop, some of the trees around us were moved around by the strong and fierce winds.

   "If we don't find shelter soon enough we will get a cold", Kin said, while he used his bag as a shield.

   Such an irony we were on the verge of death when we found no water to drink and when the water did come. It could be the source of a new problem...