Running away

SPLASH

Two loud sounds echoed inside the jungle as two people jumped inside the river. I felt water enter my mouth and nose and making them kind of sore. The coldness seeped into my body, making me shiver slightly. The impact from the fall also made the parts of my skin that were not covered with clothes burn a little bit.

I hurriedly pushed my head out of the water and took a deep breath while coughing out the water that had entered my mouth. Without wasting any time, I raised my right hand and grabbed the piece of clothing that was floating on the water beside me and lifted it up.

"Gasp!"

Attached to the clothing, or rather, wearing the clothing that I had pulled up, Alaric's head was also moved out of the water. He took several deep breaths and glanced at me with a pale face. It was obvious what he wanted to ask, but he swallowed his questions as soon as he heard the growling voices from just a few meters away.

Grrrrr

Growlll

Some beasts growled and dug the ground with their paws while the others broke into a jug and ran alongside the river in an attempt to catch us. The speed of the water however was not a joke. As our bodies helplessly got swayed around by the water, the figures of the beast got more and more distant. After a few seconds, we could only hear their threatening and creepy howls and barely distinguish their shining eyes.

"...Oh my god!"

Still being held by me, Alaric patted his chest a few times and sighed with the signs of panic still visible on his face. He stared at the spot where the beasts had stopped following us until any signs and sounds from the wild animals vanished. It was just after that he finally looked at me and asked in a low voice.

"What now?"

The river was moving our bodies along with it as it moved through the jungle in a straight, downhill path. There were occasional stones and other small objects that appeared in it and some even grazed our bodies, but none of them were that dangerous. The depth of the water was not that much, being barely higher than an adult male's height.

The path un here was smooth, but there was no guarantee that it would be like this the more we went deeper into the jungle. There might be some troublesome obstacles in our way that might be dangerous or even deadly. Now that the beasts were not following us anymore, we had to get out of the water as soon as possible.

Fortunately, that wasn't a hard task. As the river flowed through a jungle, there were quite a lot of things on its path that could be used to hold our bodies and leave the water. For instance, the roots and branches of the trees.

"Grab one of those and pull yourself up."

I pointed at the roots and branches, as well as tree trunks. There were even some stones that could be used, but you had to sacrifice the bones of your back and your spine if you wanted to stop flowing by using them.

"But... What if they come after us again?"

Alaric hesitated, visible still scared of the thing that happened a few minutes ago.

"We've jumped into the water, so it's probable that they won't be able to feel our familiar scent. The distance from that place here is also not little, the group of beasts can hunt other animals and feel their stomachs instead of coming right after us."

"Isn't it dangerous?"

"Staying inside this river is even more dangerous!"

"What if there are other beasts in here and they'll attack us once we leave the river?"

"...Then we'll jump into the water once again."

"But isn't the river even more dangerous?"

'If I could, I would like to grab my hair and pull all of it out right now. No, why my hair, I would pull this brat's hair out one by one!'

I took a deep breath and suppressed my irritation.

"If you are scared, then you stay here. Float in the river and go to its end. I'm leaving."

As soon as I showed signs of releasing the man's collar, Alaric's eyes instantly widened and his face lost colors once again.

"No! No, don't leave me alone! I'll move out! I'll grab that branch and jump out of the water right now!"

Alaric turned around and spread his arms out to grab the nearest tree branch that was spread over the river before he was even done talking. As soon as his hands reached the branch and he grabbed it, I released my grasp from his clothes. The young man hurriedly pulled him up and sprawled down on the soil. Not wasting any time, I also used the nearest tree root to drag myself out of the water.

"Phew!"

A sigh left my mouth as I lay down on the wet grass and soil. My energy was completely drained even though I did nothing and my body felt heavy.

"How are we going to go back to the camp now?"

"Good question."

I muttered with a slight delay.

"We can't. At least, not for now."

"..."

Alaric didn't object or say anything else. He too must know that going back to that place was more than dangerous, as a group of beasts was roaming around not too far away from it and we had no way of passing through them alive. The distance was also too much for us to walk in the dark night with our exhausted bodies.

After resting for a few minutes, the two of us once again began to dry our clothes. While I was in the middle of throwing away the leaves that were in between my hairs, I suddenly was reminded of something.

"Look, about the things you said before."

Alaric snapped out of his daze at my voice.

"Don't tell such bullsh- strange stuff about me to the others."

'By that, I mean Ranger, don't tell him the stories you've made up about my suicide in your head if you want me to keep on living!'

"If I wanted to die or had any thoughts of killing myself, I could simply stand in front of those beasts and wait for them to tear me apart, or I could keep going with the water flow until I drowned or died by hitting some obstacles."

As if suddenly realizing something, Alaric's eyes lit up a little bit and his numb face gained a little bit of energy.

"So why did you jump into the water..." He tilted his head, "It can't be that you suddenly wanted to swim..."

"...."

After a few more minutes of silence, the young man with light-brown, almost golden hair, suddenly clapped his hands.

"I got it! You wanted to run away!"

Now, what should I do about it? Should I admit it? Will Alaric punish me if I say I wanted to run away? I don't think so... I don't know why but I've got a feeling that he won't be that mad even if I confess.

Before I could say anything, Alaric opened his mouth again.

"Does that mean you don't have any intentions of returning back to the camp? Am I now a hindrance?"

"...."

'...You actually are, but stating it like that sounds a little bit cruel.'

I once again chose to remain silent. It was unknown how Alaric interrupted my silence, but there was a momentarily pained expression on his face before he suddenly smiled.

"Great! Let's run away together!"