Ahh, school... Enemy to all fun activities.
"Pocket!" Hollow hissed, not wanting to attract unwanted attention. Listening for a minute, he heard a breathless sob almost disguised in the chirping and rustling of the woods, but not quite. Well, he thought, I can handle it if its not her... I hope. Moving towards the noise, which sounded to much like crying now to not be her, he had to give her points for at least being quiet about it.
Peering around the boulder, he sighed. "Hey Bunny." He said, sitting next to her. The slickness of their coats rustled when they brushed each other.
After a while, she spoke. "I killed him." Holding the knife in front of her, she shook her head. "Hollow, I killed Tyde. I- I didn't even mean to!"
"Pocket, we need to be quiet-"
"I know. I-I know. Just, at least if I had meant to, I'd be prepared. But he was just there, and I had no idea..." She sighed, composing herself. "We need to keep moving." Said with a steeliness that unnerved Hollow, she used his shoulder to hoist herself up. Steadying herself and brushing the dead leaves and dirt off her ass, she threw a bag over her shoulder and looked at him.
Hollow, getting up as well, was happy to drop it for now. They needed to move, still to close to the clearing for his liking. "We need to be cautious. We might be able to predict some of the crew, but there are still 3 people we know nothing about."
The girl nodded, and they continued walking. Having little to talk about due to stress and the urgency that needed them to be quiet reduced them to relative silence, nature providing the only noise. Pocket, after a while of walking, stopped. Hearing her whisper into the wind, Hollow glanced back to see why, and his eyes widened as he faced forward again.
"Pocket, duck and roll."
She looked confused for a moment and heard a crack behind her. Before she realized what she was doing, she was rolling straight down a hill. Smacking into a tree, she saw the girl aiming at her again, and with dizzy vision she crawled away, struggling to find her feet. She managed just in time to hear the thwak the arrow made on the tree.
Quickly looking around and not finding Hollow, she had to make a snap decision. Running down the next hill, she tripped and tumbled, landing ungracefully but finding her feet quickly. She hid between a tree and bush, clutching her knife and putting all her focus into listening and breathing quietly.
Hearing leaves crunch just behind her, defining the slow steps of someone with a bow, she steeled herself. Hearing them stop, she exhaled and centered herself. Running towards the person, she went diagonal to them, hearing the thunk of the arrow and veering to tackle them. The bow knocked out of the girls grasp, Pocket went with her momentum and stabbed her in the stomach, not hesitating. If she did, she would be killed.
Everything slowed down. Pocket, realizing what she'd done, took the knife out quickly and climbed off, hoping not to hurt her anymore. The girl sputtered blood, clutching the wound.
Pocket took her hand. "I'm- I..." Tears slipped down her cheeks.
"It's... I unders-stand."
Pocket brushed her hand across the girls forehead and sat with her, getting up when she was gone.
Retracing her steps, she managed to find the ridge she had rolled -well, fallen really- down. Hiking up the hill, she stopped to look at the sun, noticing how low it was and biting her lip in worry. Almost up, she called out.
"Hollow?"
A raspy "Hey..." Was the reply she got. Puzzled as to why he sounded so... odd, she picked up her pace.
Reaching the top, it didn't take long to notice him. Gasping when she saw the blood, she rushed over to him, dropping to her knees at his side, hands hovering, wanting to help but afraid to touch.
"You're okay..." He smiled crookedly, reaching up with shoulder that was not impaled to tuck hair behind her ears. "I thought you were dead."
"No, no that was the girl the canon went off for. The girl I killed." Looking towards his shoulder, she continued. "Nevermind that. You're hurt because of me."
"Hey, it was better one of us hurt than one of us dead. Besides, it's not so bad. I can still walk. It's not an arrow to the knee you know." He cringed at the fact that he said that, thinking Rage had finally rubbed off on him. Moving, as if to demonstrate, he accidentally leaned on the injured joint and collapsed again.
"We have to do something about this Hollow," She said, "if we leave it, it'll just get worse."
"Yeah. Do you know how? I've never been in this situation before so..."
"And I totally have?" Rolling her eyes, she became serious again. "Only what I've seen in movies... but it seems pretty sound."
He nodded, and Pocket laid her hand on the arrow. He winced when she snapped the body, and making eye contact, pulled.