Annei

I felt a crash. When i hit the ground, everything went black, and then my eyes twitched open. Looking around, my shoulder throbbed, forcing me to fall from a propped elbow. Recovering, I lifted my self up again to stand. I stared at my surroundings, realizing where I was. I was in the Circle Of Hedge - Where you go in but don't go out. The tall hedge ensured that I wouldn't get out. But I had to try, regardless of pain. I gripped the thorned hedge, and pushed off of the ground. My other hand swung higher, gripping the painful branch underneath huddled leaves. My feet looked for a step, but this was no staires game. Once my left foot found a frail stem, I tried to push off, berely advancing. The thorns dug into my skin, and I felt the blood ooze out. Wincing with further pain, my foot found a thicker branch. When I found decent grip with it, I loosened grip with my right and, pushing off and advancing 4 feet higher. Because I didn't loosen grip with my hand (and how far the enduring thorns and various sticker needles had drove into my skin) all the sharp plants came off with my hand. Wincing with advanced pain, I opened my eyes and looked down. I was a good 25 feet off the ground, nearly 6 times my own height. I winced again, and looked higher. I still had a good 60 feet above me.

Keep trying, I told myself; If your the only one to survive, you have to keep going. Kas and Len are probably wondering where you are.

Annei gripped the branches, evaiding pain. She bounced off a branch, advancing to what seemed like the next level of a Nintendo game, because she could feel bug insides and slimy milipedes on her fingers. Desserting pain and wicked fright, she lifted higher, and climbed old fashioned:

Right foot higher, left hand higher; Left foot higher, right hand higher.

Annei continued for a long time, her instincts getting the best of her. When the sunshine overhead became to where her retina's began to burn, she knew she was almost there.

Don't even think about the fall...Think of win.

To influence herself, she began to play a song by Nickelback through her head.

I dropped my song, and my instinct, and let the pain swell in. But that obviously wasn't a good choice. My hands and knees began to hurt so terribly that I wanted to let go and fall to my doom. But then it caught me; How did I survive the first time? I thought to myself. Realizing my thought overtook my head, my grip loosened and My left hand let go, along with the left part of my body.

Somewhat screeching, I panicked and jump higher; Again with the mistakes. Once I went up, I remembered the laws of science and its gravitational rules. I began to drop, and almost instintaniously, a rugged, pale hand caught me grasp. It pulled incredibly hard, and realizing I didn't way much, I nearly was tossed out of the pit. When I rolled onto the top of rarely thorned hedge, I thought

Who was that..?

And then Derrick leaned over me. Growing bug-eyed, I whispered

"H-Hi..."

"Hello." He said as if nothing happened.

"Were you the one who-"

"Yes. I heard your screech and came running, bad choice for my feet though.

His ankles and feet were scratched with blood as if someone had taken a knife and carved a detailed design into them. I gazed at them, imagining his pain. But then I she remembered my own. I sat with my knees propped up, and almost fainted at the sight of the amount of cuts I had. You could almost see my tendon in one of them. Assessing the damage, I remembered my hands. I dared to look, and once I did, I couldn't stop staring. Black thorns, bloody needles, and my flesh oozing out one throb after another. Staring in sharp pain, I knew sooner or later if I didn't take care of it, I would be poisoned by them. Derrick came over to me, and began to pull them out, quickly so the pain would go with them. As he pulled them out, I asked

"Why did you come to save me..?"

"Because," he said; "I knew if one of you 3 were to survive, I would get you and protect you. And I had to try and find someone, 'cause honestly, I don't have any remote idea where we are."

I nodded. When he got done pulling the sticker needles and sharp thorns out, he helped me stand, although it looked like he could have used it more than me.

"Shall we find a way out of here?" He asked. I nodded, and we walked steadily along the High Hedge, until we found ground. Jumping off and landing, I could tell he wanted to say something. But he didn't.

As we walked on, he limped more dramatically with every step. My knees were starting to take a toll on me, so I suggested we stop for a while. We found a large hollow in the ground, so big that 3 Cli-Cli's could fit in it.

I sat on the soft dirt, and looked over at Derrick, who was rubbing white leaves on his feet. I analyzed what he was doing, and after a while, I remembered how he said that he had to mask his scent to survive, and blood gives off a strong odor to animals. I stared for a while. When he was done, all the blood was off his feet, and the detailed design of cuts he had were remarkable. It looked like an Egyptian child's sloppily written hyroglyphs.

Derrick peered up at me, and said "Annei?"

I looked up sharply.

"What would you do if Kasumi and Len died?" He asked me.

I stared for a minute more, thinking.

"Well, if they are, I would ask to stay with you, because I don't know my way out of the HedgePaths." I answered. He nodded and said "Why were you sent to Montrette?"

"My dad felt that I was to troublesome, and needed to learn to survive without people. So he sent me to an Isolation Facility in Montrette, he chose the farthest one possible, so that way I couldn't make my way back..But here I am."

He nodded and picked up a few more white leaves, sat next to me and started to clean all the blood off my hands and knees.

"Whats that?" I asked.

"White mint, it's the whole forest smells like. This way, no animal will scent you."

"Tell that to Len.." I commented. He looked at me, puzzled.

"You see, she has the best sence of smell I've ever seen. She can smell a rotted bone from 250 miles away if you asked her too."

"Seriously?" He asked, amazed.

"Yep." I nodded.

Once he was done cleaning my blood off, we decided to continue. We climbed out of the whole, put a stone over the opening, and continued the through the forest.

Len

I opened my eyes and looked at the dimming sky. I didn't think about it, and sat up, but then the crackling pain split through my body. The back of my head, my ankles, and spine were throbbing, along with my bruised arms and legs. I decided to let the pain ease in before I stood up, and when I did, I realized I was still in the Hedgpaths. But..Were the HedgePaths brown?

Then it hit me. I was underground. And the light was from the hole i had made in the aboveground, which was a good 75 feet above me. Staring at it blindly, I was nearly oblivious to the squeaks behind me. But when i finally heard one, I flipped around, and saw an overgrown mouse holding itself against a wall, nearly frightened to death of me. I stared at it, got up, and walked to it slowly. It squeaked and covered its face, and then curled in a ball. I leaned down to look at him and said "Hello..? Mouse?"

Then it flicked up its head and stared at me.

"Rinky-Dink." It said. I stared at it, shocked.

"My name isint 'Mouse'. It's Rinky-Dink." He whispered.

I stared.

"Ph. Yes I can speak! Your not the first human to come down here. The 2nd guy actually got me this big and the third taught me to talk. So HA. But by the looks of it..You can't speak?"

I shook my head and said "No, I can. I've just never seen a mouse that can talk. I've seen a cat that can though.."

"Ah. Well-"

"WAIT...Your name is Rinky-Dink?"

"Yeah..?"

"Like the one from Narnia?"

He stared at me, blankly. "Yeah, I guess so." Rinky said.

"So..Um. Where am I?" I asked.

"The Underground Maze. Its made of the HedgePaths roots and hollowed caverns."

"Okay..Do you know how to get out?"

"Yep!"

"Can you show me?"

Rinky-Dink pointed to a path, and said "Take 2 left, half circle in the right way, and then take 2 more lefts, then a right then 3 left, then 2 rights and you'll see a small cavern. Oush the rock away from the top, and your out."

I blinked and said "Can you just take me?"

Rinky sighed, and said "Yeah, I guess so."

He scampered through an opening and I followed him.

As we were walking, I asked "So whats it like down here?"

"Well. When the ground shakes,we know someone is out there. But it doesn't shake all to often. Occasionally The roots will grow, and dirt will shift. And there are man species here, there are lots of overgrown mice, 8 foot tall rats, train-length milipedes, and if you go deep enough down, you see the cockroach infestations. Its gross. But because of the way the HedgePaths are formed, they give us a ridiculous maze. No opening, and no ending."

I stared for a minute, and then thought about it.

"Where are we going?" I asked.

"The livestock, and then I'll get you out of here. I havn't eaten all day."

"L-livestock?"

"You know, carrots, potatoes, leaks, celery."

My jaw dropped and I froze.

Rinky-Dink looked back at me and said "What?"

"Celery..?"

"Yeah.. Its hard to catch them, but after a while in containment, they become calm."

"I doubt it."

Rinky-Dink trotted to an opening, piled over with rocks. He pushed them out of the way to reveal vegatables, wriggling and striving for freedom. A celery jumped out and tried to go beneath Len. But I impulsed. I grabbed it, and snapped it in half. All the celery in the unit held still. Rinky-Dink smiled and grabbed 2 carrots and 3 celeries. He shred through them like a paper eater. He kicked the rocks up as quickly as he could, and scampered past me. I turned around and followed quickly. Once they got back to where I came from, Rinky-Dink sat down and gestured to her. I tilted my head.

"Get on. It'll be faster." Rinky said.

I climbed awkwardly onto Dink, who began to run before I was ready. I held tight onto Rinky-Dink's neck fur, and felt a chill run down my spine. I clamped her eyes shut until Rinky stopped so fast that we nearly skid. He bucked me her off and I flew back about 3 feet as Rinky shredded through a dirt wall. He smashed his head into it, and the wall broke down, revealing another cavern. He climbed through the hole he had made, and I followed along. Rinky sat there and said "See that big rock, all you do is kick it out of your way and boom! your free. Bye." And he scampered through the hole and took off like he was late for the boat to freedom in slavery times. Sniffing the air, white mint and fresh blood reaked. Shivering, I examined white leaved in the corner of the cave. O Negative and B Posotive blood were spilled on them.

Then Len remembered: Annei has B Posotive blood.

But O Negative?

Kasumi

I flicked open my eyes, and saw I landed in hedge. The prickly sticker needles peirced my back as I sat up. Looking around at the dark sky, i could only make out the faint shapes of the trees and other hedge parts. Deciding to get off the hedge, I rolled off and nearly landed on a rock. It was oddly large. I scooted it to the left, to reveal a dark hole. I climbed in, and heard footsteps. Wanting to call out, I shivered and crawled backwards to escape, before i heard "GAH!" and someone tackling me. Rolling this person off, I pinned them to the cold, rocky floor and said "Who are you?"

The faint shape of the person looked familiar. I picked up an old flashlight out of my pocket, and flicked it upon the person. The dim light showed me Len. Staring at her for a moment, I could hardly believe it. Why was Len down here?

Wait...Why was Len down here..?

"L-Len?" I asked

"Yeah?" She said back. I grew big eyed, ultimatly suprised that she was alive. And apparently so was she. And apparently, so was Annei!

"C'mon, down here." Said a faint, wimpish voice.