Chapter Twelve

"Hazel!" A voice was hissing in his ear. "Hazel, wake up!"

Hazel blearily opened his eyes. At first he didn't register what he was seeing, but once he did, he came wide awake. "Dandelion, what is that?"

"I think it's a rabid dog, Hazel. I don't know what to do!" Dandelion looked at Hazel, panic in his eyes.

"It'll be okay, just calm down," Hazel tried to reassure him. "Wake up Silver, then the others. We need to get out of here, now, before it notices us."

Dandelion nodded, looking fearfully back at the dog, then moved over to the others, starting to wake them up.

"What's going on?"Bigwig asked, as he propped himself up on his elbows.

"A rabid dog," Hazel answered shortly. "He hasn't come too close yet, but he's going to catch our scent soon, and we can't outrun him."

"I'll fend him off." Bigwig started to get to his feet, wobbling back and forth, but Hazel waved him back down.

"You're still injured. Silver and Acorn, can you try and frighten him off while we make a run for it?"

They nodded, but Bigwig interrupted. "That's ridiculous! I can fight just as well as either of them!"

Hazel turned to face him fully. "Bigwig, you are wavering on your feet right now. If you fought right now, it would put us all in danger. Please, just let Silver and Acorn do it. We need you with us, to help us get away."

Bigwig scowled, but agreed. "Fine, but just this once. Next time, I'm fighting, no matter what you have to say."

Hazel nodded his thanks, then looked around their little camp. "Pipkin's not awake yet. Could somebody wake him up? We need to go."

"Nah, don't bother." Bigwig looked fondly down on the sleeping boy, then knelt down to pick him up. Moving the smaller boy until he was riding piggyback on him, Bigwig continued, "I'll just carry him. It'll be easier."

Hazel eyed him sceptically for a moment, but continued."Okay, then it looks like everyone's ready, so we'll get out of here. Silver, Acorn, meet us in the woods once the dog's gone, could you?" He gestured to the woods some distance away, and they nodded their acknowledgement. "Alright, then let's go."

The six headed off, Blackberry and Dandelion giving Acorn a clap on the back as they went by, and Bigwig stopping for a few moments to have a quiet discussion with Silver. Hazel just kept walking, trying to ignore the nagging feeling that if he had only decided to keep walking last night and find a safer spot, none of this would have happened.

"Hazel!"

Hazel blinked, then looked around to see Fiver nearly running along beside him. "What is it, Fiver?"

"Could you slow down?" Fiver panted

Hazel slowed down, realising that, lost in thought, he had been walking rather faster than his little brother could keep up with. "Sorry, Fiver. I didn't notice I'd been walking so fast."

"I know, Hazel."

They walked on a bit further in silence, then stopped. By that time they were deep into the forest, moonlight filtering down past the tree branches. The group gathered close, instinctively huddling together as protection against the unknown all around them.

"We should have gone far enough now," Hazel said confidently. "Now we just need to wait for Acorn and Silver to catch up."

A minute passed, and then two more. Silver and Acorn were still not in sight. Dandelion and Blackberry started fidgeting. Finally, Dandelion burst out, "What's taking them so long?"

"They are trying to be a distraction for the rest of us, that's what," Bigwig said, low voice filled with contempt, looking menacing despite Pipkin still sleeping on his shoulders. "They'll get here as soon as they can, and you can just wait quietly like the rest of us."

"Can you sense anything wrong, Fiver?" Hazel quietly asked, ignoring the argument still continuing.

Fiver shook his head. "Nothing feels wrong, but I couldn't tell when the dog came either. I don't know, Hazel." He looked up at his brother helplessly.

Hazel put one arm around his little brother's shoulders. "Never mind, Fiver. They're probably fine." He addressed the rest of the group. "Dandelion, Acorn and Silver will be here soon, you just need to be patient. Bigwig, Dandelion's just worried about them, leave him alone. Now, would you stop fighting?"Dandelion and Bigwig muttered angrily, but subsided. "Thank you," Hazel continued. "Look, if they aren't back soon, we can go look for them, but for-"

"I can see something!" Blackberry suddenly shouted. As everyone eagerly turned to look, Blackberry pointed at some indistinct figures just visible through the trees. Delight turned to shock when the figures came closer, and it became apparent there were three, not two, shadows approaching them.

"Everybody, up a tree, now," Hazel said, his voice quiet but no less commanding for that. They all scrambled into the surrounding trees, Bigwig helping Pipkin, who was still half asleep. They waited anxiously as the figures came closer, nobody daring to move.

Finally, the shadowy figures passed through a patch of moonlight, revealing themselves as Acorn, Silver, and -

"Strawberry?" Bigwig said incredulously.

Three heads snapped around. "Where are you guys?" Acorn called out, sounding exasperated.

"We're here."Hazel climbed down from his tree. "We weren't expecting three of you."

Bigwig dropped to the ground beside him, taking up a defensive posture. "What's Strawberry doing here? Hasn't he caused enough trouble?" Receiving no answer, he turned to Strawberry, snarling, "Haven't you caused enough trouble? You and your friends nearly got me killed, and now you're coming after us? What, you haven't done enough already?"

"No, it's not like that!" Strawberry looked terrified. "I ran away from there, I didn't want to be there anymore! I wanted to go with you, but I was too scared, and I didn't know what to do! But, then, they, they took Nilda!"

"Nilda, the girl who showed us around? The one who was going to make pancakes?" Blackberry asked, still up his tree.

Strawberry nodded fervently. "She was my best friend, but the morning you left, I couldn't find her. Cowslip told me to forget about it, that everyone leaves eventually, and I should ignore it, but I couldn't! She was my friend!" He stopped for a moment to gather himself, then continued more calmly. "I didn't want to stay there anymore after that, and I thought maybe I could go with you guys instead. I figured, even if something horrible happened to me and I died, at least I wouldn't have to see anymore of my friends disappear." He looked down at the ground, seeming to remember all of the friends who had disappeared while he had been living at Cowslip's house of horrors.

Hazel felt sorry for him. "You can stay with us," he said. Ignoring Bigwig's glare, he continued, "We'll be happy to take you with us, though we don't know quite where we are going."

"Yeah, that's an understatement," Bigwig scoffed under his breath.

"Alright, everyone come down from the trees," Hazel called up at them."We can sleep here for the rest of the night, and keep going in the morning."

They all descended from the benches they had been clinging to. Pipkin had fallen asleep again while waiting, and Bigwig had to climb up and bring him down. Finally, they had all reached the ground.

For a moment, they just stood around, looking at each other. After the tension and excitement of the last few hours, no one was quite sure what to do. Suddenly, Fiver yawned, soon followed by the rest of the group. "Sleep now, Hazel?"he asked, eyelids beginning to slide shut.

Hazel nodded, eyes watering from the force of his own yawn. "Yeah, sleep now." They all settled down, leaning against trees and on branches to make themselves comfortable.