Chapter Twenty

"I got it!" one of the men cried out in triumph! "I got the monster!" His companions congratulated him.

"Wait, you just grazed it!" another spoke up suddenly.

Antoinette looked behind her. Erik was holding his left arm tightly as he ran. He gave her a sharp look and she looked back ahead and kept running.

Suddenly he grabbed her and pulled her to the right into thick underbrush. Erik slowed to a walk and looked around frantically, holding his arm again. "In here!" he said suddenly and pulled her into a small depression in the earth covered by brush.

Once hidden, Antoinette hugged him tightly and sobbed in fear. "Are you ok?!" she whispered.

"I'm fine," he responded, but she didn't believe him. "What about you?"

"I'm fine," she said. "Why were you running so slowly?!"

"I'd rather get shot than you."

She cried harder and hugged him again. "Erik, I'm scared!"

"I know," he said softly, holding her tightly. His left arm hurt like hell, but he had to ignore it for now.

Suddenly their pursuers were heard. "Where did they go?!" one asked.

"Split up!"

Antoinette and Erik could hear footsteps above them. Antoinette moved closer to Erik and held him tighter in fear. He held her closer in protection. Neither dared to move and barely dared to breathe.

Suddenly the footsteps stopped and a man threw back the brush covering them. Antoinette and Erik unconsciously held each other tighter.

"I found you, demon!" he laughed in victory. He looked at Antoinette. "What's a pretty girl like you doing with this thing? Are you human or are you a demon too? You're just another deception of Satan!" He shoved the barrel of his gun at them. "Stop holding each other like that! Stop showing such human emotions!"

Right at that moment Erik grabbed a handful of dirt and flung it in the man's eyes, blinding him.

"W-what did you do?!" the man demanded, staggering back, rubbing his eyes with one hand.

Erik let go of Antoinette and shoved the man backwards. He grabbed a hanging vine and wrapped it around the man's neck and tightened it. He clawed at his throat desperately, but it was no use. Erik had an almost evil look on his face as he killed the man. He looked truly menacing and a little demented.

Finally the man went limp and Erik let him go. He slumped lifelessly to the ground.

Erik went to Antoinette and held out his hand to her. "Come," he said urgently. "We have to leave!"

She looked at the dead man then at Erik. She reached out and took his cold hand.

"We'll have to be careful," he said. "Who knows where the others are."

"Where will we go?" she asked following him as he led her through the trees.

"I don't know," he said pushing a branch aside. "Away from here."

They ran and ran and ran, only glancing their pursuers twice. They weren't caught again.

Once they knew they were safe, they stopped. They had run out of the woods and were at a small creek.

Antoinette hugged him. "I was so scared!" she said, then remembered his arm. "Let me see your arm!" she said. "Take off your shirt!"

He didn't unbutton it fast enough for her so she did it herself. Once the shirt was gone she saw the injury. He had been hit just below his shoulder and it was bleeding a bit, but it was nothing serious. He had only been grazed.

She got her oldest dress and ripped a piece off. She dipped it in the creek and tied it to his arm. "Keep your shirt off until it's healed," she told him.

"But that will take weeks!" he protested, stubbornly putting his shirt back on. "I say no."

"Fine, do as you wish," she sighed and looked around here. "Let's sleep here tonight," she said pulling out the quilt. She spread it out in the grass and took out her violin.

"You sleep and I'll play for you," she said.

"I take a very long time to go to sleep," he said.

"Then I'll play three songs for you," she said. He sat down on the quilt and she began to play.

It was good that she played that night. It helped both forget, for the moment, the horrendous events that had taken place earlier.

"Brava," he praised when she was finished. "Now put it away and come sleep."

She put the violin away and lay down next to him. They fell asleep together in each other's arms under the stars.

TBC.