Sorry about the late chapter. I have been busy. Hope you dont mind and enjoy this chapter :)
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Early the next morning, my ears flicked and twitched to the sounds of faint footsteps. I blinked my eyes open and lifted my head up a bit. I looked out from the little cave and looked around. Nothing. No one was around. Kinski twitched and began to move his mouth. "No...no, no,no...vill never...never..." he muttered. I blinked. He was talking in his sleep. His body twitched next to me. I rubbed the tired out of my eyes and stared down at him.
Kinski stopped trembling and stayed in a curled up ball. "Never...never vill..." was all he said and began to snore softly. I stared down at him. What did he mean, he 'never will'? It didnt make any sense.
I decided to not worry about it, I was tired and I wanted to just sleep. I rested my head back down next to Kinski's head and scooted closer to him. Kinski flinched, but then relaxed and kept on sleeping. Right when I got comfortable, the sounds of footsteps were heard again. I didnt open my eyes this time, but listened instead. My eyes shot wide open when I heard voices. This time I got up and moved out from the little cave and peeked around the corner.
My heart skipped a beat from the chilly morning air, and a scattered group of soldiers, searching the vast open desert on the outskirts of the town. They were searching for us. I moved away and went back in the little cave and began to quietly pack all the supplies into the bound table cloth and went over to wake up Kinski. I carefully lowered my wing, and let it rest on his shoulder. "Kinski," I whispered. Kinski didnt move.
I gently shook his shoulder. He grunted and twitched, but kept on sleeping. "Kinski," I said, a little louder. "Kinski, please wake up," I pleaded. My heart was racing, I needed him to get up and get going. Finally, Kinski woke up and he lifted his eyes up to me. I placed the bundle of supplies down and used both of my wings to pull his arm to get up. "Kinski, come on, we have to go. The soldiers are outside and they're looking for us," I said in a low voice.
Kinski just stared at me with wide eyes full of fear behind his blonde bangs. He didnt show any intensions of getting up. I turned my head when I heard voices right near the cave. They were getting closer. I turned back to Kinski, who's eyes were staring past me and toward the cave. He could hear them too. He turned his eyes to me and began to tremble again. I stared back at him. "Kinski, please get up." I pulled his arm till my wings started to hurt. Kinski finally got up, but went into a hunched position and held his hands close to his chest. He stared at me.
I stared back at him, inhaling and exhaling softly. Suddenly, I watched as his eyes flickered past me and went wide. I quickly turned around, just in time to see a soldier appear and raise his gun at us. He gasped, then turned his head slightly. "Hey! I found them!" He yelled. I felt Kinski starting to tremble as he gripped my wing tightly. I turned my head to him. He was still trembling as he stared at the soldiers with wide, scared eyes.
I turned back in time to see more soldiers come and join the soldier who found us. They aimed their weapons at us and pulled the hammers back. "Now, come quietly, and no one get's hurt," said one soldier. I sighed and lowered my head. I couldnt think of any ideas for us to get out of this mess. I took one step forward. I stopped when I felt that something was keeping me from moving forward. I turned my head back and looked down. Kinski's hands were still gripping my left wing.
I looked up at Kinski, but he was still in his traumatized state as he stared straight forward in fear. The soldiers noticed this. "Hey! Git movin'!" another yelled. I squeezed Kinski's hands with my left wing. He flinched and turned his focus to me. "Kinski, come on," I said. Kinski didnt seem to understand as he stared with a blank expression on his face.
The soldiers started to get impatient. "We're going to shoot you out if you dont come out!" snarled one soldier as he came into the small cave. The soldier jabbed the nose of his gun into Kinski's gut. Kinski yelped and moved away from him, but the soldier kept threatening him. "Stop that!" I snapped at the soldier. He turned the nose of the gun to me.
"Shut it and git movin'!" he snarled. Kinski hid behind me, but then yelped when a gunshot was heard. He went down into a ball. I saw him wince in pain as he clamped a furry hand down near his droopy ear. Blood began to seep through his fingertips. I gasped at the sight of his wound and bared my teeth at the group of soldiers.
I screamed at the soldiers, causing them to fly backwards and crash back down tewnty feet from us. I transformed into The Nightmare. The boulders that made up the little cave began to crash and tumble away as I grew to the massive size. Kinski was in a little ball below me. The soldier who came into the cave was buried under a bunch of boulders. Crushed to death.
The soldiers who landed away from the cave, got up, and began to fire at us. Bullets whizzed by me as I picked up Kinski and the bundle of supplies in my front teeth. Then flapped my massive wings, and flew away as fast as I could. A couple bullets pierced through my wings, making it harder for me to fly. The uneaven hard packed dirt ground and little clusters of dead plants whizzed by in a blur as I flew across the scenery toward the rising morning sun.
...
I landed near a dead bush that I could see right over, surrounded by a couple maroonish colored rocks and chunks of quartz. I placed Kinski and the supplies down carefully. My wings were very sore and the bullet holes had stretched. The blood was dry and stayed in the inside of the holes. Kinski dropped down and curled up into his little ball again, whimpering and shaking. He held his bleeding drooping ear as I transformed back into my normal size. The dress that I slipped out of was intact, so I just slipped it back on. I walked over and checked inside the bundle to see if anything fell out. The jar of peaches was gone...oh well.
The shadowed areas from the mountains began to slowly disappear as the golden sun began to rise across the beautiful blue sky and warm the cold ground. I turned around and faced the direction where the town of Dirt once was. It was small and faint, but you could tell that it was the town. A cool breeze rustled my hair and dress. I took a deep breath and exhaled as my eyes scanned the horizon of the endless desert in search for the soldiers. I couldnt see any movement, but most likely they were going to still try and hunt us down.
We had to move to someplace safe. Someplace so Blor's soldiers wouldnt find us, and then we could have more time to think up a plan. I turned back to Kinski. Kinski's face was hidden behind his disheveled long hair. His legs were tucked into his body and he didnt move. He was in his little protection zone...but it wouldnt protect him against the bullets and soldiers. We had to leave.
"Kinski, please get up, it's time to go," I said as I came up to him. Kinski's body shook again when I rested my wing on top and went down on my knees. He shook his head gently. His droopy ears ran right and left against the dirt ground. The one ear left a small stain of blood on the ground. I reached out for the bundle of supplies and grabbed a corner of one of the blankets and carefully began to clean the blood.
Kinski made a strange little noise of pain and moved his head away from me. I moved my wing down to his head. A little shudder went through him. "Kinski," I said. Kinski didnt say anything. I sighed, and decided not to wait for an answer as I tried cleaning the blood from him. He flinched and whimpered, but I was able to soak up the blood.
I looked over to the town of Dirt. I might have been imagining it, but it looked like movement. The soldiers? I didnt want to take any chances. We needed to leave. I looked down at my wings, just as a jolt of pain coursed through them. I couldnt fly, we were going to have to walk.
I turned back to Kinski. I sighed. It was going to take a lot of effort to get him to move in his condition, but it was the only way for now to get away from the soldiers. I weaved my wings into his right arm and began to get to my feet. Kinski didnt move. I pulled him till he was up onto his knees. His head was lowered. I got up onto my feet, then got him to his feet. Kinski's legs shook and he started to falter and go back down. I wrapped my wings around him to keep him from going back into a little ball.
"Come on, Kinski," I said softly as I shifted to his left side and half supported him. Kinski didnt move. Behind his bangs, his eyes were wide and expressionless. I took one step forward. Kinski's eyes flickered to what I just did and stared at my foot. Gradually, He lifted his left foot, and took one step forward. I smiled. Kinski's mouth twitched a bit. He gingerly brought forward his other foot, then the other, and began to slowly walk. I smiled and walked with him. Kinski twitched a couple times, but continued to walk.
Suddenly, he began to shake uncontrollably. He moved away from me and curled up into a little ball on the ground again. I walked up to him and placed a wing on his shoulder. Kinski flinched. I sighed softly. We needed to keep moving. Kinski's state of shock and trauma was not helping at all. Kinski turned his head up to me with his huge eyes. He was scared.
I could imagine hundreds of horrible images, flickering and flashing right through his little mind. Seeing things he didnt want to see, but had no control over. He was like a child after a nightmare...except this nightmare was still going over in his head. He couldnt shake the feeling away...
I felt my heart hurt as I knelt down beside him and hugged him. "Kinski, please snap out of this...it's ok..." I said. I choked the tears away. It was frustrating to see him like this. I wanted to help him. I wanted to get him out of his traumatized state. How long was that going to take? Weeks? Months? Years?
Suddenly, I felt Kinski shift his upper torso to me. His arms slowly, and lightly move across my back and finally rest around me. I sat there with him, fighting the tears. Why did this have to happen? Why couldnt Blor just leave me and my family alone? Why did he have to use me to experiment on and toss me aside like a piece of trash? Why did I have to...I gritted my teeth in frustration as tears ran down my face. Stupid tears! I hated crying. It was stupid and pointless, especially now. Crying wasnt going to help us defeat Blor or anything!
Suddenly, Kinski's arms loosned from me and came to my face I moved my head away from his chest and began to wipe my wet eyes with the back of my wing. I felt Kinski's furry hands brush past my wing and touch the sides of my face. He gently turned my head as he cupped my face in his hands. His eyes stared at me. I stared back. He gingerly lifted his left hand up and carefully wiped the rest of my tears away.
I studied his face. His eyes were hidden, but I could see them shifting nervously. His hands were trembling near the sides of my face. I slowly reached up and placed my wings on top of his hands. He was with me, but still having to fight the imaginary monsters in his mind.
Progressively, we got up onto our feet. I lowered my wings from his, but Kinski's hands still rested against the side of my face. His shaking hands reached up and brushed away a loose strand of hair as he stared at me. He seemed as if he were studying my face. His little shudders seemed to disappear, as if seeing me was making the horrible images go away. I didnt know what he was thinking, but I hoped his mind was fixing itself.
Suddenly, his hands quivered as they broke away and he lowered his head. I grabbed him before he could go back down again. We slowly walked away from the small town in the distance as the sun burned high in the sky...