Disclaimer: Still don't own anything lol.
Chapter 8
My traveling was pretty easy at the beginning. The thunderstorm didn't bother me at all; in fact, I barely noticed I was getting wet. Once in a while a great flash of lighting would streak though the sky lighting up the whole woods, making it look ghostly and forlorn. A loud boom of thunder that shook the ground beneath my feet usually followed these.
It was several more hours, until I forced myself to find a dry piece of land to sleep on. My legs were beginning to tire, and my eyes strained to see a foot in front of me.
The fierce wind pushed against my back, and I trudged though the ankle deep mud, shivering. I kept my sights on an old looking tree that was a few feet ahead. Its leaves hung low, looking like long arms ready to pull me in.
In the gnarled tree trunk was a large hole, large enough for me to climb into. Quickly I did, not taking account what might have been living in there, and I quickly curled up into a small little ball. The minute I closed my eyes, I drifted off to a light sleep, which I awoke from every time there was a loud boom of thunder.
The next morning, I awoke to the sound of chirping birds, and a strong beam of sunlight hanging on my face. I yawned, and managed to sit up, even though I was very achy.
I found that the hole I decided to crash in the night before was dirty, and there were ants crawling all over it. I didn't really care though. I got up after a few minutes, and pulled my back pack off of my back, and started looking though it.
I screamed when I saw a huge spider crawling over my wrapped piece of bread, and I pulled it out, holding it between my pointer finger and thumb.
I watched it struggle about, trying to get out of my grip, not wanting to die. After a moment I sighed and placed it on the ground, and looked back into my pack.
I let out a low moan then. Everything in my pack was wet. Everything. There was no way I could eat any of it. All that food had to last 4 days too.
So, I dug though my pack, and stuck a long hunting knife that was inside into my belt, took out my canteen of water, and I threw the bag itself angrily at the tree I had been sleeping in the night before. I cried a little then, and began walking.
The woods were quiet, and the sun filtered though the trees like angel hair. But it was hard for me to enjoy this beauty, because of my hunger.
After a while I found a small stream. Its bubbling water met my ears a distance away, and a little faith rose in my heart. Where there were streams, there were fish.
Just my luck though, even though I stood waiting for about 2 hours, no fish swam by. I threw a rock in it, and began walking again. I couldn't waste anymore time. I had to arrive in Bane city in 4 days or I knew I'd just die out here.
This went on for the next 2 days, and it was the 4th day, that showed all of it was worth something.
By the 4th day, I had figured out how to ignore my hunger, and had been living off water. When I had last looked in a stream, I had seen my shallow eyes looking back at me, hidden behind the dark dirt that covered my face.
I was crawling along on a rough-cut path that day. I had heard rustling in the trees earlier, so I figured there must have been a small animal near by. And it was in a clearing I saw it. It was a rabbit. A small one of course, but I was desperate for food by then. Slowly I crept along the ground, holding my knife so it could not glint in the pale sunlight.
I was just about to stab the poor beast, when I realized where I was. Slowly I stood up, my mouth open, and my hands slipping from my knife.
I was standing on a cliff. That was above a low valley. And in that Valley was the hugest city I had ever seen.
From where I was I could see little people that looked like ants hurrying about. This had to be Bane city.
I fell on my knees; not noticing my knife had ripped my pants and caused a little tickle of blood to seep though the cut it started. I started to weep from happiness, and it took a while to realize I now had to figure out how to get down to the City.
When this dawned on me, I wildly looked around, and saw a small gap in some woods on the west side. What Amber said to me flashed into my mind. 'Go west for 5 days.'
I had almost not done that, so I was lucky to be where I was. I looked around for a sign. And soon enough I spotted a small one, almost not readable at the entrance of one side of the city. 'Welcome to Bane city. The most advanced City since the virus.'
Now I realized I only had two choices. Jump down this really high cliff, and land to my death, or some how find my way though a pathless patch of woods.
I sighed and picked up my hunting knife, and winced a little as I stood up. My only choice was to hope I didn't get lost.
I walked back into the woods, on the left hand side of me. I figured if I went into there and walked straight for a while and turned when it felt right, I should end up at the way out.
The ground sloped down here sharply, and I had a hard time getting though. The rocks were many here, and the ground was covered with a thick layer of leaves. The trees grew closer together here, too close. I turned the way I thought I had to go when night started to fall, and started to lose hope of ever getting out of there, when the moon started eerily filtering though the trees.
Soon it seemed all the trees were watching me, whispering about the odd intruder pushed past all the branches, bushes and underbrush. The moonlight made it look like they had eyes. And soon I was sure they were trying to trip me, because their roots kept getting in my way.
And then I started to get the feeling I was getting followed, from the low howls that kept erupting from nowhere, and the rustling of the leaves. I convinced myself it was the wind and tried to laugh it off, but soon I was running as fast as I could, tripping over and over again in fright. Finally I fell into a large pile of leaves and I could feel blood seeping down my forehead. I let tiredness over take me, and I fell into sleep, shivering though every time I heard a howl.
