Chapter fifteen:
Near spots a small ledge pretty much under the cliff he is standing on. He quickly moves down then looks at the slightly thin path to the area, he needs to jump down to. He concentrates. "Here goes." He says and he jumps down landing managing to balance. He throws the two bags to the spot that is slightly under the cliff. He then slips Mello then himself into the hiding spot.
There is heavy steps as the beast comes out and obviously looks around.
Near waits as he quiets his breathing as the beast moves over to the cliff.
Mello who is still out of it speaks. "The French toast."
Near's eyes widen and his hand shoots forward to cover Mello's mouth as the blonde passes out.
But it's too late.
The beast makes some sort of gurgling noise then it moves closer to the edge.
'Crap.' Is all that's going through Nears mind right now as he waits to see if the beast will find them or not.
The beast lowers itself and it lowers it's head down looking at the thin path not noticing Near and Mello yet.
Near slightly holds his breath hoping that the beast won't look to them. His heart rings in his ears and the suspense is heavily hanging in the air like a heavily humid air. He tries to not focus completely on the beast to try to not alert it of his presence.
The beast makes a soft low grumbling gurgling mixture of a sound as it glances side to side.
Near waits as his heart rings a little louder in his ears.
The beast begins to turn and it's making Near sweat drop.
Elsewhere….
Allen puts a hand on Matt's shoulder. "It'll be ok. He has Mello." He reminds Matt. "I'm sure your friends and good enough to survive well."
Matt smiles softly then nods. "Yeah you're right." He says. "Thank you Allen."
"Don't worry about it." Allen responds. "Now let's find ourselves a store."
Matt nods and Allen takes the lead making his hand drop off of Matt's shoulder.
The two begin walking in the direction they decided just randomly to go. They spot a way out up ahead. They pick up the pace until they are running towards it. They burst out of the alley way finding themselves at a main street.
"We're free!" Matt cheers happily as he jumps up into the air fist pumping with one hand then doing a second jump with a fist pump with the other hand.
"And a store." Allen notes. "You running off actually helped us." He says glancing to Matt who stops his happy jumping.
"What?" The red head glances around. "Where?"
"Beside you." Allen says.
Matt blinks then turns to his right then to his left only to notice the store then. "Oh. That store." He says. "Let's go!" He races inside.
"Wait up!" Allen once again chases after Matt.
Meanwhile….
Near tenses as the beast's head is turning. He waits till he knows that the beast will spot them soon and they'll be trapped here. He glances to Mello then he gains new determination.
Wounds bugging him or not he has to do this.
He turns to the beast and quickly slips past the beast racing over to behind it. He stops and glances back.
The beast gets up from it's laying down position to a now standing one. It growls and begins to advance towards Near.
Near smirks and begins walking backwards. "That's right. Come and get me." He says then he suddenly trips over a tree root sticking out of the ground. He makes a surprised sound as he falls back. "Darn it. The forest was closer than I thought." His eyes widen as he hears the beast roar only to hear the beasts footsteps charging in his direction. "Crap!" He rolls and tries to scramble to his feet stumbling a little as he begins to run away from the beast. He is really pushing himself but it's for a good reason as Mello flashes in his mind. "I need to do this." He says to himself in a hushed whisper as he continues to run. He glances around himself. "I can't get lost in the forest. So that leaves…." He glances to a cliff. "Well here goes." He turns towards is as the beast nips at his heels. "Please work." He hopes out loud as he gets closer and closer to the cliff. He spares a glance behind himself only to notice the beast is a lot closer than he thought making his eyes widen. He turns back to the cliff as the beast is almost right behind him. He tries to pick up speed as the cliff gets every closer. He swallows harshly as he feels like his heart moved to his throat. "I can do this." He takes a deep breath and once he gets to the edge he skids to slow down then he tries to turn but the loose rocks fall making him fall too.
The beast tries to skid to a stop but it's going too fast and it too tumbles over the edge.
"No!" Near scrambles as he falls and he tries to reach for something, anything!, that'll help him. "No. I can't die like this." He reaches. "Almost got it…."
Back with Allen and Matt…..
The store is a mess showing that whoever was in here struggled trying to escape the beasts but more than likely they were trapped in the store so obviously they probably lost.
"Split up. Let's look for anything useful." Allen says.
Matt nods and the two split up. Matt looks for anything useful while Allen looks for any lighters.
"Aw bummer." Allen sighs. "This place has no lighters."
Matt is still searching for anything useful that is in one piece. His foot hits a broken camera and he glances to it.
The camera is shattered almost like glass or something.
He swallows harshly and he turns away to continue looking.
There is nothing in the store useful and they have enough food to last them for now.
"Darn. Nothing." Allen sighs.
"Speaking of food." Matt mummers and his stomach growls.
Allen smiles. "Alright. Lets hide behind the counter and eat."
Matt grins and nods happily.
Since there is food that survived and wasn't opened in the store they begin to eat that to save their backpack food for another time, as Allen puts some food into his back pack.
Today was an ok day for Allen and Matt.
The two find some nice blankets, one each is all that survived enough to be used, that they pull over themselves staying sitting behind the counter for now.
There is a few moments of awkward silence between them.
"So how long have you known the other two?" Allen asks.
"Quite a while." Matt responds. "But Mello and Near didn't get along until after we became what we believe to be the only survivors."
"Ah I see. Well as least they are getting along nicely." Allen says.
Matt smiles. "Yay. I'm sure that both of them, once warmed up to each other Mello more than Near needing to warm up to the other, knew they didn't need to hang onto the rivalry that was mostly on Mello's side then they saw each other in a new light."
The two chit chat for a bit just sitting there on the floor behind the counter.
AN:
Another cliffhanger sorry.
I hope you are enjoying so far and I thank my awesome reviewers.
Theres still the box down below for all those that want to review. Flamers will be used to make chicken!
Mello.