Chapter 6: It was black

We trekked through the forest longer than we should have. I was getting tired, but I wanted to cover as much ground as we could before we slept for the night. It was already beginning to get dark and the trees overhead began to look like menacing looming shadows. At every turn there seemed to be a new obstacle to tackle. Ren and Kishan showed no complaints, most likely because they were superhuman. I shook my head Over achievers. I thought hastily.

I absentmindedly hummed to one of my favorite songs, Lithium by Evanescence, as I ducked under a branch. I was longing for my iPod, I loved music with a passion and not listening to it was killing me. Kishan turned and grinned at me, "What are you singing?" My face immediately turned an unflattering shade of red. "Uh, just one of my favorite songs," I shrugged. He chuckled in response and I glared back at him.

Suddenly, Kishan grabbed my arm and pulled me in-between him and Ren. "What's wrong?" I asked, following his gaze. He was staring directly at the murky water no more than one-hundred yards away from us. Not just the water, though. More like something in the water. I squint my eyes to see black heads rising out of the water, almost in sync.

"Kappa." Ren said in almost a whisper.

"Well, don't just stand there," Kishan said with a hurried tone, "Run!" He pushed me in front of him as we ran. We were fast, but the kappa were faster. "They're catching up on us!" I exclaim, my body was beginning to shake with fear. Ren looked behind him, his face turning quite pale.

"They look… different." Ren said; I could tell he was choosing his words very carefully.

"What do you mean?" Kishan snapped harshly, he seemed to be just as frightened as I was.

Ren looked back at them once more; there were at least five of them. "They don't look much like monkeys anymore. More like reptiles… or something." He said quietly, causing me and Kishan to both gaze behind us. My breath was caught in my throat as I look at the awkward creatures chasing us.

They had pale brown bumpy skin, a long neck slender neck that supported a flat head, a deep green turtle shell, and a rat like tail. Their sharp black shiny beak seemed to be the most frightening. Its webbed toes propelled its long body towards us with each stride.

I gulped as they began to gain ground on us. "We have to split up." I said quickly.

"What?" Kishan said, he looked at me doubtfully. "No, we can't. We have to stick together—"

"Kishan, we'll die if we do! We can't keep running like this. If we all split up they'll get confused."

Kishan went silent for a while, and nodded at Ren. Ren went right, Kishan went left, and I continued to run. One kappa went in Ren's direction while the other went in Kishan's. I glanced behind me to find that there were still three there. I cursed under my breath as I began to feel sick from exhaustion.

Zig-zagging, the kappa began to fall back slowly one by one. A rush of relief came over me when they were around 100 meters behind. I slowed down, not purposely. The ground was getting closer and closer to my blurry vision. The air from my lungs was snatched from me.

SMACK!

Gazing behind me, I noticed a large rock. How could I have missed that? I lectured myself mentally. I urged my limbs to help me up, but they stayed where they were. I sucked in a breath, noticing that I couldn't move at all. I shook vigorously. I blinked twice, trying to clear my vision from the black spots that began to blind me. I let my drooping eyelids fall much to my displeasure.

The only thing going in my mind was to sleep.