Chapter 16
A day goes by and I can't stop thinking about that. Telly's poor little eyes, so young, and she just died, right in front of me. I stayed up all night last night, keeping the sobs away. When the sun goes up, I hear Mercury sit down beside me.
"How are you doing?" he asks.
What do you think? I don't answer him. I don't feel like speaking. I don't feel like doing anything. I won't win. I won't survive. I'll just be a failure.
"You can talk to me." he persists.
"Our conversation won't exactly be private." I look at the woods, hoping I'm glaring at a camera.
"It doesn't matter, this is all a drama show anyway," he replies.
"Pretty deadly drama show."
He laughs. Then I start laughing. We're both cracking up, totally delirious because it's been a week, we haven't had constant food, and we know we could die at any moment, but it doesn't matter when you're crazy.
Then there's a growl. I freeze. Mercury keeps laughing.
"Shh-" I tell him.
He snaps to attention. I stand slowly and draw my sword. Mercury's next to me drawing his bow. The growling subsides a little, but I can still hear whatever it is sniffing the air around us.
"Go around the cave, slowly," I whisper.
Mercury and I sneak around the side of the cave. It's so quiet, I can hear my heart pounding in my ears. We sneak behind a big tree trunk, but it's not big enough for both of us to stand side by side. So, I stand, my back to the tree, and Mercury stands facing me. We're trying not to be squashed together, while also trying to be as scarce as possible, causing us to be a bit pressed together.
"Check and see what's out there," I tell him.
He leans to the side, just a bit. I see him squinting. "A muttation, I think," he whispers.
Great, I'll never get a break.
"What does it look like?" I ask.
"It's dark red, shaped like a large cat, and has one big tusk on the side of its face."
"All right, tusks, woohoo!" I whisper sarcastically.
He smiles. Oh my goodness, his smile is fantastic. Stop it! I think-yell at myself.
"We should climb the tree," I say.
"What if it can climb?" he asks.
"Then you'll shoot it."
I turn around, grab a branch, and pull myself up. I climb more and more, until I'm about half way up the tree. I look down and Mercury is one branch behind me. I start climbing again. Eventually, I find myself on a big branch, big enough to carry my weight. I stop and edge onto it. Mercury finds a branch for himself and hangs out there. I look down again. The mutt is prowling around under us, growling like it's rabid. It backs away, and I sigh in relief, thinking it's going away. Then it starts racing towards us. It jumps and lands on the tree trunk, making the tree quake.
"Mercury!" I scream.
He starts climbing towards me. He climbs up to a branch where he can wrap his arms around me, but I'm still a little taller than him.
"I wanted to tell you something," he says. "And now seems like the only time I can." He pauses and laughs at himself. His laugh is almost heavenly. "I remember everything."
"Everything?" I ask, suddenly excited.
He nods.
Suddenly I'm overwhelmed by a kiss. His hands around my waist, guarding me. My hands are running through his hair. "I love you," he whispers, and I start flying. No, not flying, falling.
A branch had fallen away from my feet, and now I'm falling to my death. My stomach falls up my throat as I fall down along the line of the tree trunk. I grab at branches until my palm catches one. The force feels like it rips off my arm, but when I look, it's still there. I bite my lip and grab the branch with my right arm. I lift myself up, placing my feet on the branch below me. Then I hear the growl. The mutt is right next to me.
"Esmerelda!" I hear Mercury cry.
I draw my sword, and brace my feet so they're evenly balanced. My left arm is completely numb. The muttation's big claws are pierced into the tree bark. It snarls, and lifts one of its paws. As it swings at me, I swing my sword and duck backwards. My sword nicks one of its claws off, but I almost start falling again. I quickly regain my balance as it roars. I stab at the beast and it backs up onto its back paws and, it seems, playfully swats at the metal. I step back onto another branch while the mutt steps forward. I glance upwards and Mercury is gone, hopefully he's on the ground and running. I take one more swing to the head of the beast. It roars and knocks the sword out of my hands. Then it takes its paw and slams me up against the tree. My left arm hits the wrong way, and a stream of pain flows up my arm. I cry out. The beast sniffs me, accidently brushing me with its tusk. Then it opens its mouth and roar one last time. Its breath smells like death, and there are unknown things dangling from its sharp teeth. Before it can eat me, it goes stiff. The animal whimpers and lets me loose. It falls from the branches with three arrows in the back of its neck. I look and see Mercury with putting his bow down. He comes to me and hugs me.
"Are you alright?" he asks.
"I'm okay," I let out with a shaky breath.
He kisses me on the forehead and starts helping down to the ground. Eventually we make it to the sweet ground. After retrieving my sword, I lay against the tree trunk, trying to relax, but the pain becomes too unbearable, and I can barely breathe.
"It looks like your shoulder got popped out of its socket, that's all," Mercury says as he sits down next to me. "This might hurt a little." He grabs my shoulder and pushes on it, and all I can feel is OWWWWW. Then I hear a crack and the pain subsides, but it's still sore.
"Come on," he says, "It's getting dark, we should find someplace to hang out for the night." He sounds so confident, like he actually knows what he's doing. I'm glad he remembers, but I only wish it could've happened sooner. He would've been a better leader than me.
He laces his fingers with mine and we walk to the cave. I can't help but think that it's dangerous for us to be like this. We sit down at the entrance, and watch the stars start to come up.
"How long do you think it's been?" Mercury asks.
"I don't know, a week maybe more, I lost count a few nights ago," I reply, laying my head on his shoulder.
"I lost count when I forgot everything," he shares.
"That was the first day," I laugh.
"Oh," he says.
I'm giggling and he starts looking into my eyes. I'm enthralled by his sweet peppermint green eyes. I stop laughing as he leans in. We start kissing. I can feel the slight brushing of his nose on mine, but it doesn't matter. Nothing matters any more. He starts lean in more, and I feel his arm on my waist. I feel the back of his head, and gently let myself fall to the ground. He follows and pulls back for a minute. "I'll never let you go," he whispers. I kiss him more, and he wraps his arms around my waist and my arms are around his neck and we start tumbling deeper into the cave than we ever have before.
A/N: More and more mush! yay! Okay, favorite, review, and follow please!