Sakura's Journey Chapter 13 Escape
Juan led us towards the main hallway where the door was. This place was poorly guarded and had very little staff according to him. I tried to peer over the corner and saw the prized door: the janitor's exit towards the dump. "I see it!" I heard Daemon's voice rise up behind me after my comment. "Well I don't with that tropical rainforest you dare call hair!" And so, I quietly reached out a tendrill and wrapped it around his throat. "Ahg! Ok, ok! I'm sorry!" From far down the hall behind me, I heard Frank's voice. "I saw them go that way!" That was the signal. We started to run. Unfortunately, while I held the door to let Laurianne pass through, the others already out, a man at the end of the hallway spotted us. "THEY'RE THIS WAY!" I then paled when he took out a tazer and charged at us. I panicked. My legs refused to move. I braced myself to get hit, glad the others had escaped, when suddently, he was hit with one himself. As he stumbled to the floor, Frank was behind him. "Oops! I'm a janitor, not a sniper...sorry about that." He began to help his coworker up, giving me a subtle smile. I sent him a wave of my brightest feelings, hoping it was enough to thank him as I ran. The others dashed past the garbage, knowing all too well that the agents were going to be right behind us. As I ran, I slipped and Squible jumped out of my hair, turning around and racing back to me. As I began to stand up, something white caught my eye, partly burried in the mud. Oh God...
A skull. A tiny little skull of a child...without any eye sockets. The back of the head was cut in perfect straight lines, obviously man made. I wanted to be sick. The world was spinning around me. I managed to stand up, Squible leaping on my shoulder and rubbing his little head on my cheek as I ran. I caught up to the others as they stood by a stream. I couldn't get that image out of my head... I shuddered. That could have been me in a few weeks, or Laurianne... I looked to Juan and thought back to what I had heard...what if that was his twin brother? How many children died here? HOW COULD ANYONE DO THIS? I didn't realize I was crying until Daemon rushed to my side. I bent down and hurled into a bush, tasting foul acid in my mouth. "WOW, Kura, you ok?" I looked back up into his eyes, nodding slightly. "Yeah..it's nothing. Don't worry about me."
As we contemplated the stream, it was obvious the best option was to cross it. But how? It was pretty deep and there was a good amount of current. Laurianne was way too short to cross it. I facepalmed as I realized how dumb I was. Of course! I closed my eyes and let that strange numbing feeling take over me. The weight of my hair over my shoulders dissipated, only to be replaced by the dull pinch of my tendrills, full set of eight. I let my vision come back into focus and looked down to Daemon. "You first." He looked at me with a confused expression before I plucked him off the ground with 3 tendrills. I was surprised at how strong they were. I managed to cross the stream almost effortlessly with my new lenghtened legs. The water was freezing cold though and I thanked the fact that my shorts were above the water level. I wouldn't have to drag that icy water around with me.. I set Daemon down on the other side, dropping my shoes and socks off next to him and went back across to repeat the process with Juan and Laurianne. As I carried Laurianne to the other side, she traced her finger over my bare head with mute facination. "C'est quand que ça m'arrivera aussi?" (When will it happen to me too?) I smirked a little, having finally gotten used to my sharpened fangs. "Quand le moment viendra." (When the time comes.) I lifted a hand up to my scarf, thinking of how much I sounded like my father. I missed him... I missed him desperately. On the other side, I put my socks and shoes back on, shrunk back to my human form and we resumed walking.
We decided to take a break in a clearing, my stomach growling. I guess eating a big meal before leaving was pointless concidering I threw it all back up earlier. The skull... I shuddered, letting a tear slide down my cheek. Squible, who was perched on my shoulder, gently licked the salty tear away. I smiled. Maybe my parents weren't here, but I was far from alone. I then noticed the squirrel jumping off my shoulder and running off into a bush. I trusted him to come back, so I didn't worry too much. Daemon walked over to me. "So...we escaped...now what?" "Now...we walk until we find civillization. Then, we can go home." "Kura, it's October...you're in shorts. I don't want any of us to freeze to death." I smirked and grabbed his wrist. "Fell that? How does it feel?" He looked weirded out at first, but answered. "Cold..." I smirked, mostly at his light blush though. "My temperature is lower than a human's. I can take the cold. Don't worry about me." Right then, Squible re-emerged from the bushes, tail flickering about and making excited cries. "What's the matter Squible?" He turned and began to scamper off. We followed... and our jaws dropped in awe. He led us to a gigantic apple tree.
I plucked an apple from the tree and took a bite out of it. It tasted so good, especially with my empty stomach. I bent down and scratched the little black furball's belly. "Good boy! You're a little hero, you know that?" We all feasted, stuffing as many of the fruit as we could in our pockets. As a cold breeze blew by, I was thankful we all had coats with us. But as the breeze blew by, coming from the direction of the lab, I noticed Squible tense up and cling to my light pink coat. We all went quiet. Juan spoke up, one of the few times I had ever heard him speak. "Is that?..." "Dogs..." I could hear barking in the distance. They had dogs. They were coming after us. I did the first thing I thought of, extending my tendrills and pulling myself up on the nearest branch from the tree. I let them droop down to my friends' level. "Hold on, I'm gonna pull you guys up." Daemon handed me Laurianne and then helped Juan up before he clung to my tendrills. I coiled them around his arms and pulled him to my level, not without effort. I noticed his scowl and shudder as I set him down on one of the branches. "What's wrong?..." He rubbed his forearms, looking slightly disturbed. "Nothing...They just...they feel weird." His statement devastated me. Why did it matter so much? Yeah, they did feel weird. You were best friends with a girl who had tentacles growing out of her back, expect some weirdness! I still felt pained though...I pushed the feeling to the back of my mind and helped the others keep on from branch to branch, from tree to tree, going higher up as we went on.
"You guys are pathetic tree climbers!" I said as I chuckled. Daemon gave me a playfull punch in the shoulder and looked away. "Well, we don't have super strong tentacles..." "Laurianne does, she has two more than me!" The little girl turned towards me as I spoke her name. Daemon looked her over, her, with her little frail tendrills, wavering about uncertainly and stiffly. She was so small and innocent. The skull... I shuddered again. I had to forget about that. "Well, Laurianne is six years old!" I stuck my tongue out at him, Squible immitating me. Daemon crossed his arms and pouted. I struggled to keep back a laugh. That's when I felt a new aura in the area...and an other, and an other...I motioned to everyone to be quiet and not move. On the ground, underneath us, there were 3 dobermans. They sniffed the area frantically before moving on elsewhere. We waited a bit and saw two more go by. It felt like we had been up here for hours, but it was probably just a few minutes. Finally, I deemed it safe to go. My plan had worked. We climbed back down the tree, Daemon almost falling off a few times and Laurianne clinging to my back. I occasionally winced each time she accidentally pulled on my curled hair. Finally, we were at the bottom.
We found a nice clearing surrounded by boulders and pine trees. I decided to begin work on a shelter. Daemon helped me. Laurianne and Juan were playing with Squible, throwing him little bits of an apple that they shared. I decided to ask something my mind's been bugged with. "Daemon...does it freak you out that I'm a slender?" He eyed me strangely, light catching in his emerald eyes and showing a slight concern. I also felt the concern and worry from his aura, but it changed to care quickly. "A little, but you're still my best friend." I smirked and decided to test this out. I extended a single tendrill as he was tightening a knot between some vines. I wrapped it slowly around his arm and I felt him tense up, frozen in place as he stared at the shadowy appendage. "Ok, I'm sorta really freaked out...but believe me, I still care for you as much as I always had." I almost didn't catch the whispered ending to his sentence. "Maybe even more..."
As night began to fall, the five of us, yes counting Squible, snuggled up into our new shelter. Maybe it was better if we didn't light a fire...not like any of us knew how anyway... Laurianne was fast asleep in no time, her thumb placed in her mouth. Squible was snoring lightly, curled up in my hair. Juan was also drifting off. Among the silence, I heard a slightly overlly rapid heartbeat. I gazed to my right, at Daemon who was resting his head on my shoulder with a content smile. "You're enjoying this way too much." He chuckled and didn't move away, instead, wrapping his arm around mine. "You know I am." I decided to tease him a little, reaching out one of my tendrills and bringing his hood down over his eyes, wrapping an other tendrill around his midsection. He recoiled in shock, looking frightened, but thankfully didn't wake anyone up. "Ok, ok sorry!" Now it was my turn to laugh. Poor little human kid...