The Outcast and the Survivor: Chapter Six

It barely misses, giving me a few seconds to get away by running along the wall. I quickly make my way toward the pool and swing myself over it with a kick out from my legs. I then look back just as the beast lashes out once more, missing me but tearing through the rope and sending me plummeting down to the water below.

I crash hard into it, its cold touch like an icy blanket instantly enveloping me. As I collect myself and surface, I gasp for air, only to see the creature clawing at me from where it stands on the shore. But just then, a loud explosion sounds behind it, and its body is propelled forward into the water on top of me.

The beast drags me down sinking as its immense weight presses me deeper and deeper. I stroke desperately beneath it to get away, opening my eyes to the blurry underwater haze, but each time I see space and try to swim there, the beast knocks me off course once more.

Finally, as I feel precious seconds away from running out of air, of losing what fight remains within me, I manage to create some distance, thrusting my exhausted body forward until I finally reach the western surface of the pool. I come up coughing for air and choking on water, hearing the draeg behind me whining and roaring as it struggles to escape. I turn and see Yori standing to stop it, defiant and resolute.

He continues removing bags of powder from his pack and tossing them toward the draeg, shooting them in the air and causing the draeg to lose its weak grip of the pool’s slick edges. I watch on as he runs out of bags and simply shoots the exhausted beast as it paws forward. The draeg’s movement is slowing. It is becoming weak. It won’t last much longer.

Soon enough, it gives up the struggle, thrashing feebly a coupl

e more times before sinking below the surface and down into the darkness. Once it disappears beyond view, Yori looks over at me. He doesn’t say anything in that brief second, but then a look of concern flashes over his face and he spins around to face the collapsed rocks behind him. Wade.

I get out of the water as quickly as I can and rush over to where Wade remains motionless on the ground. Yori hovers over him, clearing some debris covering Wade’s arms and chest and putting his ear up against Wade’s lips.

“He’s breathing,” Yori says encouraged.

Kneeling next to him, I become emotional at the sight of Wade’s beaten and bruised body. He has cuts and scrapes on his arms, neck, and face, and dried blood crusted against his forehead and meshed with dirt into his hair. I don’t know why, but I lean in closer and hold my hand behind his head, feeling nearer to him than I ever have before.

As my fingers press against his scalp, he shudders slightly, and I pull back. His eyes then begin pressing against his eyelids, moving around, like he wants to open them but can’t.

“Wade,” I say softly, whimpering slightly, but he doesn’t respond. “Wake up, you’re going to be okay. You did it. We’re safe now.”

With those last words, he suddenly comes to life, staring right at me and ignoring Yori,

who leans in trying to get his attention.

“Do you know where you are?” he asks, but Wade ignores him and stays fixed on me.

In a flash, his face goes pale, and he starts to breathe heavily, like he’s afraid.

“How am I seeing you?” Wade asks, his voice weak, but not for lack of strength but because of the emotion it carries.

I glance blankly over at Yori, who stares back with the same confusion.

“How did you come by this place?” he continues.

Wade is trembling, as am I. I don’t know what is going on, but I feel like a stranger is in front of me, or that I am someone entirely different. I look at Wade and don’t know what to say, or what he expects me to. He senses this and grips my arm tightly.

“Zoe, tell me,” he begs, panic in his voice as though he is sensing something coming, some great terror from his past.

I don’t know who Zoe is, or if I even want to know, but I feel like he needs me to be her right now, so I answer.

“Because you saved me.”

“No, I didn’t,” he rejects. “I saw you. Lifeless. What they’d done to you. You’re dead. But then how are you here?”

Yori grabs Wade’s wrist and forces him to let go of me. I immediately stand up and walk away as Yori pointedly asks him about his injuries, not stopping until I reach the pool of water and sit down at its edge. The chilly evening air causes my wet body to shiver as I stare at my reflection below me trying to envision what Wade was seeing when he looked at me. This only sends more shivers down my spine.

A hand presses firmly on my shoulder a few moments later, startling me, but I turn my head relieved to see that it is just Yori, exhausted and in need of rest himself.

“He’ll be fine, just a bad knock on the head. But I’ll need your help carrying him back if we want to reach shelter by dark.”

I study Yori for a second, wanting to ask him if he has any idea what Wade could have been talking about. He waits for me, seeming to anticipate that I need to talk, but I change my mind.

“Okay,” I say instead, getting up and following him to Wade.

Wade spends the next few days sleeping and recovering, though he wakes up every so often groaning and complaining about pains in his head and chest. I feel awful for him, but not in the same way I would have before. Not after witnessing his transformation into, it seemed, a completely different person.