“So do we just follow the road?" I asked.
“No, we're meeting Hunter at a new location and there's a much more direct route if we go straight through the forest," Alicia replied.
"Let's get moving then," Coal said, glancing up at the sky.
"When does it get dark?" Laurie asked, coming up behind Alicia. With the thick rain clouds it was already pretty dark anyway.
"Hmm...about six hours," Alicia said, also looking up at the sky through the dense, leafy covering.
“No cougars here though right?" I asked.
A glance passed between Coal and Alicia before she replied.
"No. No cougars," she said a little too quickly before turning away and marching into the forest. "We really need to get going."
The journey south was only hampered by the dense undergrowth and to an extent, by the injuries inflicted on us by the Creepers. My lungs didn't seem inclined to work properly after my fall. If I took a deep breath it sent shooting pains down my back and my head pounded in time with each step that I took. We ran when we could but Coal's injuries slowed him down too so we had to walk more often. I didn't say anything but I was finding it increasingly difficult to keep up.
The dark green bushes sang with many sounds as we passed, signalling the things living within. We saw some of them: long black bugs with more legs than I could count scurried to and fro amongst the dead leaves littering our path, fat flies drifted lazily by and tiny midges swarmed in clouds which we avoided as best we could.
A yellow bush shifted and shimmered in a faint breeze before suddenly breaking apart and flying in hundreds of different directions, revealing the tiny insects that had made up the illusion.
Rats, chipmunks and squirrels were everywhere, constantly crossing our trail and leaping from branch to branch. Each leap seemed to carry them far further than I would have expected their little legs to be capable of and I wondered if the contamination had made them that way.
The forest held a serene beauty with only a faint hint of threat lurking in the dark spaces between the immense trunks. The trees walled us into the green prison like bars on a cage but it didn't feel like a cage at all.
It was beginning to feel familiar to me. Even the moist air felt natural, my lungs taking a healthy fill as I thought about it. I instantly regretted it as a spasm ran down my back and my vision swam from the pain, but it was beautiful even so.
The forest had grown in such a way as to protect itself and the creatures that inhabited it had followed suit, but that didn't make it unwelcoming. It seemed that anything would be welcome so long as it didn't pose a threat to the delicate balance and peace that surrounded us.
Life outside The Wall was harsh and maybe even cruel sometimes, but it was real. I couldn't imagine any reason that I would ever want to return to the parody of life that they lead within the city.
Exhaustion started to wear at our resolve to keep moving after a few hours. The aches and pains we’d all acquired during our eventful trip felt more raw and harder to bear as the miles wore on.
Coal was clearly bearing the worst of the injuries. He let out the occasional hiss of pain and his jaw was clenched in a permanent scowl that put a hard edge on his features.
The pounding of my head had become a throbbing. It pulsed in my ears and my vision was a little black around the edges making me worry that I might be concussed.
We pushed on as best we could but I could tell by Alicia's concerned frown that we weren't moving fast enough.
Laurie looked to be doing fairly well. The blood on her head had collected to matt some of her hair together which looked grisly amidst her golden blonde but aside from that she seemed to be uninjured.
Alicia was like a machine as she powered on in the lead; her feet never stumbled and she didn't even look tired. Her silvery hair, which had hung below her waist, now fell in jagged lengths. The shortest was just below her shoulders while the longer hair still hung well down her back. It suited her in a strange way.
Night fell like a blanket over us. It was grey and light one minute then dark and dim the next, like someone had switched the lights off. The chirping and scurrying sounds that accompanied the forest during the day changed and became harsher. The small mammals that made the woodland home in the daylight hid themselves away and bigger, stranger creatures took their place, moving quickly here and there in the dark.
The rustling of bushes and snapping of branches constantly drew my attention to the deep darkness outside the beams of our flashlights but nothing approached us directly.
The nocturnal animals were more vocal too, strange noises called out around us making me fli
nch more often than once.
I couldn't shake the feeling of being watched but Coal and Alicia seemed at ease in the darkness. The temperature was really starting to bug me too. I was soaked and the cold had taken root right down to my bones. My hands were firmly jammed inside my pockets but it was far past the point where that would have been any good to me.
We pushed on through the darkness for several more hours, talking occasionally in hushed tones but none of us feeling up for any more constant conversation.
My eyes were trying to close as we stumbled further and further along our makeshift trail and I had to remind myself of where we were to keep from laying down and sleeping.
More and more often I tripped as I failed to lift my feet high enough off of the ground and my mind spun dizzily.