by Anna Hub
I walked faster, realising I needed to be beside Brayden to measure the threat by his eyes. Even though we were only at the beginning of our journey, the grey had already thickened; his eyes becoming paler, the closer we got.
"The hunters must be close," I warned the others.
Tara shivered, her bow lifted in preparation. "You can almost feel the energy in the air."
I nodded.
“Let's get the new shadows, and get the hell out,” she added.
My stomach knotted. I hoped we'd made the right decision by coming here. I checked Brayden's eyes once more. The grey had completely taken over and the skin around his face had lost expression. He hadn't been that bad for days. Adrenaline caused my hands to tremble.
"I think we need to climb a tree and check what we're walking into." I turned to face the others.
Tara caught my expression and threw me her bow. "I'll do it."
She used her shadow and launched herself into a tree, easily pulling herself up branch by branch. Matt and I paced the ground beneath her but Brayden wouldn't stop.
"Hurry," I called out. If we let him get too far ahead we might lose him.
"Oh my ..." Tara stared. "We have to get out of here."
My heart pounded. "What do you see?"
Matt turned, checking the forest surrounding us for danger.
"Seriously." Tara used her shadow to swing to the ground. "We need to get out of here, right now!"
"Brayden?" He didn't turn back. "Brayden?"
His posture stiffened and he froze.
"I can see a hunter," Matt said, his bow raised.
I turned in search of our opponent and when I looked back, Brayden was running. "No!" I went after him but Tara hooked me around the waist. I struggled to fight her off but she pulled me back.
"You can't go in there, Sel." She struggled for breath. "I've never seen so many hunters in my life."
"But Brayden ..." I broke out of her grasp. My heart beat erratically as Brayden disappeared from view.
"You'll never make it out!" she snapped.
A whip cracked nearby and a cat launched itself from the forest, snarling as a hunter stepped into its path.
"Look out!" Matt turned.
Tara and I twisted to see as another hunter approached from behind. Tara and Matt both lifted their weapons but I pulled on their bows gently until they pointed at the ground.
"What are you doing?" Tara hissed.
"It's not us they've come for," I whispered. "They can only see the threat. It's the whip cat, they're after."
The cat screamed and struck the first hunter's throat with its tail. It turned and hissed as the second hunter held his shadow up as a shield.
"Let's run." Matt grabbed Tara's hand but I couldn't leave without Brayden.
"Selena?" Tara cried desperately, her voice catching as she stumbled over a rock. Matt caught her before she fell but her expression twisted with pain and she let out a quiet squeal. "My ankle," Tara limped as she struggled to find her footing.
There was no telling how long the cat would hold the hunters up. I wanted to go after Brayden but I knew Matt would never forgive me twice if I didn't help him with Tara. I grit my teeth as the whip cat battled the hunters. Somewhere out there, Brayden was caught in a fight too, but right now, I couldn't go after him.
Matt threw the bows to me. "Tara, hop on my back—"
A high-pitched scream cut him off and we all froze. It sounded again, too panicked to be a whip cat. And hunters didn't scream.
I glanced at Tara and Matt. "It's a new shadow."
Matt checked the hunters and whip cat behind us. "Let's take Tara—"
"I have to get them." I didn't pause for approval. There was no time.
"Selena?" Matt called after me as I ran deeper into the Valley.
Surrounded by trees it was hard to picture the horror of the hunters swarming in the centre but I could feel their energy pulsing in the air. I ran as fast as I could, cautious each time I broke through a tree line, expecting the hunters to appear at any moment. I hit the river path and the scream sounded again, echoing around me. Picking up pace, I watched the ground carefully for anything that might hold me up. The path bent and as I turned the corner, a young girl crouched by the water, partly obscured by a boulder. She trembled and nearby, three hunters fought to overcome each other.
I held my hand out. “Come to me.”
The girl looked at me with terrified eyes. The fear had paralysed her and I couldn't afford to wait. I rushed forward and grabbed her arm.
“My friend,” she shrieked, and I followed her gaze to a boy on the other side of the river.
I checked the hunters were still engaged and pushed the girl back into her hiding place. Crossing the river faster than I had before, I pulled the young boy into my arms and hurried back.
By the time I reached the girl, one of the hunters had fallen. Hopefully the final battle lasted long enough for us to escape.
With the boy in my arms and the girl running at my side, we bolted up the Valley slope. My pulse boomed in my ears, so loud that I couldn't hear anything else.
A hunter charged at me from the side and knocked me to the ground. The boy in my arms screamed. I tried to push him away and tell him to run but the hunter smothered me. With all the energy I could muster, I kicked at him, desperate to survive so I could take the children to safety.
His weight jarred into me abruptly and a loud grunt sounded as he fell to the side. I shook myself free, recognising the tangle of Brayden’s dark, curly hair before I grabbed the children's hands and continued running.
Chapter Thirteen
Our pace slowed as we neared the camp. I was too exhausted to speak to the two children hanging on my hands but I could have cried with the relief of rescuing them.
"Selena?" Matt called from a tree. "I was about to come after you." He dropped the ground, taking the children's hands so I could concentrate on holding myself up.
The last of the sunlight faded as we met up with the others. Tara lay on the ground with her foot elevated while Nick paced beside her.
“What happened?” She sat up.
I reached for a water bag and closed my eyes, struggling not to vomit as my heartbeat throbbed right the way up my throat. "I found them by the river."
"I can't believe you went in there alone. Did you see how many hunters there were?"
"I saw three."
She shook her head. "There were dozens. I was afraid we'd never see you again."
I was lucky to have survived, but to rescue those two children made it worth the risk. Now that I'd escaped, all I could think about was Brayden. There had been no choice but to leave him behind and now there was no way of knowing what had happened to him. The hunters were attracted to the danger in each other, as long as he was close to the Valley pit, the hunters would be coming for him. That, in turn, would keep his Instinct active. Maybe he was trapped in there, jailed by his Instinct, unable to remember his purpose, or how to get away.
Rachel sat by Matt while he sparked a fire, her hair now frizzy and dishevelled. Dark circles hung beneath her eyes. She must have suspected this was far more than a dream.
"When can we get out of here?" She looked at Matt.
He glanced at me as he replied, "Soon. We're nearly out of food and energy is running low. It's too dangerous to stay much longer."
I was too exhausted to argue, but I wouldn't leave without Brayden.
Nick sat between the two children, offering words of encouragement that the rest of us were too tired to give.
“Who’s your friend, Ellie?” he asked gently.
“His name is Ashley,” she whispered.
The boy's eyes widened at the mention of his name.
“How old are you, Ashley?”
“Seven.”
They were terrified, as they should be, but they were going to live and everything I’d suffered would be worth it, if only Brayden would come back.
Matt passed
around the last of the food he'd collected but there wasn't enough to satisfy our needs.
“I’m really hungry,” Rachel groaned. "But there's no way I'm eating that stuff."
“You don’t get hungry in dreams.” Tara eyed her.
“You know, I don’t really care whether this is a dream or not.”
“That’s a very naive thing to say.” Tara pushed a leaf filled with dead bugs into her lap and waited for the girl to look into her eyes. “Everything in here wants you dead. You’ll need energy if you’re going to run.”
Rachel leaned back to escape Tara’s proximity.
“You need to eat,” Tara glared at her but it was easy to see her efforts had nothing to do with nutritional needs. It was about using her Manipulation and forcing the girl to do something she didn't want to do.
I took the food from Rachel's lap, ignoring a sharp stare from Tara. I had to admit the girl wasn't easy to like, but if I wanted this to be my calling, I would have to find a way to reach everyone, not just the people I liked.
“Why aren’t you trying to make him eat it?” Rachel nodded to Nick.
I spoke up before Tara could say anything else, “Nick’s body is in hospital. They're taking care of his hydration and nutritional needs.”
Rachel frowned. "Of course."
I didn't have the energy to deal with her sarcastic attitude. Instead, I picked at the bugs inside the leaf and swallowed them before I could taste them.
Hours passed and the group fell silent, each of us closing our eyes as though we were sleeping, but I doubted anyone actually managed to relax. My stomach groaned and my hands shook but in the dark, there was no way of finding more food. It would have to wait until morning.
I dozed on and off, waking as a whip cat peered into the campsite, its head only a few feet from where I lay. Instead of freezing in terror as I once would have, I looked right into its deep green eyes. How had things changed so dramatically? The whip cats who had once done everything in their power to destroy us, were now on our side. There was no element of threat within its eyes or its posture, but there was a message in its stare—we had a mutual purpose. It sunk back into the forest and once I settled back in my place, I realised Nick was watching me.
"Had you seen a whip cat before we found you?"
He shook his head. "I'd often heard them screaming but at the time I didn't know what they were, and I'd never seen them in person."
The screams hadn't seemed so painful when I was still passing, as though the timeshare in the Origin had protected me from the real sound. At least that was one thing Nick didn't have to deal with right now.
Nick shuffled closer, keeping his voice low. "Earlier, you said I didn't need to worry about food because my body is in the hospital. Does that mean our body back home is really connected to us in here?"
I tried to clear my head, preparing for a serious conversation. “Yes. Anything that happens to you here, will affect your body in the Origin and vice versa.”
“Then it’s a good thing I’m in hospital?” His eyes softened, filled with melancholy.
Although he put on a brave face, I knew how hard it was to spend that time in hospital while your family worried about you. It stirred memories that were still so raw but I swallowed them back down. "At your current ... stage, yes, the hospital is the best place for your body. But for Rachel, I’d say it’s probably too early.”
Rachel slept restlessly nearby. Nick glanced at her then back to me. "You said there was a way to return to my own world. Is that true?”
It wasn’t exactly true, but I didn’t know how to tell him what was really going to happen. I opened my mouth a couple of times but couldn't find the words to explain.
“In the end, I'll be stuck here, won't I?" he whispered, his face growing pale.
Emotion threatened to rise up but Nick needed me to offer confidence not heartbreak. "Yes. Eventually. But you will have time to say goodbye."
Nick looked away and cleared his throat. I hated that he was suffering so much. He scratched his cheek and rubbed his face, gradually finding the courage to face me again. “What will happen to my body?”
Tears prickled at my eyes. How would I have coped if I'd known about my death so far in advance? Being thrown into the Shadowlands was bad enough when I believed there might be a way to escape it. But knowing the truth, how would I have found the strength to make it so far? Still, I couldn't lie to him and trying to dance around the facts was sometimes worse than the truth.
“It will die,” my voice came out hoarse.
He stared at his feet. “All of this happened to you?”
I breathed deeply, struggling to keep myself composed. “I died about two months ago.”
He stood up and paced the campsite, quickly changing the subject. “You seem like you’ve been here for a long time.”
“It feels like longer." In truth, it was probably a similar time when Nick and I first passed, but my transfer was complete so much faster than it should have been.
He ran hands through his hair and turned back to me. "What do I tell my family?"
I wanted to stand up and wrap him in my arms, but maybe that would only make it harder for him. He was obviously struggling to keep himself in check. It was my job to give him knowledge without letting my own heartbreak bleed through.
"I told my father that when I was unconscious, I was in another place." I smiled despite the effort. "I described all the beautiful things about this Valley, and left out the danger. I said I was with people who cared about me, and that I was happy. It was the only thing I could give him.”
He nodded. “Then that’s what I have to do.”
I gave him a few minutes to digest everything. “I know it seems impossible, but you just have to take each day at a time.”
We sat in silence for a long time and my gaze fell upon Rachel and the children. I had no idea how I would explain the process to them. Nick had been here for a long time and I suspected he'd known his fate all along. He'd made my job easier. But how would Rachel react when I told her the same thing?
Nick noticed my wandering eyes as they settled on Matt. He cleared his throat. "Matt says we're leaving in the morning."
I shook my head. "I won't leave without Brayden."
Rachel stirred as we spoke, rubbing her eyes as she rolled over. We both paused until she sat up. "Why are you still awake?"
"Can't sleep, I guess." I shrugged.
She groaned and lay back down.
Nick lowered his voice, "What happened to Brayden?"
"He got caught in a fight—"
"I mean, how did he end up with grey eyes?"
"Sometimes when people pass through to this world for the final time, they develop an Enhancement. For Brayden, the pass enhanced his basic human instinct. A trait he shares with the hunters."
"How is he different to them?"
"Most hunters have a problem with their Instinct reacting to strangers. But Brayden and I passed into this world together. I suspect our existing friendship helped him to trust me. And the longer we're here, the better he gets at controlling it around others. But the important thing is, he's on our side."
"The Instinct makes him stronger?"
"I guess physically he's only as strong as his body will allow him to be. But he has a mental drive that allows him to move faster and fight harder than the rest of us.”
“Kind of like he’s on speed or something?” Rachel piped up.
“Not the comparison I would have used.” I frowned.
“I mean how they’re really strong if they get in a fight, because they're mentally charged. It’s like they just don’t hold back.” She shrugged and rolled over.
“The thing about hunters is that they're drawn to danger. If we stay out of their way and there's a more immediate threat nearby, they won't even see us."
Nick nodded. "That's where Brayden is? Fighting the strongest threat?"
"Yes." I shifted. "With so many hunters in the Valley pi
t, I'm afraid he can't find his way out."
"Maybe he'll come back in the morning."
I swallowed. If only he was right, but it wasn't a possibility. "Yeah, maybe."
--*--
I woke with the sun shining right in my eyes. My mouth was dried out like I had a mouthful of tissues. The waterbag beside me was full and I wondered who had made a trip to the river. Tara's swollen ankle still rested on a rock, her shadow strapped around it for support. Matt looked as bad as I felt, and Rachel and the children wouldn't have gone out on their own.
"Thank you." I looked at Nick as I took a drink. “You’re coping better than the rest of us,” I croaked.
“I guess I’m the only one who still has a constant food and water supply.” Nick shrugged.
I rubbed my eyes before checking each face around the camp. Rachel at twenty, Nick at fifteen, Ellie at ten and Ashley at seven. It struck me for the first time—they were all so young. Younger than any other I’d seen here.
“We have to get out of here." Matt announced. I'd been dreading this moment. "We're too close to the Valley pit. Tara has an injured ankle and we have no food left."
“What about Brayden?” I straightened.
“He can find his own way back. We have to do what's best for everyone else here.”
"You don't understand. Brayden's trapped by his Instinct in there. He can't find his way out alone."
"And we have no way of getting him out. My hands are tied, Selena."
I stood up; too exhausted to think straight. "We can't leave him in there."
Matt stepped closer, his gentle side long gone. "There's an entire swarm of hunters in there. Tara can't fight like this. You have zero combat training and neither of us have enough energy to survive another chase." He leaned closer so the others wouldn't overhear. "If it were just us, I'd feel differently, but we have two very young children here. We need to get them out of this place."
I knew he was right, but still, I clutched at anything that might persuade him to stay. “What about all the other people in there? How can we leave them in there to die? And we promised six shadows when we only have four.”