"Come on!" I scream, stopping and turning towards Graham. "We need to go back for Jordan!" Graham says back. "Don't worry about it. I'll get him. See that tree? The one with all the vines?" I point to a tree covered in vines. He nods. "Go there and turn to your left. You'll see the cabin soon. I'll come after I get Jordan."
He runs up next to me and allows himself to breathe for a moment. "Are you sure? I can help."
"No. You can't. You'd be helping me more by leaving."
He looks worried and almost hurt. "Okay. Just please be careful, Oberon."
I don't respond just turn and run. There's absolutely no way to be careful in this kind of situation. I reach the tree and see Jordan, who has a branch in his side sticking out of his back. The branch is still attached to the minion's "arm".
"Jordan!" I scream. His limp arms are holding the branch in front of him as if to pull it out and the tree, although it certainly knows I'm here, ignores me. "Jordan are you still-"
I hear him scream my name and he makes an attempt to look in my direction. I run to the roots of the tree and grab one. It erupts in flames. The branch whips and Jordan flies off, hitting the ground with a hard THUMP. I run up to Jordan and grab one of his arms and put it over my shoulder. I pray he's strong enough to at least walk a little. I'm careful not to touch him with my right hand.
"Ha! Oberon! I thought Graham, maybe, but you? You said you weren't gonna save me." He doesn't look at me and groans in pain as I pull him forward, forcing him to walk.
"Jordan, you're my family. You have been since you decided to stay in the tent with us. I might not have seen it then but I do now." He looks at me as if to see if I'm serious. I give him a small smile. I am. Jordan has helped me and our group far too much for me to hate him, as I claimed.
He looks back down. "I'm sorry, Oberon. I'm so sorry. For everything."
"Come on. It'll come for us soon."
"You need to leave me. There's nothing you can do about this." He looks at the hole in his side. "No. There is. There always it. I have gel and we can clean it- put a bandage over-"
"Oberon, you need the supplies."
I shake my head. "No. I don't. I can always get more. Come on don't slow me down more than you already are because you are coming with. Even if I have to drag you."
We keep walking slowly through the woods towards the home. I see the towering tree with vines covering it from bottom to top. "Come on! Look, it's right over here! Graham is waiting."
He takes a sharp breath. "Okay. Okay."
I hear loud stomping that seems to make the whole forest shake. "Jordan, we need to move. Now!"
He groans again. "Okay. I'll try." He says. "Come on! You just have to make it a few more steps and we'll be at the tree."
I try to take a path which is a little harder to travel through, but it keeps us hidden. We are doing our best to run when we pass the huge tree and turn towards the cabin. "About there." I say. "Great." He responds.
We near the cabin and I know we aren't being quiet enough for the tree to miss that we're here. So why's it not here yet? Every step, several twigs snap beneath our feat and Jordan's shuffling could be heard from a long ways away. It'll catch up soon; it should've already caught up. I hear quick nearing us footsteps and we both freeze. Someone almost bumps into us they're running so fast. I exhale. It's only Graham. Graham goes to Jordan's other side and puts Jordan's arm over his shoulder.
"I told you to stay there." I say. "I know. I know. Aren't you glad I came though?" He says, optimistically. We listen to the minion in the distance. "You could've died. What if we were hiding somewhere else and you ran past us?"
"You weren't. I found you. You needed the help."
We all three begin to stumble forward. "Well, I'm glad he came. Even if there isn't much of a chance for me." Jordan gets out, and although it's clear he's trying to project his voice, it comes out quiet. We don't say anything. We just keep walking as quick as possible.
We finally get to the cabin. Graham opens the door and allows me to drag Jordan in. I hear the door slam as I bring Jordan to the bedroom to lay on the cot. I stare at Jordan who holds his side where his shirt is stained a deep red.
"Graham, there should be a knife on the table. I need to cut his shirt. I'm not sure we can get the shirt off without hurting him."
Graham rushes into the other room and grabs the knife. "Can you cut it?" I ask. Graham nods. "I'll go get the gel. I also bought some bandages a little while back."
I run into the other room and see a small can on the counter and behind it are the off-white bandages. I grab them both and run back to the bedroom. When I enter the room, I see Jordan still holding his side where a piece of his shirt is missing. "Graham do you have any idea how to-"
Graham takes the items from my hands. "Yeah. They taught us the basics in school."
"Right…" I say. He glances up at me and smirks. "Maybe it wasn't as useless as you thought."
"Yeah. Maybe not. I need to get my things; let me know if you need help with something."
"Okay."
I go into the other room to grab a few things and shove them into a bag. I see Willow curled up in the corner. I grab him and pet him in my arms. He purrs quietly. I'm a little surprised, to be honest. Willow doesn't purr too often.
I put Willow down. He doesn't need to get in my bag just yet. I near the bedroom door and hear Graham and Jordan talking. I pause. "To be honest, I'm surprised she even saved me. It's the last thing I deserve."
Graham chuckles. "Yeah. Me too."
"What does she mean to you, Graham? She seams to be more than just a friend to you..." Graham is quiet. "I'm not sure. She means a lot to me. After what I did to Jordan, she probably still hates me though."
Jordan takes a shaky breath. "That wasn't you, you know. That was me. My idea. My doing." Jordan responds, trying to keep his voice steady. "Yeah, but I helped. I helped send her lover to his death. I even knew--"
"Yeah, I knew too. That only further proves it was the right choice." Jordan says. "Or the wrong one. If he was under her control- we could've done something to get him in control again. I heard he went into some plants one time and... anyways, we shouldn't talk about that here or now."
What are they saying? Was Cora in control of him? They knew something the whole time that I didn't? How did they know? Maybe I'm jumping to conclusions too fast. Maybe I'm wrong. I hope I am. I'm finally beginning to trust them again and they clearly know something pretty important.
"Right. Sorry… Graham, I dont think I'm going to make it. Even if I leave here with you guys, I'll slow you down and be loud. Maybe it's best if I don't come with."
"You are. It'll be okay." Graham says, optimistically. I open the door and pretend I know nothing. "How are you doing?" I ask Jordan. "Did you really just ask that?"
"I've got him wrapped up. We'll have to see tomorrow though."
"Right. We're gonna have to go soon if I'm staying though." I say. "Yeah, I guess we are…"
"What if you left me here and came back tomorrow?"
"No. There's too many risks and no guarantee the general will even let us return." I say. "Yeah, we're taking you tonight." Graham chimes in.
"Actually, I think we should start moving now. Trust me, we don't want to be out here at night." I say. Even if there aren't minions around, it's very dark and disorienting.
I look at Jordan. "Think you could do that?" I ask. "I think I can try if you really want…"
"Great. I'll go get Willow."
I head into the main room and see the large cat sitting where I left him, waiting. I put my bag on the table and there's still plenty of space for the cat. I had made a separate area for sharp objects just in case I do need to put him in my bag again.
I lift him and carefully put him in my bag. He looks up at me; he's not impressed. I pull the straps to close the bag up and put the bag on my back. I feel Willow shift before going still. Graham is already helping Jordan out of the cot. "Here, let me help."
I walk to them as Graham helps Jordan up. He slowly and carefully stands. I put his arm over my shoulder right before he falls back over. "I can help him." Graham says, with a warm smile. "Just keep an eye out and lead the way."
"Okay." I let Jordan's arm fall and I allow Graham to help him instead. I walk to the door and open it, allowing both of them to leave. "We're going to take a longer, harder route but there's less of a chance of being caught." I say. "As long as the rest of us get there in one piece-" Graham says.
"No guarantees." I say, only half-way joking.
We enter a much thicker part of the woods. And I do the best I can to help Graham and Jordan make their ways through the woods but with Graham practically Carrying Jordan and Jordan completely unable to walk on his own, there isn't much I can do.
This time, I walk swiftly and quietly, but I wince at the noise every time Graham takes a loud step, which is always accompanied by Jordan's loud shuffling. I feel my bag shaking and for a moment, I'm confused before I realize Willow is with us. I'm no longer used to my bag vibrate. Willow begins to howl. "He's gonna get us caught!" Jordan hisses.
I look around, wide eyed. "Shut up! They're here! Try to get low... over there!" I point to some thick bushes.
I take my bag off and open it a little. I pet Willow to try to calm him but he keeps howling, louder than I knew he could. There's nothing more I can do other than get as far as possible from Graham and Jordan or let Willow go. If I let Willow out, though, there's a good chance I won't ever see him again and he's the most important thing to me. The only one who's been able to stay with me through everything.
For now, I'm just going to have to do what I can to get the minion away from Graham and Jordan. I turn toward where we came from and retrace my steps.
I remember I have the plant Graham gave me in my bag. I couldn't bring the pot too so I pulled it out and tried to keep all of it's roots from breaking. I'm not sure if it'll survive but I'll have to try. I doubt I'll have the plant by the time we get back.
I grab the plant from my bag. I walk back in the direction of the cabin. As I keep walking carefully, Willow slowly calms until when I reach the cabin again, he's completely calm again. "It was a trick! The thing was waiting for me to leave!"
I run into the cabin, quickly let Willow out, slam the door behind me, and run as quickly as I can back to them. By the time I get there, it seems I'm too late. There is no minion- like I had expected- but Cora. I see Graham and Jordan separate from each other.
Graham Is being attacked by what seems like one of the original minions while Jordan is backed up against a tree with Cora in front of him. Jordan's too weak to do anything but slowly scoot back. She did this on purpose. I have to choose. Jordan, or Graham. What I don't understand is why she made Graham so easy to save- shouldn't the be equally as hard to save so it doesn't effect my decision?
The first odd thing I notice is, while running to Graham, is that he's certainly not giving it his all against the minion. Maybe he's injured as well. I keep running closer to Graham, plant in hand, but when I get there, I notice something else. This is no normal minion because it's my friend. My closest friend- my dead friend. It's Jaxon. This challenge is a challenge of strength. It's a mental challenge.
I run up to Graham who's pinned by Jaxon. I push Jaxon off. "You need to run!" Jaxon's already standing back up. I look at him. His eyes are pure black and his face has no expression. "But-"
"Now! We can talk later."
He looks back at Jordan where Cora is standing. She flashes me a smile before disappearing, along with Jaxon. "Why did they leave? They could've gotten all of us!"
My mind's racing. "I'm not sure that was the point…" I say. "Then what was 'the point'? It sure seemed like the point was to kill us!" Graham yells. Jordan groans. He's worse than before but not because of Cora- because he needs real help. She didn't even touch him.
"Like I said- we'll talk later. We need to get him back or he's going to die."
I'm not completely sure getting him back will save Jordan though.