A loud shriek from me deafened the two of us. I locked my arms around the man's neck tightly, pressing my body against him, eyes shut. If only I could hide inside his robust frame, I would've done it.
He released his hand from me, making me hold on to him even tighter. Before I could wonder, the sharp blades of leaves and branches already sliced through my skin. The sound of trees breaking chorused with my screams and the violent rustling of the leaves.
THUD!
For what felt like eternal fall, a loud thud resonated in my ear, followed by a powerful impact on my buttocks. My heart was still racing, making me catch my breath. Even though we had stopped falling, it took me a minute to open my eyes.
When I mustered the courage to open one of my eyes, I looked around in relief. "We made it!"
I turned my head to him, only to catch him wincing. The fleeting bliss in my heart was immediately replaced with worry at seeing him in pain.
"Are you...?" my eyes fell down on the ground, noticing that my feet were an inch away from it as he was squatting down. There were specks of blood near us, so I traced it with my gaze, only for my eyes to dilate.
"Your calf...!"I looked at him in panic, eyes burning with an ocean of brine forming in its corner. There was a huge branch stuck in his calf and it was bleeding abundantly.
"It's fine. Don't mind it." He shrugged indifferently, as there was no trace of pain in his face anymore. It was as if his wincing was just a fragment of my imagination.
"Are you alright?" he inquired while scanning to verify if I was hurt.
"No!" I jumped from him, curling my fingers while assessing him. That branch pierced through his calf was one thing, but now that I looked at him, his entire body was littered with injuries.
He cocked his head up, blinking languidly. "What are you doing?"
"You can't run now!" I yelled, darting my eyes from his grave injury to his eyes. I should do something.
This man had shielded me during our fall and even when we landed, he ensured I would inflict the minimum damage. But in return, he had suffered.
"What should I do?" I murmured in between my ragged breaths. This man would die if I did nothing. I couldn't help but blame myself for dragging him into my mess. If only I didn't ask for his help, he wouldn't be in this state.
Tears started to blur my vision, but I shook my head because I had to keep it together. We needed to move, so I followed my instincts.
I held his muscular arm and guided it across my shoulders. It was heavy, but I wouldn't leave him here. I was determined. This was my absolute will. I wouldn't let another person die for me.
But reality shortly slapped me right in the face when I tried to lift him up; he didn't budge an inch.
This situation was not a matter of how determined I was or how I wished for something to happen. Carrying him required strength and capabilities, which I obviously lacked.
"No..." came out a muffled cry, attempting to lift him up once again, but he was just too heavy. "We need to move..."
"What the... hell?" he mumbled in disbelief while I drew away from him.
"What should I do? I can't carry you...!" I suppressed my hiccups as desperation dominated my heart.
"Ahh... so you thought of carrying me?"
I nodded with my lips closed while wiping my tears with my arm. He looked at me with... pity, when he was the one who was more pitiful.
"I will just drag you. Ah..." I looked around, searching for something he could hold on to.
"Tsk. I can still run. I just need to..." I gazed back at him as he spoke, and all I've seen next was the man reaching for the branch.
My words were a second later as he already pulled out the branch without a second hesitation, revealing his wound out in the open. He tossed it to the side while I blankly stared at the hole with blood and a bit of flesh squirting out from it.
Coldness seeped deep into my bones while staring at it. The sight of it was horrible and heartbreaking. And before I knew it, I slumped on the ground and stared at him.
"I'm sorry," I whispered as soon as I caught his pair of golden eyes. Although he looked at me with an annoyed face, I couldn't blame him, nor did I find it strange.
The man ruffled his hair irritably. He then cleared his throat and erected his index up.
"Look at me," he said, and by instinct, I looked at him straight in the eye. "Stop crying. I need to think."
I instantly pursed my lips and held my breath. But that also seemed to aggravate him as he clicked his tongue.
"I told you to stop crying. I didn't ask you to choke yourself to death," he grumbled while I exhaled discreetly, afraid even my breathing would annoy him during his last moments. To my surprise, he scrunched his nose up and looked at me in dismay.
"I'm not dying. Get that silly thought out of you."
"How can you say that when..." I pointed at his wound, but my eyes widened when I saw it close up on its own. I blinked countless times to confirm if my eyes weren't playing tricks on me and even rubbed them.
When I popped my eyes open once again, multiple loud thuds reached my ear. Instead of checking his wound, I turned my head to where I heard the noise. My heart instantly sank upon seeing multiple shadows nearby.
'They'd follow us... from there?' I looked up on instinct, only to realize that the cliff we jumped from was higher than I initially thought. 'There's something wrong with these people... how did we survive that?'
I snapped to reality when the man clapped in front of me. With my shaking eyes, I saw him pointing at the path behind me.
"Bambi, if you go straight on that path, you will reach a big, fat tree. Wait for me there," he instructed but I couldn't register his words. "Understood?"
"Uh..."
"Understood?" he intoned, and I instinctively nodded. "Good. Now, go."
I raised my head, watching him stand on his own as if nothing happened. I could only stare at him blankly while he looked down at me with his hand on his hip.
"Goodness... what am I thinking right now?" he mumbled before he suddenly shook his head irritably and turned around. "Go!"
The raising of his voice just knocked my intuition to move. I pushed myself up to stand, keeping my balance so I won't fall back down. The shadow from the dark gradually revealed themselves in slow steps while they hissed like snakes. Just the mere sight of them signaled me to take a careful step back.
I glanced at the man's broad back. But before I could tell him we need to run, he had already spoken.
"Big fat tree, alright? That's our rendezvous." He stretched his neck to the side, which produced a cracking sound. "These fucking bats just won't stop unless I deliver them back to hell."
I was frozen in place and was just watching him. I jumped when he looked back and growled.
"Why are you just standing there? Go!"
"Yes!" I hesitated no more and jogged away with my teeth clenching.
There were so many questions and doubt swelling up in my heart. That man was surely not normal. What was he? What were those people with glowing red eyes and fangs? How could they run so fast? And what do they want from me? Was my death that important to them?
There were so many questions, but no answer. So, I focused on running on this path since it was more important.
Suddenly, a loud howled rattled the forest, making the birds desert their nest and the trees replying with a loud rustle. I instinctively looked back at him, only to stumble upon seeing a huge wolf approaching my pursuers.
The man was already gone... just like how that same wolf disappeared and that man appeared out of nowhere.
The wolf suddenly looked back and my heart stopped beating momentarily when our eyes met. It had a pair of menacing red eyes, sending shivers down my spine. But... I could sense the familiarity of it.
It reminded me of that naked man.
When it growled at me, I sprung up and sprinted away without thinking. I still looked back out of instinct, only to see one man disappear from his spot and suddenly appear just right behind me. Before he could claw my face, the wolf appeared on his side and bit him on the neck, causing the two of them to crash towards the nearby tree.
I felt cold at what just happened in a blink of an eye, but I didn't stop. If anything, it drove me to run faster than before.
'I need to run away... from all of them.'