Joey was shivering from cold, Zain tried his best to keep him warm, as Napi told him to, Joey felt Zain's concern towards him and his conflicted, rapid breathing, his fingers that did not stop rubbing against each other in tension. Joey thought { Could he really be someone who is caring and friendly, Oh Zain Inside you are a truly loving and caring person, you are now only the real you, that face that is not interested in anyone on the planet, that thoughtless person who wants nothing from life, that prestige, that strength, all gone, Now you have nothing left on but your luminous fear to be alone again.." he thought. Closed his eyes and took another That deep breath was interrupted by pain as another strong puncture that came like a knife stabbing into Joey's chest, which made him groan in pain, with his fist firmly holding Into his chest, as he drew the attention of the other man who was sitting next to him,
- " Hey man you're okay?! " Zain said worriedly as he straightened up to face him.
" You ...must leave....I won't let you too.. freeze to death..."
Zain give no attention to Joey's words but looked at him deeply, Joey's face was pale and cold as snow, it seemed as if he fought to open the heavy eyelids of his eyes, and his lips were shivering from cold. as pain was all that's written on his every expression.
Zain did not say anything, he tried to get more closer to him to give him more warmth and tried to bring him nearer to the fire in order to warm him up
-" You will be fine .. "He kept repeating these two sentences, as if he was trying to reassure himself more than Joey.
Joey looked up at him with his tired and hard to open eyes, those light brown eyes which will never open again if it closed this time, then with a slight smile, "You...are ... a Good person .... Zain."
- "Well, you too .... are a good person, Joey ...." Zain said, strengthen his grip as he got frightened at the pace of those sentences.
"Jinan ... is the name of my village ... my mother... And my sister Naya ... in the fourteenth district ... the seventh .. house ... the ... Yangs ... ..."
- "Stop !!! " Zain interrupted him and He shouted at him: " Why are you saying this ha ?? Are you going to surrender? Are you saying that I have to go to your family and tell them the news of your death? You want me to carry such news ?! "
Joey raised his head at him, and smiled, "Yeah .... Can you do this for me?"
Zain looked at him with wide eyes and opened mouth due to the shock of what he just heard. as he gasped while looking at him in disbelief.
Zain collected all his strength and took a deep breath to calm him self.
- "No one else can do that but you!..You hear me.....You are... going to make them proud...and will tell them about this damn test and how you fought here to save your life and ours!...you will, you will tell them how you made new friends.. and this is going to end soon I promise"
Joey looked up at him and smiled while panting" Are you going to cry now ?..."
-" Am not! No San member have tears....we are.... horrible people Jeoy ...am not as naive and pure like you..." Zain said while resting his head on the cold wall behind him .
" And who told you ...that I am pure?... What is the definition of (Pure) to you..?" Joey asked as he looked up at Zain, taking another breath and continued:
" We are .. Humans...no matter what our roots are.. we need fear ...to know ... courage"
Zain looked at Jeoy, he felt deep, that someone finally said something that he needs to listen to, finally someone want to hear him and understand him. not taking him by his family's name. or reputation.
" Hang in there..they are on their way. ." Zain said as he cover Joey's shoulder with the blanket.
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" I don't know why are they unconscious...but we need to leave soon that is for sure" Aran said as he stood beside two beds, where Ryou and Napi were placed .
" We can not move with them in this state "
Aran looked at Ryou , and before he turns his head he noticed a big green leaf in his shirt's pocket, he got closer to him and grabbed it lightly.
" What is this?" Alicia came closer to him .as he opened the big leaf and was shocked as Ryou actually wrote something on it " ..Get the children out before he comes... the rest are dead....trust Napi..." Aran read this loudly and both were shocked after they finished reading. " What !! They are not humans?!" Alicia said in shock.
" Wait! Something is written in the back!.." Alicia said as she flips the leaf and its true something was written " Do not listen to him...do not look him in the eyes!" Aran read.
" It was written with coal ..." Aran said ,
" what does this mean ..and who is coming! And why do we need to take those kids out with us? ..
" What does this mean?" Alicia asked worriedly.
" I don't know about the others, I Only know that danger is on the way, and we need to move" Aran said as he crumpled the leaf between his fists, with clear tension and anxiety permeating his deep voice.
After an hour, Napi begin to regain consciousness, She opened her eyes slowly, and looked around her, She saw Ryou sleeping on the other bed, she stood up and quickly went to his side " Ryou! She touched his wrist to check his pulse . suddenly she felt something behind her, a gun being pointed at her head from behind, she froze .
" I don't trust you.... what happened to Ryou and The others?!"
Alicia said with a cold and low tone.
Napi smirked and turned her head slowly
" I know you don't, but...lets see here .. Aren't you quite not in your place?"
As she said this Alicia's face got pale like a sheet and her hands trembled, For some reason she felt so much anger and this time pointed her gun at Napi's smiling face:
" Who do you think you are ! What do you know about me?" Alicia shouted.
Aran came in quickly and took the gun from Alicia's hand angerly " Control yourself!." it was one of the few times that he raises his voice on her.
He turned to Napi " And you.... don't try to play mind games now its not the right time. What happened to the others....?"
Napi's smile faded gradually " Joey is dying and Zain is with him, I left them in a cave, and I supposed to take you along with the kids before this demon comes, but when I met Ryou before ,he was already in danger, We kept feeling a very dark energy, that caused us to lose our energy by the time we got here, And did not have the ability to run, this is one of this demon's strengths, Ryou started to lose conscious , so he wrote this things on a leaf so that if anything happened to us, you will know what to do..."
Napi set on the bed beside him and continued. " He told me that Zain has entrusted this to him and that he has to deliver the info to you guys...And indeed. We lost consciousness, after hearing this demon's voice, anyway its a very high rank if he can infect us from this distance..., it will be undescribably terrifying, Even though it was still far and seemed slow but the effect was huge, and seemed to be on its way here, So we have to leave because Joey doesn't have much time and neither are we".
Napi finished her sentence leaving Aran and Alicia in shock .
" The other people here....they are not humans?" Aran asked her, making her stop in her steps.
Napi looked back at him " They are not as alive as they think, they ... have been here for a long time and have turned into lost souls while it seems that only children are the ones who remained humans, it seems they came lately by some unknown way"
Suddenly Napi felt something and felt a contraction in her heart, As she felt the pain she suddenly panicked.
"What is the matter?" Aran asked as he walled towards her.
" It's getting closer.." she said trembling.
Aran ran out and peeked outside the tent and then quickly returned, "Come backup your things, I have to go somewhere first, we will meet here in fifteen minutes. in front of the tent!" He said and rushed out.
- " What the hell! Where are you going!"
Alicia said going after him as he stopped and turned around suddenly pulling Alicia's shoulders towards him with force " Don't get out of here alone, I'll be here and I won't be late, you'll be fine! it will be okay! "
His words and the tone of his voice, his way in pressing her shoulder in tension, indicated his fear and unaccustomed tension, From a person like him, which made it clear to her. How they were really in trouble this time, which made her shudder. And felt that a disaster will happen.
End of Chapter 26
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