What if Liam can sense that I'm hiding something from him? What if he finds out that his brother kissed me? Liam has never done that to me before... it is disappointing that his brother is my first kiss. I know there were moments when I thought Liam would do it, but he held back. I also hate that we have yet to talk about it.
Where is he, anyway? He was supposed to be here a half-hour ago. I remembered not asking him when he would be here today... I might be too late.
I almost gave up when I heard the familiar car engine from across the stream. Then I can see the front of the pickup truck before it comes to a stop.
Speaking of the devil...
Several seconds later, there are murmurs and laughs. I focus my hearing on spotting Liam's familiar voice, and I give up when it comes to no avail.
I peek through the small gap in the tree trunk, still keeping my body low enough on the ground. I see three tall guys pushing each other playfully on the stream. Two have brown hair, and the other has black hair. There's no Liam, as far as I can see.
My heart beats so fast as one of the brown-haired guys runs closer to where I'm hiding.
"Fuck, James, stop it! The water is cold," he's already standing on the stream's edge on my side and is only ten steps away from me now. Half his clothes are drenched, and it sticks to his skin showing the abs behind the fabric.
"Hurry up, Ken! Stop playing in the water, you ass-wipe! We need to gather the fish," one of them says. The other two guys have already returned to the stream's other side. I'm guessing that one is James, the other brown-haired guy who pushed Ken into the water before leaving him there.
"You pushed me into the water," Ken is still trying to wrench the water from his wet clothes. His whole body is trembling, and I can hear his teeth chattering from here. I almost forgot for a minute that they are Obels, and they can't stand the cold. It is bad enough that they already suffer the winter from the cold blood that runs through their veins.
A pang of sadness hits me when I think about it because it reminds me of Liam. Where is he? I hope he is okay.
A rustling sound comes from the woods behind my back, making Ken automatically turns his head toward my direction.
I thought it was just wind at first, but the way Ken's eyes bulged out of their rims, something must be behind me. I turn around, trying to catch the figure moving between trees. An animal's snout peeps out from the forest before a full-grown bear reveals itself from the woods while locking its eyes at me.
After all these times I have been here in the woods, the bear just decided to show up now?! This is just so great! Did the bear and these three idiots plan all of this with Liam so they could capture me? Wait, is this all just a trap?
What am I supposed to do now? I only see one option here, die. But which one should I choose the way I die? Get eaten by this bear or get beaten by those Obels? Wait, Obels can't fight, can they? Considering the situation, I hope the latter choice is better than the first.
So with a sense of desperation, I stand up as gently as possible, careful not to frighten the bear.
Surely, Ken can see me now, and Mr Bear has decided to make me his dinner. So, there is no turning back. I only need to keep my eyes on the bear and my back on these men. So I slowly walk toward the stream.
The bear growls, and it startles me. As a result, I trip over my feet and fall on my back to the ground. The bear starts running towards me, and I try so hard to crawl as fast as possible to avoid the attack. The longer I creep, the closer the bear is to me. Why does it seem like I'm not even moving at all?
I hear a gunshot from above me, not realizing that at the same time, Ken approaches me with a gun in his hand. I thought he would shoot me, but he ran past me toward the bear instead before pulling the trigger the second time. Its fury body collapses to the rocky earth floor after two bullets pierced through its head.
The other two Obels see what is happening and quickly drop their freshly caught fishes onto the ground before returning to the water. James is faster than the other one. From my point of view, it looks like he's walking above the water. James is suddenly beside me, saying something as he crouches down. I can't hear what he's saying due to the ringing effect after the gunshot.
I roll my body around, trying to push myself up.
"Are you okay?" James says after I finally get my hearing back.
"Yes," I nod, avoiding looking him in the eyes as I walk away. It's hard to act casual after what happened, but if I panic, I'm only going to put my already fucked-up situation even worse.
Ken and the other one, whose I still don't know his name, are already on each side of the animal corpse. I walk past them to get to my forgotten backpack and casually walk toward the forest as if I had just finished school.
"Hey!" someone shouts from afar, but I keep walking without looking back. "You... stop right there!"
Damn it...
"I said stop!" the same voice snarls once again before a hand grabs my shoulder and yanks me harshly to come to a stop.
"What the hell..." I spin my body around and find James with an expression on his face that I can't read.
"Who are you?" he asks. I can hear the suspicion in his voice.
"I'm...Uhm, Chloe-" I don't know why I'm lying, but that's what my first instinct tells me to do.
James opens his mouth to say something back, but the other Obel, who I still don't know his name, cuts him off. "James, we need to take this bear back to the camp. It's getting late!"
James sighs and tilts his head towards his friend. He's still gripping my shoulder tightly like he's scared I will run away... which, of course, I will. "Fine, but we're also taking her with us!"
"What?" I grip my backpack tighter, ready to use it as a weapon. I could fight them but might die before unzipping this bag to get something sharp enough as a defence.
"Why?" Ken asks.
"Yeah, why?" I repeat him.
James does not respond to my remark but asks, "where are you from?"
I pretend to cough before answering. It's just something I do to cover my lie. "From the city," I say, stuttering.
Why the fuck did I say that? Now, they will take me to their camp for sure.
"Are you lost?" The other Obel says. Oh, shut up! I want to punch him. "You can stay with us, you know..."
"I agree with Jay," Ken says.
So his name is Jay.
Ken seems like a nice guy with dark bob hair that makes his baby face look more innocent than it already is. But don't let someone's appearance fool you...I mean, he just shot a freaking bear!
"Oh, no... thank you for the offer, but I'm okay." I try to force a smile, but it turns into an awkward smirk. I jog back to the forest, but James catches my arm.
"The woods can be quite scary at night, you know..." James nudges the dead bear and then to the forest. He looks up at the purple sky as if he's signalling that the sun will set soon.
I grimace at him. Why is he acting like he is plotting something against my will?
"I'm fine, and I can take care of myself!" I yank myself free from his grasp, but to no avail. He grips my arm tighter.
"No, you're coming with us!" he drags me away from the forest and to the stream. At the same time, Ken and Jay carry the bear with them. They hold each bear's feet, leaving a trail of blood on the rocks.
When James drops his guard and loosens his grip, I free myself from him and run as fast as possible toward where I came from.
"Fuck!" I hear James curse.
I entered the forest through the small gap between two trees but slipped when something hard hit my skull. A pain shoots through my whole head, and I feel a thick liquid streaming down my neck.
God, these fucking idiots are making me angry!
"Just leave me alone!" I yell at James, who is now sprinting right in my direction. I quickly grab my backpack and smack it to his head as hard as possible once he's at my swinging distance. He falls to the ground, and I can hear him groan. I kicked him hard on his stomach when he tried to lift himself, and he fell back into the dirt.
Ken freezes in his place, but Jay is already approaching me.
I should just run toward the forest, but my feet are taking me in the opposite direction. I clench my fists tighter and punch his face hard when Jay stands before me—the sound of bones cracking echoes throughout the creek.
I stand there, gasping for air and locking eyes with a pale-looking Ken. His shaky hand reaches for the gun in his waist.
My heart is still racing inside my chest, and my adrenaline is full. Mason taught me to draw the adrenaline whenever I encounter danger to help me run away fast or fight hard. Flee or fight! That's what he always told us, and I chose to fight this time. I would usually run away during practice just because I didn't want to get hurt or hurt anybody. I know I need to run away in this situation, and fighting them now will reveal my Rebel side. But I can't seem to control my own body.
I feel a sharp pain on the back of my head for the second time when someone strikes me with a patchy rock. I wince when I feel the pain as I put my hand on the back of my head.
Oh no, this is not going to end well... I should've just run back to the camp! I should stop acting like I can take them down on my own!
"Let's take her," I can hear the sound of grating pebbles near me, but my head is too dizzy to pay attention, and my eyes are too blurry to see because of the blow. "She's probably one of the Fighters," James says suddenly from beside me.
How do they know about the Fighters? I try to keep conscious the whole time, pushing away the darkness that keeps taking over my sight.
I shake my eyes open, ready to blow another punch to whoever dares come near me. But the first thing I see is Jay's fists flying to my cheek, which knocks me down again.
They don't even think twice about beating up the opposite gender. Well, that's good! Because when I fight them one by one, I don't want them to hold back. If they want a fight, I'll give them a good one.
"Tie her up!" someone says again before I can get back on my feet.
Someone pulls my hands harshly to my back, and I yelp. I bet they dislocated my shoulders because I can hear my bones cracking. After tying my hands, James pulls my ponytail and drags me to the stream by my hair.
I cry out again, trying to free myself from him.
"Do you have to drag her like that, James? She's not going to attack again. She's all tied up!" I hear someone speaks. I don't know who is who anymore by this point. I refuse to stay awake any longer.
"Shut up, Ken!" James growls at him from above me.
"Here, you take the bear, and I'll carry her!" I hear a loud splash, and when James lets his grip go from my hair, my head hits the stream. The water stings my wound.
Ken immediately takes my arm and pulls me up. Thankfully the freezing water keeps me awake until we cross the creak, so I don't let myself get dragged by the stream. The two guys in front of me are struggling with the cold and the dead bear, and Ken's chattering teeth seem loud in my ear. I can easily beat them down right now. They're weaker when they're cold.
"Wait, what about the fish?" Jay asks.
"I'll ask Liam to collect them tonight," James shrugs beside him.
The mention of Liam's name sends another adrenaline through my whole body. They're going to take me to Liam. I should let them off the hook. I need to see Liam.