The yellow rays of the sun dimmed giving way to the crimson moonlight. With it silence reigned, as fear arose in the hearts of the group.
Everyone gazed at the never ending forest, it's trees casting shadows on their glomy faces. As wind blushed against the tall trees and bushes causing them to whistle in the eerie silence.
None of them could've admitted it, but the fear that resonated in their entire beings, made their hearts thumb on their chests, almost cracking their rib cages.
One by one the group sat, cold engulfing them, though none could feel it, as they held their breaths and awaited the cowboys whistle to reverberate.
Mrs Taiyo still lingered at the small battle field they'd made refuge at. Hungry, exhausted, fatigued, cold and terrified, the third night was the longest they were gonna experience.
....
Even after the long walk, the hunger and the fight, none of them could've dared to sleep, not unless one wanted to suddenly die in their sleep.
*****
Alpha, gazing at Dan, lingered a bit and contemplated on whether to ask, but after a minute he gained enough courage to break the silence on the field and ask.
"What do you think?"
Dan didn't answer him immediately, as he was a little perplexed by the sudden question, but looking at the faces of those that sat close stare at him terrified with a little bit of curiosity, he cleared his throat before answering with another question.
"About what?" Of cause he knew what Alpha meant, but how would he know, did they honestly think he had control over the ability they so believed was future sight? Didn't he already tell them he couldn't activate it at will?
"The cowboy, do you think he's gonna show up?" Alpha replied, he didn't wanna know the answer, but if it was meant to happen then it was gonna happen, so might as well figure out when.
Everyone held their breaths, this time even Mrs Taiyo who had stoped to listen, wanted to hear his answer.
The terror in Dan's eyes looked to have vanished replaced by nervousness. The forest and everything seemed to become dead silent, even the wind halted it's rustle as everyone gave him an ear. He couldn't tell if the cowboy was gonna show up or not. Informing them this, would cause them to panic even more, but if he lied to them and they relaxed, only for him to appear and killed some of them, then he would be branded as a liar and no one would ever associate with him.
The pressure placed on him, appeared to be increasing now that everyone had their eyes on him.
...
After a few seconds of silence, something happened, something that not even he could explain. One second he was staring at his classmates and the next he was confined in total darkness.
He couldn't make out anything in there. He felt like he was suddenly at the center of the universe, where every corner extended infinity and at the same time felt like he was locked at the smallest cube possible. His voice, his hearing and his sight were all gone. It was pure torture, something that lasted for a mere minute felt like an eternity to him.
After the dead silence and total darkness. Light flushed, and he was suddenly back at the cursed forest, only to be met by the horrified faces of the students before him. He couldn't tell why, first he thought they experienced the same thing he did, but peering at the fear displayed on the eyes directed at him, he figured not.
It wasn't the same fear as before, even if they experienced what he did, their reaction couldn't have been the one he saw on them.
"What?" He asked, ignoring what had just happened to him a second ago.
"Not again" Alpha was the first to squeeze out words after the sudden heavy atmosphere.
Dan couldn't tell what he meant and was about to ask for clarification, before Mrs Taiyo interjected.
"What do you mean not again?"
"He does this when he words about something terrible that's about to happen, he doesn't remember it." Tony replied.
Mrs Taiyo was momentarily at a lose for words. Why would something like this happen to one of her kids and not know about it.
"So you don't remember what you just said?" Looking at Dan, she asked with a seemingly calm expression.
"No, I just remember y'all waiting for my answer." Not wanting to worry them, he left what had happened to him out.
'What does this even mean?' Mrs Taiyo pondered, having decided to disregard the fact that only Dan hadn't learned how to activate his ability, but now it wasn't possible anymore. His ability was both a curse and a blessing. If he learned how to activate it, then maybe surviving this world wouldn't be as hard and unpredictable.
"So you said everything unconsciously?"
"Say what?" Dan was getting a little impatient with all the shortcuts, from what he could scavage, his mouth could talk about things his mind hadn't processed or even created, without his command. Almost as if someone else took control. The thought alone terrified him, but at the moment he couldn't do anything about it, so sticking to what he could control was the only way.
.....
"We can rest for today, tomorrow blood will rain."