Chapter Thirty Nine
The journey south was only hampered by the dense undergrowth and, to an extent, by the injuries inflicted on us by the Creepers. My lungs didn't seem inclined to work properly after my fall. If I took a deep breath it sent shooting pains down my back and my head pounded in time with each step that I took. We ran when we could but Coal's injuries slowed him down too so we had to walk more often. I didn't say anything but I was finding it increasingly difficult to keep up.
The dark green bushes sang with many sounds as we passed, signalling the things living within. We saw some of them: long black beasts with more legs than I could count scurried to and fro amongst the dead leaves littering our path, fat flies drifted lazily by and tiny midges swarmed in clouds which we avoided as best we could.
A yellow bush shifted and shimmered in a faint breeze before suddenly breaking apart and flying in hundreds of different directions, revealing the tiny insects that had made up the illusion.
Rats, chipmunks and squirrels were everywhere, constantly crossing our trail and leaping from branch to branch. Each leap seemed to carry them far further than I would have expected their little legs to be capable of and I wondered if the contamination had made them that way.
The forest held a serene beauty with only a faint hint of threat lurking in the dark spaces between the immense trunks. The trees walled us into the green prison like bars on a cage but it didn't feel like a cage at all.
It was beginning to feel familiar to me. Even the moist air felt natural, my lungs taking a healthy fill as I thought about it. I instantly regretted it as a spasm ran down my back and my vision swam from the pain, but it was beautiful even so.
The forest had grown in such a way as to protect itself and the creatures that inhabited it had followed suit, but that didn't make it unwelcoming. It seemed that anything would be welcome so long as it didn't pose a threat to the delicate balance and peace that surrounded us.
Life outside The Wall was harsh and maybe even cruel sometimes, but it was real. I couldn't imagine any reason that I would ever want to return to the parody of life that they lead within the city.
Exhaustion started to wear at our resolve to keep moving after a few hours. The aches and pains we had all acquired during our eventful trip felt more raw and harder to bear as the miles wore on.
Coal was clearly bearing the worst of the injuries. He let out the occasional hiss of pain and his jaw was clenched in a permanent scowl that put a hard edge on his features.
The pounding of my head had become a throbbing. It pulsed in my ears and my vision was a little black around the edges, I worried that I might be concussed.
We pushed on as best we could but I could tell by Alicia's concerned frown that we weren't moving fast enough.
Laurie looked to be doing fairly well. The blood on her head had collected to matt some of her hair together which looked grisly amidst her golden blonde but aside from that she seemed to be uninjured.
Alicia was like a machine as she powered on in the lead; her feet never stumbled and she didn't even look tired. Her silvery hair, which had hung below her waist, now fell in jagged lengths. The shortest was just below her shoulders while the longer hair still hung well down her back. It suited her in a strange way.
Night fell like a blanket over us. It was grey and light one minute then dark and dim the next, like someone had switched the lights off. The chirping and scurrying sounds that accompanied the forest during the day changed and became harsher. The small mammals that made the woodland home in the daylight hid themselves away and bigger, stranger creatures took their place, moving quickly here and there.
The rustling of bushes and snapping of branches constantly drew my attention to the deep darkness outside the beams of our torchlight but nothing approached us directly.
The nocturnal animals were more vocal too, strange noises called out around us making me flinch.
I couldn't shake the feeling of being watched but Coal and Alicia seemed at ease in the darkness. The temperature was really starting to bug me too. I was soaked and the cold had taken root right down to my bones. My hands were firmly jammed inside my pockets but it was far past the point where that would have been any good to me.
We pushed on through the darkness for several more hours, talking occasionally in hushed tones but none of us feeling up for any more constant conversation.
My eyes were trying to close as we stumbled further and further along our make-shift trail. I had to remind myself of where we were to keep from laying down and sleeping.
More and more often I tripped as I failed to lift my feet high enough off of the ground and my mind spun dizzily.
Eventually my foot hooked into something well enough to relieve me of my balance, sending me tumbling down a sharp decline to the side of our path. I let out a surprised shout as I fell. Brambles and vines scratched and tore at me and I tried to cover my face before finally jarring to a stop, still tangled in the debris.
"Maya?" I heard the others calling down to me from a shorter distance away than I'd expected.
"I'm okay, I just-" I began to call back but something shifted in the shadows ahead of me, something considerably bigger than an insect.
I gasped as the looming shadow approached me. The light from Coal's torch, which had been torn from my hand as I fell, gave a small measure of illumination in my direction. I tugged at the brambles which had caught hold of my clothes and trapped me, helpless in the thorn bush.
The animal moved nearer and the light bounced off of a set of big pearly teeth and gleaming eyes as it stalked closer and closer.
I wriggled but the thorns held me still. I whimpered as my vulnerability sunk in and shut my eyes tightly, turning my face from the creature. A waft of warm, strong-smelling breath filled my nostrils as the beast leaned in close. I could feel the air moving as it opened its huge jaw, ready to bite.
I opened my mouth to let out a scream just as a soft, wet tongue swiped my face. I spluttered as saliva got in my mouth and opened my eyes just in time to see a wet nose bump against my forehead.
"Kaloo?" I asked shakily as the wolf-dog wagged her tail enthusiastically at me. "Eww, get off me." I shied away as she dove in for another lick.
"Need a hand?" Alicia had appeared, laughing shamelessly at me.
She set to work using her knife to free me from the briar patch while I tried to avoid Kaloo's tongue. Eventually, with much hacking from Alicia and tugging from me, I managed to break free of the thorns and regain my feet. Kaloo was able to land more licks to my face, taking full advantage of the fact that I was incapacitated and within reach.
Luckily my clothes had taken the brunt of my fall and I'd managed to avoid much injury. I'd gained a few deep scratches from the brambles along the side of my neck which were sore but obviously not too serious. I could just add them to the tally of injuries that I had acquired.
We clambered back up to the path where Coal and Laurie waited for us. Coal had sunk down to the ground and was breathing heavily. The wound on his leg where he'd removed that huge slither of metal from the truck wreck had bled through his pants and was dripping onto the ground.
"We're moving too slowly," Alicia announced abruptly. "I didn't point it out before because there was nothing we could do about it, but now we can."
"What?" I asked.
"You two are slowing us down." She pointed at Coal and me.
"Thanks," Coal said with a scowl. "Broken ribs here, and a dodgy leg."
"It looks worse than dodgy," I pointed out.
"I know, and Maya has hit the ground a few too many times," Alicia continued.
"I'm okay," I protested.
"You're dead on your feet. I think you're concussed." She raised an accusatory eyebrow at me and I conceded defeat, sinking down next to Coal.
"What's the plan then?" Laurie asked.
"Hunter won't wait because he'll have to presume we didn't make it. If Laurie and me get back there and tell them you're on
the way then they will wait. It'll give you time to make it otherwise we're looking at a much longer walk home."
"Makes sense." Coal nodded.
"I didn't want to suggest it before because, quite frankly I'm not convinced either of you are able to defend yourselves properly."
"Since when can't I defend myself?" Coal frowned.
"Don't be an idiot Coal, if you can't run you obviously can't fight. And there's the problem of only having one GPS but now that Kaloo is back-"
"Okay, we're past half way. I need to rest for a bit to bind my ribs and stop this bleeding, if you two run on my guess is we'll be two or three hours behind you by the time you reach Hunter," Coal said finally.
"How will we find our way?" I asked, trying to suppress a yawn.
"Kaloo will follow their trail," Coal supplied.
"And protect you," Alicia said.
I smiled fondly at the big dog.
Alicia rummaged in her bag and pulled out a first aid kit. She tossed it to me before pulling Coal into a quick, gentle embrace.
"See you on the other side." She gave us a salute and a grin then turned and ran out of the clearing. Laurie squeezed my shoulder reassuringly then sped after her.
"Do you need help?" I asked Coal as I pulled some bandages out of the first aid kit
"We just need to strap them up tight, there's not a lot more that we can do but it will help." He started to pull his coat off but hissed in pain.
"Let me." I moved over and gently eased it from his shoulders, then I carefully pulled his shirt over his head. He didn't react but I could see the pain written on his features.
"He got a few kicks in." He smiled nonchalantly, showing me the right side of his chest where a nasty purple and yellow bruise had taken root. "Do you think I should have killed him?"
I paused, halfway through the process of unravelling a bandage and glanced up at him.
"Didn't you?" I asked.
"You know I didn't," he smiled.
"I guess it would have been a bit... dishonourable to kill him in cold blood," I said eventually.
"And I wouldn't want that." Coal laughed but stopped quickly, placing a hand on his ribs again. "Okay, don't make me laugh."
"Alright. How can I help? What should I do?" I asked, holding the bandage between my hands uselessly.
"Just run your fingers down my ribs one at a time pressing lightly, I want to know how many are broken." He took the bandage from me so that I could do what he asked.
"Okay." I took a deep breath, placed my fingertips on the highest rib and pressed gently.
I tried to ignore the fluttering of my stomach as I touched him and continued the inspection. On the third rib, Coal flinched away minutely and I drew my fingers back quickly.
"Sorry," I breathed.
"It's fine, I count one so far." He smiled encouragingly and I carried on. The next two ribs caused him pain too but that was it.
"Three?" I asked.
Coal nodded and glanced around the clearing, his eyes lit up as he noticed something.
"Do you see that plant over there? Big green leaves, little pink flowers." He pointed to a patch of shrubbery.
I moved around the clearing, using his torch to look for something that matched his description. I almost missed it because the flowers had closed their petals for the night. I grabbed a handful of the plant and brought it back to him.
"Grind it into a paste," he instructed and I did so using a smooth round stone and a hollow in the base of a nearby tree root.
While I was making the paste he tied a bandage tightly around his thigh over his pants. The tourniquet did the job and slowly stopped the bleeding.
I presented the pungent green paste to Coal and he nodded.
"Smother it over my ribs, then rinse your hands off. It has numbing properties so might make it difficult to fire your gun," he told me.
I scooped up a big blob of the paste and smeared it gently over the huge bruise. I felt Coal tense at my touch and tried to be as careful as I could. A tingling numbness started to radiate from my fingertips almost as soon as I touched the green mush.
I wiped the excess off on my jacket and rummaged in my pack until I found a bottle of water. I rinsed the remainder off as quickly as I could then offered the bottle to Coal. He took a swig.
"Could do with some of that whiskey around now." He grinned and handed it back. "Can you bind those bandages over the paste? I'll tell you when they're tight enough."
It took several minutes of me wrapping and tying bandages until Coal was satisfied. I sat down next to him on the springy moss-covered ground and sighed. My eyes were trying to force their way shut again and I had to stop myself from laying back and giving in to sleep.
Coal took a slow, deep breath and stood up."It's working." He smiled down at me, offering a hand to help me up too.
"I'd rather not tug on your arm while you have three broken ribs," I said, refusing his hand and finding my own way to my feet.
Kaloo took the hint and set off in the direction Alicia and Laurie had taken, her nose to the ground and tail wagging high in the air.
We followed at what I felt was a pretty decent pace for the walking wounded and I was hopeful that we wouldn't be left so far behind after all.
"Are you tired?" Coal asked.
"Or concussed I guess. You?" I smiled wryly.
Coal looked away and didn't answer.
"I'd take a drink over a nap right now," he said after a while.
"Oh no, a nice soft bed with fluffy pillows and a duvet, that would be heaven."
"Maybe you could tempt me," he joked. I got the feeling he was trying to change the subject.
I flushed red and looked away from him. "I get nightmares about my parents dying in that lab," I said lightly. "But I didn't when we drank that whiskey."
I could feel him looking at me but I kept my gaze on the surrounding forest.
"It makes the things I've done seem easier to bear sometimes," he said after a pause.
"Like what?" The words were out before I could stop them, this was clearly not a topic he wanted to discuss but I waited patiently, ready to let the matter drop if he chose to change the subject.
"There used to be three of us," he began. I didn't say anything. "Me, Alicia and Blane. He was our little brother, not blood but real enough for us. You remember that story I told you about Hunter finding us and teaching us to fight?"
"Yes," I said.
"Well it was just like I told you: Alicia and me fighting a losing battle. But the bit I missed out was that we really needed the food for Blane. We used to look after him. He wasn't much of a fighter, he hid and watched us fight those kids. It wasn't because he didn't want to help but he was younger than us, and he wasn't as tough as this world needs us to be.
We always looked after him and we didn't mind. I guess we thought he'd toughen up as he got older and be more able to look after himself." He sighed and looked ahead at the trail for a while.
I waited.
"We loved him, we tried to help him get stronger, we worried about him not being able to look after himself. He refused to join us when we were training with Hunter but I tried to teach him what I'd learnt in the evenings. It didn't really work and I got frustrated with him, I shouted at him about it, tried to make him see it was necessary to survive out here." Coal stopped talking and we moved on. I concentrated on the steady rhythm of our feet pounding the miles away and the sight of Kaloo bounding back and forth, leading us ever onwards.
"I should have just accepted he wasn't a fighter in the same way that we were, he saw the world in a different way. One night there was a raid on the town, a group of outsiders tried to steal food and supplies from us.
We were outside when it all happened and one of them, a boy not much older than me, crossed our path with arms full of food that he'd stolen. Alicia and I moved to stop him, but Blane just turned tail and ran.
We weren't left with any choice b
ut to follow him.
We were spotted and reported to Hunter as cowards. I was furious. After we explained what happened, Hunter understood but I was so angry with Blane.
I shouted at him, called him a liability, told him if he didn't toughen up it was just a matter of time before he got himself, or one of us, killed. I stormed out, left him standing there with tears streaming down his face and I went to bed and slept like a baby.
I didn't even notice he was missing until the next day. There was a note left by his bed saying he was going out to the forest to prove how brave he was.
Everyone searched the forest for weeks. Alicia and me kept it up for even longer. We never found any trace of him. I haven't slept properly since."
I took his hand in mine.
"How old were you?" I asked.
"What?" Coal frowned at me
"When it happened, how old were you?"
"I - nearly thirteen, I don't see what that has to do with anything." He narrowed his eyes at me.
"And how old was Blane?"
"Ten."
"You were children. Would you blame a boy for what happened if it happened now to someone else?"
"Yes."
"No, you wouldn't. You weren't responsible for him. Someone should have been, but it wasn't you. You shouldn't keep blaming yourself."
Coal didn't reply but he held my hand a little tighter as we moved on through the trees in silence.