Chapter 9
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“Survive”

 

His footsteps echo in this long dark hallway. Every time he takes a step forward, the light in front would turn on but the light behind him extinguishes.

I look at him in awe because I can’t help myself from admiring him. There is something about his whole being making him feel ethereal. His skin is pale and his lips are painted in a faint colour of blue. His dark hair and eyes seem to be blending in the darkness of the background.

Despite my blatant staring, he doesn’t seem to care. His eyes continue to gaze forward as he walks but when I look there, I can’t see anything. All I can do is look at him. Everything seems to turn still and calm by his side. It feels like trekking a snowing path.

I should probably mention that he is many times bigger than I am and I am currently resting on his hand. It feels weird because I don’t seem to have a body either. 

I try to squirm but I can't move. That’s when I see his face lowering slightly and his eyes fall on the tiny me. I can’t define the emotion behind those eyes but it did stop me from squirming. Even though time isn’t relevant here but it does feel like it has paused for a moment.

I stopped squirming. He removes his gaze off me and stops when we reach a gigantic door.

Several symbols carved into the wooden panels. Some are glowing while many are not. I can’t make out the symbol because everything appears as if it is shrouded in mist.

“What do you mean it’s lost? Find it!”

I can hear the distress in the voice coming from behind the door despite it being muffled as we are separated by the closed door.

I feel his gaze on me again so I look up once more. His face is still void of emotion yet he gives to me feelings of a gently flowing stream. It doesn’t take long before his attention goes back to the door. He reaches out his pale bony hand and places it right at the centre.

At this moment, a blinding light seems to come from the door and it covers my vision.

 

I open my eyes with a blank mind.

I can’t seem to remember clearly what I dreamt about but I knew it was something nice because I found a soft smile hanging on my lips.

Only after I basked in this warm feeling that I truly realised my current situation but my heart did not panic. My body is laying on the cold ground with my hands tied behind my back. I look around and it is a little dark inside but I can see a little.

There is nothing but wooden walls. I can’t seem to hear any sound either other than the faint rustling of the leaves. They must have dumped me into a wooden shed and left me alone. The shed looks abandoned as it has grown some mould all around.

I move my body so I can sit upright instead of laying down sideways like a fish out of the water. I lean on the wall facing straight at the single door. I wiggle my hand to see if I can break away from my restraint.

Thunder starts to rumble and it startles me. Oddly it still hasn’t rained. I don’t hear the pattering sound of the rain falling but the cold wind howling into the shed makes me shiver a little. The moisture from the ground has made my suit feel damp. It doesn’t help in keeping me warm right now.

“What do you mean we’re stuck here?!”

I hear a loud voice coming from the outside. From the voices, I could tell that there are at least three of them. They are currently arguing with each other. I perk up my ear and listen in on their conversation.

“We got a flat tire and we don’t have any spare. I told you to put in the spare tire back into the van the other day!”

“Why blame me?! It wasn’t my fault. I was busy so I told him to do it instead,”

It is a good thing that they have a flat tyre. While they are arguing, my hands are still trying to free themselves from the restraint. Whoever tied me up did a bad job at it. Are they even professional?

“There isn’t even a reception here. What the hxll is going on?! We’re not too far into the woods but why can’t we find our way out?!”

“This is all your fault,”

“How’s this my fault,”

“You told us to use this road and you don’t even know the way out!!!”

The argument started to intensify until one of them shouted.

“ENOUGH! We have to figure out a way to get out of here before the rain falls. Else we’re going to have more problems sending the kid to the boss. Both of you go and find a way to replace the tyre,”

I hear them grumbling a little but the guy scolding them didn’t seem to care and forced them to go away. I hear the sounds of leaves rustling and slowly becoming inaudible. It seems

Through their argument, it allows me to understand that they are someone’s lackey told to kidnap me and bring me to their place. 

The question is why would anyone try to kidnap me. I haven’t been involved with anything recently and I don’t think he was involved in anything shady other than that one particular thing. That’s not enough of a reason to kidnap someone.

The door slams open and reveals a big silhouette.

“Looks like someone is awake,” The big guy gives out an ugly grin. He slowly approaches me and crouches down.

He pinches my chin and twists my head left to right as if he is evaluating me.

“I don’t know why the boss wants you but seeing as your face is not bad at all, it all makes sense,” He starts laughing and I feel disgusted as he intrudes on my personal space.

I spit on him and he flinches since it hits him right in the face.

“What the fxck?! You b!tch!!!” He swings his fist at me and my left eye takes the entire blow of the punch.

He grabs my face, “You fxcking b- ARGH!”

He screams as I bit into his hand. He pulls away while shaking his hand out of pain. I was able to draw blood from that one bite. I take the chance of his momentary distraction and slam my head on his hoping that I can brace the incoming pain.

He falls back and clutches his head. He grunts in pain while cursing. I don’t bother glancing at him as I rush out of the open door while wiggling the rope loose. He seems to be disoriented long enough for me to run into the woods and not hear him screaming after me.

I dare not make much noise either in case the other two are nearby. I try not to go along a path and instead went deeper into the woods where you can’t tell left to right. 

My left eye is hurting and it’s swelling. I can barely open it and my view becomes limited but I keep on running. Every time I hear a sound, I run away from it. I don’t want to take any chances right now.

I rather be anywhere but there again and allow them to do whatever they please with me. I don’t want to passively accept things anymore. I will fight my battles head-on.

My head is throbbing since I smack that big guy in the head. He’s not the only one in pain but I grit through it. I have to get out of here despite my left eye hurting and my forehead throbbing. My heart is thumping hard because I haven’t run as hard as this at all ever since I came back from the hospital but I don’t want to stop even if my breathing can’t catch up.

My stamina is so low that it's terrible. If I were to stop for a second, they might catch up. My eyes scan my surroundings as best as I can even if my left eye is twitching. My view is a little blurred out since my left eye starts to get watery. I want to look for a hiding place but I don’t see any. 

I am not sure where my current courage is coming from but I feel like I will be fine if I just keep on running. It’s like someone is telling me that it's okay to run away. There is nothing wrong with that. Most people only have one life to live but I got my second chance. I will cherish this because…

I want to live!

 

I fall face first to the ground and take a hard hit on my leg. I look at my feet and realise I tripped on a root that’s sticking out from the ground. I feel a harsh pain right on my right leg.

Great. Now another part of my body is injured. I try to force myself to get up but the ground is soft so I slip once more.

My clothes are covered in mud but I can’t give enough care about my appearance right now. Slipping down has intensified the pain in my leg. I try to crawl to a tree and decide to rest by it while hoping they won’t find me here.

Right after I tell that to myself, I hear the sound of rustling near me. I try to lower my presence because I’m afraid that it's them.

I’m not sure if I’m lucky or unlucky because it’s definitely not them who appears in front of me.

Grrrr

A dark grey wolf with red eyes emerges from the bushes. He’s making a low rumbling sound at me. His mouth is slightly opened with saliva dripping to the ground. I don’t like the way he looks at all. It’s as if he would tear my flesh if I make any sudden movement. 

From the look of his size, he would be bigger than me. I probably have a low chance to survive this. If my leg is working, I could climb the tree but almost every part of my body is starting to hurt.

Climbing a tree while one leg isn’t strong enough is asking for trouble. I don’t want trouble right now.

My mind is working fast since he looks like he will pounce at any time now.

I can’t play dead because it’s not a bear. I am not sure why I even thought of that. That doesn’t help at all. If I play dead, he might just eat me right then and there.

These trains of thoughts lead me to decide that if I get out here alive, I am going to learn self-defence against everything! Human and animals alike.

I gulp hard when I see its legs are digging the ground a little and he lowers his body into a pouncing position. My heart starts racing because I haven’t figured out what to do right now.

Today is the worst day I ever had since I got in this body! 

I try to brace myself from the impact of getting mauled by this crazed wolf.

That’s when something unbelievable happened. The moment the wolf jumps up to attack me, something comes out of the bushes at lightning speed and pushes it across to the other side instead.

At first, I was grateful that I did not get attacked but now that I realised what it is, I just wanted to curse my rotten luck. The newcomer of this little party is a tricoloured wolf that seems smaller than the grey wolf.

These two wolves don't seem to like each other. Which is great but does this mean I am their prize if one of them wins against each other?

The two wolves have their gazes locked at each other. Both of them are snarling and snapping to show dominance. Both of them refuse to back down and submit. They move in circles without breaking their gaze against each other.

Seeing them doing so, I realise how much smaller the new wolf is and a small part of me is rooting it to win because it looks much sane than the other. It might be exciting to watch a wolf fighting with each other since it is a rare occurrence to be able to see nature going at it live.

My predicament doesn’t allow me to appreciate this. All I want to do is move away but the pain I am feeling is getting stronger. I’m no longer sure which part of me is hurting so much.

Regardless of the pain, I decide I need to move away before I get dragged into this fight. Both of them are occupied with each other, hopefully, they won’t care if I try to leave.

While my thoughts are forming the plans, the two wolves are already engaged in battle. Neither of them is playing around with each other and aiming for the kill. It startled me when the grey wolf slammed the tricoloured to a tree.

This happens when I am trying to rise from the ground. Since the grey wolf is free at the moment, it turns its attention to me. Scaring me into slipping back to the ground. It growls at me and approaches me slowly.

Before it can reach close to me, I see a flash of black jumping out of the bushes and land right in front of me.

Where the fxck these wolves came from?!

I can’t hold back from cursing. My feet are throbbing and I don’t think I can try to stand up again since I feel weak ever since the black wolf appeared.

The black wolf is exuding dominance that affects both the grey wolf and myself. It is bigger than the other two wolves. I see the grey wolf hesitate but it still decides to attack the black wolf.

Before the black wolf can lash back at the grey wolf, the tricoloured wolf has gotten up and jumped at it. The tricoloured wolf manages to catch the grey wolf off guard and has the upper hand now. Aside from that, the black wolf seems to be on the tricoloured’s side.

Both of them gang up on the grey wolf. The grey wolf seems to be the one with the most wounds at the moment. Out of desperation, the grey wolf aims its mouth to bite at the tricoloured wolf but before it could even do that, the black wolf has already bitten its jugular and I hear it crack.

The grey wolf immediately limps down while hanging in the black wolf’s mouth.

I think… it's dead.

I look at it with my mouth left hanging. There is a huge possibility that I will end up like the grey wolf. Snapped in half in mere seconds.

I flinch when the black wolf turns to look at me after spitting out the grey wolf aside. It was only a second before it turned to look at the tricoloured wolf and started growling at it. I feel bad because it seems like the tricoloured wolf is getting scolded by an elderly for running off on its own and getting caught doing something dangerous.

I would laugh but I hold myself back because it would be inappropriate to do so.

The tricoloured wolf whimpers and the black wolf approaches it. At first, I thought that it would attack the tricoloured wolf but that didn’t happen. Instead, it licked the tricoloured wolf forehead and all around.

The tricoloured wolf immediately perks up and bounces playfully. The black wolf seems to be shaking its head slightly seeing that the tricoloured wolf doesn’t appear remorseful at all.

It turns to look at me again but it doesn’t do anything and just walks away. The tricoloured wolf looks at the black wolf but doesn’t follow it right away. It slowly moves towards me and for some reason, I am not afraid.

Subtly, I might have considered this wolf as my saviour. It’s hard to feel fear towards the person you are grateful for saving your life.

When the wolf is close enough that I can feel its breath against my cheek, I subconsciously clench my teeth. Maybe it will end my life as swiftly as it can so I close my eyes hoping that I won’t feel any pain when it's over.

However, the pain never comes but I can feel something wet and rough brushing against my knee. I open my right eye as my left eye is swollen to the point that I can’t open it anymore.

I can see that the wolf is licking my knee. That part of my trousers is torn after my fall. I’m not sure if wolves have a habit of drinking the blood of their prey. I’m not sure if I should be worried either.

After it has licked me a few times, it stopped and proceeded to lick my left eye. It is a little gross being licked by it but somehow the pain from both my knee and eye slowly elevates. I have a subtle feeling that it’s not trying to eat me but heal me.

Animal’s saliva often has healing properties. It is to help them recover their wounds as the battle of nature is often harsh and unforgiving. They need every bit of help they can get while trying to survive being out in the wild.

The tricoloured wolf seems to be satisfied after licking my wounds and goes off to the black wolf that is waiting for it by the bushes. Then the two of them disappear behind the luscious greenery. 

When my surroundings become silent again, I unknowingly let out a heavy sigh of relief.

 

I didn't even notice that I had fallen asleep until raindrops occasionally fell on me. I become momentarily disoriented because I don’t know where I am until I remember that I was kidnapped and have escaped. It feels like hours have passed but it could be just mere minutes. I don’t have a clock with me and the cloud is covering the sun.

At long last, the warning of rain finally came to fruition. Rain is starting to fall but it isn’t heavy to the point it is drenching me.

I jolted from my sitting position when a loud rustling sound can be heard near me.

I try not to move as I wait for the sound to go away but instead, it becomes louder. The shaking of the leaves starts to get more aggressive until I see a silhouette of a man emerging from behind the trees and bushes.

He looks terrible. His entire being is a mess at this moment in time. His hair is all over the place and his face seems to be bruising. His clothes are wrinkled and covered in twigs and leaves.

“You look horrible,” My voice is hoarse after a whole day of pushing my physical limit.

“I should be saying that to you,” He approaches me slowly then crouches down. He looks at my left eye and his brows furrow. His eyes trail down to my knee and see that it is wounded. He immediately pulls off his tie and wraps it around mine even though it is no longer bleeding.

Finally, he turns around and said, “Get on,”

It seems like he wants me to get on his back. I want to reject him because I don’t like being in contact with men. After all, it reminds me of a lot of things.

He turns to look at me with confusion and insists that I get on his back quickly. I feel so tired I just want to get back home. It’s much safer to go home with him so I jumped on his back and let him carry my full weight.

I am a little surprised that he can do it with ease.

“Ryan,” I quietly spoke to his ears.

“What?” He asks without a hint of annoyance.

“How did you know I’m here?”

“I was behind you. I saw you were taken away,” He said in a quiet voice. He seems to be mumbling something but I can’t hear him any more as the rain becomes heavier and swallows all the sounds.

As we are walking out of the woods, the rain is slowly getting heavier but the trees are helping us block some of it. It doesn’t stop us from getting drenched.

After walking for a while, I see a black car parked in the middle of the wood. Ryan casually unlocks it and I realise it's his. I don't even know he would own such a lowkey car after seeing his bright red one.

He opens the passenger seat and before I let go, I whispered to him, “Thank you,”

His lips curved in a smooth arc and for the first time, I realise the full extent of his beauty. It’s probably true that beautiful people can lead you toward destruction.

I settle myself on the seat and realise that the process of us going out of the forest is so smooth that it is a little suspicious because I don’t see those crooks anywhere. However, my energy has been depleted and I was too tired to think about it anymore. The muffled sound of the rain and the soft vibration of the engine lulls me to sleep.

It’s alright. I am safe for now.

 

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