I outran my breath, but running in the forest wasn’t easy.

Everyone has seen the cabin horror movies and laughed at their clichés. There was the dark attic cliché. There was the romantic killing. And Regretfully, there was always a damsel in distress that ran away into the woods…and tripped on a stray root.

“Ah!”

I was that damsel in distress.

My face hit the ground, and I quickly tumbled into a tree, halting any forward momentum I had.

“Louie!” Arden shouted and ran to my side.

“Keep running!” I shouted back. But when a man dressed in all crimson clothes jumped out from the brush at Arden and me, we were forced to take drastic measures.

Bang!

The man leaping in the air didn’t reach us without a deep bullet wound to his hip, which almost gave us time to get up and begin running again.

“Shit, I have to reload!” Arden tried to reload while running for reasons I couldn’t understand, leaving a trail of curses and unused bullets in our wake.

“You won’t get away!” The crimson-clothed man yelled at us.

My instincts told me to duck, but I only managed to get my head away in time as a foot pushed on my shoulder. The foot pushed me to the ground and wouldn’t let me back up. I couldn’t see who it was, but judging by the look on Arden’s face, it was likely the crimson-clothed man.

Bang!

The bullet missed terribly, and the man pressing me down laughed at Arden.

“A weapon capable of piercing through a cultivator’s body? What are mortals doing with a tool like that? I think I’ll have to take that once I’m done with you two.” The man snickered.

Bang!

“Argh!”

This time, Arden’s shot didn’t miss, and I felt the weight pushing me down suddenly disappear. I quickly turned and rolled away as the man flicked his injured arm aside. With a shout, the man suddenly accelerated and was nearly at Arden.

“Die!” the crimson-clothed man shouted and swung his sword – with his good arm – at Arden.

I reacted but was too late as the man slid his sword against Arden’s defending arm. Arden’s scream shook throughout the forest, but thankfully, the blade stopped when it pressed against Arden’s rifle.

The crimson-clothed man readied his sword again, but I tackled him from behind and nailed him to the ground as his sword flailed from his hand. The man violently struggled as I shouted at Arden with urgency.

“Arden! Quick, get the rope from my bag! If we tie him up, then we can—”

A sudden splatter of blood painted my face, and I blinked with utter confusion as the man beneath me stopped moving. Lying in his neck was his sword.

A sword held by Arden.

“Arden, did you just…” I couldn’t finish the sentence. My brain couldn’t keep up with what I was seeing. Did my best friend’s brother? Did he?

Did he just murder someone? With a sword?

“Arden!”

I watched Arden’s eyes reel to the back of his head, and I hurried to catch him. I quickly laid him to the ground and noticed the blood flowing freely from his arm. Arden was never very good with blood and fainted whenever he got a needle.

I wasn’t very good with blood, either.

Gags.

I nearly threw up as the blood stained my hands. Trust me; it’s a damsel in distress thing.

Stolen from Royal Road, this story should be reported if encountered on Amazon.

Thankfully I wasn’t a fainter like Arden. I did my best to steady myself, counting to ten and taking breaths that weren’t at a million miles an hour. Then, I got my priorities straight.

Priority one: Arden is wounded.

Rip!

I don’t know much about first-aid. Though, I’ll study it properly the next time the world ends.

I tightly wrapped a cloth around Arden’s arm and sinched it so blood wouldn’t run out of Arden’s body too quickly.

Rip!

I took another piece of my shirt, took off my shirt, and used them both to wrap the wounded area around Arden’s arm like a bandage. I didn’t know if it would do much, but at this point, I was hoping that anything would help.

Priority Two: Get back to the neighbourhood.

I was damn lucky that Arden played baseball instead of something like weightlifting because he was already a pain to carry. The demon dog scratch from earlier pulsated with pain as Arden’s body shifted onto my back.

“You owe me for this,” I swore under my breath and marched out of the forest. All the while, I watched the branches, brush, and distant noises for any more enemies. Oddly enough, the previous bird calls had all stopped, and the sunlight peaking through the trees was beginning to dim. It turned the forest into an eerie, haunting nightmare that urged me to go faster.

…

Finally, with a distressingly rapid breath, I huffed into the neighbourhood.

The first person I met shrieked with urgency, and soon I was surrounded by people who helped me lift Arden off. I wanted to follow with Arden, but a barrage of questions assaulted me as people surrounded me.

My calm strength while moving Arden down the mountain disappeared as I started to feel like a zoo animal. Replaced with a sense of cornered panic, my body froze.

“Enough!”

A powerful voice quickly cut them all off. Mr. Collins spoke with the authority of law enforcement.

“Louie, follow me.”

I was led to a briefly repaired house covered with gathered furniture. Mr. Collins’ hand never left my shivering back until I sat down and held a lukewarm cup of tea.

I just stared and looked at the way the tea rippled. It was just like when this nightmare all started. When that planet headed for Earth and—

“Deep breaths, Louie. Look at me. Focus on me.” Mr. Collins spoke with a mellow tone.

I did as Mr. Collins said and forced my breaths to stay even. With deep breaths returning to me, the previously clumped feeling in my stomach released a bit.

“Good, good. That’s the way, Louie.” Mr. Collins reassured me, and my clarity began to return. I noticed how Mr. Collins patiently waited for me, even when his shaking hand betrayed his inner turmoil.

That made sense; his son was probably being treated after murdering another—

“Easy, Louie. Take your time.”

I calmed my breath again and looked at Mr. Collins. He needed answers, and I was the only one that could provide them. I needed to remain calm.

Priority three: Warn the neighbourhood.

My first words came out in mumbles, which required Mr. Collins to coach the words out of me before he could understand. I told him how we walked through the forest, searching for forgeable foods and anything else necessary.

“You couldn’t tell what the plants were?” Even Mr. Collins seemed shocked that I couldn’t identify them. He knew all too well what kind of plant-loving family I was raised in.

I nodded my head and continued with escalating tension.

“We were up on the cliffside, and we saw the neighbourhood and a river, and then—” My breathing went into overdrive as I huffed and puffed with a stuffy feeling in my chest and throat.

“Easy, Louie. Focus back on me. Yes, that’s the way. We’ll come back to that part, ok?” Mr. Collins didn’t understand the importance of me telling him. But when I thought about what I saw, it felt like something was grasping my throat closed, and I couldn’t breathe.

“Louie, tell me what happened to Arden.” Mr. Collins said with a hint of impatience in his otherwise calm façade.

“There was the man…he had to.. oh god, he had to….” My eyes drifted to the blood still covering me, and I dropped the warm mug of tea in my hand with a crashing sound.

“Phil! I need a wet cloth, now!” Mr. Collins yelled.

A few moments later, I was wiping myself with a wet cloth until my skin started to run ragged. All the blood soaked the fabric that Mr. Collins threw away to a corner.

Whew.

“Ok, Louie. I want you to speak it out slowly. Say it word by word. Don’t rush it at all.” Mr. Collins took my hand, placed it in his own, and then gripped it with calm strength.

Seeing his strength calmed me down and gave me the strength to continue.

“We…were chased. We… were chased by a man in crimson clothes. Who had a sword. Arden shot his gun at the man and hit him. But he never went down. He just kept getting back up and chasing after us. It didn’t end until…”

Gulp.

“It didn’t end until he was gone. Until… the sword… it went into… him.” I looked into Mr. Collins’ eyes and saw a man on the edge of his seat.

“I… I had to stop him. He kept coming. I just—!” I lied through my teeth and was enveloped in a hug threatening to squeeze me to death.

“I shouldn’t have let you both go out there. God, I’m so stupid.” Mr. Collins softly said. He pulled me out of the hug and stared me hard in the eyes. “Listen, Louie. This is not your fault. You did what you had to do to survive. And that’s alright. You’re ok, and that’s what matters. Sometimes we take our hardest steps in the face of fear.”

I felt my eyes brim with tears as Mr. Collins hugged me again.

It felt good. It felt reassuring. It felt right.

Bang!

A sudden gunshot disturbed us, and a vague shouting travelled its way into the room, making Mr. Collins bolt out of his chair.

“No,” I mumbled.

“Stay here, Louie.” Mr. Collins commanded and then quickly left the room.

“No, no. No!” I bolted out the door after Mr. Collins into the neighbourhood as dusk began to set the sun in the sky.

“Mr. Collins! Wait! It’s them; I have to tell you about them! They’re here!” I tried my best to follow after Mr. Collins, but my strained body couldn’t keep up.

I had to warn them.