Nearly falling, I managed to glance back to see what was wrong. But instead of seeing Vanissa, I saw only the gaping hole in the cracked earth where’d she been a moment before. At that point it was nearly impossible to stand upright on the trembling, cracking earth, let alone run. We were now just putting all our effort into staying on our feet. Just then, the ground beneath Priscilla’s feet collapsed inward, pulling her with it!
“Priscila!!!” I screamed, making a desperate grab for her. But it was pointless. Her scream echoed in my head as I was jolted forward by a particularly rough quake.
I didn’t have even a moment to dwell on what had just happened, because, before I knew what was happening, the ground all around us crumbled apart and collapsed just as it had with Priscila.
I remember screaming, as I fell into the darkness, thinking that one of the rocks falling with me would crush me if the fall didn’t kill me. I remember grabbing desperately at things, trying to slow my fall. Then, out of the darkness, something hurdled towards me. When I hit it, there was a split second of piercing pain on impact, then a wall of darkness slammed mind.
When my eyes opened, I could only make out a few blurry shapes in the darkness. I had a splitting headache and my shoulder was badly bruised. I could feel sticky blood from scratches on my forehead, arms and neck and I was covered in a thick layer of dust and debris.
As my vision cleared, my surroundings began to come into focus. A cave of sorts, I guess. More like a tunnel though, because it extended in a long passageway. The ground was soft and moist, covered in purplish plants. Above us, where there should have been a hole or crack in the earth was instead, a wet, stalactite-covered cave roof. I could see a faint light coming from further down the passage to my right and I hoped that meant we weren’t far from a way out.
I slowly pulled myself to my feet, the effort making a wave of dizziness pass over me. Before I’d had time to fully recover my wits a sound made me freeze—a piercing, inhuman shriek. It tore through the tunnel and seemed to swirl around me, as if the noise itself was alive. I was frozen in one place and couldn’t move, so I just stood petrified as it circled round me.
It can’t hurt me, I told myself. It’s just a sound, not anything real. But then, the shrieking noise seemed to direct right at me, and before I even had time to react it tore through my body sending a searing pain straight to my head. My thoughts themselves seemed to be burning and torn apart. I collapsed to the ground, screaming and clamping my hands over my ears in a hopeless attempt to block out the torturing screeching noise that consumed my mind. Terrible, nightmarish visions ripped through my mind. I saw things that, later, I could hardly even describe without an awful terror seizing me. It was things from horrible dreams I’d never even let myself think about and images of terrifying scenes I'd never even witnessed.
With a piercing pain in my head, the terrible sensation that my thoughts were being torn apart (as if they were an actual, concrete object that you could touch) and visions flashing before my eyes, I thought it could get no worse. But I was wrong. Because, just when I was beginning to think that I couldn’t take much more, something icy-cold wrapped itself around my neck. And then it began to squeeze, cutting off my lungs from all oxygen.
I grabbed at my neck, but there wasn’t anything there. And I don’t just mean I couldn’t see what was around my neck, I mean I couldn’t even touch it. It simply wasn’t there. All I could feel as I clutched at my neck was the muscles and bones being pushed inward with such force, I was afraid they’d snap at any minute.
In the back of my mind, I heard the sound of my friends screaming. Only I didn’t think they were screaming because of what was happening to me. Struggling to resist panic, I strained to concentrate on the room around me. I caught a glimpse of the blurry figures of my friends staggering around and gasping for air. I felt as if my nerves and veins were snapping and spurts of blood from broken ones were splashing about inside me; hot under my skin. And I knew I only had minutes left to do something, before it killed me.
So, somehow, with the last part of me that was still aware of anything but the relentless pain, I managed to make the decision to run. Once we got out of the tunnel, and into daylight, maybe the things would let us go.
I grabbed at the person nearest to me, and resisting the force that was choking me as much as I could; I managed to get out a few words. Something like, “R-Run!!!” and “Get…OUT!!!” Incredibly, they all understood and began a half run, half stagger, down the tunnel.
Then I remembered Kendall and his leg wound and I stopped and began fumbling around in the darkness; trying to choke out his name. When I finally heard his reply, I managed to make out that he was only a few feet away from me; lying on the ground and trying to resist the force that was strangling him.
I somehow managed to pull his arm over my shoulder and half carry; half drag him through the tunnel. After a few seconds, he managed to gain his footing with his good leg and stumble alongside me, but I still was supporting at least half his weight.
As we ran, the thing choking me tightened its grip and the noise in my head increased and almost doubled the pain it had caused before. I felt as if I was being torn apart, my thoughts being shredded until nothing was left. But I forced myself to run faster, despite the horrible pain. And I tried to cling to that last sane part of me. Because I knew once it was gone, I’d have no chance of getting away.
Then suddenly, we emerged from the tunnel into light. Not as much light as there was outside, but it was definitely sunlight. In seconds the screeching noise retreated and tore once more through the tunnel, only this time it was going the opposite way we were. We all collapsed to the ground, breathing heavily and trying to catch up on all the needed oxygen that we’d been deprived of.
After a few minutes, I’d recovered enough to look around. We were in a huge cave. Its ceiling was EIGHTY feet above our heads, light pouring in from cracks on its surface. The ground of the tunnel extended over a deep chasm, forming a thin, dangerous bridge to the other side of the chasm where there was an almost identical tunnel winding into darkness. I could see deadly-hot, black waves, fifty feet below, steam rising from their burning crests.
“Let’s go across one at a time,” Every choked, in a strained voice. “We need to get out of here as quickly as possible.”
So, after a few more minutes of time to recover enough to walk, we slowly made our way across the chasm, one at a time—except for Kendall, who went across with me. As soon as each person made it to the tunnel, the next person would start going. When it was my turn, I went slowly and carefully across, holding tightly to Kendall's arm.
Then we headed through the darkness of the tunnel, hoping we'd get out into the open, soon. As we walked through the tunnel, I began to observe a change in everyone’s behavior. They were beginning, if just a little, to be less tired and weary acting. They seemed more energetic and aware of their surroundings. I guess it could’ve been because of what had just happened. It was only natural to be a little more alert or anxious after that, but I don’t think that was it. I think maybe it was because distrust was building and I had a bad feeling it wouldn’t end well. Also, I felt that we should trust them. I knew Every and I'd met Liz and already liked her. I hadn’t ever met Tommy, but he didn’t act dangerous. So, as we walked through the darkness, I began to worry, about what could happen if this continued.
After roughly an hour, we turned a corner and were blinded by bright light pouring in through the open end of the tunnel, where I could see the Risk Domain awaiting us. A burst of fresh energy surged through me at the feeling of sunshine on my skin. I ran out into the clear, crisp air and caught my breath at what I saw.
28
For a little while, we walked slowly, looking all around and taking in every bit of our surroundings. No one said anything. We were all just too surprised and amazed at how beautiful it all was. The Risk Domain wasn’t anything like the other Domains. There were tall trees of colors ranging from red to
orange to green, grassy hills and rocky ledges twice the size as any in Dread. There were fields of flowers, rivers and waterfalls cascading down rocky cliff sides. A sweet smell, that reminded me of flower petals and leaves wet with dew, drifted through the air and filled my lungs. I was standing on soft, green grass scattered with a few white rocks here and there. A light rain was falling and the weather reminded me of the day back on the island when I’d first found out about the disease.
What jerked me out of my daze was a gasp from behind me. I whirled around to see Liz, one hand pressed to her mouth, the other trembling and pointing at a white rock on the ground at her feet.
“Liz,” said Every. “It’s just a rock. Calm down.”
“No,” stammered Liz, “can’t you see? It’s not.”
“You’re just being paranoid,” said Every. “Liz it’s not something that’s going to—”
Their voices faded away from me as I stared, transfixed, at the white rock. Then I clamped my own hand over my mouth, to keep from screaming.
“Every…Every’s right,” I said. “It’s not something that’s going to hurt us, it’s someone. It’s a skull.”
Everyone stared at the skull and I could feel panic beginning to build up among us. I’m not sure what would’ve happened if we’d remained like that. But fortunately we didn’t for long, because Livia stepped forward and said: “It’s not real. Everyone just stay calm. It’s not real. If they can make an artificial tornado, I’m sure they can make an artificial skull.”
“But what if it’s not?” said Priscila.
Everyone turned to her. I guess no one had expected her to say anything since she usually didn’t. She’d always seemed delicate to me, but she’d acted just the opposite during this whole affair. She’d never been the one to panic. Most of the time, I’d been the most panicked one.
“You’re right,” said Vanissa, looking at Priscila. “Maybe it’s meant to be a warning.”
“A warning of what?” asked Every.
“It’s a warning that this safe-looking, beautiful place really isn’t safe at all.” Her words knocked everyone out of their trance and they backed away from the skull.
“Let’s just get far away from here,” said Liz.
So, for the next six or so hours, we walked through meadows and climbed tall hills, every once in a while stopping to take a drink from a cool spring. As we got further, I noticed we were slowly getting higher and into a colder, hillier area with steeper slopes and higher cliffs.
Livia said she’d heard that the Risk Domain wasn’t as hard as the other Domains but it was much bigger.
For a while, I hung back, walking next to Priscila and watching the others. Vanissa was walking with Every and they seemed to be having a serious conversation about something. Every once in a while, they’d glance back at Liz and her brother and look back at each other, as if there was something they knew that they didn’t want them knowing about.
Liz and her brother were walking just in front of us and seemed to be having a good time. They were talking and even laughing cheerily, as if they hadn’t a care in the world. I couldn’t figure out that sort of behavior though, because, after what we’d just seen, I couldn’t imagine ever being so cheerful.
But it wasn’t Every and Vanissa, or Tommy and Liz that I was paying attention to. It was Owen, who was in the front with Livia and Kendall. Something about Owens behavior bothered me. He had a look in his eyes I’d never seen in anyone before. A nervous expression on his face, when he asked Kendall questions he acted almost aggressive. But what was it I saw in his eyes? Hate? Guilt? Misery? It was a wild sickish look, which made me very worried.
“Priscila?” I asked. “Has Owen acted different around you lately?”
She nodded slowly, a dark expression coming over her face.
“I’m worried he’s sick or something,” she said. “I don’t know him as well as you do, but I can still tell something's wrong.”
“When did you notice it?” I asked.
“Yesterday, at night when everyone was asleep, he was walking around and talking to someone. At least, I thought he was, but when I checked, everyone else was still sleeping.”
I thought about that for a while. Owen had been talking…to himself? That just didn’t make sense to me. He’d never been the nervous, indecisive type that might do that. And he wasn’t crazy, so what had he really been doing last night?
At dinner time, we stopped by a small waterfall and pond surrounded by berry bushes. Everyone ate their fill, and then loaded my pack with enough berries to last us for another day or so.
Since we figured we might not get sleep later, we might as well take advantage of the calm spell and take a rest. Of course, since I couldn’t fall asleep at night there was no chance I’d fall asleep in broad daylight, so I just walked around the area while the others slept and Priscila, (who didn’t want to sleep either), hung around picking more berries.
As time passed, the wind picked up and it grew cold. In fact, it was SO windy I could hardly hear Priscila as she told me she was going to walk around the bend to see what was on the other side. At least, I think she said something like that. So I just nodded in her direction and sat down to enjoy the brief rest bit.
I had a very bad feeling about what was going on with Owen, but I wasn’t sure why. I knew it’d natural for me to be worried, but that wasn’t it. I didn’t feel worried about him. I had an uneasy feeling about him that I couldn’t quite place. I knew the clues were all right in front of me. The wild look in his eyes...the way he seemed almost distrustful of everyone. But it wasn’t anything I’d ever seen before, so I couldn’t pin-point exactly what all these things meant.
"Screech!!!" A loud, shrieking noise came from above, breaking the silence. I knew from experience not to wait, but to wake the others immediately. So, without hesitating, I darted over to where they were sleeping.
“Run!!!” I screamed. “Run!!!”
Just as the words got out of my mouth, three huge bird-like creatures swooped down from above and I ducked just in time to miss being impaled by its razor-sharp beak. It was about seven feet long and had a ragged, black set of wings. But the edges of its beak and wings were sharp as knives and would probably leave a deep cut if you so much as touched them.
Everyone was alert and on their feet in seconds, except Kendall, who seemed disoriented and was sitting in his place, a shocked expression on his face. I saw one of the birds streaking towards him, its beak aimed for his head. I leapt over to him and grabbed his hand, yanking him to his feet and out of the way, just in the nick of time.
We ran out of the grove of bushes and down the rocky hillside that lay past them. But Kendall kept stumbling and tripping. He hadn’t had nearly enough to recover and his ankle was swollen and impossible to walk, let alone run on. Because he’d been using it so much and now it had finally given way. Still running, I pulled his arm around my shoulder, supporting most of his weight, just like I'd done in the tunnel in Dread, earlier that morning. But limping along like that wasn’t very fast, especially compared to the birds flying above.
Suddenly, I realized Priscila wasn’t with us! I’d been so distracted helping Kendall, I hadn’t thought of her. She must have wandered off a little ways or something, and somehow not heard all the commotion. But how could I go back, and leave Kendall to limp along by himself.
I stopped short, my mind spinning. The thought crossed my mind that only a miracle could save us. But then, I looked up and saw the ‘miracle’ I’d needed. Tommie, Liz’s brother ran up to us and stopped.
“You’re never going to make it like that,” he said, over the wind and screeching of the birds. “Here, if you can take my pack, I’ll carry him.”
“I have to go back and find Priscila,” I said. “If I don’t come back then…just keep going—get out of The Other Side.”
For a moment I hesitated. This was it. A decision that could mean the difference between us making it to the Horror Domain, or getting kil
led here. Should I really trust him? Maybe I’d been wrong in trusting Liz so quickly. And even if I did trust her, what reason did it give me to trust her brother. But I didn’t have much of a choice, so I stopped and grabbed the pack from his hand and looked at Kendall.
“This is my friend Liz’s brother,” I said. “You can trust him. He’ll help you get away. Don’t worry, I’ll catch up.”
Then Tommie gently lifted Kendall into his arms and I turned, running the other direction as fast as I could.
29
As I ran back up the rocky slope and through the grove of berry bushes, I had a bad feeling. Something was VERY wrong. I kept telling myself that Kendall was fine and was probably safer than he would have been with me. But still, something inside me screamed to go back and get him, then look for Priscila.
I yanked my knife out of my bag while running and swiped at any of the birds that came near me. Most of them were still chasing my friends though, so I didn’t have much trouble. A bird flew straight at me and I ducked out of the way, slicing its wing with my knife. It let out a last horrible scream and then fell from the sky.
In the middle of the grove, right where we’d been by the pond, I stopped and looked around wildly. Priscila was nowhere in sight. Where could she have gone? Did she see we were gone and try to find us? Or was it possible she’d actually been the first to find out about the birds, but hadn’t made it away from them?
“Priscila!” I screamed. “Priscila, where are you?!? Priscila?” I listened hard, but there was no answer. “Priscila!?! Priscila!”
Just then, I heard a faint sound, broken apart by the wind and barely coherent, but it was strong enough I could tell one thing…it was human. And not just any human, it was Priscila.
The Other Side (The Other Side Trilogy Book 1) Page 17
