Chapter 15

At first Elie thought she could still hear the laughter of the shepherd, but as the sound grew louder and more piercing, her eyes opened. All she could hear were her dad's screams.

She felt really dizzy and sweaty, but she propped herself up. She had rolled over in her sleep and was a few paces from where Chase was, when she looked over she let out an audible gulp. All around him were bodies made of bark and roots, they seemed to cover every inch they could, burying him in a tomb of wood.

There was only a small gap where Chase could breathe and speak through. Elie clambered over and began hitting the wooden figures with the butt of Chase's spear.

"Elie! Is that you?" Said Chase, seemingly a bit calmer now that he realised he was awake.

"Yeah."

She could hear how out of breath he was, "Can you... see the sword?"

He instructed her to take the sword and cut away at the ankles of a few of the wooden bodies, they were thin and spindly, less than even saplings, but if dozens were wrapped around they could easily bind a bear. After cutting half of them Chase managed to push the mass of bodies up enough that he could make his way out.

Elie could tell that her fathers legs were shaking, even when he tried to hide it. The sight of dozens of sheep, like bushes all around them, didn't phase him anymore.

"Why do your dreams always have animals in them?"

"I was counting sheep."

Chase gathered their stuff and started their march again. Elie was just about to join him when she noticed a small mound by the tree nearby, above it was a crude carving of a dog and a name underneath. She stared at it for a moment, considering digging up the ground to see what was under the mound, but Chase called out to her and she quickly limped over to him. Elie looked back a few times, her dream playing out in her head over and over again.

It was still fairly early in the morning and there was a faint dew that wet their ankles. A fog could be seen in the distance but when they walked towards it, the fog backed away. Elie was starting to feel dizzy again so she held Chase's hand and he half guided, half dragged her along with him. His eyes looked gaunt and skittish as they scanned the surroundings.

Elie suddenly felt her legs give out from under her and the weakness and exhaustion take a hold. She keeled over, only being held up by Chase. Her vision grew dim as the hunger she had been ignoring sort of stopped, it didn't try to claw its way out of her like before, but sat in the pit of her stomach and weighed her down. Everything felt so quiet, the faint thrumming of her heart was all she could make out, and only barely.

A sudden splash of cold river water woke her up with a start and she began shivering. Chase wiped the water from her face when he saw she had woken up. When she looked up at him he didn't seem quite as tall or broad shouldered as she remembered, when he hoisted her into the bag on his back she could count his ribs as they pressed against her.

She placed her forehead on his shoulder and enjoyed the numb cooling sensation on her skin. She was asleep, she didn't know how long, there were vague memories of them being huddled up under a tree for a night, or was it two? Did it even matter?

When she finally woke again she could feel Chase's strained steps. He didn't look at her, "Can you walk?"

Elie tried to pull herself out of the bag, but her grip felt even weaker than before, she shook her head against his back. Chase let out a resigned sigh and kept marching. Elie tried to get her bearings, it was not quite mid day yet but there was still some sunlight streaming through the trees.

She looked around only to freeze and place a hand on her mouth, she tapped Chase on the shoulder and he looked over, "What is it?"

Elie just pointed at the herd of deer trailing behind them, it was hard to tell but the stag stood out enough to make them out. Chase squinted, attempting to see what she was pointing at, his eyes had layers of bags so heavy he struggled to keep his eyes open.

Elie's gaze was glued to a stag that was looking directly at them and was trotting over. As it got closer it started to run, letting out a bleat out of excitement. At this, the entire herd started following him in a bid to see what he had found.

Chase drew his sword and raised in the air for a brief moment in defiance, but even Elie knew that wouldn't work. Chase turned and started running, his body wobbled unstably and all Elie could do was keep a tight grip on him so she wouldn't fall.

Now the herd could make them out and started pursuing them in earnest. Chase ran until he reached a layer of trees that had vines that grew across them, he changed directions to avoid running into them. The herd slowed down but continued chasing, there was no need to tire themselves out, they were still gaining ground regardless.

Elie glanced back, desperately thinking of a way out. In that moment a little voice spoke to her as if it lay nestled in her ear. Come now, don't tease me, you were almost out.

She was confused but they didn't have time to make another judgement, instead she shouted at Chase, "Go that way!" pointing at the vine covered trees. Chase was hesitant for a moment before he swung his sword at the vines, cutting through them, he swung again and ran into the web of vines, he burst through the wall of trees but in doing so he tripped and they both rolled onto the floor in a heap.

Elie lifted her head and saw Chase, still on the floor, frantically waving his sword to dissuade the herd from rushing at him. But despite what she expected the deer didn't take even a step forward. They all stood behind the vines like it was some sort of fence rather than a few flimsy bits of foliage. Even when the small deer from before rushed to the front, teeth bare and snarling, it too stopped. The young deer stopped showing any aggression, and instead started making a kind of quiet screaming noise, the rest of the herd started joining in until it reached a fever pitch.

They all ceased their cries at the same time and just turned away, losing interest in their prey. The young deer was last to leave, but eventually it too left them behind. Chase and Elie lay there dumb founded until Chase eventually burst out in a short bark of laughter, both resting in the dirt unable to move.

Eventually Chase got up again dragging Elie along behind him. They both gingerly limped in search of a place to rest properly.

Elie got startled when she brushed up against a fern like plant as they were walking, the plant seemed to curl up into itself to hide away prompting Chase to point his sword at it. He waited for something to move but even after a dozen seconds it remained still. Elie reached out again, "Don't!" shouted Chase, but she had already brushed her palm against several of the strange ferns causing all of them to curl into themselves.

He grabbed her shoulder and pushed her away from the plants, "I told you to stop." he said firmly.

"I was showing you." she said, not explaining herself any further.

The two of them continued moving but the more they went the more unfamiliar everything became. At first he thought it was just him, but after a while he could tell that wherever they were felt… hotter than where they had just come from, it was like they had changed from autumn to spring all of a sudden.

Elie was starting to feel dizzy again and she rested her hand on a nearby tree. She placed her head against the trunk of the tree trying to stand herself up straight. The pounding in her head only seemed to get louder, until she paused and listened more closely, it was like there was more than one heartbeat. She held her ear up against the rough bark and could hear a faint knocking sound that beat three times, even when she touched it, the tree felt warm.

"Are you alright?" Asked Chase.

"The tree... I can hear its heart." She said, pressing her face even more into the bark of the tree.

Chase pried her away and placed a hand on her forehead, "You're burning up again." he said before picking Elie up and putting her in the bag on his back, he could practically feel her heart beating away like a hummingbird. She wanted to speak but her words came out slurred "Is... is warm. Just touch it." He kept checking her temperature and looking for water. Elie rested her chin on his shoulder, her eyes wandering lazily over their surroundings.

There was a cry nearby, like the sound of a child weeping. Chase paused and Elie perked up. Chase placed a finger against his lips and slowly approached the sound. He pushed a branch out of the way to reveal a young boy curled up into a ball with his hands in his face, he had white hair like them and looked skinny and worn. There was a distraught air about him, the cry was more akin to a whimpering sound than anything else.

Elie watched Chase lower the branch to hide the boy from view. She was confused at what was going on and pinched him on the shoulder, Chase just shook his head and started walking on, after a minute of walking they were out of earshot and Elie whispered into Chase's ear, "Why did we leave him?"

"We can't afford another person." He put it bluntly.

"I can make room."

"Then I have to carry both of you."

"I'll walk."

"You can't."

"Yes I can."

"No, you can't." He said, raising his voice.

Elie started flicking his ear, after the third one he flicked back at her, tired of her antics. Elie rubbed the back of her hand to ease the stinging. She grabbed both of Chase's ears and pulled them as hard as she could.

Chase buckled, grabbing her arms to stop her, "Ow, ow Elie! What are you doing!" He yelped. He lifted her out of the bag keeping her at arms length as she pulled and hit anything in reach, he ended up dropping her after a well placed smack on his wounded arm.

Elie landed with a groan, but quickly got onto her feet, even if she did sway a little too much. "I can walk."

Chase glared at her. There was a crisp smacking sound and Elie felt her cheek sting viciously, she cupped a hand around her face and looked up at Chase in shock and disbelief.

"Don't act surprised. You started it." He said flexing his arm to ease the spasming.

"We are not going back."

"Why?!" Elie shouted.

"I already told you why. Now if you want to walk you are free to do so, I'm not turning back."

Chase started walking away and after a moment Elie followed after him, she felt a small tinge of guilt at her outburst.

"I'm... I... I didn't..."

Chase let out a weary sigh and held out his hand for her to grab onto.

"There's no reason to get so angry, we just need to look out for ourselves." He explained, "He'll be fine without us." He said, trying to justify it.

"He'll be just fine."

Elie gripped his hand more firmly, but no matter how much she tried to forget there was a thought that just wouldn't leave her mind.

"He has white hair, maybe he came from home." She said,

Chase seemed to ignore the statement so Elie stopped talking and followed him.

Chase tried not to linger on her words, but a tiny voice in his head began whispering. Could that kid be the son of someone he knew? Tyson in the next village over had a son around that age working at his bakery.

He'd watched the shop go up in flames, but maybe, just maybe...

It could be the well boy that Elian talked to in the mornings. He looked like a hardworking kid, he had some meat on his bones from constantly drawing water from the well, totally different from the skinny child they saw. He shook his head with certainty.

But when he looked at himself and Elie he could barely recognise what they had become. Would a boy who just pulled water from a well day in day out fare any better?

Chase halted in his tracks, he took a few steps, then paused a moment later. Elie was confused at his sudden stopping and starting, she could faintly hear him cursing under his breath, before wordlessly turning back the way they came.

Elie wanted to say something but even she could tell he was in a sour mood. Instead she put on a winning smile that only led to him giving her the stink eye. Elie quickly adopted a blank expression, trying, without success, to whistle to show how she was oblivious to her victory. Chase was even more pissed off by this but it was too late, he had already changed his mind.

They both walked back to the spot they saw him and the boy was still there letting out faint whimpers. As they got closer a foul stench enveloped them, it was the smell of diarrhoea and pus, and a faint sickly sweet he couldn't identify that made you feel nauseous.

When they were a few dozen paces away Chase called out to him.

"Hey! Are you- are you alright?"

He received no response, he got a little closer trying to get the boy's attention. Now he was wary, he didn't know what kind of madness the boy had so he cautiously nudged his arm with the butt of his spear.

The boy still didn't respond, when Chase looked closer the boy was even thinner than he realised. If someone had told him that he had already died, he might have believed them for a moment.

He relaxed a little when he realised what he saw. It wasn't unfamiliar, in fact he had met many people like this boy long ago, although it was a bitter memory to recall. The faces of some of the members of his barracks flashed through his mind, when they found their families' remains impaled on a pike and left to dry in the sun.

It was a look of utter despair, an acute death where one would only be physically alive. They would not eat voluntarily and did not resist any of your commands, regardless of what you asked of them. Although sickening, they did make great soldiers.

"What's your name?"

No response, the boy was a lost cause. Chase was about to leave but the boy stopped crying. Chase asked him again, but was ignored.

"I want to help, but I can't do that if you won't even look at me." Chase said going down on one knee to be eye level with the boy. "If you don't look at me I'm leaving."

"But-"

"Not now Elie!" He snapped.

The boy lifted his head, his hands still cupping his face. "That's it." he said, like trying to coax an animal out of its burrow. But at that moment he felt a kind of cold prickly sensation along the back of his head, as if the hair on his scalp had gotten goosebumps.

The boy parted his pointer and index finger, but instead of a worn and wary eye peering back at him, it was as if his fingers themselves were part of the eyelid, the eye lay vertical between the two fingers, the tear duct where the webbing between the two fingers should be. Eyelashes sprouted out along the length of the fingers in perfect rows.

A single tear slowly crawled down the back of its hand.

It was looking right at them.