Shatter Fate

Dead in the Water (Chase)

As soon as we split up terror washes over me. I don't know why, and, for now, I don't want to know. I keep my guard up though and keep walking. I take rights and lefts, but see nothing other than the bushes, dead leaves, and some snow scattered here and there. I keep glancing behind me, expecting to see something, anything, there, but always come up with nothing. The silence is deafening as it reaches my ears. I keep my hand on the leaves of the bushes. The feeling helps me make sure that I'm not going insane.

Suddenly the ground beneath me starts shaking. My knees wobble and I fall to the ground. The bushes behind me start growing together, blocking one of my exits. I try to get to my feet, but the ground beneath me won't allow it. Terror races through me and the bushes get closer. With one final attempt I pull myself up and run. I stumble a lot and almost fall down multiple times but the adrenaline pumping through my system helps me keep going. I come across a T in the road in front of me, so I take the right and continue running. The ground is still shaking, but definitely less than it was back there. The more I run, the more the ground doesn't shake anymore. I glance behind me and see the bushes just as they were at the beginning. I stop running and place my hands on my knees, catching my breath. Maybe I finally am going insane. I hear a scream and jerk my head in the direction of the sound. Saph. I take off in a sprint again, completely forgetting about my lack of breath. I turn a corner and see a bright light up ahead. I hear noise coming from there, but I can't place what is it until there's a thud and everything is quiet. I slow my steps and cautiously walk up to the opening. I stick my head through the entrance and see the carcass of a giant spider. It takes me a minute, but eventually it clicks. It's a soul sucker. I read about it in a book once. I thought that they were all extinct. What's one doing here? I step around it and see two people sitting on the ground beside it.

"Saph! Liam!?" I'm worried for Saph and utterly surprised at how and why Liam is here. I haven't seen him in couple months. I was starting to worry he got in trouble again and that I would have to bail him out.

"Hey Chase. Long time no see! How you been?" I ignore his question.

"What's wrong with Saph? Is she okay? What happened? And why is there a dead soul sucker over there?" He laughs.

"Always worried, like usual. Saph is fine. I found her close to death and saved her by killing the soul sucker. I don't know what's it doing here. I think that answers everything." I kneel down next to Saph to see if she's really okay, but instead she starts shivering more and moving in pain. Surprise and worry wash over Liam's face. He moves Saph off of him and lays her on the ground.

"Saph?!" He worriedly shouts. She groans in response.

"What's going on?" I ask. She's supposed to be getting better not getting worse.

"I don't know!" That scares me even more. Liam may not go to school often, but he's the smartest warrior I know. If he doesn't know what's going then no one does. He turns to me.

"Do you remember that one time when I went to your house all beaten up and bleeding?"

"Yeah." I answer, confused. "My mom was furious that you got blood all over the floor." A small smile appears on his face at the memory, but soon disappears due to the situation at hand.

"And remember the potion that I told you about that can cure anything?" My eyes widen at the realization.

"Yes! That could work." I I remove the bag from my back and fumble to unzip it. My hands had started shaking a bit, but I try to ignore it. I push things aside to find the ingredients. When he first told me about the potion I was skeptical at first. It was just a simple potion with simple ingredients and it could save a lot of people, yet no one knew about it. How he did I have no idea, but it is Liam after all, so even if he didn't know it, I would be even more surprised. I pray to whoever is listening that I have all the ingredients in my bag. I tried to pack for every occasion so I have a variety of things. I place all but one ingredient on the ground and Liam does his thing. I rummage through my bag , frantically searching for the last ingredient. I finally find it and hand it off. Liam takes it and adds it in. He mixes it all together in a cup until it turns an ice blue color. I glance over at Saph to see her looking a little blue. She must be freezing. Hopefully this will help.