Children of the Ark ✔️

Chapter Twelve

We all scramble to get up as we hear Jacob counting to thirty. When he gets to thirty, him and his gang of Snake Clan members will come after us and hunt us down. We must have accidentally walked into Snake Clan territory and Jacob just happened to be the ones who came across us. 

The Wolf, Snake and Lion Clans are territorial over each other, but if someone not from any of those Clans walks into their territory then they get let off with a warning, unless they wish to join the Clan. But today was not our lucky day.

Branches were trying to snag at my clothing trying to slow me down and make it easier for Jacob reach me. I could hear four other pairs of footsteps running along side me. We were all jumping over tree roots, trying to dodge the branches scratching our faces. My heart was already pounding and we had only been running for a few seconds. 

Jacob's voice was slowly getting quiter, but even I knew that he wouldn't reach thirty before coming after us. We could hear loud whoops and hollers coming from the group as they start to give chase. The sound gave me a new burst of energy. I did not want to die this way. 

My breath was getting heavier and heavier. My legs were burning and I could see that Amelia and Zoe were slowly slowing down. 

"Come on! Guys we have to keep running." I shout, my voice very out of breath and not very loud, but I did the best I could.

Nobody saw it coming, one second we were flat out sprinting for our lives, the next second we were tumbling down a hill. It felt like I had missed a step and we all went crashing down. Our bodies were rolling down the hill at a fast speed, somehow managing to miss all of the trees and rocks that may have blocked our way down. We were all too tired to try and stop ourselves. 

Leaves were kicking up into my face and my stones bruising my body as we made it to the bottom of the hill groaning. My back felt horrible since I had my pack on. I rolled onto my stomach and started to crawl away from the hill.

"We have to get out of here and hide. We can't let them catch us."  My voice strained from all of the tumbling. I heard groans in response.

I tried to get onto my feet, but the ground rushed up to meet me. We all just lay there, not moving. Hoping and praying that they won't find us down here defenseless. I closed my eyes and just listened to the sound of the wind rushing through the leaves. That's when I heard a snap of a branch.

I somehow managed to whip one of my guns out, sat up and searched my surroundings. That's when a boy, older than me, with shaggy brown hair comes out from behind a tree with his hands up.

"Woah, don't shoot. I want to help." I heard the others move to look at where the voice came from.

He looked like he had been on the ground for a while. He may have been in the group that we got sent down in, but I have no clue. We probably look just as bad as he does. I kept my gun trained on him anyway.

"What do you want?" I ask, panting, trying to get my breath back. I tried to look as stern as possible and not show how vulnerable we seem.

"Are you guys the ones being chased by that group of Snakes?" He asks, still keeping his hands above his head. Nobody answers him, so I guess he took it as a yes. "If you want to live. You have to follow me. Now." He says before turning around and walking off.

I take a look at the others and shrug. What's the worst that could happen? He hand us over to Jacob and we die anyway. Or maybe he's a psychopath. Who knows?  Certainly not us. I get up as fast as I can when I hear a happy shout from one of the people with Jacob. That fuels us all to get up and quickly follow the boy. 

We quickly catch up to him, all of our legs sore, but we just kept pushing through the pain. I kept on looking around, expecting a "Snake" ,as this boy calls them, to pop out from the trees and kill us, but nothing happened.