Beyond The Forest

The bunker beyond the forest

Thud! Her face collided with the jagged forest floor, Jayden grabbed her wrist and hauled her off of the ground as quickly as he could.They continued to run. They couldn't stop, even if they wanted to.

It was following them. It was a beast, of which the kind was unknown, but it's teeth were sharper than razors and it's head bigger Takara herself, granted she was rather short but still she was a fully grown 17 year old. It's body was about Jayden's height and he was rather tall for 18.

Jayden continued to pull Takara through the damp and thick shrubbery that was indigenous to the area. But as they continued to run Jayden's adrenaline started to wear off and they started to slow. His lungs were burning but he kept pushing himself further,  if he stopped Takara would too, the thing would catch up and they wouldn't stand a chance.

If you had told Jayden that he would have been running through the forest, dragging Takara with him as he went, at ten this morning he would have snorted in your face and rolled back over to sleep.

And yet here he is, running as fast as he possibly can due to Anaerobic respiration tugging at Takara's wrist to keep her moving as fast as himself.

Unbeknownest to him, Takara had noticed Jayden's adrenaline run out and decided to make a stand.

"Jayden, stop running!" she shouted.

He responded almost immediately and slowed to a halt. Takara caught up with him and grabbed him from behind, sweeping him up into  a bridal lift.

Takara didn't wait for Jayden to comprehend what had happened as she started to run again, a little faster than they did when she was being dragged.

For Jayden, it was all extremely shocking. To compare the two, Takara was five foot four and a half and Jayden was six foot and three quarters, Takara was 17 while Jayden was 18 and Jayden had a good amount of muscle on his bones whereas Takara has little to none. The fact that Takara could pick him up and run faster than he could when he was merely dragging her along was rather strange to the boy but he went along with it undoubtedly, it was giving him the chance to get back his breath.

But Takara turned sharply to the left.

She left the forest. But not on the side That Jayden knew, not into their hometown, on the opposite side. The other side is a barren wasteland. He began to think that Takara was attempting to kill them both.

His point was justified when she stopped running. However when she sat on the ground and the two of them fell down a hole he started to think.

As they fell, Jayden contemplated his entire existence. Because that's the kind of thing that Jayden does. He thinks. Before this point he was used to being the brawn of the two, but with the newfound strength Takara showed he may need to reconsider his role.

Jayden was separated from his thoughts when his back harshly connected with concrete. He looked around and saw Takara in a similar state to himself, just in a slightly less alarmed manner.

"Jay, are you okay over there?"

Jayden looked past the fact that he had thought his best friend was trying to kill him and raised his head in response to the nickname Takara had given him, also releasing an alienated gargling sound from the back of his throat.

Takara slowly and, almost, cautiously stood up. Her legs were shaking from the exertion of carrying her friend but she didn't seem to care.

She hobbled her way into the darkness, and Jayden swore that if he had able to get up at that point he would have tried to stop her, but after a moment Jayden was forced to cover his eyes as a manky old yellow light-bulb had been switched on.

It was just about strong enough to light the room and was about the size of Jayden's hand so he expected the room to look a little,  how should he put this, decrepit.

What he saw truly was incredible.

The four walls had been painted a pastel blue, and quite recently too as the paint had yet to start peeling, apart from the bit he had landed on, the rest of the floor was wood laminate giving it an easy to clean shine. Halfway across the room, was a sofa covered in pillows and blankets sat opposite a flat screen TV.

The best part was the fire place.

Despite the fact that it was nice to just be warm again, The fireplace was the home to a series of photos, most with Takara in, and it gave off a clear signal of home.

Scattered along the floor was a set of at least 30 chaulks some smaller than others, indicating which had been used more.

"Jayden ummm, I don't know how to say this but there was chaulking on the floor where you landed..." Takara mumbled whilst rummaging through a cupboard.

He stood and assessed the damage and, as expected, the entirety of the back of his trousers were a scruffy white colour, the concrete he had been sat on had no longer the pattern Takara remembered pain-stakingly drawing.

But it was a small price to pay in bringing the male back to her hideout.

She could redo it later.

Anyone able to figure out what she had drawn?