No Place Like Home

Part 13

They were walking forwards, in a straight line, talking about anything but the possibility they would die, when Dan noticed something odd and paused.

The jungle was... rippling?

He remembered back to when they were training, and there was a force-field like pane in front of the game-keepers, probably to avoid anybody from throwing something at the keepers. He remembered someone telling him that this girl once shot an arrow at the keepers, so for their safety, they decided to put a force-field there.

Phil's eyes were pointing at the ground, looking for foot-prints as he talked mindlessly to Dan.

But he saw it, the trees were rippling like there was a force-field there.

Dan's heart dropped when he pieced it all together, there was an electric force-field around the arena, like a dangerous shield.

And it would kill anybody the instant they touched it.
And Phil was walking right towards it.

Dan's eyes widened, "Phil?"
He wasn't listening, "Wait, Dan, I think I found something!"
"No, Phil, it's a trap!" Dan exclaimed. "Phil, it's a trap! Stop!"

But it was too late.

Phil had already walked straight into the force-field and gave an exclaim before flying backwards into Dan.

Dan caught Phil but ended up flying backwards as well.

They both rolled to a stop, and Dan ignored the pain of falling and scrambled to Phil, who laid motionlessly on the ground.

(A/N: I recommend listening to 'Safe and Sound' by Taylor Swift during this part if you wanna cry forever. Continue...)

"No," Dan whispered and started scrambling to Phil's body. "No, no, no, no, no, Phil, no. No, you're not dead, you are not dead!"

He grabbed Phil's face and started looking, no sign of life.
He rested his head on Phil's chest to search for a heart-beat, but it was deathly silent.

It must be a mistake, so Dan grabbed a blade from his belt and held it above Phil's lips, hoping for the metal to fog up; signalling he was breathing.
No fog.

"Oh, my God," Dan mumbled and dropped his blade on the grass next to him. "Phil, stop it. Wake up, Phil, wake up!"

Dan started to feel tears in the back of his eyes, and a clogged feeling in his throat.
He started to shake Phil, but he wasn't moving.

Dan decided to give up, and let the tears fall.
A cannon.

"Oh God," Dan's heart thumped loudly, he could hear it. He looked up at the sky, where the cannon came from, and then back at Phil. "Oh God, Oh God, Oh God, Phil get up."

Dan started to pump on Phil's chest with both hands, willing his heart to continue beating.
But it wasn't.

Dan hesitated before pinching Phil's nose and bending down to kiss him.

And not in a romantic way, Dan blew air into Phil's mouth, praying for his lungs to start working again.

"One, two, three, four, five," Dan breathed as he pumped on Phil's chest, and then blew into his mouth again.
"It's not working," Dan mumbled, before shouting, "Goddammit, Phil, it's not working! Why isn't it working? Phil why isn't it working?"

Dan's tears started streaming down his face, and he started choking on his own sobs, "Goddammit, Phil, answer me! Talk to me!"

He stared down at Phil's pale face. He was pale before, but now his face was turning a pale grey, like wet paper.