Falling Skies

Twenty One

"He said to grab the blue ones, those are purple." December sighs, watching as Ryder stares at the two buds in confusion.

They'd barely been gone thirty minutes and yet to December it feels like a lifetime has passed. Their time at the makeshift campsite feels as if it were years ago, their bodies dragging through the foreign woods, stopping at any plants that match the descriptions the creature gave them.

December sighs again as Ryder walks ahead of him, his black tuft of hair swirling as he cranes his neck to view every sight that passes.

It is beautiful... December admits to himself, eyes falling on the deep greens flushed around him. The colors blend against each other, lights and shadows melting into one as they make their way beneath the cover of the foliage. The farther they walk from the campsite the darker the trail becomes, until the warmth of the sun can no longer be felt on their exposed backs, Haven sweatshirts tied around their sweat drenched waists.

Ryder stops to pull on his sweatshirt from up ahead, turning back slightly to wait on December to catch up. He gifts his cousin an annoyed look but December merely laughs at the visage.

"I'm not walking slow I'm just looking for the right things." He playfully grumbles, wrinkling his nose at Ryder as he catches up to him. "You're just as impatient as when we were kids, you know that?"

Ryder's head turns back to the front of their path, black hair falling over his ear as he shakes his head slightly. "I've learned to never stop running is why." He covers the truth with a slight laugh, though the sound falters too soon to be a good excuse.

December doesn't comment on the remark, instead allowing his eyes to wander once more into the dark of the woods. A few flowers bloom in the distance, their opening buds giving off a fresh scent as they hunt for the last remnants of potential sunlight. A few of them could match the description they're looking for, December notes, but each flower holds a blend of colors that muddle the criteria.

December's head cocks to the side as his eyes squint to make out the small buds in the unforgiving darkness. "Hey, Ryder. Do you think that those look more white or more blue to you? I'm thinking blue but I don't think the rim is the right color." He mumbles to himself, squinting just a tad harder as if it would possibly make a difference.

"Hey, Ryder?" He quizzes again, feet dragging towards the flower as he awaits a response from the other boy. "Ryder!" December calls out once again as he stands over the flowers tucked underneath a fallen branch.

They sit short to the ground, large blue blooms covering the forest floor connected to one another by an almost fluorescent vine. As if in a trance, December squats to the ground, his finger cautiously running the length of the glowing vine before examining the neon blue residue left behind on his fingertips. Rubbing his pointer and thumb together the glow diminishes into a fine sparkling powder that blows off with the next incoming breeze.

He swiftly picks a few of the blooms with the vines attached, carefully folding them into buds and holding the bulbs in his palms.

As he makes his way back towards the beaten path a small voice pipes up from the distance. The sound a recognizable one as it draws out a singular word.

"December..." Ryder breaths out, a stillness in his voice as December's eyes scan the dark for the body attached to the message.

"December..." it starts up again, a breathy, nearly panting sound that draws nearer with each repetition. "December, help."