Flock

Chapter 16

Once again, I was surrounded by darkness. This time—I was not alone. I could hear it breathing heavily, thick gasping breaths of excitement.

Three long scratches had torn the skin on my belly as it released me. Dropping me heavily on the damp ground. Each time I inhaled deeply the scratches seared with pain and I winced. I kept my breathing as slow and soft as I could, every once in a while a stuttering panicky breath would rattle through me.

I heard it moving around me, circling.

I reached my hand shakily into my pocket, only to find it empty. I had dropped the Kriyfem when I was tending to Alijiah. I cursed loudly, and the creature hissed in reply. Stupid, Ollie! How could you drop that stone, I thought to myself savagely.

I counted slowly to ten in my head. I needed to remain as calm as possible. Kiliyan had seen the thing take me; but whether or not he'd reach me before the thing ...what? It hadn't killed me yet, and it certainly had the opportunity to do so. It wasn't toying with me either, just circling and hissing at me.

I pressed my fingers to the cuts on my stomach. They burned with the contact, but they weren't fatal; in fact they weren't even deep, just the result of rough handling. I rolled to my knees and half-stood, waiting to see if my movement had elicited any response from my captor.

It continued to circle.

I let a few more minutes pass before I fully stood up. My stomach screamed in protest with the movement. I clenched my teeth to keep myself from whimpering as I took my first step forward.

For every two steps I took, the creature seemed to shuffle backward a bit. We continued like that for some time. Two steps at a time; I picked up my pace a bit but the creature matched me. Step for step, speed for speed. I could hear it gurgling in the dark, as if it were laughing. Or encouraging.

I stopped moving.

Instead of stepping forward, I turned around and took three quick steps back the way I had come. The creature squealed and rushed toward me —huffing in what seemed like anger.

I took another few steps away from the creature and the thing barreled past me, knocking me to the ground to cut off my route. My heart lurched into my throat.

I was being corralled.

Panic was fighting it's way back up through my body. I wasn't sure where it wanted to lead me, but I didn't want to go with it. Goosebumps prickled over my arms as I stood there, staring toward the sound of the creature. I slowly lowered myself to the cold ground. If the creature wouldn't let me go back the way we had come, than I would sit here and wait for help to arrive.

The walls still dripped with moisture. I could hear the steady beat of water droplets hitting the rocky ground. It was hypnotic, the slow drip. I leaned against the stone wall and did my best to repress the wracking shivers I was beginning to experience. I kept my eyes closed, the darkness too thick to adjust to anything and rubbed my arms.

It wasn't long before my head was jerking upright every few minutes as I tried to stay awake. I scolded myself for the weakness, but the rhythmic dripping, and the steady breathing of the creature just carried me into sleep.