In Saving the Imperfect

33. The few of us survived

Even after they were far from the village – or what Layne assumed to be far from the village, as he didn't maintain a grip of time nor distance – the smell of the burning flesh still lingered in his senses. It was a part of him, now, and he wouldn't have pictured his daily life without it. Coden and Iker kept tugging on his forearms, urging him to keep moving – and he did so without complaining. Even while his vision blurred beneath his eyelashes and wobbly feet refused to rise further than a few centimetres above the ground.

Every once in a while, his head shot up with a wave of pain. Right after hearing a high-pitched, girly scream somewhere in the distance. Coden, nor Iker never as much as raised an eye, and the screams kept repeating – in all the directions surrounding them. Sometimes they were louder, sometimes – just about as audible as the buzzing in his ears.

"We'll have to stop," Iker said after a while. "Can't keep dragging him much longer, he's obviously not well enough."

Dragging, Layne's thoughts stumbled on that one word. Iker was lying. He was moving just fine by himself. Yet when Coden nodded and the two of them sat him against a tree trunk, he felt as if he belonged right there in that spot.

"What's wrong with him?" asked Coden. They squatted right in front of Layne and for a moment, he wanted nothing more than to see them gone.

"Nothing's wrong with me." He frowned and turned away from them. "Where the hell is Malia?"

His companions looked at each other before Iker let out a long sigh. "I've told you. I'm not really a doctor. I don't know. Doesn't look like he's wounded or anything..."

"What are we supposed to do, then?"

"Even if I knew what was wrong, what do you imagine us doing here?" Iker snapped.

Coden shook his head and motioned his hand to Iker. They moved away and although Layne saw them whispering, he didn't hear a thing. At first, he tried his best to listen in, but soon enough he lost interest.

Layne tilted his head up ever so slightly and noted the balding treetops. Even looking at it, the thought of winter coming entered his mind and caused him to wrap his oversized jacket tighter around his body.

Iker and Coden were still talking between each other, unlikely to be paying much attention, when Layne heard faint footsteps closing in. Victor, of course, was his first thought. Although Victor's never been that careful about anything – quite on the contrary, his footsteps were always heavy with confidence. Malia? One of Victor's unaware 'minions'?

Even so, he couldn't be bothered to alert the others.

The nearby spruce trees' branches moved around and soon enough, Alana's face peeked from behind them. Layne smiled at her and the woman pushed the remaining greenery away from her with more force than needed.

"Coden, Iker, Layne!" she exclaimed.

Quite unnecessary, Layne thought to himself. He remembered his name. He was sure Coden and Iker did as well. It did get the fools' attention, though. They wouldn't have noticed an actual man-eating beast jumping at them otherwise.

The three exchanged hugs and some more sweet, yet meaningless, words. Layne took it upon himself to keep watch of the surroundings – since they wouldn't.

"Are you ok?" Alana knelt in front of him. Too close. "You're too silent. Are you hurt?"

"I'm fine."

She didn't believe him – he could see that in her expression. The way she furrowed her eyebrows and squeezed her lips together. The way she tilted her head.