The Outskirts (ITZY Shin Ryujin)

23

Luke was never a fan of lizards, in fact, he detested them and now with one full-on chasing him down, he realised that he will never hate anything more than a lizard. Dragging Ryujin behind him, he tried his hardest to catch up to Yeji who was way ahead. Ryujin was the slowest of them all and had to have Chaeryeong sprinting close behind her and Luke to make sure she didn't fall behind.

The lizard lady wasn't far behind them, surprising Luke with her speed. Tinsel was nowhere to be found but Ryujin swore she could sense his presence. They had sprinted far out of the village at this point and were quickly losing all their energy.

"We need to find a hideout," Yeji yelled back at them. "We need to get to the other village."

"And how far away is that?" Luke responded, feeling weak already.

"One, maybe two, kilometres... At least I think."

"I don't think I will make it that far. I'm so tired."

"He's right," Chaeryeong chimed in. "It's too far. We need a plan b."

After pondering for a moment, Yeji finally spoke up.

"There's a forest not far from here," she revealed. "At the entrance, the trees are very weak. The winds must have blew them down by now. We can his beneath them."

"And what is you definition of 'not far from here'?" Luke asked. "Less than that kilometer?"

"Just a couple of hundred metres. If it wasn't so dusty, we'd definitely see it from here. It's to the east. Follow me."

And they did.

They crossed over rocks, empty plains of land and little rivers until they finally reached the forest. The wind crashed into their bodies, the action becoming more and more painful as time went on. The rumble of thunder was much louder now, in fact, it was almost unbearable and was enough to scare Chaeryeong every single time in screeched through the air.

Yeji was right about the trees. For qthe first fifty metres or so, the trees had fallen down into nothing but a carpet of wood and leaves.

"There aren't enough trees," Ryujin groaned. "There's no way we can hide under or amongst them."

"Then let's hide in the trees," Luke mentioned. "We have a whole forest ahead of us. Why don't we make use of it?"

"It would take too long. We don't know how far behind that crazy lizard lady is," Yeji uttered. "However, there is a little hidden cave inside. We could hide there."

"Then let's go already. Tinsel's close and that lady could be working for him. We need to be fast. As fast as we can possibly be," Chaeryeong spoke, already heading into the forest.

It took a while but they eventually got to the cave. If it wasn't for Yeji's sharp eye, they all would have walked past it. When she said it was hidden, she meant that unless you search long and hard, you would never find it.

They sat in the dark for minutes, hours maybe and waited for any sign of life outside or, for that matter, any sign of the lizard lady or Tinsel. But there was nothing. The wind continued to howl and sometime during their hiding, the clouds gave way, sending harsh rain down in their direction, crashing into anything in their path.

It wasn't long before Luke found himself restless in a small cave with two girls who were fast asleep and one, with her head resting comfortably on his shoulder, beginning to doze off.

"Do you think Tinsel's still following us?" Ryujin asked, half asleep.

Chuckling slightly, Luke wrapped an arm around her waist and pulled her closer, earning a content sigh from her.

"I think he may have given up. Either way, we can't leave just yet. We need to wait for this rain to stop," he responded.

"It isn't stopping any time soon. May as well just go to sleep."

"I'll just keep a lookout in case."

"You can't sleep, can you?"

"Not really, no."

"If this has anything to do with Tinsel, don't worry about it. We'll be alright. He won't find us."

He heaved a sigh.

"I sure do hope so. Because I don't know the basics of using half those weapons I took."

She rubbed his arm soothingly and rested her face in his neck.

"Don't worry." Her warm breath kissed his neck as her muffled words slipped from her lips. "It can't be too hard. You'll figure it out. Besides, we still have time."

Leaning his head against hers, Luke exhaled slowly as he watched the rain tumble to the ground. Slowly he felt his eyelids grow heavy. He convinced himself that they were alright and all he needed was a few hours. However right before he allowed his eyes to close completely, he saw something in the distance. Two figures. Both scaly. Both with dark eyes. The only difference was one seemed aquatic while the other seemed more suited to land.

One was the lizard lady. The other was Tinsel.

They were looking at him.