Soul Stitched (book one)

Chapter 29: Cashmere

"Open the door, Aqua! The door! Open the stinking door!" I screamed. "Gee, I didn't think of that." she hollered. "Ugh, just open the door!!!" I repeated. "It won't open you blockhead, it's locked!" she shouted back. The man was 3 yards away. Two. One. "Aqua, run!" We bolted bast the taxi and onto a huge area of dirt. Our taxi driver moaned and limped closer. His mouth was foaming even more and the red markings were all over his cheek, now. They looked like the ones that were on the man I had seen in the hospital. We stopped and looked back at him. Which was really stupid.Within one second of standing still, the dust at my feet began to feel squishy. Then it felt more lie it was covering my foot. I looked over at Aqua and gasped. I wasn't looking over to Aqua. I was looking DOWN on Aqua. She looked down at screamed. She was up her her knees in a squishy mud dirt thing. She was sinking quickly and she struggled to get out. "We're in quicksand or something." I shouted She looked up at me and rolled her eyes. "No, you're kidding me." she said in a flat tone. The dirt was sucking me in, but I couldn't get out. I was stuck. The man was almost at my fingertips. We were trapped.

He tripped and reached for me. I screamed and tried to get away, but the quicksand held me fast. "Get away from her!" Aqua hollered. She grabbed a handful of dirt and threw it at the driver's face. He turned toward her with a look of hatred in his eyes. "C...C...Cashmere?" She stuttered. "Just don't move. He's gone crazy." She grabbed my arm. "He doesn't know what he's doing." I explained. "Are you sure? Because he's acting pretty maaAA-" The man lunged and landed between me and Aqua. I was up to my waist in the mud quicksand thing. Aqua screamed, tears streaked down her face. I knew what she was thinking: it was hopeless. Suddenly the man began to sink. He got lower and lower until he moaned and was swallowed by the earth. I gasped and looked at Aqua. he was breathing heavily and had a wild look in her eyes. The man might've been gone, but we were still sinking in quicksand.

If we didn't get out soon, we were toast. "How do we get out of here?" I asked. "I have no-" Her sentence was cut off because she screamed and jerked under the surface of the ground. "Aqua!" I shouted. I shuck my hands under and reached down. Nothing. My lip quivered and I began to sob. Suddenly a hand grabbed my leg and I screeched. I felt down and grabbed Aqua's thin wrists. I pulled her up and she gasped for hair. Her hair was crusted in mud. "He...he...grabbed my leg and...and p-pulled me under!" she coughed up dirt. "What? That taxi diver? But-" I felt a powerful tug on my leg and got pulled under. I kicked and flailed, but it was no use. I was getting deeper and deeper. I felt and hand and grabbed it. It pulled me up, but before I could get to the top, the taxi driver pulled me back under. My lungs felt like they were on fire. I couldn't hold my breath for much longer. I kicked my foot and it connected with something. The hand around my ankle let go and I reached for Aqua above me.

Please, Aqua. Please, Aqua. Please, Aqua. I thought. A hand grabbed mine and pulled me up. I broke the surface and gasped for breath. My lungs burned and I could barely breathe. I opened my eyes and screamed. The person in front of me wasn't Aqua. It was the man. His hand was holding mine. I pulled away and saw the red markings almost covered his whole face. I pulled myself away from the driver and coughed. Where was Aqua? I looked around frantically.A hand grabbed my elbow from behind and I screamed. "Cashmere, it's me. Come on!" Aqua shouted. I looked behind me and saw she was standing on solid ground. She grabbed my other arm and pulled me out. We hugged each other and sucked in deep breaths. We pulled away and looked away from the sand. Suddenly, the man grabbed Aqua's ankle. Are you kidding? She fell backwards and started to get pulled back into the sand. "Cashmere!" she screamed. I grabbed her wrist and pulled her free. "Run." I whispered. "Run!" I pushed her forward. We held hands and ran off, leaving our ex taxi driver to die.

We ran for hours until we couldn't move anymore. We sat down and leaned against a tree, breathing hard. Neither of us said a word. Eventually, I said, "He had the virus. Stitches." Aqua looked at me and nodded. "I don't want to die." she said, sadly. "Huh? What do you...oh..." I replied. The virus was contagious. People could catch it by touch, and doctors and scientists were still investigating if people could get it through air. No matter what, there was no doubt we had gotten it...and it was fatal. We walked in silence for a while, not knowing where we were going. Aqua sighed and said, "Well, at least we-" She was cut off by a moan that obviously belonged to our taxi driver. How is he still alive?! "Run!" She shouted. She didn't have to tell me twice.

We bolted away, but had no idea where the man was. Suddenly, he emerged from behind a tree in front of us. e screamed and turned around to run the other way, but of course I tripped and fell over a tree root. I scrambled up, and the man was standing right in front of me. I watched just as the red markings fully covered his face. His eyes were bright ride and foam overflowed from his mouth. Suddenly, he grabbed my shoulders. His eyes went back to normal and the foam from his mouth stopped. "Help me! I can't hold on any longer! It's eating away at my soul!" he shouted, his knuckles turning white from his tight grip. I couldn't get any words out. I was about to but suddenly he cried out. "Noooo!" His eyes rolled back in his head and he collapsed to the ground in front of me, lifeless.