Lost in Firefly Forest Book 1

Chapter 15 - Five Minutes Left

Lloyd's POV

I had followed the footprints for ages now, and it had seemed that they were mainly going in one direction so I sped up a bit as not to lose time. I guess I should contact Zane and ask how much time we have left before... More horrible ideas popped into my head and I decided to talk to Zane as soon as possible, I needed some social contact after being in the cold forest for so long. I got out the communicator we had and picked Zane.

"Zane...?" Just after I said that I realised how worried and shaky my voice sounded. Geez! Am I that worried?!

"Oh, Lloyd! You scared me, what do you need? Have you found anything yet?" I paused. Do I tell him about what I found? Yes

"Um actually, yes." My attempts at making my voice sound calmer had failed.

"Really? That's great Lloyd! What did you find?"

"Kai's glove and some footprints. Although, Kai's glove was hanging onto the edge of a raven, so-" I had to pause to say it, it made my stomach ache, my eyes sting, and it felt like I was going to choke on the words. I shakily sigh. "So I'm not sure if he's fallen down there on not. But the footprints seem to be human ones, as well as they're facing away from the raven. I've been following them for a while now..." My voice sounded terrible.

"Oh, Lloyd... I can sense the sadness in your voice, you must be awfully worried! Are you sure the footprints aren't someone else who's also looking for Kai?" There it was. I knew Zane must've sensed something wrong with my voice.

"Well, I didn't find any markers around, and they would've found the glove and reported it to you so you could tell everyone else back outside the forest..."

"Oh yes, that makes sense. Well Lloyd, is there anything else you need? I need to report back as soon as possible to the chief to tell them what you found,"

"Yeah, I actually just wanted to know how much time was left...?" Deep inside I kind of already knew the answer... I just wanted to make sure.

"An hour and fifteen minutes. Actually, I would've told you to start heading back but if you don't mind, you should probably stay and continue following the footprints, as we don't know if we will be able to find them again due to the magic of this forest..."

"I definitely don't mind, Zane! Don't worry about me, I'm warm enough to continue but I'll have to spread my markers out a bit more," I say, almost cutting off Zane at the start.

"Ok, then, tell me when you've found anything again! Bye!"

"Bye..." Just as we were saying goodbye something had caught my eye once again. There was a small roughly oval shape made by the trees and in the middle was something odd with the footprints, as now there were two types. A wolf one and a human one. I could only imagine what the scene was like according to the footprints, that is if the human ones were Kai's. He must've heard something and stopped to turn at what it was, then it seemed as if a pack of wolves had appeared and he'd started to slowly back away. I followed them to behind one of the trees and this is where I guess he started running.

I followed the footprints. But... after a while... I couldn't see them. I couldn't find them. I couldn't find anything. What...? How?! Where did they go?! Even the voice in my head was shaky. The footprints just seemed to, fade out of existence... "Ugh! Where did they go?! I was so sure that these were his! I mean who else could it have been? No..." I couldn't believe it. I thought I'd found him, or at least had a good trail on him! And now... it was all for nothing... My eyes stung so much with tears of anger and sadness, my stomach tied itself into a tight knot, and my throat started to grow that awful lump of doom. I fell to my knees upset and mad at everything. I pound at the ground, "Why?!" I broke. But, just to top it all off, Zane came through the communicator.

"Hey, Lloyd?! Lloyd?! I'm not sure If you're getting this but the timer says five minutes! Everyone's back and has already come out of the forest! Have you found anything?!" My world stopped. F-five minutes...? Until what?! "Hello?! Lloyd...?" I... I can't give up... Kai's strong! He'll stay! He'll outlive that stupid timer!

"Lloyd? Please! If you can hear this, just know that we're all counting on you... Make the last five minutes count..." That time the voice was Nya's. Her voice sounded as if she has summoned all of her energy to say that without crying, and I didn't blame her. I myself couldn't hold back any tears.