After The Trials

Chapter 9

Isaac left me there and went to sleep. For the rest of the night I exercised loading my rifle. The pistol is easier to handle, but I like this one more. I feel like it's fitter for me. I wanted to practice even more, but I got tired. Also, tomorrow I'm not hunting, so I have plenty time to do it.

I wait for Thomas to wake up to talk to him. As soon as he opened his eyes, I dragged him away from Minzy and Isaac. "Something wrong?" he asked me, doing his best to not fall asleep again.

"I have a theory, but you have to know about it too to work. So, as we are separated every day, we need to find a way to talk without Isaac hearing us. We'll test this first and then use it if it works. I think he can only hear one frequency, which happens to be the one who is mostly used."

"Are you saying that we have to code our thoughts? Alright, let me think about this today and I'll tell you a way to do it in two days or less. Now go get some rest, you haven't slept in a while."

"Sure, sure. Now go catch a deer before we all starve." I retort tapping him on the shoulder. The boys leave and I remain alone with Minzy. I can see her face writhe in pain. "Are you ok?"

"I'm fine, I just didn't eat for like two days."

"Come, they must've had a kitchen or at least a pantry with supplies." she wants to say something, but I interrupt her. "And don't say you can resist until the boys are coming back." I give her a serrated kabar. "In case we meet any Cranks. I would've taken a pistol, but they're too loud and I don't want to be surrounded by those things."

Minzy stands up and follows me. I don't know where the kitchen is either, but we can't stay like this the whole day. I risk taking her with me, someone should look out for our weapons and clothes, but I'd risk even more going by myself. We don't turn the LEDs on, we have to retain the few power left for the Berg, so the only light source are our flashlights.

As we go through the dark corridors, my mind starts panicking and tries to tell me that we're not safe. I ignore it, it does that every time I'm somewhere new. I learned how to control my anxiety, but this time it didn't give up. After a couple minutes of agonizing head pumps, my mind took over my body, making my limbs feel limp. I gather enough strength to hold the flashlight and knife tight, but forget about my legs. I feel them almost collapsing and try to not make it obvious. My mind keeps telling me that someone's watching us, waiting for a moment of weakness. The screams become louder with every step I take and I have to clench my jaw so they won't seize me. I didn't know my anxiety has got so bad, I just hope I'm not schizophrenic. Apparently, that's when the voices emerge.

One last scream pushed me over the edge. I dropped the flashlight and kabar and put the hands to my head, pulling on my hair. Like they knew, a few Cranks jumped on us. Minzy was ready and handled them well, but the voices from my head still weren't gone. The part of my mind that was still working started controlling my body and made my hands let go of my hair and reach for the knife. Before I could touch it, a shoe stepped on it and some arms grabbed me from behind, holding me too tight to do something. Luckily, my legs were still free and I pushed the Crank that was in front of me, making her trip and fall on her back. I bend over as much as I can and the man that was holding me fell. As he didn't loosen the grip on my body, my back slammed on his chest after he hit the ground.

Profiting of the second of dizziness he had, I freed my arms and started kicking him under the ribs with my elbows. Meanwhile, the woman stood up and came to me, but I kicked her again, this time with both of my legs. I positioned my back on the man's head so, if he tried to bite me, the damage he'd make would be insignificant. I felt his hand grabbing my right wrist to immobilize me, but before he could catch the left one I rolled to the side and released from the grip.