Page 27 of Poison

“Where are we going?” I shout as I follow this stranger, but for some reason, my mind is screaming at me to follow him. Fear grips me as the shadow stretches before us, covering the area in front of us in darkness. The moon is no longer shining, and cold air sweeps over me.

My helper looks over his shoulder, the hood falling back on his head to give me a full view of his face. Bright emerald-green eyes widen as he looks higher above me. “Duck!”

I do as he says, but fate has to screw me once again. My toe catches something on the ground making me stumble. His hold on me breaks and yelp as I fall to the ground. Pain radiates through my ribs as my brain tries to figure out what the hell I’m doing.

A red-hot pain shoots through my sides, like my skin is being cleaved from my body. I look over my shoulder and see Talons digging into my flesh. Hot breath washes over me, but I daren’t do anything other than play dead. Even though my body is shaking so violently, anybody who saw me would think I’m having a seizure.

I’m terrified.

The sharp tip of a talon pierces my skin, and I have to bite my lip to keep from screaming out. My stomach rolls as the ground disappears from beneath me and a sick feeling washes over me. I crack an eye open and my stomach bottoms out. The ground really is getting farther away with each passing second.

The sound of a heavy beat tells me the beast is flapping its powerful wings to get us higher. I see the hooded man running below, his head whipping up to make sure we’re are in sight.

“Brace yourself,” he shouts to me. The beast roars in answer, the flapping becoming louder.

The hold on me tightens, talons skewering me on them. My scream fills the air as pain shoots all through my body from the wounds it’s inflicting in my stomach and sides.

Is this how I’m going to die? In some weird sucky place that I don’t belong in?

I hear the guy trying to help me cuss from below somewhere as my body becomes tired, I can feel my blood escaping from the entry points. No doubt it’s dripping from the animal’s feet and leaving a trail to what is surely my ending. My eyes start to close as the blood-loss becomes too much, my breathing sounding distorted even to my ears.

A scream of agony rips through the air, and my body becomes lightweight, wind whipping my hair all around me. I manage to fight off the end just enough to open my eyes and, again, really wish I hadn’t as the ground rushes to welcome me. I know I’m plummeting now, and there isn’t anything I can do to save myself.

Considering I’m about to die, all I feel is calm. I know I’m going to see my parents again and that brings a smile to my lips as I lose the fight to keep my eyes open.

I hope Kevin’s going to be okay.

CHAPTERNINE

My scream echoes, making me want to curl into a ball and die. A red-hot burning sensation engulfs me, like I’m baking in the seven rings of hell. My mouth is complexly void of any moisture as I try to open my mouth to see if I can expel the feelings… but nothing. Not a damn thing. Only darkness surrounds me as I try to find the man who helped me.

“P, please wake up.”

Wake up? I am awake, but for some reason I’m not in the wasteland like I was before. I’m so confused as I spin in a circle, trying to see if I can spot anything familiar. But all that surrounds me is darkness and shadows. Where the hell am I?

“Hello?” I wait with baited breath to see if someone will answer me, or even show themselves so I can ask for help.

“Poor poor little girly is lost.”

“Hello?” I ask again, hearing a snigger in response. I turn around to see if I can find the owner of the voice. “Please, I don’t know where I am?”

Laughing fills the shadows and dread fills me, what is happening? The fire continues to wreak havoc within but my mind is keeping it on the back burner.

“Poison, don’t you dare leave me!” I gasp as Kevin’s voice rattles through my head.

“Ooooh, poor girly has a friend!”the weird voice says.“Not the one, no. No, not the one.”It sniggers again.

“She will die, not the one. She will die!”

“Who will die?” I ask the voice, my heart beating frantically in my chest, and it laughs at me.

“No, help!”the voice cackles again.“She is lost, she will be swallowed whole.”

A bright light blinds me and I scream at the voice to answer me but there’s nothing. My eyes flutter open as the fire I felt builds to an inferno inside my body, oh my god! I want to die. The sounds I can hear change from the white noise buzzing to the clink of metal.

“Glad to see you’re awake, child,” Miss Furnell says with a wide smile, and I groan as pain flashes across my abdomen.

“W…” My head starts pounding, like there is a battalion of war drums inside it.

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