Chapter 38
Chapter Thirty-Eight
BELLAMY
I leaned against the tree, knowing that I had to get myself to move at some point. I couldn’t just sit here forever, wasting away, letting predators come upon me. I hadn’t actually seen any predators or signs of life. I wondered if there were even many animals in this jungle. But there had to be. Those boys had been roasting meat at their camp.
Every time I tried to move, my ankle screamed in pain, and my hands throbbed. I’d scratched them badly during my fall, reopening wounds that had been healing, and now they once again looked angry and red. Chills wracked my body, and my head felt like it was on fire.
I needed to focus. I needed to move. I could do this. Maybe I was close to that camp. If I could find it, I’d at least have a safe place to sleep for the night, some food. My stomach grumbled on cue. I tried to stand, and the world tilted, making me slump against the tree, my ankle pulsing, purple and black bruises mottling the skin around it. I clutched my ribs, a sharp slice of pain puncturing them each time I took a breath.
My vision blurred but snapped back to focus, and just beyond the tree line, I saw bushes of nettle weeds.
I gasped. They were right there. I’d literally fallen upon them.
I limped to the edge of the jungle, the black-sand beaches stretching out as waves crashed against them. The nettle weeds sat in clusters against a tall cliff that rose up at the curve of the island. I could do that. I could make it there and then I’d rest and then I’d find that camp.
My ankle throbbed, but I forced myself forward, trying to push through the trees.
A chill skittered over my spine as shadows dove down in front of me. They hissed, closing in on me and pushing me backward. Of course. I wasn’t sure how I’d forgotten, but I couldn’t just leave the jungle. That was the entire point. I was trapped here. They wouldn’t let me leave.
“Okay,” I signed. “I’m not leaving. Just —” I held out a hand to signal to stay there.
But they didn’t understand, floating closer, arms outstretched, mouths gaping open. I couldn’t outrun them, and the clouds still covered the stars tonight, giving me no access to them. I was well and truly stuck. I glanced over the shadows at the nettle weeds. They were right there. So close. I surged forward again, but the shadows shoved me back.
I gasped out and picked up a stick, holding it in front of me and waving it at the wispy forms, trying to scatter them. Every time the stick hit one of them, they’d break apart into what seemed like a million little pieces, only to come back together. I tripped over my feet, stumbling forward and straight into the ground.
I whirled around right as a shadow dove toward me. It hit the ground and dissipated, then put itself back together.
Another shadow surged forward, gripping my hurt ankle. I had to bite my tongue to hold back my cry, black spots dotting my vision at the way it felt like my ankle was ripping in two. The shadow was flying me straight toward a tree trunk, and I didn’t know what was happening until it began swinging me backward. It was going to throw me into that tree. Bash me against it like a rag doll. My stomach clenched tight.
I’d break my neck. I’d likely die. I ignored the searing throb my ribs gave as I bent upward and used the stick to slice at the shadow’s arm. It dropped me, and I fell with a thud onto the forest floor, immediately getting up and limping as fast as I could away from these shadows.
I tried to back away, but they were too fast. They came upon me like a storm cloud, pushing me down. I landed on my back right as seven swans swooped down, whooshing through them, pecking at them, making the shadows burst into pieces again and again and again.
Black spots dotted my vision for the second time, but this time, they wouldn’t go away, making it hard to see what was happening. I was cold. So cold. But my ankle and my hands throbbed with a mixture of fire and pain.
I raised one hand up, yellow and white pus seeping from the open cuts. Infection. I had an infection.
I shook my head, trying to clear my vision. I had to get away. I couldn’t stop fighting. I wouldn’t stop. My brothers were here for me now. They needed me.
I tried to stand but immediately collapsed back to the ground. I couldn’t walk with this ankle. So I’d have to do something else. I rolled onto my belly and dug my hands in the dirt, grabbing fistfuls of it and pulling myself forward. I’d crawl if I had to. The swans continued their attack on the shadows, keeping the monsters busy while I pulled myself, my vision getting blurrier and blurrier.
My heart was beating so hard my chest ached, but still I forged on, refusing to quit. A hand wrapped around my hurt ankle, and this time, I bit so hard on my tongue that a coppery taste filled my mouth. I looked behind me to see a shadow. Its mouth formed into a smile, its red eyes glowing brighter. It yanked me toward it, the pain in my ankle, my ribs, my hands, so bad that the black dots grew until the darkness took me completely.