Chapter 5: Drawing Dead

"No! Let me go!" Lindsay struggled against the guards as they dragged her through the Meeting Room to the head councilwoman.

"We caught her spying on your conversation," the guard reported, easily holding the pulls and thrashes of the girl.

"Oh dear, we'll have to send her early, then. No matter, I'm certain they'll be ready for her." Councilwoman Mona approached the large stone disc bordered by decorative carvings that formed the backdrop of the row of council seats. She turned a few of the markings and pressed in on a keystone shaped mark at the top.

Suddenly, the surface of the stone began to waver and then ripple as though it were the surface of the sea. The color turned a strange, shimmery opalescence. Lindsay stared at it in awe, not knowing whether to feel terror or wonder. Of course, the guards were staring, too, though in a way that suggested they were familiar with its transformation.

She saw her moment. She'd never escape. The Hollow was too large and she hadn't even memorized the way she'd come in beyond knowing there were a lot of stairs she'd gone down - plus there were the guards and Eddy, but there was something she could do for herself.

She jerked quickly, elbowing the guard in the gut. She grabbed her pill bottle from her pocket and dumped three of the little yellow pills into her mouth. It was too much, but she didn't have time to be picky. The guard knocked the bottle from her hand, grabbed her, and shoved her into the shimmering surface of the stone.

"Oof!" she said as the hit solid ground. For all the pomp it was no different than being pushed through a door. She stared at the grass between her fingers. Looking all around, she took in her surroundings. She was no longer in the cave; that was certain!

A cool breeze rippled through the grass, above, wispy clouds in the blue sky fought to obscure a large moon, beside which another, much smaller moon floated, almost invisible in the light of the day. Beyond the field, there was a great, dark forest of densely packed trees, like the pine barrens of New Jersey. To the other side she could see giant gleaming buildings, skyscrapers jutting up into the blue.

Where was she? She heard quick footfalls rustling the grass behind her and unintelligible sounds like grunts and jabbering. She turned to look in time to see two men, easily the most beautiful she'd ever seen, rushing toward her. They looked like they had stepped out of some bad Christian painting of heaven.

They stopped on either side. The blond man knelt down and placed a hand on her arm, he seemed to be making a weird clicking sound. Or maybe her brain was just scrambled from the fall. She looked into his brown eyes uncomprehendingly and suddenly the noises began to make sense. "You're early! Here," the man said offering his hand. "Let us help you up."

"Thank you," she said, allowing the men to take her arms and lift her to her feet. Up close, she could see both the men had shining, gold flecked skin. The other man had more of an East Asian cast to his face but in no definitive way, he had black hair and blue eyes.

"I'm sorry," the second man said. "Normally, we'd have more people ready to meet you. Do forgive us."

Lindsay stared at the men as they led her to a wooden platform in the middle of the field. "Where am I? Who are you?"

"We are the Korsuch. I am Pell and my compatriot is Rome."

"But where am I?" Lindsay asked again, growing slightly irritated as they led her up the steps. "And why is there a wooden platform in the middle of a field?"

The blond man smiled. "Why, you're home, of course. It will all make sense soon. I'll summon the lord. He is eager to meet you." He took a torch and lit it, turning a mirror to the sky so that it reflected the light.

Run! A voice in Lindsay's mind shouted. She looked around at the two men smiling brightly at her. Run now!

She broke free of the man called Pell's grasp and ran. Leaping off the platform, she landed on all fours. Roll left! Her mind shouted again. She rolled just in time to hear a loud thunk where she'd just been. She turned to see a large spear stuck in the ground.

"Get her!" a strange voice shouted, it seemed to have both a normal tone and yet a weird, secondary, booming quality, like an unbalanced sound system.

Don't look back! Her mind shouted as she ran. She could hear a loud droning above her like the beating of wings. She dodged left and then right, making for the woods as spears flew into the ground from above with incredible speed.

Don't look back! She couldn't help herself, she looked behind her. In the sky above, dozens of men in robes flew on four wings, many still holding spears, she could barely make out their faces but there was something horrible about their eyes - where they even really eyes? They were giant, horrible looking milky voids!

She went down, rolling through the grass. As she stumbled forward her ankle gave way. "Aack!" she screamed, tumbling again. A spear landed right in front of her, not even an inch from her nose, its tip buried deep into the ground.

She scrambled up again, dragging her bad ankle with her. She was nearly there! The forest! She ran desperately, when suddenly pain ripped through her left arm. She cried out. She kept running, not wanting to look, she knew something was terribly wrong from how wet her elbow felt.

Stumbling again, she fell flat at the foot of the trees. Pain seared her side. She tried to pull herself forward, clawing at the ground. She was stuck! Her shirt must be caught on the spear. She heaved herself forward with all of her weight. She felt her flesh tear with the shirt. She gritted her teeth, hoisting herself forward into the dense tangle of trees.

She scrabbled forward through the brush. Her arm couldn't take any weight, she refused to look at it - the moment she looked the worse it would be. She willed herself forward, finding a large tree trunk, she pulled herself behind it and waited, shaking, knowing if they found her she was dead. There was nothing more she could do, she didn't have the strength. She tried to silence her panting as she sat, listening.

She heard the sound of two heavy bodies landing. "Should we fetch her? She cannot have gotten far. The blood leads to that tree."

Lindsay shut her eyes and waited for her inevitable death.

"No," the other voice said in disgust. "Let the Bonat have her." The air shrieked and the trunk of her tree shook with a loud thunk. There was the sound of wings flapping and then nothing but the buzzing of whatever creatures lived in this forest.

Lindsay sat in silence, waiting, trying to catch her breath, which seemed harder and harder to do. She felt a coldness beginning on her brow and flowing down to her shoulders, her chest, her arms and legs. Her heart was pounding so hard her breasts shook.

She looked at her arm, a chunk was missing from the bottom of it. Blackness ebbed at her mind at the sight. She forced herself to stay conscious. It was just a bad cut, she told herself. Cold sweat streamed across her skin. She fought to control her ragged breathing as she took off her shirt and wrapped it around the wound, taking one end in her teeth, she pulled it taut.

She reached over and touched her side, pulling back her hand she saw more blood. She could feel a strange chilling lightness coming over her, as though pale were somehow a feeling a person could have. "You're going into shock, Lindsay," she said out loud. "You remember what they said about shock. If the face is red, lift the head. Something something about lifting the feet if it's white." She pressed her good hand to her face, her brow felt cold and clammy with sweat. "It feels white," she said. "I... I just need to bandage my side, then I can lay down." She tore the leg of her jeans off, battling her bad arm as she did. "And mom always complained that my jeans came with holes in them." She tied the long pant leg around her slender waist.

She lay herself down, turning as much as she could so she could put her feet up on the tree. She could see the swelling of her bare ankle. "It's just a... a little sprain. You've had much worse. Remember that time... freshman year when you went to block that spike and you... broke your leg in two places? That was much worse. You just need to focus... get your heart rate under control. Remember that mountain man... who got mauled by a grizzly bear... and survived... If Leo can do it... so can you... Just like they taught you in yoga class..."

She focused on her breathing, taking slow breaths. Her foot shifted. A bolt of pain struck her and she began panting quickly again. "Come on... Linds... you can do this." Focus and concentration had never been her strong point, at least off the court. Or out of the bed. Exercise always helped her focus, but just lying there on her back, with her legs propped up against a tree, she struggled to just breathe. In... Hold for 3 seconds... out. In... Hold for 3 seconds... out. And then her mind was off to the races and her breathing with it.

"Ugh!" she cried. "Fine! We'll do this another way." She punched up with her good arm. "Hold...1...2...3... To the side! 1... 2... 3..." As she focused on her fist, her breathing finally began to slow and her heart with it.

After ten minutes, she released a deep breath. "Okay... we're okay. You've got this Linds. Remember The Hunger Games. You need to find water and shelter before the Bonat find you, whatever they are. Maybe they're like wolves." She heard a rustling in the trees above her. "Or some kind of man-eating monkey..." She shuddered. "Ok, five more minutes and we start. Who knows when nightfall comes around here." She looked up into the canopy, nervously. Her head felt heavy.

She didn't know how long she'd been asleep for. It was still light out, but that light had taken on a decidedly golden cast. "Ugh..." she groaned. She felt a weird tickling at her arm and absently swatted at it. Her hand closed on something soft. Instinctively, she pulled it up. It looked like an eyeless, noseless rat with sharp teeth. She shrieked, hurling it far away.

"What was that thing?" she asked no one, hurriedly brushing off her body to make sure there weren't more of them.

She sat up and looked around. She heard the chittering of small creatures and saw more of those things lapping at the puddles of her blood, some attacking others to get a better spot. "Ew," she said. "I'd better get out of here before any more of them try to make me into an all-you-can-eat buffet."

She winced as she tried to stand, gripping her side. It felt like the wound wanted to reopen again. "Slowly, Linds, slowly." Moving at an excruciatingly slow pace, with all of her weight place on her good leg, she raised herself up to standing.

She gingerly put weight on her twisted ankle. "Ouch!" She winced. "That's not going to work. I need a good stick." She looked around her for something but there was nothing close by. Then she thought of the spear. She hobbled around to the other side of the tree, clinging onto its trunk for support. The sudden noise and motion of the giant monster thing causing the little blood drinkers to cry out in tiny shrieks of offended terror and run off.

"Maybe those are the Bonat," she mused. "Ack!" Her foot slid off one of the roots causing her arms to scrape against the tree. She took a deep breath and released it as she fought off tears stinging her eyes. "Come on, Linds, you've got this. You can cry later." She continued around.

There it was! It had to be six feet tall and two inches wide. The tip was buried so deeply in the tree she could barely see the crystalline end, but the shaft where it attached was decorated with elaborate designs of a metal that resembled rose gold. It was also almost six feet up.

She put a hand on the shaft to test it. It was stuck in there. She examined the end to see how the shaft was attached. It looked like the shaft was shoved inside of the round tip, but it wasn't very thick there. She tried wiggling it to see if it was loose, but it wouldn't budge. Perhaps, with all of her weight on it... it might just break. But it would hurt like hell if she fell.

She gritted her teeth. "Alright. Let's do this." She reached up her other hand. It wouldn't be able to hold much weight, but still better than nothing. She pulled up her legs so she was hanging from the shaft. She began swinging back and forth, putting all her weight into the down swing. Suddenly, she heard a crackling sound then a loud crack! She was back on the ground, on her knees, gasping in pain, the staff in front of her.

From somewhere in the distance she heard a loud call. Whatever it was it sounded hungry. Another call, slightly closer. "You've got this," she said, clenching her teeth. She positioned the staff and pulled herself up. "Ok," she panted. "Let's go." She shuffled forward, further into the woods.

After an hour, she began to feel light-headed. Her back felt wet with sweat even though it wasn't especially warm out. She looked down at her waist and realized it wasn't sweat. She cursed. Her side had opened up again and her pant leg was half soaked in blood. Tearing off her other pant leg she threw off the bloody one and tied on the new one. She needed stitches, she knew it. But she was hardly going to find a MedExpress in the middle of a forest on an alien planet. Maybe a Starbucks, she thought, caustically.

She heard that weird call again, it sounded closer. Too close. She needed a place to hide. She pitched forward quickly, trying to get as far from the sound as possible. Suddenly, her feet sunk. The staff went down deep. Mud! She was in deep mud! And where there was mud... there might be water.

She heard the strange call again. It was definitely from something large and coming from overheard. And it was following her. She needed to hide. Now!

She dove under the mud, using the staff to make a little divot for air. She grimaced as she felt the wetness seeping into the bandage around her waist. Hopefully, she was immune to weird alien bacteria.

Something heavy landed on the ground beside the mud hole, then two more things. She could hear them walking around. "It was just here," the one said.

Another growled in a gruff voice, "It's lost a lot of blood."

"It's going to be dead before we find it, just like the last one," a female voice grumbled. "They aren't much fun that way."

"Come on," the gruff-voiced one said. "It can't have gotten far." She heard the sound of them springing off, back into the trees. And then the calls began, going further and further off.

The Bonat! She was sure of it. And they were hunting her! Dead before they find her? Like the last one? How many others had made it to these woods just to die here?

"I'm not going to die here," she said, pulling herself up with the rod. "I'm going to find water and then shelter, and then I'll figure out how to get back home. And then I'm going to tell the Spook Force exactly where Eddy is. I bet he won't see that coming." She hobbled forward with a renewed determination.

She followed the mud for almost an hour as the sky darkened above. Her mouth felt like it was filled with cotton as she struggled to swallow. Dark as it was getting, she was beginning to realize she faced a difficult choice. She could either keep going in hopes of finding water, or she needed to start looking for a shelter for the night. "Fifteen more minutes. If I haven't found anything in fifteen minutes, then I'll work on a shelter."

In the distance, she heard the sound of the Bonat coming closer. "Not again!" She needed a place to hide and quickly. There! Some bushes! She dragged herself under them, their thorny branches cutting at her flesh, but she refused to make a sound.

Three sets of boots landed. She squinted into the darkness. They seemed to have spikes on them, including spurs at the front. She willed herself not to breathe.

One of them picked up her staff and showed it to the other. "The wood's still warm. Fan out, try to find it," the rough-voiced one ordered.

She watched the spurred boots walk away.

She waited, not moving, trying not to breathe or make a sound. She felt the burning pain in her side that told her crawling under the bush had pulled open the wound again. It would be ok, she told herself as her consciousness gave out. If it hadn't killed her yet, it wasn't going to. She'd escape these Bonat and then she'd go back and... Eddy...