Call Of The Darkness

Chapter 9

I suddenly woke waves of heat rushing up my body. I might pass out. Cap was snoring and Fortis was, well I don't know. Well he is doing something so he stays awake,
"Hey" a whisper echoed from my left. Vivos.
"Hi, why you still up?" I ask him,
"Couldn't sleep" he replies,
"Same here" I say,
"You broke into a cold sweat" he says, "You had me worried",
"Don't be" I say,
"Listen" he says, "I know this will be very awkward for you",
"What?" I say,
"I really like you" he says,
"Hey everyone likes me. Cap, Fortis even Iratus" I reply,
"No, no, no. N-not t-that kind of l-l-like" he says, "The 'I have a crush on you kind', see what I m-mean" he says,
"Ohhh, well ummm, I…" I begin. Bloody hell, how am I meant to reply to this.
"Hey. Is that the reason Fortis was smothering you?" I ask him,
"Yes" he replies,
"I thought you like fancied Captionem" I say,
"No. She's nice but not my type really" he says,
"And I'm yours?" I ask,
"Yeah but your taken" he says with a hint of disappointment in his voice.
"Yeah" I reply and hug him "Don't worry, you'll find a girl",
"I hope" he mutters.
I need to think of something quick,
"I think Cap likes you" I say,
"Cool" he replies,
"What are you to doing back there?" Fortis says swivelling on the stump,
"I'm cold" I lie,
"Come over here then" he says,
"No need" I say and I can see Fortis shooting Vivos a look.
"Do you think he heard?" I ask Vivos,
"No, silly. It just happened he turned around" he replies,
"I hope you're right" I say to him and curl back up and try to sleep.

I was lucky. I eventually did fall asleep but I couldn't help thinking how awkward it'll be the next day and hoping that it will never come.

"You slept in, smile, I want some proof that you enjoyed it. See if you can get up on your own, P-A-R-V-A. Ummm, you can do it, ummm, your the best. Umm, all the way from umm, east to west" Cap yelled to be as soon as I was showing signs of consciousness. She loves a good pep talk.
"Shut it" I yell back as I attempt but nearly fall on my face,
"I was giving you words of encouragement" she says and yanks me to my feet. I was dusting myself down when I had the most brilliant idea,
"Cap this might sound weird but do you like Vivos?" I ask her,
"Yeah. I mean well duh. He is beau-ti-ful" she chirps,
"Let him know that" I say,
"Yeah, but after you ate breakfast" she replies and hands me a slice of bread.
"Wha-?" I begin but Cap buts in,
"Vivos found Fortis' secret supplies" she giggles,
"Wow. Speaking of Vivos and Fortis. Where are they?" I ask her,
"Hunting" she replies, "You eat, I'll find. Then I'll let Vivos know. I'm flipping terrified" she whispers and pegged it into the trees.
Yum bread. It beats leaves, but what if I sprinkle jasmine on it to give it flavour. I shuffle over to the jasmine and pluck its leaves and lay them on my bread. It tasted like heaven. Or could I be up there now, beats being hunted by the insane Caeruleus.
"Hey" a voice comes from behind me. It was only Cap,
"I can't find them" she says, "Can you help?",
"Sure" I answer.

The forest was darker than it looks and far creepier than anyone would expect. The shadows look like they can eat a person and spit out the bones, sneaking ever closer and the trees are leaning over me watching my every movement in extreme detail, spying on me. Creepy.

"You alright?" Cap asks me,
"I hope so" I reply and Cap laughs,
"Maybe I'm the one people should be worried about" she says,
"You have more sanity than I have" I say disagreeing with her,
"I doubt that" she laughs,
"We left the bags" I say just realising,
"SHIT" Cap yells legging it through the trees,
"Why? Nobody can nick it" I ask her,
"It's evidence to The Caeruleus that people live in the forest and they are already on a man hunt" she shouts in reply,
"Ok" I shout in return and jog my way out the forest,
"I'll get the bags covered up" I say to her "You go back in the forest and look for Fortis and Vivos. We need to get a move on",
"Will do" she replies and heads off into the forest.

I quickly decide to change my top before packing up but the only one is this small lilac polo shirt that only just covers my stomach. But then I noticed my bow. Who bothered to pack it, I'm not in a fit enough shape to hunt. Pot in backpack, spare bits of food in plastic bag, spare clothes in another plastic bag and game in game bag apart from the fact we have no game, oh well.

"Hey. Where's Cap?" Vivos' voice came from behind me noticing I was on my own.
"Looking for you" I reply,
"Ok, I'll look for her" he says and turns around. But then it happened. A gush of air nearly swept me off my feet.

The Caeruleus.

They had found us. A gigantic hover ship appeared above us. But that wasn't the most surprising bit.
"Run, run, get out of here" he yells pushing my bow into my hands and. Kisses me. Yes he kissed me smack on the lips. But I could see Cap in the bushes giving me a look so I push away. They would think he's Fortis. Wait that might be the point because they'll kill him. No time to talk. Gotta run.

I legged it and I could feel my muscles stretching but then the voice echoed.
"Surender Miss Clearbank. You are surrounded" the voice came from the ship above me. I'm not going down easily. I aim my bow and shoot at the ship and it cracks the glass only the tiniest bit.
"Parva" Fortis calls to me from the trees. Suddenly a bubble hit me. It created a force field so I couldn't run any more.
"Parva" Fortis calls again and I can now see him. He bolts to the bubble but I was starting to hover and he jumps. Owww. He crashed into me. So quickly the bubble headed upwards into the ship's main compartment. The control room.
"Hey Umbra we caught an extra" a Caeruleus member says,
"I know. Dispose of him Resonare" Umbra replies.
"Will do" Resonare says and the bubble popped. I was speechless. I honestly wanted to say something but I didn't know what. I was escorted to a platform where a tube came down and took me up to the floor above. As the platform rose upwards I came more and more conscious about Fortis.

As soon as the tube was lifted up, I was in a floor above, I was restrained by more Caeruleus members.
"Hi, everyone" Resonare said suddenly appearing through the tube thing that was beside the one I came up, "Invitis. Boss wanted us to swap".
Invitis went down the glass tube thing like I did. They really should just have stairs.
"So pretty girly. What should we do with you" Resonare said to me tilting my head side to side observing my facial features.
"Leave her alone" a voice comes from behind him. Fortis. He was a hologram. You could call it holovision really.
"Ooo what can you do to stop me" Resonare says to the projected image.
"Right, Miss Clearbank. Give us a reason on why we shouldn't kill him. You have three chances" I hear Umbra's voice boom,
"Umm, he's a friend" I say,
"Not good enough" Umbra's voice replies,
"A very good friend" I say,
"Still not good enough" Umbra announces again,
"My boyfriend" I say really out of ideas,
"I'm disappointed. We really wanted some fun excuses not lame ones" Umbra's voice cackles, "Invitis shoot him, he is not needed anymore".
I really had to think of something quick. I stare at the floor and something catches my eye. This is the only thing I have left but it's worth a shot. I'll never mention it to The Caeruleus. At least it's true. I lifted up my head.
"Ready to hear the gun-" Umbra says but I interrupt him with the roaring scream of my voice so everyone can hear me. Loud. Clear. And unmistakably shocking.
"He's the father of my baby"