The Fifth World 2

Bo: Is it stupid to say that I had another option as opposed to thrashing about like a lunatic once being captured and dragged into the darkness? I try to bite on the hand that covers my mouth. I believe I try everything until I realise that I am in fact a Time Jumper. I could just vanish from this persons grasp and that would be that.

"Stop it, Bo!" I hear a deep voice hiss at me. I immediately do as I am told.

The hands release me and I stand up properly and face whoever has just dragged me into the trees and stopped me from screaming my lungs out. I realise that there are still tears in my eyes and a couple escape and run down my cheeks. I squint at the figure in front of me.

"Adam," I breathe when I look at him, he looks so tall, "What are you doing out here?"

"Stopping you from getting yourself killed," he hisses in a very irritated voice. It sounds like he really does not want to be here.

"I don't need your help," I say to him, "I can take care of myself."

"Evidently - you were just about to reveal yourself to all of those people who I am sure would kill you on sight."

"Please," I whisper whilst turning away, "You need to go back to town. You need to warn everyone."

"And what about you?" he asks me as I walk further into the trees. He follows.

"I have to find Nancy, she ran off through here somewhere."

"She is probably back in town as we speak. Don't think I am going to let you run wild out here on your own."

"Adam!" I hiss so quietly yet so loudly that he knows I am being serious, "I don't need your help. Go back to town."

There is a sound that I could recognise almost anywhere due to the fact that I know that I hear that sound each time I jump from one place to another... it is a poofing sound, like a sudden gust of wind that has ended in a second or of a bubble popping (maximised by a hundred).
I breathe out nervously. Oh no. They have found us.
My eyes dart to the people out in the clearing and I can see that now they are all looking in our direction. Someone commands them to keep moving and to ignore the distraction whilst a small group of at least five begin to make their way towards us. I try to find any chance of escape. I consider disappearing and leaving this all behind but I could not leave Adam. I could never leave him. I look up at him and feel the worry appear on my face just as he looks at me. What do I do now?

I grab Adam's wrist and I pull him further into the darkness of the trees. He jerks forward with me and soon we are running and running and running. Air rushes into our lungs, our hearts pound and the adrenalin kicks in. Branches flick into our faces or we run into them and every now and then one of us gasps or groans from the sting or the fright the impact makes on our eyes or skin. After a while Adam and I both stop to actually take a breath. I have no idea where we are but I was sure that we were running towards the border of town... obviously not. I bend over, panting, whilst resting my hands on my knees.

"I can still hear them." Adam says to me.

With his palm flat on a tree he leans against it and tries to catch his breath. His face is a little bit dirty and he is clearly tired and sweaty from running... and the fear of being caught.

"They're close," I whisper.

"You should go," he says to me.

"Go where?"

"Jump back," he says and takes a step towards me, gosh, he is tall. "Go back to town, warn them, warn everyone."

"And abandon you?" I scoff, what a stupid idea, "I don't think so."

"Do you really think I'm that useless, Bo? While you've been back at home with Mum, living the ordinary and safe life, I've been here training hard... maybe tonight's my test. Tonight I can finally put everything I have learnt to use."

My mouth falls a little, "Living the life? Are you really trying to do this now? And a test? What test? Adam, you don't understand, I don't need your help and you shouldn't feel the need to even lift a finger. If there is anything you will be doing tonight it is getting to safety. I will not have you in any danger whatsoever-"

There is a sharp sound again and my eyes follow towards the darkness we just came from.
I push Adam as hard as I possibly can and whilst doing so I push myself off from him so the arrow misses us... just. My entire body falls to the ground hard, like a rock, heavy and solid. I feel something hard hit the back of my head. My body is flat on the ground at this point and I am trying to figure out if it safe or not to stand up again. My fingers claw into the dirt and I struggle to get back up onto my feet. I cannot. Blood trickles through my hair and a smell of salt and dirt fills my mind. I close my eyes and try to listen. I can hear the people looking for us... the sounds are getting closer and closer, louder and louder. I scramble and crawl to the safety of a wide tree trunk. I hope, very desperately, that I am out of sight. I lean into the wood as if it is a sanctuary and I pull my knees into my chest so I resemble a small ball. I try to be as quiet and as still as I can but my mind is racing... where in the world is Adam? My eyes dart everywhere. I look at the spot where I had pushed him a second ago but he is not there. I know he is close though. He wouldn't just leave me... or would he?

When things get quiet I feel my spine begin to stiffen... I breathe heavily. A wise man once told me, "it is the silent within the woods that you should fear." Even though all survival instincts scream at me not to do so, I give into the temptation of turning around the side of the trunk and peering at what is going on. A small light beams from at least twenty metres away. I know it is them. I know they are searching for us and if I do not move shortly they will certainly find us.

"Adam?" I hiss. "Adam? Where are you?"

No response, just absolute silence.

My head begins to throb and a ringing sounds through my ears. I bite down on my tongue and I grind my teeth as everything aches throughout my body. I try to ignore it because right now it doesn't matter. I have to find Adam... and I have to find Nancy! There are others I must worry about. With the help of the tree trunk I manage to pull my body up from the ground. My eyes search high and low but there is no trace of my brother.

"Adam?"

Again, no response... My eyebrows furrow and I automatically turn around and look up at the face of a stranger with a bright light shining from her Angelican dagger. I almost let out a scream before I jump from my position and appear behind a tree I had ran passed not a minute earlier. I cling to it, wrap my body around it and use it as support as I try to remain as still as possible knowing that my enemy is just metres away. I cannot leave this place but I can definitely hide in it. I keep trying to search for Adam but he is no where to be seen.

The female Angelican that stood before me not even a second ago and stared directly at me commands the others around her to look around for me. I realise that she is the Justice Agent who killed the man known as Alistair before. She scares me. I am seen by a Shape Shifter almost instantly and I jump again... and this sequence continues at least six times until the Justice Agent predicts my next move - my original position where we had come face to face seconds ago. She knocks me out with a right hook. I fall flat to the ground and feel my left cheek ache so badly. My eyes close.