CHAPTER 4 Not Going Home
1276 Words
“I am not going home,” Zira reminded herself as she quickly grabbed the ledge and held on tight.
She has come too far to give up right now. She steadied herself against the stone wall, looking down at the ground which had to be at least four hundred feet below her. She took a moment to catch her breath before looking up at the side of the mountain she was scaling. Only a few more feet.
“Man, if I knew you were going to be this slow, I would’ve put you on my back,” laughed her friend, Percy, from the top.
“Oh, shut it,” she screamed before continuing the climb to the top.
Time was of the essence, she thought as a roar vibrated through the wall of stone, making her freeze in motion to keep from falling.
“Um…Zira,” Percy said, with a hint of nervousness in his voice. “I think you might wanna move faster.”
He bent down to hold out his hand to her as she regained her speed to climb faster. As soon as she was within reach, a bellow of fire burst into the sky, shaking the stone wall. Zira lost her footing again, but Percy grabbed her hand just in time. He quickly pulled her up to the top and onto her feet.
“Why did you have to make him angry,” Percy screamed as they ran towards a canopy of trees.
“Haven’t you learned anything in the past six months? I’m not great at listening to authority,” she yelled back with a smile on her face.
They hid underneath the cover of trees as a shadow flew towards their area. They stood quietly, waiting for it to pass by. Of course, that was the time her phone rang. She couldn’t believe she actually got a signal here. She scrambled to get it out of her bag and stared at the screen.
“s**t! It’s Isaiah,” she yelled at no one in particular.
“Um…we’re really not in the position to take a call right now, Zira.”
“I’ve been waiting for this stupid phone to work for months now. It could be about Arias and if I don’t pick it up, he’ll just keep calling.” A roar could be heard behind them and sounds of trees falling shook the ground. “If we’re going to die, I would like to see him if only for one more time.”
Zira picked up the call, but the reception was terrible. The screen was blank for a minute, and she thought she lost the call until she heard his voice.
“Zira?” She let out a breath she was holding. His voice. His voice was like pure energy to her soul. It'd been so long since she'd heard from him. Isaiah’s pixelated face shown on the screen.
“Isaiah? Is something wrong? Is it Arias!” She heard nothing so she stood up to try to get a better signal. “Isaiah? Can you hear me?”
Percy grabbed her and pulled her down. “No, but I know someone who can,” he said, looking up at the sky. “Let’s try to keep moving at least.”
Zira kept her eyes on the phone as they moved along the trees to their destination. They came upon the fallen trees and slowly made their way through the chaos.
“There! I see the entrance,” Percy said, pointing to a small cave entrance across the open space about five hundred or so yards away.
“Do you think we can make it before he finds us,” Zira asked.
Percy nodded but Zira could tell he barely believed it. Another roar sounded above them as they crouched out of sight.
“Zira, where the hell are you?” She could hear Isaiah yell over the phone as she looked at the screen.
“Zira,” Percy yelled, pulling her attention. “If we’re going to do this we need to focus.”
“Just give me a minute,” she snapped back while moving into cover. Zira stared at the pixelated face of Isaiah. “I’m so sorry, Isaiah. I’m in a dead zone in the mountains being chased by this crazy guy but I met this other guy who’s going to help us save Arias. And I don’t know if you’re getting all this, but I love you and I’m sorry it’s taking me this long.”
“...come home.” That was all she heard from him.
“Home? I can’t. I’m so close and I just need some more time.”
“...don’t care…home…NOW!”
She knew he was angry, but she couldn’t leave. They’ve been through a lot already just to get this far. That cave had something they needed, and she wasn’t leaving until she got it.
“Don’t take that tone with me, Isaiah. You know I’m only doing this for Arias.”
She heard him saying something but couldn’t hear anything but ‘I need you here’. She brought the phone close to her chest as another roar shook the ground below her. She pretended Isaiah was here, holding her, keeping her calm, keeping her safe.
“I’m sorry,” she whispered as she looked at the phone and realized she had lost connection. She got frustrated and threw the phone in the forest, immediately regretting that decision, but she didn’t have time to fret. She turned back to Percy, whose gaze was fixed to the sky. “Let’s do this.”
They waited another minute until they didn’t hear the sounds of wings flapping in the air and felt it was safe to run. Zira looked at Percy and nodded before they sprinted towards the cave opening. Zira was starting to feel hopeful until she saw the shadow on the ground getting bigger and coming straight towards them.
“We have to hurry,” she yelled at Percy as they picked up their speed.
She wished at that moment she could shift, but that would only slow her down a bit. They made it through the opening just in time to smell the brimstone in the air and she knew what was coming. She quickly grabbed Percy and pulled him to a sidewall away from the opening just in time for a big stream of fire to come through.
The force of it knocked them back further into the cave and onto the ground. Zira watched the flames dancing around the entrance before taking in their surroundings. The corridor was small and at the other end were three hallways that she secretly hoped would go to the same place. She knew that they didn’t. She looked for something that would point her in the right direction until she felt something unexpected. Something hard pressing against her leg and arms wrapped tight around her waist. She quickly looked down at Percy, who was looking at the entrance, and narrowed her eyes.
“That better be a f*****g stick from the woods, Percy,” she growled at him.
Percy laughed nervously as Zira punched him in the shoulders and rolled off top of him. She stood up dusting herself off and shaking her head at him.
“What,” he laughed again, “Just because we were near death doesn't change the fact that I’m a straight male and you’re very…very…”
Zira held up a finger. “No, we’re not going there, Percy. Let’s just focus on the path ahead. Now, which hallway are we going to?"
- Writer
