Outside, Morri led us to a path that sloped downwards. We started hiking, single file, along the path. Every so often, someone would point out a cool rock or leaf or something. Callie collected every single one into a little pouch attached to her belt. It seemed to be full with small, pretty trinkets. I focussed on my feet for most of the gruelling march, but everyone else seemed to be enjoying themselves. Grayson and Nico were singing, Morri and Athimi were discussing some book, and Callie was looking for flowers. I looked up after twenty five minutes. The clouds that had been covering the sky when we left had mostly dissipated, and I could see the entire sky. I could see the fence on my right. Behind the fence, I saw a blur of beige. My entire life, I’d been told that everything outside was a wasteland, with toxic fumes that could kill in minutes. My entire life, I’d been told lies. Soon, I was going to be able to see for myself.
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The path started to incline, and I struggled to not fall over backwards as we walked up it. Halfway up the steep section, I checked my watch. We had been hiking for about an hour. The tree line was right about where we were. I stopped to get some water. I was tired, despite having only been hiking for a little while. And we still had the climbing and second hike. Great.
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“Elias!” I looked up the hill. Everyone else was almost at the top. “Come on,” Morri called. “Gimme a second!” I called back. I started stuffing my water bottle back into my backpack, but it was hard to zip up the backpack. “You guys can keep going. I’ll catch up,” I shouted. Morri looked down at me, talked to the others, and said, “Okay. Nico is going to stay with you, just so you don’t get lost.” I gave a thumbs up as they all disappeared over the top of the incline. Nico started to walk down the slope to me. I didn’t know him that well. I knew that he was friends with Grayson, but other than that… nothing. I finally got my backpack zipped up and hoisted it up onto my back. “Ready?” Nico asked. I nodded, and we started trudging up the path. The path was made of small, loose rocks. Scree. They scratched against each other after every step, sliding around under my boots. It took every bit of concentration I had to not slip. As we walked, Nico pointed up to a tree. “Look,” he said quietly. I followed where he was pointing, and saw a small, yellow and grey bird sitting in the tree. “That’s a yellow-breasted chat. They’re quite uncommon for this area,” he said. I kept my eyes trained on the bird as I continued to walk. I took a step, and slipped. My feet slid out from under me, and I slid right into Nico’s feet. I knocked his feet out from under him, sending him tumbling down the path. “Oh no,” I said, jumping to my feet.
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I abandoned my backpack as I carefully waddled down to Nico. He had stopped near the bottom of the incline. I slid down the remaining few metres, saving a few seconds. He was sitting up, most of his exposed skin cut and dirty. He’d lost a boot somewhere along the path, and there was a large cut on his foot. What was I supposed to do? “Don’t just stand there,” he said. “Go get Morri, or help me.” I nodded. “Right.” Morri and the others were somewhere above the incline. It would take me five minutes, at least, to get to them. I remembered the first aid kit in my backpack. My backpack was still halfway up the path. Nico’s was near us, discarded on the side of the path. I rummaged through his backpack, eventually finding his first aid kit. Unzipping it, I was hoping for instructions or something. Instead, I was greeted with two band-aids, a pair of tweezers, and an empty pill bottle. “Nico!” I exclaimed. He looked over at me. “What?” he asked, removing his shredded sock. “Your first aid kit is basically empty.” He looked into it when I put it down. “Oh, right. I’ve been meaning to refill that for a while.” I shot him an angry look. “Well, that’s doing us a lot of good right now.”
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I crouched down next to him. Placing my hands on his injured foot, he sucked in a breath. “What are you doing?” he asked. “Looking. I want to be sure you won’t bleed out or anything if I leave to grab my backpack,” I said calmly. Sticky blood attached itself to my skin, but I didn’t let myself think about it. Focus on Nico and how you can help, I told myself. The cut wasn’t very deep, but it was long and jagged. Had the rocks done this? Some of them were sharp, but not that sharp. I looked back up the hill, wondering how quickly I could get to my backpack without falling. Nico screamed. My eyes snapped back to him. “What’s wrong?” I asked. With a shaky hand, he pointed towards me. I looked down to my hands. Black goo was seeping from my fingers, from under my nails and cuticles, from the pattern of my fingerprint. I yelped in shock. What was that? I’d never had goo come out of my hands before. I tried to wipe it on my pants, but even more collected in my palms. Then, it started growing, building itself into thin pillars. The tendrils started snaking through the air, towards Nico. “Elias, what are you doing?” he exclaimed, squirming away from the possible murder tentacles. “I don’t know!” I shouted. “I’m not doing anything, it’s doing that by itself.”
“I sincerely doubt that!” Nico replied just as loudly. “Well, it’s the truth!”
“Why are we screaming?” he asked. “I do not know!” I replied. Then, quieter, “I don’t know. Sorry.”
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The tentacles drooped, losing their shape. In seconds, they started dripping, and eventually, fell away from my hands completely, landing on Nico’s injured foot. He shouted, “Get it off!” I reached out to wipe it away, but it zoomed up to my palms as if magnetised. “What is that stuff?” he asked me. I watched the goo move around in my palm. It was shiny and black, like obsidian. If I tilted my hand, it shifted along with it, but if I poked it, it became solid. I jerked my hand so my palm was facing sideways, and the goo slid right down, resting on top of the cut on Nico’s foot. He went to wipe it away, but I held up a hand. The goo worked its way into the cut, dissipating under his skin. Everything was silent for a moment, until it bursted back out of every pore on his foot. We both shouted in shock. The goo wrapped itself around his foot, and stopped moving. “Should I touch it?” I whispered. Nico shrugged. I reached out a finger, and again, it flew through the air towards my hand. This time, though, instead of collecting in my palm, it disappeared back into my hand, going as quickly as it had come. Nico let out a squeak of shock. “Did it hurt you or anything?” I asked him. He shook his head and pointed at his foot again. The cut was completely healed. All that remained was some dried blood and dirt. No trace of the goo, or the cut. My eyes widened and I looked down at my hand. “What is that stuff?” I asked, bewildered. Nico shrugged and climbed to his feet, using the wall of rock on our left to support him. He took a few cautious steps, testing out his foot. “It’s completely healed,” he said quietly. “How did you do that?”
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“I didn’t do it! I don’t know how that happened, Nico,” I exclaimed. “Okay, fine,” he said, finally listening to me. “Thank you,” I replied, exasperated. But, before I had time to calm down, the goo returned, shooting out of my hands towards Nico. He yelped as the goo pinned him to the rock. “Ack! Sorry, sorry, sorry,” I said, waving my hands in front of me. “I thought you didn’t do it,” Nico mumbled as the goo closed itself around his mouth. “No, no, no!” I said. “Bad goo!” I stretched out my hand, hoping the magic magnetic effect would work again. It didn’t. “Okay, Nico, I am going to be right back. I’m going to go get Morri. Um, don’t move,” I told him. “Okay.” I started scrambling up the hill. I passed my backpack and didn’t even pause. I reached the top in just under seven minutes. Looking over the top, I could see that the path stayed flat for a while, then started to slope down. Better than running uphill, at least. I started jogging along, gradually getting faster. I jumped over a root jutting out of the ground, bounding along rocks. “Morri!” I shouted. “Morri!”
“Elias?” I heard my name, a quiet question. “Morri! Where are you guys?”
“Keep following the path! We’re stopped right now.” I kept running, until I came around a sharp bend. Grayson, Callie, Athimi, and Morri were all sitting on some boulders. “What’s up, Elias?” Grayson asked, taking a drink of water. “Where’s Nico?” Morri asked, looking over my shoulder. “About that. We, um, need some help,” I said, gasping for breath. Morri looked at Callie, Athimi, and Grayson. “Alright. You three, stay here. Elias, show me where he is.” I nodded and started jogging back down the path.195Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡO0bd79nTsm
