Free To Be Page 10

  “We don’t know, Taiyo. But they’re fast creatures, and they’re not far from you.”

  Okay, that’s good. But what if they don’t make it in time?

  “Taiyo, the enemy is close to the peak!” the bird shouts at me as I gasp.

  I force my mind to think faster. Come on. Think, Taiyo. Think. They’re going to get you if you don’t think of something right now.

  Instead of coming up with an idea, my mind goes blank like getting sucked in a black hole. I-I can’t think at all now. I can’t think. I can’t think. I look at my hands. They’re shaking rapidly. I grip my left, trying to stop the shaking. It doesn’t help. My heart’s pounding out of my chest again. My hands are sweating. My forehead’s sweating. I’m breathing so heavily that I think I’m hyperventilating. My brain is telling me one thing… and one thing only: Run, run, run.

  I can’t. I can’t leave my friends behind. I could never. I’d rather die than abandon them. They are worth far more than me.

  Then why are you so useless? Look at you. Instead of doing something, anything, you’re sitting here, trembling like a useless, scared child. Your friends are as good as dead. Good job as always, Taiyo. Worthless, pathetic trash.

  “No, no!” I say aloud, tears rolling down my face. “I can’t think like this right now. I won’t. I have to do something.”

  I look around again. My eyes and body move faster than my clouded mind can keep up with. My mind isn’t processing all of what my eyes are seeing. Dang it, I can’t think. I’m just too scared. I just can’t… help it. I’m hopeless.

  Why am I like this? I hate myself so much. Why is everything so hard for me?

  I look up at the clouds again. “Please. Help me. What do I do?”

  “The bears are almost there. What can we do to help you now?”

  “Anything!”

  “What specifically? We do not understand.”

  Why don’t they understand? Why won’t they help me? Can’t they see that I’m not a reliable leader? Why am I in charge? I don’t know what to do.

  It’s then I remember. They’re not human. They don’t have human brains. They don’t think the way we do. How many times have I had to remind myself of that? Am I going crazy?

  “Taiyo, the enemy is nearly here. If you won’t run, then you must hide.”

  Hide? We can hide? Where? That’s actually not a bad idea. I look around. I don’t see anything…

  Wait. I think I have an idea… but I need help from the clouds again. I’ve already asked so much from them… is it okay to ask for more?

  No time. There’s no time. I just have to do it.

  I look up and shout. “Please, may I ask for one more favor of you?”

  “Yes, Taiyo. Tell us what you need.”

  “Can you bring down a fog so thick that no one can see?”

  “Yes, we can. It shall be done as you requested.”

  “Thank you.”

  In seconds, a thick fog emerges over the mountains, blinding my field of vision—the white void greets me. I can’t see anything beyond two feet in front of me… and hopefully, neither can they. I sharpen my available senses—hearing and smell. I stand still, focusing, waiting...

  My eyes dart back and forth. My limbs shake. I pant. I don’t know what to expect. I don’t know what’s coming. I don’t even know what they look like. But they’re coming… and they’re near…

  My eyes are distracting me...

  I close them, and slow my breath.

  Then, I try honing my hearing and sense of smell again. Okay. Where is everybody? What can I hear?

  Step, step, step. I open my eyes, and face the direction I hear steps. They sound louder and louder as they approach. I breathe deeper and more frequent. My eyes are peeled as I prepare for anything to appear out of the fog. My heart pounds, and I gulp nonstop. I hear sounds of clanging iron and... occasional ringing bells. Ring… ring… ring. The foot steps are heavy and slow—they must be large and tall beings. Should I run?

  Wait… I… I can’t move. I can’t move!

  I’m idle as a statue, petrified, and forced to wait on whatever approaches me. My heart pounds harder the louder the footsteps sound. Sweat runs down my forehead, face, and body. I can’t help but gulp nonstop like I’m downing a large amount of food. My eyes feel like they’re about to pop out of their sockets.

  Suddenly, the clanging stops. The footsteps cease. The ringing halts. I hear nothing but the soft mountain breeze. Why is that? What’s happening? I jerk my neck from left to right. I feel panic surging through me. I want to shout, who’s there? But I can’t—nothing will come out. My body won’t budge. My eyes wide, I breathe as quietly as I can so I’m not heard.

  Ring. The bell sounds, and my peripheral catches something on my left. I face it, and spot a black scaly face with blue stripes. I gasp, but am unable to move or say anything. The fog in my mind is as thick as the one I see in front of me… and this monster I see in front of me is like the monster I see inside my head, the one that is keeping me from budging an inch. With its pitch-black eyes, it gazes into mine. In them, I see stars and vast outer space. It’s got a small round nose and a large round jaw. It’s got long black hair and a black and blue helmet crest to match its scaly skin. As it encloses me, it opens its mouth, revealing shark-like teeth and a snakelike tongue that whips my face, causing me to shut my eyes. When I reopen them, I see it staring at me like I’m something to eat—am I about to become its dinner? Crouched at my level, it stands at its true height which is about seven feet tall. Even with its black and blue iron armor, it’s body is skinny. I look at its hands and see sharp, long fingers like a giant lizard. It has two long swords sheathed around its waste and a bow and arrows sheathed on its back. When I look up at its shoulder pads, I spot an emblem of a black and blue star. Who are these people? What do they want?

  The creature looks down on me and opens its mouth, sounding a voice of many reptilians, but none I can comprehend. Is it speaking to me? If it is, I don’t understand what it’s saying at all… is this what it feels like to not understand what something is saying? There’s never been a language I haven’t been able to understand… until now… and that scares me.

  I don’t know what to do or how to react, so I stand idle, expressionless. But not answering it seems to arouse it. It scowls. It repeats the same kind of phrase over and over, raising its voice each time. What is it saying? What do I do? I shake my head and back step, but it grabs my rags and lifts me. My rags tear and I crash to the ground. I slip away, but it grips my leg and lifts me, yelling at me. It holds me close to its face, shouting and spitting the same question over and over—whatever it is. I shut my eyes tightly, telling myself that none of this is happening. Just go away. Just please go away and leave me alone.

  “No, please!” I shout, not knowing what to say. “I’m sorry, I’m sorry.”

  But apologizing only arouses it more. It grinds its teeth and growls. It shakes my body like a rag-doll. I feel bones cracking as my body shakes faster than it’s built to handle. A few minutes later, I begin feeling much less as I lose blood flow. I start to feel dizzy and weak. My eyes feel heavy, and I begin losing consciousness.

  Then, my eyes catch a glimpse of something to my right. A loud roar sounds as a giant orange bear with black stripes stands on her thick back legs. She swings her right paw at the humanoid carrying me, and then down I go. My body hits the ground, but I barely feel it. The world quakes as my eyes try to regain focus. I sit up, rubbing my hands on my head. I shut my eyes, and shake my head.

  Seconds later, when my body functions normalize, I open my eyes and sight clearly an animal with giant paws, thick limbs, a tiger’s tail, a large and lengthy body, a face like a bear’s, and eyes like a cat’s. This tiger-bear hybrid stands at twice the size of any normal bear. Grumbling and growling, the tiger-bear hybrid tackles the humanoid to the ground. The humanoid grips her arms, somehow strong enough to resist her instant slaughter. But then she bites its face, tearing
it apart. The humanoid quickly loses strength, and the tiger-bear overpowers it completely. She pounds it to the ground, bites it neck and tears off its flesh. The humanoid is dead in seconds and becomes a body of meat for the tiger-bear to dig inside. I look away, horrified by the sight of the humanoid’s defacing. I listen as flesh is torn and bones are cracked.

  “Taiyo,” the tiger-bear says to me minutes later with the voice of a tiger and a bear. I face her and see a puddle of blood on her jaw and a mutilated corpse beneath her. What a horrifying first sighting of the animal… but wait... isn’t she one of the animals I have summoned? “We have to go. I smell many more nearby and I can’t take them all. Get on.”

  “O-okay.” I’m terrified, but I climb to stand and approach her. She glares at me with fierce cat eyes that look like she’ll crush me if I do anything to upset her suddenly. She exhales from her nose, startling me. My body… I feel it shivering like crazy—but this time, I suppose it makes sense after what I’d just seen. “A-are you one of the animals I-I have summoned?”

  She grumbles, turning around and walking over to Yumi who was placed a safe distance from where she fought the humanoid monster. She picks her up and throws her on her back. Then, she turns around to look at me again. “I am, Taiyo,” she says. “The other tiger-bear is gathering the rest of your friends as we speak. Now quickly. We must leave immediately before they surround us.”

  I nod, gulping. “O-okay.” I approach her. She lowers her head so I’m able to climb up on her back to join Yumi. But before I have time to properly saddle, she throttles forward and I nearly fall off. I grip her orange fur as tight as I can with one hand, and hold onto Yumi with the other. As she descends the mountains, our bodies fly towards her head, almost over her entirely. I pull Yumi close to me so she’s easier to secure. I spread my legs, dig my toes, and grip her fur as tightly as I can. My weight combined with Yumi’s helps, but the constant rocking motions make my shoulders feel like they’re going to dislocate. It hurts, but I’m afraid to complain.

  She runs down the mountain with ease, until stopping abruptly after sniffing something she doesn’t like. She grumbles, and then aims to the left. But before she takes off again, I hear something big approach us from behind. I spin my head towards it, but sight nothing but thick fog. As it approaches, it stops and grumbles loudly upon arrival. I catch a glimpse of her head unveiling from the fog. It’s another tiger-bear—the other one, but this one isn’t orange like mine... she’s blue. Should they have names? How about Zara and Cybil? Does Cybil have Akio and Talden? I can’t see see with the fog. Have they fallen off during the ride? Would she have noticed?

  “What’s wrong?” Cybil asks Zara. “You smell more of them down the mountain?”

  “Yes. There are many already at the foot directly south of here. We’ll have to go around them.”

  Before we take off, I speak up to Cybil. “We’re-we’re you able to find my friends? A-are they with you?”

  “I’ve got them, don’t worry. They’re safe with me. Admittedly, it’s difficult keeping them on, but I won’t let anything happen to them. I know they’re humans, but for some reason I feel like they’re my cubs—and I always protect my cubs. So rest assured, Taiyo. I won’t leave them behind.” Hearing this relieves me. So even if they fall off, she’ll make sure they’re safe and protected. I can leave it in her hands, and I won’t have to worry about them. I just have to do my part and keep Yumi safe.

  Zara and Cybil sprint off again and I grip Zara’s fur and position myself. It’s a miracle Akio and Talden haven’t fallen off Cybil’s back because I constantly feel like I’m going to fall off Zara’s. The second I let go, I know I’ll fly forward. I’m hanging on for dear life.

  After running left for several minutes, Zara suddenly stops again after sniffing something she doesn’t like again.

  “Yes, I smell a large group of them there as well,” Cybil confirms.

  “A-are they trying to trap us?” I ask them.

  “Evidently,” replies Zara. “I’m smelling traces of their kind all around us now. We’ll have to cut in between two groups closing in before they surround us.”

  “What are you waiting for then? Move it,” says Cybil. At this, Zara veers slightly right and sprints full throttle. Cybil follows close behind.

  We descend the mountain more than three quarters of the time faster than it took for us to hike to the top this morning. As we arrive at the foot, the tiger-bears rev up the speed—I feel the wind smacking my face harder than ever before. They pant as they move faster and faster every second. I’m exhausted hanging on this long, but I’m terrified thinking of what will happen if I lose strength. I’m hoping and praying that Akio and Talden are okay—but I know that’s out of my control right now.

  Gasp. Oh no. I forgot to tell Zara and Cybil where I need them to take us. They have no idea where to go. This whole time I was focusing on escaping and surviving. I forgot to relay this important information.

  But wait. How will they even find the fort? And it’s so far away from here. Will they be willing to take us that far? If they don’t, what will I do? I can’t carry my friends or take care of them by myself. And I don’t want to wait until they regain consciousness because I don’t know how long that will be. It’s very dangerous out here. What if something appears, and I’m the only defense we have?

  How can I talk to them right now? Will they hear me over their panting, their sprinting, and the loud wind? I shout, “Do you know where we need to go?”

  Suddenly, the tiger-bears slow to a halt and grumble at me—I gasp. “Quiet!” says Zara. “They heard you even from this far away and are now enclosing our position!”

  “Quick, this way!” shouts Cybil. “Move, move, move!”

  They veer sharply to the right, throttle, and pant heavier than ever before. Stupid Taiyo. Why didn’t you keep your mouth shut? You revealed your position and now the enemy knows where you are. You’re going to ruin things again. You’re going to get everyone killed.

  “Run as fast as you can!” shouts Cybil, leading the way. “If we make it to the forests before they close the gap, we can lose them there. It won’t matter if they’re close enough to hear us, they won’t be close enough to see us.”

  The wind smacks my face harder than ever before as they push themselves to the limit. Because of the thick fog, I can’t see anything, not even Cybil running in front of us. I can’t even see if Akio and Talden are okay. I have so many questions, but I keep my mouth shut for fear that I’ll make things more dire than they already are. At this point, I have to hang on and have faith… literally.

  Suddenly, to my right, I hear loud reptilian screams. Then, I hear several more to my left.

  Oh no—they’re close.

  They’re so close I can hear them. We’ve made it in between the two groups… but the fog is telling me that the gap between us is closing fast. Will we make it inside the forest before they surround us? My teeth are chattering.

  The screams sound louder every second… from both sides. I can feel the evil in their unnatural and distorted voices as they cry out like restless spirits. I can feel the plague of their nearing collective presence… I can feel the earth’s pain… I can feel the animal’s pain… I can feel the pain that all of nature seems to be feeling as these unnatural monsters draw near. They’re like toxins, spreading gas that poisons everything around them… like a plauge. As a human, I haven’t noticed this as much, but as I sharpen my senses and allow myself to be a part of nature, they all seem to be in great physical pain—even the tiger-bears. It really is like they are all being poisoned by these frightful monsters. But what are they? Where did they come from? Is this why all the local fish are dying?

  We make it to the forest just before we sense them too close. The meadow stomps become leave and stick stomps. Zara and Cybil slow down significantly as they navigate past trees and other forest obstacles. But I still sense great fear from them as they continue panting heavily and shivering. Even I
can still sense hundreds of them to our right, and to our left. We’re not safe yet… but we have a better chance now… I hope.

  “Keep going, we’re not out of their circle yet...” says Cybil. As she picks up the pace in front of us, Zara does the same. We follow her as fast as we can. The fog’s thickness hasn’t let up, and I barely see Cybil ahead of us. Thankfully, Zara’s sense of smell is profound. It’s easy for her to follow even without seeing anything. What do tiger-bears even need eyes for? Suddenly, clank! The sound of metal claps together from below Zara. She roars as she crashes to the ground. I launch off her into a tree. Smack!

  Taiyo. Taiyo. A voice calls out to me and I open my eyes. Everything’s spinning. Ah. I feel dizzy. I shut my eyes and open them again. Where am I? I inhale and cough out dirt. Suddenly, I feel intense pain all over my body. “Taiyo, get up. The tiger-bear needs your help.”

  “Who-who’s there?” I’m barely able to ask—my body is in so much pain. I plant my elbows on the dirt and pull up my body slightly. Then, I look around. Nothing on my right.

  “I’m here, Taiyo.” I turn to my left and see a small tree with all its colored leaves still held on. “Yes, it’s me, Taiyo. You must get up. The tiger-bear needs your help.”

  I face her and suddenly hear her loud grumbles of pain. Oh no. The tree is right. She’s suffering greatly.

  I try to pull myself up but suddenly feel excruciating pain all over my body. Ah. It hurts so bad. I moan, but force myself to sit up.

  “Use my bark and branches to help you stand.” Taking the tree’s advice, I grab hold of one of its branches and pull up. I rise to my feet, stand a moment, and then limp my way towards the wailing bear.

  “Ah! Stupid human traps!” shouts Zara. “Taiyo, please… you must get this thing off my leg immediately. They’re coming.”

  “Okay, okay.” I limp over to her as fast as I can. She extends her leg towards me and I think of what to do. I’ve seen these kinds of traps around the village before, but I never learned how to work them. Do I just pull the teeth apart?