102
MAYA
She took me inside right after that and settled me on the floor right after that. I glanced down at my leg after she pulled up my dress. There was a deep, leaving gash that marred the skin. It was an angry wound and it wouldn’t stop throbbing relentlessly. Every single movement was met with so much pain. I could only wonder when this was going to end.
And that time didn’t look like it would be soon. I was in deep shit. With gentle hands and a determined look on her face, she set to work immediately. She grabbed two sticks from the outside and placed it around my leg to keep it in place. The pain couldn’t be described. After my legs were firmly set in place, she started to dress my wound. She tore a strip of fabric from her own shirt and carefully wrapped it around my leg. She tried so hard to be gentle with it but it still hurt immensely. Finally she was able to staunch the bleeding but I knew I was a very long way away from recovering and getting better very soon.
“Thank you,” I murmured as she gently pushed me down to the floor. I stayed down there and breathed a sigh of relief, happy that she had been able to do something about it. I had no idea what I would have done if I was there in the woods alone. Perhaps the guard would have had his way with me and done other things before taking me back. It could have been easily worse than I expected. She nodded just as she began to undress.
“You need to rest a lot. We’ve escaped the guards for now, but they might still come after us. The Alpha must be doing everything to find you right now. His main intention would be to stop you before you reach the Pack with the news and he doesn’t give up. He chases relentlessly until he gets what he wants.” The words had a pang of fear taking over me but I dispelled it immediately, telling myself that we could still get out of this shitty situation in one way or the other.
After she was done, she changed into fresh clothes and retrieved our belongings from the bag I’d grabbed while running.
“Did you take anything out of the bag?” She asked, looking at me with a worried look on her face.
“N-no,” I stuttered, “what’s wrong?” I asked her and her eyes widened in fear.
“I think we are in big trouble. Some of the contents of the bag seemed to have spilled along the way. And they could track us with it.” I was horrified when she brought the bag closer so I could see it. She was right, something must have fallen out.
“Shit!” I hissed as I reached for the bag immediately. She handed it over and I began to scour to know if I could find a thing or two. If there was anything that had fallen out, it was going to make it very easy for them to find us and that was something none of us wanted, especially me , considering the situation I had found myself in. I couldn’t run, I couldn’t even crawl.Contentt bel0ngs to N0ve/lDrâ/ma.O(r)g!
When she handed me the bag, I began to rummage through it immediately. Going through everything, I was a bit satisfied that it was full but it felt like something was missing, something important. I could feel the nervous churning feeling in my gut as I thought about it again and again. That was the exact moment I caught a brainwave.
The map! The fucking map!!
“No, no, no,” The rest of my words trailed off as I continued to search for it. I rummaged frantically now, taking everything out before putting them back again slowly to make sure that I wasn’t seeing things but the moment I was done putting the last object back into the bag, I knew that we were in for a lot of trouble. Tianna was kneeling beside me, looking so worried.
“We lost the map?” She asked as she slowly came to the horrifying realisation. I nodded as I continued to stare at my bag.
“We lost it, Tianna. We did.” I said, nodding as the pang of shock continued to eat me up from inside out.
“Then what are we going to do? We need to get it back before anyone gets their hand on it.” She said, making me remember the contents. It was a very detailed outline of the Black Moon Pack and its fortresses.
If Alpha Ryker ever got his hands on it, that would be the end of it all. He would use it to his advantage and manipulate the war to his advantage. Yes, war could have been a matter of strength and determination, but tactics were one of the most important aspects of it.
There wouldn’t be much time to redress our fortress and make monumental changes that would help us win the war. What was happening? I looked over to Tianna who looked equally worried. There was no atom of hope in her eyes. It was dead, just like mine.
“You know what?” She said, getting up and looking around. “I’ll go look for it.” I shook my head immediately.
“No, don’t. Don’t even think about it, Tianna.”
“I must do it.” She said, already taking her gears with her.
“This is not a good idea, you’re putting yourself in danger!” I warned desperately.
“You can never be too sure. There might be no guards after us, you know.” She said,
“But there could be rogues. There are many things out here in the woods. Please come back.”
“If i don’t do this, a lot of lives would be in danger. I have to do it for the Pack.” Before I could utter another word of plea, she disappeared through the space that served as the door. I looked up at the dark ceiling above me, as a spine-chilling breeze swept across the dark void. “Shit!”