The Battle for Blogland Chapter 3: The First Night

Theme: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p_qRg6sMdDk
'Run' by Disturbed

3

THE FIRST NIGHT

Our footsteps were heavy on the ground. We had been running for over two hours and the army of Hollow Men had long since disappeared from sight behind us, obscured by the horizon. So either we had come so far that the Hollow Men had all but vanished from our view or the sun, which had come out of hiding and was now sinking into the land, was hiding them from our line of vision. Either way, no one dared stop running. No one even slowed their pace, though Flame had begun to have trouble keeping up around the one hour mark which caused Sparky to double back for him more than once, getting increasingly frustrated with each time. No one else stopped back for him or for anyone else that may have tripped or stumbled along the way. The reason being because anyone that had fallen behind or fallen over during the time we spent running that day knew that no one was going to help them back up. And we didn’t. So they got back up and caught up again. I myself lost my footing only once but when I saw that no one was stopping for me, I felt a bit sorry for those of whom I had payed no attention to while in the same position.

Another hour passed of running, though around this point most of the group had already slowed their pace and had begun to trail behind with Flame. It soon became apparent we were going to have to rest, whether we wanted to or not. It was only a question of when we would stop now and when Lavender suggested it a few minutes later, no one objected. Most of us doubled over or else staggered to the ground in a gasping heap but a few of us managed to maintain composure and paced around for half an hour, cooling down and regaining breath, admittedly very slowly.

Once I had cooled myself down and eradicated the headache that had been nagging at me annoyingly, I managed to focus on what we needed to do now. Of course, the first thought that came to mind was “find water”, but a quick look over our new surroundings told us that it wasn’t going to be easy to find, if indeed there was any around at all. The sun had all but disappeared now and the last few rays of light were slowly being sucked from the horizon. Bad. Darkness was slowly creeping in on us from all sides now; bringing with it what was at that time a cool night breeze which steadily transformed into a solid wave of extreme cold. So water would be out of the immediate question. Some of us will go and search later on - I thought – but chances are most of the group will want to rest right now. I wondered away from the group still recovering to examine our surroundings in further detail. The landscape was flat. Actually, completely flat. There were no hills, not even small ones, no ditches in the ground, no change in the land at all. This wasn’t good. It would provide no cover from the cold at the very least, incoming enemy attacks at the most and didn’t offer even a hint of a hiding place. There were no trees to duck behind, no formation at all. The only thing on the ground was a soft layer of dirt which was completely covered with grass. Not even a rock sat on a blade, no dying patches of grass as far as the eye could see. The perfection of the place didn’t seem realistic, but then I reminded myself that we were still in Blogland where practically anything was possible.

Making my way back to the others afterwards, I could see that I had been correct; all but three of the group were all still on the ground, lying or sitting, still recovering. Some were still panting… Nixion, Sparky and Lynxia seemed to have recovered completely and were now doing entirely different things. Nixion was seething and I could see his hand twitching, obviously yearning for the time when he would seize the handle of his machete again and drive it through whatever needed to die at the provided time. Lynxia had set her bow down on the ground and was counting how many arrows she had left in her quiver. From what I could see, there was still a sufficient amount left, certainly more than satisfactory if it were me, but it was evident that the remaining amount wasn’t enough for her needs when Lynxia cursed quietly and discarded them on the ground next to her bow. Sparky was simply pacing, a glare set hard on her face but otherwise showing no emotion of any kind.

“We’re going to need some food.” I said simply to no one in particular once I was back within earshot. “The landscape is basically flat so there’s nowhere for anything to hide. If there’s anything out here, that is.” There were murmurs of agreement but no one else spoke. “There also doesn’t seem to be any water sources nearby. I’m going to go looking for something to eat or drink. If anyone else wants to come, they can.”

I wasn’t leading this group, but it certainly seemed like I was starting to. After I realized that, I dropped the act and stopped trying to keep things organized. I didn’t want to be leading, or even taking up something that resembled a position of power, in this group. If my friends started making decisions based on what I thought, then we were going to get killed. Killed sooner than later, anyway.

Another hour passed, though, and even with Nixion and Sparky’s added help of searching, it became obvious that there was nothing else living out there and no water presented itself either. We returned to the rest of the group to find that someone hard daringly lit a small campfire.

“What’s this?” Nixion asked darkly, gesturing to the fire.

“It’s kind of cold out.” Flame shot at him, foul tempered already.

“Yeah,” Nixion said, firing up himself to match Flame’s set standards. “It’s cold. You can choose, Flame. Would you rather be cold or dead? Because if there’s any intelligent things still looking for us then you’re basically flagging us down for another bloodbath!”

“And who do you think’s going to-?” Flame begun again, but Star cut in.

“Everyone shut up.” Ink said firmly, rolling her eyes at Nixion and Flame.

More petty arguments such as these stirred over the next few hours between all of us and even those who tried to stay out of them as much as possible still seemed to get caught up in them. Lavender seemed to be the only one who didn’t argue and insisted on everyone “getting along” as she put it and whenever she entered the conversation, whoever was arguing knew it was time to shut up.

There was no breeze that night, but I remember it was still freezing cold. The moon was high in the night sky, incredibly bright and illuminated everything in sight. I could see the every blade of grass close enough in the exact same detail I would have been able to with the sun out. Those of us who had specially made clothing for protection were still as cold as everyone else, the jackets and whatever else we had on offering no compensation of any kind against the freezing cold eating at us. Eventually the campfire, which, despite four more arguments over the thing after the original debate between Nixion and Flame, had somehow remained crackling in the centre of our deformed circle, was extinguished and someone suggested sleep.

Half of us seemed tired, half of us were wide awake. Briefly, it was decided that we should all take it in turns to take watch and to make sure that no Hollow Men or some other foul thing would be coming for us. I offered to take first watch along with Nixion, but Sparky and Eve ended up staying awake along with us while Flame, Star, Lynxia and Lavender rested.

Conversation was scarce in the three hours we sat up, watching and waiting that morning. And when speech did show itself, it was only to discuss whether or not we should start moving again. The question of why the Hollow Men were there in the first place was still a matter to be addressed, but I knew that no one wanted to talk about it. Taking it in would still take some time for those who weren’t used to accepting abrupt things. And then there was also the question of whether or not other creatures would begin to invade alongside the Hollow Men, namely zombies and vampires. There wasn’t much point in speculating though, so the conversations were petty and short lived, started only to break the silence when it became too awkward again. Eventually I sighed and stood up.

Muttering something about stretching my legs, I walked off and away from the others. No one followed; something of which I was grateful for. I think everyone just wanted some time alone anyway because most of us had spread out quite a bit since our watch started. I walked away from them and travelled further into the new, flat plains. Though the night was still cold, walking seemed to compensate or at least take my mind off freezing to death. The night was still and silent, other than the faded sound of my boot meeting the grass again. It wasn’t an awkward silence though, nor the eerie kind that had expanded around us before battling the Hollow Men. It was a peaceful kind of silence.

If silence can be peaceful…

I turned around and looked back at the others. It would be a five minute walk back by that point, but I didn’t have any desire to return yet anyway. I sought solitude, at least for a while. I turned back around and then a bump on the flat ground caught my eye. Normally such a change in the land around me wouldn’t have stuck out in the slightest to me, but in this new flat place, the entire thing was incredibly unusual. I stopped, mid-turn, and stared at the lump on the ground. It wasn’t a part of the ground…

It was a body.

I abandoned turning around and rushed forwards, confusion and panic surging through my mind. We hadn’t considered the fate of the other people in Blogland. Could someone else have been killed in the time before we had encountered the Hollow Men? Could there have been separate waves, sent at different times to wipe out whoever had arrived? What if some of our friends had already been killed?

I abandoned running too and sprinted full pelt towards the body, dropping to my knees when I had reached it. Whoever it was had been turned over onto their back. I saw blood had basically drenched the hair of the victim, glistening in the moonlight. My hands flew to the body and quickly heaved it over, dreading the moment when I would have to return to the others with information of a death.

What if Ivy had been killed? Or Gabriel? Or Johanna? Or Robin, or Lorelei?

But it wasn’t any of them.

It was Dylan Silver.

And he was dead.