Genesis : Knights of Salvation Series
Chapter 30: Scattered

I duck as my horse runs through the trees, the low branches almost taking my head off. We ride for about ten minutes straight ahead and I have no idea if we are riding the right way or not. Finally, I pull on my horse’s reins. Pulling it to slow down then stop. Talon slows behind me and before he can say anything I jump off of my horse and tumble to the ground heading out of my small breakfast. I sit there for a few minutes gaggy and on my knees using my hand to brace my weight on a tree.

Talon jumps down from his horse his large calloused hand patting my back. “Are you okay?” His deep smooth voice speaks up in the quiet forest. I spit out the taste of my vomit onto the ground and turn to look at him. Talons covered in putrid black blood, spanning from his waist up his chest. His clothes are soaked with it.

“Yeah, It was just a lot.” I try to excuse myself. Everything happened so fast. And I knew this was going to happen, I felt it in my stomach; that something terrible was about to happen and now we are alone. I sit up trying my best to keep my shaking hands to stop. I look around then, deep in the forest. The canopy overhead cloaks us mostly from the sun as loud birds and other animals sing out all around us. The forest floor is filled with fallen leaves, branches, and logs. The rest of the ground is filled with foliage bounding up for a taste of the blocked sun. Unlike the other forest, this one is compact and tight with bushes and other shrubs blocking any sight f what could be feet in front of us.

“Where are we?” I clear my throat looking around us. Talon looks around his hazel eyes evaluating our surroundings. His hand reflexively plays with the back of his hair.

“I have no idea.” He says squinting and suddenly his eyes light up as he moves to his horse that eats next to mine silently. Talon shuffles through a side bag until finally replaceing what he needs. He turns around with a small map in his hands as he looks over it focused. For a few minutes, his eyes search over the map, until his face falls slightly.

“What?” I ask worriedly. We aren’t just separated but the people leading us on this trip could be dead for all we know.

“This map only shows a small area of this forest from before the virus. Everything is different now.” He huffs his face screwing up with frustration.

“What does that mean exactly then?” I say stepping closer and looking down at the map in his hands.

His voice grows tight with all humor it usually has completely gone. “It means we have an estimate of where we need to head, but we have no idea how big this place has grown since the virus took over.” He fills me in. Once again I can feel that gut-twisting feeling in my stomach.

“Where did Orion tell you we needed to get to?” I ask taking the map from him and looking at it more specifically. The map shows most of the Valley and the splitting of the valley walls falling off, which explains why most people die there. The top right of the map shows the portion of the forest that the valley leads out to, but it does show us more than the first mile of the forest.

“He wants us to meet him at the waterfall, it’s basically in the middle of the forest, it was once someplace people would visit and take pictures at.” He tries to explain and I nod now understanding why his voice is filled with such defeat. I had the map back to Talon and notice just how disgusting I probably look. Just like Talon, I’m covered in black blood. It especially covers most of my hand and up to my elbows from fighting that horrid forsaken.

“First we need to get cleaned up,” Talon says seeing me notice how we look.

“That’s a good idea.” I simply say. Talon grabs his pouch of water from his horse and tosses it to me.“Thanks.” I say giving him a half smile and I don’t have the heart to tell him it’s more important for him to wash up than me. I pour some of the water on my hands and quickly wash them off. I toss the pouch to Talon who does the same.

Something in me just needed to know. I needed someone else to tell me it was going to be fine. “Do you think they made it out?” I speak up quietly, my voice timid and filled with more worry than I wanted them to. furrowing my brow and looking towards him. Talon suddenly looks up at me and something I haven’t seen in his eyes breaks my heart. His eyes are filled with sadness and weak hope. I wanted to comfort him, really I want him to be the Talon I know. The one always giving me a laugh and keeping us positive.

“Honestly..... I don’t know. We may be the only ones left.” he speaks up his eyes falling to the ground. I try my best to have hope or at least look on the bright side which has always been a problem for me.

“I think they survived,” I state firmly. Because I know that they may be dead but no matter how many people we lose I still have to finish this mission. Then a thought occurred to me, Talon may be the only one returning to the walls by the end of this. I look up then sadness fills my heart as I watch him finish washing his hands.

When Talon is done we both climb onto our horses.

“We are going to follow this map as best we can, So we are going to replace the river on this map. The river should lead us to the waterfall.... hopefully.” He says shrugging slightly.

“Okey let’s go.” We head out moving slowly due to the compact space between trees. As we make our way through the forest the quiet would usually be a welcomed distraction but all It seems to do is make me worry more about the team.

“Talon, say something,” I order out to him breaking the silence. He looks over his shoulder at me as we pass through a cluster of trees, when we get through them he falls back to ride next to me on my left side.

“Like what?” He speaks up. His voice is more coiled than usual making it hard to not think about how worried he must be. I mean I’ve only known the team for a little more than a week and I’m super worried but Talon spends most of his time with them.

“Tell me about your family.” I try my best to distract both of us as I duck under a low branch. Talon breathes in deeply and thinks for a moment his eyes scanning the area around us.

“Well, I grew up in the outer wall with my five older siblings.” He begins and I can’t help but look at him.

“Wait there’s six of you?” I ask surprised. For the A-Status class, two children were odd but three were rarely heard of. To think about having five siblings is so odd.

“Yeah, I got three older sisters and two older brothers.” Talon slightly laughs out. We circle around a large patch of rocks covered in moss.

“Wow.” It’s all I can really say. I had always wanted a sibling. It didn’t really matter if they were a girl or boy but as a child, I was so lonely I just wanted someone who had to love me.

“We lived in a tiny apartment over a small rubble house.” He starts to explain. The rubble houses are houses built from the old houses from the Old lands, used to help house the lower status citizens.

“So, we spent a lot of time crammed in together.” He jokes out, a little faint smile sitting on his face. I start to hear the rustling to our right and I turn to look, Talon growing quiet as he notices too. I pull my bow out and loud my arrow, and so does talon as he pulls out his gun but we don’t stop we keep moving. Our minds are set on listening for whatever it may be. The rustling grows louder and puts more pressure on my horse’s side getting us moving through the forest faster. I hear the sound of rushing water to my left and head that way, Talon following directly behind me. I spot a bright clearing just beyond us and I make my way toward the opening. Another sound of rustling draws my eyes to the right as I pass through the bushes.

I pull back hard on my reins as I look forward noticing what I was charging into. My horse skids to a stop quickly and rears up as we stop just feet from the edge of a cliff. Talon slides to s stop just before his horse topples over the edge. Neither of us moves for a moment as if we’re making sure we aren’t falling down the cliff. I let out my breath my heart pumping like a rampaging horse.

“Oh old gods, that was close,” I say looking over at talon as he closes his eyes breathing heavily. We both relax for a moment until out of the bushes behind us a wild roar sounds. I turn just in time to see a pale slick beast standing on its boney two legs as its huge jaws growl out at us. My horse rears up frightened as I reflexively unleash my arrow.

The arrow slams into the forsaken chest causing the beast to call out in pain and I unleash another arrow into its head. I look behind me to see Talon’s horse, but no Talon. I skid to the edge of the cliff and look down, my heart stopping with what I see.