17. Look

The sights of the glowing mountain had the village standing, astounded at the beautiful colours that emerged from the shuddering mass of rocks. The colours intertwined, tightly and intimately combining together to gather into a large rush of cacophony; if colours could make a noise. The deafening silence was obvious as not one person spoke a word - not even the two teenagers who grasped each other's hands with desperation knowing that nothing good could come out of Mother Nature revealing her true colours; literally and figuratively.

"We're doomed," one finally whispered breaking the ridiculous silence. Yet it was only a small disturbance in the menacing yet gorgeous display that the mountains showcased for their little group. The one who spoke was the older of the two; the boy, fairly tall with shaggy black hair encasing his head. His eyes blazed red as he spoke; reflecting the colour that the mountain currently spurted.

The other teenager; a younger girl snorted, laughing. When the entire village swung their head around to look at her accusatorily, she shrugged. "It reminds me of Pocahontas, alright? Paint with all the colours of the wind and all that shit."

"Respect must be given to the world; and only then will it follow around to you," the leader of the group, another young man of perhaps twenty-five whose entire posture and body language indicated age before time. He had the knowledge of the Elders but being trapped in such a young unchanging body, he was unable to often communicate it. "Trust me on this, Aidan."

"I believe that perfectly!" Aidan protested, pointing to the girl next to him. "It's Sarah that doesn't seem to grasp that concept. Oh and don't forget the mountain. Tell me that you are aware that is a very bad thing that is headed towards us right this instant."

The leader shook his head calmly. "It will free us from this life; it will offer salvation and it will cleanse our corrupt souls."

Sarah growled angrily. "We're the last of the human race, and you want to go there? Gosh, I don't know why you were elected. You are obviously one of the nature."

Aidan put a warning hand on her elbow and glaring at him, she retreated into his gentle arms.

"We have to escape," she whispered slowly to him, "we can't let this happen now. I refuse to die."

He hushed her, gathering her even closer and putting his mouth next to her neck. "You need to calm down, Sarah. We will escape but now everyone is going to be suspicious. We have to throw them off."

She nodded grimly, lifting her head up with a bliss smile.

Another elder spoke up approvingly. "Good on you, Aidan. Make her understand the intent of our journey."

Everyone was so brainwashed, she thought to herself in condescension, they needed to get out now before they were doomed for life.

“Come on now,” their leader spoke softly and calmingly. “Let’s move on. The Great One awaits us.”
Looking fearfully at Aidan, Sarah stumbled and in that instant, he fell on top of her and started to roll to the right. She tried to keep calm, but a shriek threatened to break from her throat as they hit a steep descent and started to free fall. Arms tightened around her, a quick kiss was pressed to the top of her head as they curled closer together in an attempt to minimise the damage that was to occur.

And suddenly they landed on the softest thing imaginable. It cushioned their fall, bending inwards as it took their weight and caressed them softly; forming a thin cacoon around their frail bodies.

“What did we fall on?” Sarah asked hesitantly.

Aidan refused to answer, grappling with her body as the cacoon started to get thicker and oxygen became harder to get by. He freed his leg, attempting to pull her out by her arm as well. Realising that time was of the essence right now; she put her force behind her effort and succeeded in forcing an arm out as well.

By the time she got her other arm out; the cacoon was too strong to get any further. She looked around, realising that she couldn’t hear Aidan’s panting but couldn’t find him. However there was a very Aidan-like hole that was swiftly being filled as well. She flung herself out, landing on the ground with a heavy grunt and witnessing the creature they landed on slowly shrinking until it was just a flat surface again.

“Cotton?!” She shrieked angrily. “Aidan, you know that cotton is so dangerous! We could’ve died!”

“Calm down,” he exhaled. “It looked like it was dormant.”

She gestured to the quivering plant with frustration. “Obviously isn’t.”

“I’m sorry, alright?!” He erupted. “How was I supposed to know? At least now we’re not with them anymore! And we’re both safe and alive.”

She huffed, keeping her mouth quirked as she stared him down.

He sighed impertinently. “I’m sorry for yelling.”

“So you just saw the cotton and thought it would be a good way out?” She raised a wry eyebrow. “That’s actually quite ingenious. Other than the fact that – you know – we almost got eaten by a plant that was used to make our clothes once.”

He looked at her with a warm smile on his face. “That does make me wonder sometimes though. What was life like in the past? Did they live in forests like us? How many of them were there? How did they gather their food? What did they wear?”

“Oh love,” She cooed sarcastically. “Turns out that we’ll never find out. Considering it was over a thousand years.”

“There could be information,” he shrugged, shucking off his old boots. “Everything now is dangerous. I’m terrified to put my feet on the grass without any material on it because there is such a thing as toxic gas.”

“Well, that teaches us that the humans in the past never did know how to care for the land.” She rolled my eyes. “Considering that they ended up poisoning the earth.”

“And is our little group really the only ones left alive?” He persisted.

“You sure as hell ain’t,” came a startling reply, making both the teenagers jump.