The Trip is a Scary Thing

Erik scrambled to get on clothes, as I snatched up weapons, non-perishable food, water canteens, and such. What I had said got him running to his room to collect items. I told him to bring only the most important things, like his sheaths, knifes, sewing kit, extra shoes, swords, sleeping roll, and other things like that. Everything we needed had to fit on our backs, if it didn't, it stayed. I had no clue if we would actually come back or not, but it didn't matter, because everything we needed we would carry. I wasn't bringing makeup or a blow dryer. No fuzzy slippers, or cozy pillow. We would sleep on the bedrolls with a blanket. After we packed up everything we could possibly imagine needing, I wrote a note on our door, in case anyone came asking after us. We silently crept out of our apartment, and slipped down the stairs. Once we were outside, we picked up our pace and made a beeline for the woods, in the direction of the mountain in the far, far distance.

After hours of walking the sun finally peeked above the mountains, and we glanced at eachother knowing that if we had left any later, we wouldn't have made it past the border of the Academy, and they would have had Patrols out within moments of us missing. The border extended into the woods 3 miles past the school clearing, and the only ones who could make it through the woods were the students and staff at the school. Anyone else would be dead within instants of setting foot within the border, by some mysterious force. Erik and I had passed the border hours ago, but we still had to hurry along, because if the school started searching for us, they would search up to the border, and if they still didn't find us, they would search the woods beyond. A few minutes later, I heard a sound behind us, and glanced back, and saw the tiniest shadow moving, miles away. I tapped on Erik, and pointed behind us at it. Erik's eyes widened, and we both took off running, praying we would make it to the edge of the woods before the Patrols caught us. We dodged past tree trunks, and under low hanging branches. We jumped over tree roots, all along the way breaking branches in different directions than the way we were going, trying to throw off our pursuers. It worked for a short time, because the sounds of padded paws slowed for a while before picking up again, only to slow once more. Erik and I never slowed our pace, because of all those years of endurance and stamina training. Luckily, we had the best chance of anyone at the school to make it out, without being found, since we were the fastest, most cunning, and had the longest endurance of any student or teacher. The only things that could catch us were the Patrols racing after us. Patrols are dogs, but genetically modified. They were faster than any living creature, and insanely agile. They could smell an animal from a mile away, and a human 2 miles away. Their eyesight was crazy good, and they had fantastic hearing, but they were as dumb as a doorknob. They would follow anything that had a smell on it, even if it was going the wrong way, as long as it pointed a direction. That's why it kept slowing. The dumb things got confused, because it smelled us one way, but the branches with our scent on it, pointed another. No human could follow along with them, so they were sent out themselves, and the Patrols would never hurt a person, but they would catch you, and carry you, drag you if need be, all the way back to the school, no matter the distance as long as it was still within the forest. Once you stepped out of the forest, a Patrol could not follow. They would act as if someone had tied a leash around their neck, and jerked it back hard, before a single cell of theirs could pass the treeline. Knowing this, Erik and I pushed harder to get to the treeline. We couldn't afford to be caught, because if we were, we would not be able to leave even our apartment without guards watching our every move. I heard the Patrols getting closer, and closer, and finally we saw a break in the trees.

"There! We are nearly there!" I silently told Erik, trying to keep the Patrols from hearing.

"Yeah, and so are the Patrols! I can see the whites of their eyes! That's means they are way to close!" He shot back

"Ok, then GO!!"

We picked up our pace, not caring if we made noise, just trying to make it past the treeline. We narrowly made it. We turned as we passed the edge of the trees, as the Patrol lunged forward, only to reel back hard, as if hitting a brick wall. It growled at us, eyes still aglow, and turned around, slinking back to the Academy, seemingly upset that it didn't catch us. We took a few more steps away from the treeline, towards a large rock in the middle of the field. We sat down on it to rest, and each took a swing of water.

"What did you bring with you?" I asked Erik once we caught our breath.

"Uh, clothes, my knife, a few daggers, my sword, water, a rope, waterproof matches-"

"Waterproof matches? Where did you get those at?" I asked, interrupting him.

"I don't know. Someone gave them to me, I think. I just found them in my room. I also have some grappling hooks, which were in my closet for some reason, and a small portable ladder, an airhorn which was in my bag already, and a bunch of other random things, like hand sanitizer, tissues, random plastic bottles, essential oils, just crap I probably won't need."

"Why did you take all that stuff out of your bag then?" I laughed.

"Well, we were kind of in a rush. I didn't have the time to just dump it all out on the bed, and put other stuff in it. I just left it in. We might need hand sanitizer, in case we touch something gross in the woods, you know." Erik joked.

"You had plenty of time to shake it out of your bag, but I've mostly got food in here. I've got some clothes, weapons, a pot-"

"Why in heaven's name did you bring a pot. We are in the woods, not a gourmet kitchen!"

"A pot to boil any water we find in a stream, if we run out in our canteens." I explained

"Oh. Please continue...." Erik said ashamedly.

"Um, I have a notebook to burn, and a brochure of dangerous plants and animals, among other things like that."

"Sounds good. Should we continue? If we continue walking now, we can make it to the mountain in.... maybe two days? If we don't sleep, then maybe one and a half? Possibly even less."

"Yeah, I think we can keep going now. Are you all good to go?"

"Yep, let's go."

We stood and continued on our way towards the top of the mountain.