Trek For Survival

Everyone had pretty much stopped talking as they followed the girl, because she talked non-stop. Even Mikey had stopped trying to talk to her, as she barely gave him a chance to say anything. The sound of water trickling up ahead had Gia hopeful they were almost there.

"The elder is just on the other side of the stream. I haven"t seen him in a while. It will be good to see him again. He doesn"t move from his spot very often so we can find him when we need to. Everyone likes to go to him to ask questions and tell him what they"ve seen. He"s so old he knows a lot of things. I bet he"s as old as the whole forest!"

The girl stepped into water with a splash and yelped in surprise, jumping up onto the side of a tree and clinging to it like a squirrel.

"The whole area"s flooded," said Vonn, stepping forward and looking around.

"That wasn"t like that before," said the girl.

"How long ago was that?" asked Gia, noting that some of the trees had started to die from the water.

"Maybe a year or two?" the girl said thoughtfully. "I haven"t really paid that much attention."

"We"ll have to find a way around, so we aren"t wading in the water," said Vonn.

"How deep do you think it goes?" asked Gia, concerned about having to take a long detour. It was already going to take them a long time to get through the forest. They had only traveled two days, and it was supposed to take two weeks.

"Probably not that deep, but if we get wet, we might get sick. It gets really cold in the evenings," said Tom, shaking his head. "It would be best to find a different route."

"The elder"s just on the other side!" said the girl. "I can see his leaves!"
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They looked over where she was pointing, to see a lighter green group of leaves moving while the other trees were still.

"It"s just on the other side of the water," said Carla with a frown.

"It would take you ten minutes to cross the water," said the girl. "If you go around it might take hours."

Gia frowned. "It will be dark if we try to go around. Maybe we can find an area that"s not as deep?"

"If we get wet, I guess we can change into our spare clothes, and let these clothes dry overnight," said Tom. "They could probably use a good washing anyways. I can smell where Mikey is."

"What?" exclaimed Mikey with a laugh.

"Alright, I"ll see if I can find a shallow area," said Vonn unhappily.

Gia watched as he carefully stepped into the water and started his way across the flooded area. Taking a long branch, he poked the water, to see where the ground was, before he stepped. The plant girl they had been following, leapt from tree trunk to tree trunk, climbing higher to make sure she didn"t get wet by accident.

Slipping on something, Vonn went under the water with a shout, and Gia screamed, rushing into the water to help him. Her mother grabbed her arm when a huge fish tail flashed up and slapped the water where he disappeared. Fear and disbelief welled up in her stomach and Gia thought she was going to be sick. It was a mermaid!

"Vonn!" she cried, trying to fight her mother"s arm off to get to him.

Mikey pulled out his axe and held it with white fists, but didn"t rush into the water. He seemed frozen in fear.

Finally breaking free of her mom, Gia took two steps into the water when Vonn resurfaced, taking a huge gulp of air, flailing and going under again. Another mermaid surfaced further away and with a wide grin swam towards the spot where Vonn was fighting. Gia grabbed Mikey"s axe from him and dived into the water, swimming as best as she could towards the splashing Vonn was making with the first mermaid, half running across the flooded forest floor.

Crying tears that disappeared into the water that already drenched her, Gia swung at the mermaid that had a grasp on him, connecting with her shoulder and giving him a chance to pull out of her grasp. The second mermaid arrived just then, reaching for Gia.

Vonn kicked out at the hurt mermaid, catching her in the belly, as Gia swung her axe at the new mermaid. The mermaid dived to the bottom of the water, grabbing her ankle and missing the axe that was stopped by the water long before it reached her. Taking a quick breath of air, Gia kicked out with her other foot right at the mermaid"s face, allowing herself to fall backwards into the water.

The water was filled with the sound of water and the thump of her heartbeat. Her eyes weren"t able to see anything as the water was murky from the fighting, but she felt her kick connect with something and her ankle was suddenly free. Thrusting her feet under her, she stood up and shook her head to clear the muddy water off her face. Vonn was there, dragging her back towards the others and the sound of something screeching hit her ears, making her almost drop the axe.

Vonn half dragged her across the flooded ground to where her family waited fearfully. Dropping the axe near Mikey, Gia turned to see where the screech was coming from. The mermaid she had been fighting, and had kicked in the face, was holding her nose and screeching in pain and fury. Blood was pouring down her face, discoloring the water.

"The babes!" cried the other mermaid, a look of real fear on her face as she swam away from the hurt mermaid in a panic.

Gia sat next to Vonn, who was leaning over her to make sure she was alright, watching as a churning ma.s.s headed for the hurt mermaid. The mermaid stopped screaming and finally seemed to realize something might be wrong as she turned towards the noise. Her eyes had just enough time to open wide in panic before she was sucked under. The churning turned a bright red before it grew still.

Gentle waves reached the edges of the water near them, and Gia scooted a little further away from it when she saw the red froth.

"What was that?" asked Mikey in a whisper.

Just then a tiny baby poked its head up out of the water and looked around. The thing was adorable. Gia"s breath left in a whoosh as she met its eyes. They were the most beautiful blue she had ever seen. The baby cooed at her and she found herself crawling towards the water. Faintly she could hear someone shouting her name, but all she could think about was how beautiful that baby was, and how she wanted to hold and coddle it.

"Gia!" cried Vonn, grabbing her around the back and lifting her bodily from the ground.

She fought him, trying to reach that cute baby, when it snarled at Vonn, exposing several lines of sharp teeth, stained with blood already. The spell it had been using on her was broken, and she almost shrieked at the difference in appearance. There was nothing cute about that thing!

Shuddering, she twisted and clung to Vonn, burying her face into his wet shirt.

"The mermaids must have been using the flooded area to raise their young," said Carla softly as Gia shivered in Vonn"s arms.

"I hate this place," she whispered.

"I know," he replied.

"Is everyone alright?" asked Tom, touching a tree next to him, to steady himself after all of the excitement.

"Yes," Mikey. "Gia"s scared, but everyone"s okay. The mermaids are gone, even the ugly baby ones."

"Where did that plant girl go?" asked Carla looking around.

"She probably fled when we were attacked," said Vonn.

"You don"t think she was working with the mermaids to lure us here?" asked Tom.

"I don"t know, but we are not going into any more water while we are in this forest!" said Vonn.

Gia sighed and pulled away as her shivers faded.

"You two need to change into some dry clothes, and then we"ll see if we can find another route around this water," said Carla.

"It doesn"t matter if we change or not," said Vonn with a shake of his head. "Our bags are soaked too. Let"s go until it starts getting dark, and then I"ll build a good fire to dry everything out. The tent will be wet, too."

Gia sighed. She hadn"t thought to take off her bag before charging after Vonn when he was pulled under. She should have.

They walked until they found the source of the flooding. A tree had fallen, pulling up a tremendous amount of dirt with its roots in the process. All that dirt had blocked the stream, creating the perfect dam. Making their way a little further up the stream, they were able to cross it easily.

"There"s a clearing up ahead," said Vonn after a short while. "I think we should stop there for the night even though it"s not that late yet."

"I think that"s a good idea," said Tom. "Carla, why don"t you and Mikey gather some twigs and dead limbs while they set up the tent."

Gia gasped as she took off her bag and turned around. Behind them, where they had just been, was a deer with huge horns that stood thirty feet or more. It was silently standing there, watching them curiously.