Plagued by Nicola Barnett

it around her thigh where the branch had dug in. “That was
too close!” she said, laughing a little as she checked her handiwork. “Are you
okay? He didn’t bite you did he?”
     
     “No, I’m fine,” he replied, laughing with her. “I
don’t know how though.” He nursed the lump at the side of his head, feeling
sorry for himself.
     
    “Thanks for saving me back there,” Sarah said,
walking towards him. She grasped his hand and gave it a tentative squeeze.
     
    “Just here to serve,” Mark said, grinning
cheekily.
     
    “I’ll remember that,” she said, “because if I fall
over again, you’re carrying me.”
     
    “You know, back there climbing the tree...?” Mark
said with a devilish grin, as they left the last remaining part of the woods.  
     
    “Yes?” she said, eyeing him suspiciously.
     
    “I felt your arse,” he grinned at her triumphantly.
     
     Sarah’s mouth fell open at she shot him a glare.
“That’s the first thing that comes to your mind?” she said, shaking her head
and storming off in front.
     
    “It wasn’t half bad either.”

Chapter 7
     
     
     
    Sarah and Mark had been walking through what was left
of the woodland for half an hour before they reached the end. Their spirits
were high — they hadn’t seen a single soul since they fell — despite being
tired, hungry, and having increasingly achy bodies.
     
    Sarah's feet had gained blisters long ago and by
now they were red raw. She limped carefully onward, wincing with every step. Besides
her aching muscles and sore feet, she felt okay — numbed, in fact. She
had been in a daze for the past fifteen minutes and they both had walked the
last stretch of the woods without speaking a word. They decided they wouldn’t
sit down until they reached shelter in fear of not being able to get back up
again.
     
    She began thinking of her parents and the daunting
fear that they were already dead. She had blocked out the thought until now,
the pain of losing her parents had been much too deep to contemplate. She just had to believe they were okay. Her father was a strong man, he’d know exactly what
to do and protect her mother at all costs. Slowly, her memories were beginning
to return to her intact, the muddled cloud in her brain was clearing and she
found herself reminiscing to times long before she fell down the rabbit hole.

Mark stopped in his tracks and broke Sarah out of her spell. He grabbed her arm
and pulled her down to the ground, where they both squatted in the low bushes.
    “What is it?” she whispered, the bushes in front
blocking her view.
    “It looks like there's a farm ahead,” he whispered back. “It could be crawling
with them.”
     
    “Oh, for crying out loud! Not again.” She was too
exhausted to start running. She crept upwards to get a better view and her
heart jumped as she saw a roof in the distance.
     
    They moved closer to it, curiosity outweighing
fear, and very slowly crept through the tall weeds. As they moved forward, the
roof grew and soon they could be see it belonged to a large, weathered barn
house. They both waited with baited breath to see if it was deserted. Nothing
moved around them and the clearing was soundless but for the birds, which had
started singing cheerfully in the setting sun. A bat flew past their heads,
squeaking in the high-pitched way that they do, using their version of sonar to
catch moths.

“It looks deserted. I hope it is, we certainly can't go back the way we came,”
Sarah whispered. “If there are farms, we must be getting close to Solitude.”

Mark, frowning, took one last look and sighed. “Okay, but we're going to have
to be quiet. We don't know what we're going to find.”
    “Anything's better that what's back there,” Sarah said, pointing back the way
they had come and Mark nodded defeat.

The light of day had dimmed quickly and the weather turning cooler with it, the
forest was darkening — soon it would be completely black. Screams came