Chapter 34 Release in the Forest

"Go! Go! Go!"
Col. Morgan hissed as we all ran and entered the forest near the crashing site. My heart is pounding so fast upon hearing the echoes of howls of the Creepers. My nerves were singing danger that I almost stumbled on the ground. Timothy helped me with my balance as he grabbed me by my arm and we ran side by side, gently pulling me to keep up my pace with them. It was hard to breathe. My lungs felt so tight and I was scared my heart might burst from so much pressure and fear.
"Are you okay, Harriet?" Timothy whispered, panting, looking worried that I couldn't keep up with them.
"Yes... Yes... I'm really sorry. It must be because I hit my back really bad." I answered him wincing, every part of my body aches.
We kept on pushing in the center of the forest, hiding in the middle of the trees as we continued running until we felt like we were safe enough to fill our lungs with air. Li stumbled to the ground out of exhaustion and Mona sat beside him, trying to regain their strength. Jayson leaned on a nearby tree, watching and observing our surroundings. The howls were gone and the only noise we could hear was the night bugs chirping so loudly. The soldier and Col. Morgan are still trying to make the radio work but their attempt always fails.
Li raised his head when Col. Morgan cursed under his breath in so much frustration. "I know that feeling very well." He said, referring to his experience on the top of the building when he made a radio out of scratch and searched for any signal for so many days that he almost lost hope.
"We'll find another way. We'll go and scout if there are vehicles near this area. We must find a car or something so we could intercept the armored mobiles on the planned route that we'll meet them. I think we're inside Zone Twenty-Seven already and the meeting point should not be far from here." Col. Morgan explained, grimacing his face with exhaustion. He was bathing with sweat even though it is cold in this area.
"Zone Twenty-Seven? Does that mean we're really close to Zone twenty-eight?" Li asked again, he was still lying on the ground. Moa gave him a bottle of water so he could catch up on his breath.
"Actually, we're still really far from it, Li. Zone numbers here are not determined by distance or sequential order. It's determined by what state first surrendered under the New Arcanian Republic. It means this state is the twenty-seventh state that signed the contract under the NAR Law." Jason replied to Li, trying to sound informative as much as he can.
"Okay, We'll just search the place and find a car. Stay here and don't make any distracting noise." Col. Morgan scolded us and he and the other soldier went deeper into the forest.
I wonder if there's a highway near here. It's too dark to see anything beyond the forest. Good thing their suit makes them able to see through the dark using night vision scope.
All five of us are left, heaving and resting under a huge wide tree. There is an awkward silence between all of us and we don't know what to say to each other. The incident was too fast and we didn't even have the time to bury the dead.
"Wow, you're not even from here but you know a lot," Timothy commented on Jayson. I don't know if it's just my ears but I think he sounded a bit more sarcastic to him.
"Well, we are forced to learn that in grade school even though we hate that we have to study a place that turned its back from the rest of the world—"
"Hey stop it, you two!" I hissed at both of them. "You're making too much ruckus."
The two made a sharp look at each other and shut their mouths.
There was a long pause of silence again and our attention was baffled when Li groaned.
"Ohhh... not now..." he whined, his face looking uncomfortable.
Jayson was about to ask him something when Li released a scandalous fart.
"Ohh f*ck it Li! What did you eat for lunch?! It smelled like a rotten egg!" Timothy growled, we all walked away from him covering our noses.
"I feel like I'm getting sick too..." I grumbled from the revolting smell. Curse you Li!
Jayson almost laughed as he covered his nose and waved his hand in front of his face.
"I'm sorry I really need to release it..." he whimpered while holding his behind, squirming. He looked so embarrassed but he didn't know where to unload his doo-doo.
"Go behind those bushes! For cow's sake!" Timothy almost kicked Li on behind if Li was not fast enough to run away from him straight to the bushes.
"Goodness that guy!" Timothy grumbled again looking so annoyed and irritated.
Mona silently laughed at him and took something from her bag. She gave Timothy a menthol inhaler to forget the stink. Timothy took it and thanked her. If it's not too dark in here, I know that Mona blushed.
After a few minutes of waiting, we got a little worried about Li. He's still not getting out of the bushes.
"Li? Are you still alive?" I asked him in a low voice and I grimaced when I heard another fart again.
"He's alive alright." Jayson suppressed a laugh.
We were all startled when a howl echoed again and it was loud and it seemed near in this place! My brain got alarmed by the intensity of the volume of its noise.
"RUN!!!"
Li jumped from the bushes, pulling his pants up. His face was full of terror as we saw a horde of Creepers running behind him.
"GO!" Jayson screamed and pulled Mona from her seat, almost dragging her with us.
Timothy quickly grabbed our rucksacks as we ran straight towards the trees where Col. Morgan and his companion went through. I was so surprised how fast Li could run! He was still pulling his pants up as we all headed to the path where we were hoping there was a highway and cars for us to use.
The Creepers are too fast! We finally saw the highway but the path towards it was uphill and it would be too hard for us to climb. The Creepers would have eaten us alive before we could even reach the top of it.
"We're going to die," Li whined again as he glanced back.
"Keep running!" I said to him when I saw the despair on his face.
The Creepers are so near and I have no idea how we are going to escape them this time...