Livi walked down the path of the camp area to gather some branches for the camp fire. She grabbed some branches and gathered enough for the night. She slowly went back to the camp area enjoying the nature around her. She heard her friends talking and laughing as she made her way back to the camp. There was a cabin that was big enough for dozens of people, but most of her friends wanted to camp outside with their tents. They only went into the cabin when they had to use the bathroom. There were eight of them now. Livi saw three of the four tents were now up. There were five guys and five girls but they were not couples. All of them were childhood friends that went back into middle school or high school years. Some went to college together.
Livi threw down the branches at the center of the camp site and brushed her hands on her jeans.
"Hey, Livi, can you give me a hand?" from the left, her friend from middle school, Joy, asked for help. She went to him and she helped him with the poles. Joy and Livi finished the tents and saw rest of the people come and gather.
"So we got one more tent left, hugh?" Jenny said putting her hands on her hips. She was very sporty and loved the outdoors. As for Livi, she came along to be with her friends. She did like outdoors but she never spent the night in the wilderness before.
The leader of the pack, Matt, came and he said he would put up the tent. Jenny joined him. Susan came to Livi and took her arm.
"Come on, Livi, we gotta put the food in the cabin."
"Okay," Livi said and followed her to the cars where it was parked a few yards away. They took out the bags of groceries and carried them into the cabin where no animals can get to them.
"So, are you okay?" Susan asked as they organized the items in the kitchen.
"Yeah, I'm fine. I just hope I don't meet any bears or something." Livi said taking out the marshmellows from the plastic bag.
Susan asked again, "No, I mean, are you OKAY?"
Livi stopped what she was doing but didn't look at Susan. She knew well what she was asking. Livi' parents were killed in a car accident a year ago and she was still dealing with their deaths. She thought she had moved on a six months ago, but she realized she wasn't. Then a couple of weeks ago, she was attacked when she was walking to a parking lot from a shopping mall. It was eight O'clock at night and there weren't that many people around her. But she screamed and kicked and did everything she could to break away from the attacker's grip. She did manage to get away and call for help. They caught the attacker and he was sentenced to be locked up for a couple of years. It was just a bad year for her. But she managed it okay. All she had left was her friends. And she knew well that they all loved her and cared for her.
Livi smiled and looked at Susan, who was the warmest person of all in the group.
"Yeah, I'm okay. And I'm grateful to you and the others for supporting me." Livi said.
Susan came to her and held her tight.
"We are all here for you, Livi. So don't forget it."
When they looked into each other's eyes, Livi smiled brightly.
"Thanks, Susan. And I waited for this camping for so long. I want to have some fun!"
Susan laughed, "Yeah~"
Livi had to use the bathroom, so she walked into the small bathroom that had a shower and sink and a toilet. When she was done, she washed her hands and dried her hands with towel. She looked at herself in a mirror that was on the wall and saw her reflection.
Her face was pale and creamy. Her eyes were dark and big and yet it showed Asian features. Her father was white and her mother was Korean. She got her long beautiful dark hair from her mom and pale skin from her dad. Unlike Asians, she was tall, lean, and curvy. Her nose was perfect like her dad's and her lips were naturally red as cherry.
She splashed some water on her face and pulled back her long dark hair away from her face. She walked out from the cabin and saw all the tents up. She looked at the sky and saw that it was almost time for the sunset. She smiled and went to join her friends. Her college friend Megan made a tower with branches that Livi had brought. Sam came running destroying the branch tower that Megan had built. Sam laughed at Megan who was screaming at Sam. Sam was the clown of the group. He always manages to make Megan angry. And rest of the crowd laughed. Derek on the other hand makes everyone awe with his charms.
A hand rested on Livi's shoulder and she looked on her right side and found Derek smiling.
"Hey," she smiled back at her friend from preschool. They grew up in a same neighborhood since they were able to walk and talk. He was a like a brother to Livi.
Derek put his arm around Livi's shoulder and gave her a squeeze.
"I'm glad that you came." he said.
"Me, too." Livi said and held him tight, too.
All of them had graduated from college a couple years ago and had jobs. Everyone was doing what they loved and it was a perfect group. It was Friday afternoon and everyone made it to the trip.
"Hey! Where are the marshmallows?" Joy asked looking into his car's trunk, realizing that all the food was gone.
"It's in the cabin, Joy." Livi answered. Soon, she saw Joy running up to the cabin.
"I guess we are having marshmallows for dinner?" Sam asked looping his arm around Derek's shoulder.
"We got some food besides that." Susan said.
"I want some peanut butter sandwich." Matt said as he helped Megan rebuild the fire camp. Megan was grumbling under her breath about how they should BBQ Sam over the camp fire.
About an hour later, the sky darkened and they started a camp fire. Jenny, Susan, and Derek went back to the cabin to bring the food out. Matt, Joy, Sam, Livi, and Megan sat around the camp fire enjoying the fire. All tents were built facing each other. Livi felt safe and comfortable with her friends. And Jenny and Matt were the expert on camping. Joy drank the whole can of beer in less than a minutes and let out a loud burp. Everyone was at ease with one another and they were all used to Joy's manners. Megan smiled and drank her beer, too, and then let out a louder burp, challenging Joy. Joy smirked at Megan opened another can of beer.
"Megan, don't encourage him!" Livi said laughing.
Megan laughed as she watched Joy drink the beer in fast motion.
"It's fun. Here, you try it." Megan handed her a beer, too.
Jenny, Susan, and Derek were coming down from the cabin carrying trays of food for the group when they heard the disgusting burp sounds. Jenny and Derek looked at each other and then soon, they made it down to the tents. They found Livi, Megan, and Joy burping as loud as they can with Sam cheering them on the side.
"Oh, my god." Jenny said under her breath.
"This is all Joy's fault. He has finally corrupted Livi, too." Susan said chuckling.
Derek laughed seeing Livi and Jenny making a fool of themselves.
In the end, Jenny won the competition. Livi had never laughed so hard before. They enjoyed the dinner and they played games. They had marshmallows on a stick for desert and laughed and played like kids.
Long into the night, Livi felt sleepy, while others still had the energy to last throughout the night. Livi told them she was going to go wash up and took her towel and toothpaste and tooth brush and went into the cabin. She washed up and tied her hair up. She knew she would get cold during the night, so she put on heavy socks and down vest jacket. From the bathroom, she could still hear her friends laughing and talking. She smiled and headed out to the tents.
She was walking down the steps, her back facing the wooded area, when she heard something from the woods. Her friends were only a few yards away, so she picked up her paste. Then she heard another noise and she knew for sure that it wasn't a small animal in the woods.
She looked back and saw dark figure coming at her. It wasn't a bear, but it was a human figure. She screamed.
Her friends stopped and saw Livi a few yards away and a dark figure running to her. The girls shouted and the guys jumped up and ran toward her. Livi didn't have the time to defend herself. The man was so fast and when she blinked, she felt cold blade on her throat and a fowel odor. She felt the man behind her, holding her arms hostage. From the corner of her eyes, she saw the guys running toward her, but soon stopped when the man showed them that he had a weapon on her throat.
"Livi!" Derek shouted. He looked like he was about to pounce the attacker but she knew that she would be dead if he does.
She heard the attacker's heavy breathing. She could tell that he was scared and trembling. He was blocking himself by putting her front of him with blade on her throat. He spoke a strange language. Livi felt like her heart would explode. She had to do something. She didn't want to die like this. She had to get away. But the blade was so close to her neck, one wrong move, she would bleed to death.
They were interrupted by the bright light and soon, she saw white glowing light of portal forming front of them. She thought she had died and was now facing the gate of heaven, but soon, she saw men coming out from it. The attacker shouted something in his language and the men stopped when they stepped off the gate. There were about dozen of them in all same uniform. They were almost topless with the garment that they wore. Their costumes looked strange. It looked like it was made out from a metal and yet it looked like it was comfortable to wear it. They held a strange looking weapon in their hands. Most of them were long and had pointy end that had electricity flowing.
Her friends were shocked as she was. The men just appeared from the bright gate of light and they now stood armed with weapons, ready to strike. But it seemed the attacker had an upper hand. She felt the cold blade pressing against her soft skin whenever he shouted in strange language. The men surrounded the attacker and Livi so he would not get away.
A few minutes passed and then suddenly, another gate of light formed and this time, one man walked out. He had no shirt and only wore flowing type of pants and no weapon. He was tanned throughout his muscular body and she could see his golden wavy hair reflecting the light from the camp fire. His features were handsome and masculine. His brows were dark and his lips were hard. He didn't look intimidated by the blade against Livi's neck.
The attacker trembled in fear of this man's sight. Livi didn't know why. The man didn't have any weapon. He just looked mad enough to kill. Livi tried to think. She had to get away from the attacker. She didn't want to be the victim anymore. She couldn't believe that she let herself be attacked again.
The man stood still a few yards away, his eyes directly at the attacker. Soon, she felt the attacker tremble more. The man spoke with his eyes as if he could do a telepathy. Livi saw her chance and quickly she kicked back her legs, connecting it to her capture's groin and pushed his arm away from her throat. She heard a cry from her friends. She felt the attacker's grip loosen and she pushed herself away from him. He shouted angrily as she threw herself to the ground. Right afterward, she heard weapons firing and soon, she heard a thump and she knew that the attacker was down.
Livi heard Joy and Derek come to her running. They helped her up and held her shoulders.
"Livi? Are you alright?" Derek asked checking on her.
Livi tried to focus but she was about to pass out from the incident. She fought hard not to faint. She focused on Derek as she tried to nod. She saw rest of her friends surrounding her and she sighed feeling safe again. But something was wrong...
"You are bleeding!" Megan cried out.
Livi touched her neck which felt hot and throbbing. She looked at her hand and saw smear of blood. She screamed.
Quickly, the man who came last, broke into the crowd and faced Livi. His eyes were serious and they were colors of blue and green mixed together. Those eyes made her calm and safe.
"She needs a doctor!" Matt shouted trying to find his cell phone.
The man stopped Matt. He spoke in strange language.
"I don't understand you! She needs to get to the hospital." Matt said. Then the man put his hand on Matt's shoulders and seconds later, Matt frowned. He seemed to be communicating with him.
Livi felt hot and cold at the same time. Derek was trying to cover a cloth over her wound to stop the bleeding, but it didn't seem to help. The cut wasn't deep, but there was something wrong. They watched in horror as the wound began to spread and deepen around her throat. Livi opened her mouth to cry in pain but nothing came out. She felt as if thousand burning needles were stabbing her throat at once. She shook in terror as she felt the changes go through her body.
"Help her!" Jenny cried out at the man.
The man kneeled down and looked at Livi. She was terrified. More terrified than everything she been through. She felt like she was dying. She didn't want to die like this. She wanted to live a happy normal life. Tears streamed down on her pale cheeks as she pleaded through her eyes to him. The man with mystical eyes looked at her wound and looked into her eyes. His eyes spoke to her. She could hear his voice in her head, 'Do not be afraid. I will not let you die.'
His soothing voice helped her and soon, she drifted into darkness.
Derek shouted Livi's name when she lost her consciousness. But the man was calm and he gently lifted her up in his arms.
"What are you doing?" Derek asked.
Matt stopped Derek from lunging at the man.
"He's going to save her, Derek! He said the blade was poisoned. He can cure her back where he came from."
Derek looked at Matt, "How the hell do you know? He doesn't even speak English!"
"He told me through his mind." Matt said. Even his eyes were filled with confusion as he said it.
Sam looked at Matt, "Are you mad? You are going to let him take her?"
Matt turned to the group, "We have no choice. She will die within an hour if he doesn't get her to his world and get the remedy."
The man held her gently and looked at her wound. He knew he didn't have much time. He walked back to his troops and saw the attacker in custody.
"Wait!" Derek stopped him.
"I want to go with her. You are not taking her without me!" he said.
The man looked at Derek and soon, Derek saw images in his head. The man tried to explain to him that it was against the law to bring an outsider who wasn't involved. He promised to him that he would bring her back as soon as she is well. Derek didn't care. He tried to follow the man through the portal but Matt held him back.
"Livi!" Derek cried out for her as she was carried into the gate of light and soon disappeared.
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