194 Huey and Jollene, A Rather Odd Love Story (1/2)

Day 22 – 1:07 AM – Mount Malabito, General Nakar, Quezon

ROAR!!!

Despite her muffled cries of fear and her rapid panting as she ran away, Jollene could clearly hear the roar of the beast chasing behind her. She was in fear, in panic, and in despair but as she ran away, fleeting thoughts flashed in her mind every now and then.

'Am I going to die?'

'Why did they leave me behind?'

'Why did I believe his empty promise?'

'What did he mean by playing a game?'

'Why doesn't he just save me?'

'Why is he doing this?'

A ringing sound entered her ear. She did not know where that sound came from. Following that sound however, was her realization. Even though she was a victim, she was also a perpetrator. Before the three men left her, she already left the others in the village. She was no different from them. None of the people left in the village had the responsibility to help her when she was one of those who abandoned them.

Tears flowed from her eyes but it was not because of fear but regret. She deserved what was happening to her. Still, she did not want to die. Despite her wobbly legs shaking in fear, she could only run. Run and run as fast as she could. She remembered what Mark said. If she wanted to live, reach the village as fast as she could.

At this moment, her mind became a bit clearer with mostly her goal left in her mind. She did not know how or why but she felt her head becoming lighter.

Suddenly, she felt a somehow imaginary pain on her nape. She was confused but for some reason as her body started to move on its own. Losing her balance due to her resistance, her body fell forward.

It was then that three flashes of shiny claws passed through where he neck should be before. The tiger had already caught up behind her and pounced. It swiped its right claw towards her neck like how it killed Arnolds but her awkward fall made her evade the attack with only a few strands of her hair cut off. With nothing to block its pounce, the tiger flew forward due to the inertia of its fast pounce.

Jollene saw the large body of the tiger pass over her fallen body in shock. With a muffled cry, she hurriedly propped her body up and crawled on fours away before managing to stand once more. She then ran towards another direction trying to go around the tiger.

She knew that she was lost now as she could not remember the right way anymore. However, she could not stop running. No, rather, her body was running on its own.

Then another imaginary pain was felt. This time, it was on her right waist. Unexpectedly, she kicked her right leg and jumped sideward to her left circling on a quite large tree. The tiger that was attacking and was about to bisect her body into two from her waist was blocked by the tree and the claws got stuck for a few seconds that gave her a little breathing time to run further.

***

While Jollene was fleeing for her life, Mark was also silently running at her pace watching her predicament. Amihan on his shoulder was still masking their smell and shuffling the noise they create as they observed the situation. Both of them were rather surprised when Jollene dodged the attack aiming for her neck. Mark was about to interfere that time when he noticed a strange movement on Jollene's body. The expression of her face and the movements of her body did not match at all.

Even though her expression was still filled with fear, her body was doing otherwise. The movements of her body were not panicked at all and her movements even became efficient in some way. She was not dragging her feet as she ran anymore but was actually kicking the ground before her hind foot lift off for another step.

'It seems this girl gained some unexpected benefits.'

Mark felt that there was no need to interfere anymore. If she kept running on the direction she was taking and keep up with those unusual movements, she would safely reach the village. He suddenly remembered what Huey did when he realized that these people would die.

That rich looking guy suddenly kneeled in front of him. Unexpectedly he was only begging for this woman to be saved.

”Why should I? I won't get anything from it.”

That was his reply to that guy but unexpectedly…

”I'm willing to trade my life for hers. If you want me to be your slave for the rest of my life, I'll do it as long as you save Jollene.”

”A verbal promise isn't something I can agree for.”

At that time, Huey took out his pistol and pointed it at his temple.

”I can exchange my life in this spot.”

Huey stared at Mark. Under the faint light of the moon, his eyes were filled with begging and resoluteness.

”Do you like her? But you looked cold to her.”

Mark asked as a faint tint of interest finally sprouted on his face. Huey had a bit of hesitation when lost strength on holding his gun and answered.

”I do like her. You can say that it's funny but it's a love at first sight. However, she liked that Jefferson like many other women in the company. You probably heard about it already about what happened when we left he hotel. I heard from Trisha that Hallie talked to you about it. Jollene did not want to leave the hotel originally but she still followed because of Jefferson. As for why I'm cold to her, you can say that it's like a childish tantrum and a step to try and take distance away from her.”

”But you can't.”