Part VI

Author's note: Wow... sorry about the... really long delay in getting this part up. Although, if I had to pick a place to have a really big pause that would have been it... So, I haven't actually done much to the story that I've noticed. It's almost over actually... it was pretty short to begin with. I will probably start with the sequel next which is much much longer and doesn't have an ending right now. Anywho, here is the next part...

Sabrina leaned around Arthur and screamed. Arthur’s brow wrinkled and he turned around. A large grizzly bear shambled toward them. Arthur threw out his arms to shield his love from the bear. The bear lifted its head, sniffing the air.

“Back away slowly, Sabrina,” Arthur whispered.

“It’s a bear, Arthur. It’s not stupid,” whispered Sabrina.

“Do you want to die today or not? Do what I say!”

Sabrina nodded and started backing away slowly, her hands fisted in Arthur’s shirt. The bear shuffled forward, its fat rolling from side to side. Its beady eyes blinked twice before focusing on Arthur. It growled low in its throat.

Arthur’s heart started to race. This was such odd behavior for a bear without cubs around, especially a grizzly bear. The bear walked forward a few more steps before it raised up on it hind legs. It reared back its head and let loose a roar.

Arthur gulped audibly before turning to Sabrina, “RUN!”

Sabrina turned to run, but tripped over her feet. She looked back at Arthur, her eyes wide with horror.

“Go! Hurry!”

The bear swiped at Arthur ripping his shirt and throwing him into a tree. It galloped toward Sabrina who was madly crawling away. It roared and sank its claws into Sabrina’s leg. She screamed as blood flowed from the wound.

Arthur shook his head and got up running after the bear. He jumped on its back. It reared and turned on him as he fell off. It held up its bloody claw and growled. It swiped at Arthur slashing open his left arm. Arthur cried out and tried to crawl backward. Sabrina clutched at her leg tears streaming down her face. She cried out and the bear turned toward her. It clawed and slashed before taking her arm in its mouth and pulling her deeper into the forest.

“No!” Arthur screamed as Sabrina’s blood covered body was dragged into the forest. He tried to put weight on his arm, but it hurt too much and he cried out. Using his other arm, he got up and tried to run, but his legs gave out. Arthur glanced up and realized he had lost sight of the bear and Sabrina. Her screaming had stopped as well.

“No, no, no!” He struggled to his feet and plunged after the bear despite the pain. Branches and trees tore at his clothes cutting into his skin. Tears blurred his vision as he stumbled through. “Sabrina…” He collapsed on the ground. Arthur pulled his legs up to his chest and rocked back and forth. Sobs racked his body.

“She’s gone, she’s gone…”

Arthur was unsure how long he sat there, but the sun was setting when he drug himself back to the glade where the fight had taken place. He surveyed the forest in front of him. The tall gangly oaks stood as sentinels guarding a secret. Sunbeams pierced the foliage creating a gloomy mood.

Arthur walked forward and set his hand against a trunk. It was cold to the touch compared to the heat he had previously held in his hand. The bark, rough against his skin, pulled greedily for blood. Rotting leaves, moss and dead creatures invaded his nostrils as he stepped into the abysmal setting. The birds, who had only recently serenaded him with rapturous melody, now seemed to sing a funeral dirge.

As he walked deeper into the forest, tracks of wild animals littered the muddy ground. He spotted wolf tracks leading in one direction and puma tracks leading in the other. Arthur, following the wolf tracks, came upon the carcass of a mutilated doe.

Her eyes, dull and glassy, stared unblinking at him. Her rib cage torn was torn open for all to see. Blood flowed freely from the doe’s broken body. Arthur felt bile rush up his throat. He shook his head savagely, trying to rid himself of the picture of the mangled animal.

He turned and ran crashing through the terrible forest. Branches grabbed at his clothes to prevent him from leaving. He flailed his arms fighting off the angry trees. He rushed back into the harsh sunset.

Arthur made his way out of the forest into their camp. He walked back to camp covered in blood.

James walked over to him. “What’s happened to you? And where is the little traitor?”

Taking a deep breath, Arthur punched James for the second time in two days. “SHE’S DEAD, YOU IDIOT! SABRINA’S DEAD!!!”

“Wha-?”

Arthur sighed, a defeated kind of sigh. “She’s dead… A… a bear got her…”

“Are you sure?”

“Look at me!!!” Arthur gestured to his blood covered clothes. “Do you think she’s dead or not? Besides, the bear dragged her further into the forest. It was huge. I would have lost. She’s gone.”

James looked at the ground, unsure what to do.

“My life is over…”

James slapped Arthur. “Come on! Snap out of it! Your life’s not over!”

“She is… was… my whole life! I can’t go on without her!”

“Life goes on. Would you rather have her mutilated and vegetablized or in a better place?”

Arthur grumbled. “Honestly, vegetablized… at least then I could still see her…”

James rolled his eyes. “Come on, Arthur. I know what’ll snap you out of this. We need to continue our quest.”

“No! Let the world come to an end!”

“I know that you must be feeling… really terrible, but isn’t that kind of melodramatic?” James asked.

Arthur had no more energy to hit him, he only glared. However, it was so strong that James felt the need to hold up his hands.

“Sorry, just saying…”

Crumpling to the ground, Arthur found his head once more in his hands. James sighed and sunk to the ground next to Arthur. He patted Arthur’s back awkwardly. Arthur briefly contemplated shaking off James’s hand, but didn’t.

They stayed camped at that spot for days with Arthur moping around. They searched the surrounding woods many times for some sign of Sabrina or the bear to no avail. There was no sign of them anywhere. It was almost as if they had never been there at all.

Everyday James, who had learned all about camping much to his chagrin, told Arthur basically the same thing trying to get him to move on. “Arthur, we need to keep going. It’s what Sabrina would have wanted. Remember how she was always trying to get us to keep walking even when it was three in the morning?”

One morning Arthur surprised him by replying, “Yeah. I suppose you’re right.”

James smiled. “So, are you going to sit her and dishonor her memory or are we going to stop Cal?”

“You’re coming with me?”

“Well, you can’t really fight him on your own, can you? Beside, she wasn’t all that bad…”

“Good!” Arthur said, clapping James on the back. “I’m glad to have you on my side.”

James grimaced. “Good God. You and Sabrina’s issues with hitting people!”

Arthur grinned. “Come, James. Let’s go fight the good fight in memory of my beloved Sabrina.”

James sighed. “I suppose that means more walking?”

“Oh course! We are, what, three, maybe four miles from Cal’s mansion. We gotta hurry!”

“Okay, fine. Let’s go…”

It’s true. To continue the mission is what Sabrina would have wanted. “Come on, James. Vengeance and revenge are waiting for us!” Arthur grinned and packed up the tent.

James, grumbling, packed up the rest of the stuff. They started walking and continued far into the night.

As they settled down for the night, they were close enough to Cal’s house that they could see the lights shining on it. The men decided not to light a fire for fear of attracting attention.

Being completely exhausted, James was quickly asleep. Arthur twisted and turned unable to get to sleep. He kept thinking Sabrina would be crawling into the tent, cell phone in hand. Unable to sleep and not wanting to wake James, Arthur crawled out of the tent and put on his hiking boots.

A light rain had started and soon plastered his hair to his head. The ground was muddied around him, his boots squelched. He crawled under a pine tree and felt his eyelids drooping. He struggled to stay awake. The sound of the rain against the trees lulled him to sleep.

Arthur woke with a start and banged his head against the tree. It was still dark and the rain still pattered down. He crawled out from under the tree and started wandering, not wanting to go back to the tent and James. He wandered farther into the forest. He didn’t know where he was going. The rain on his face calmed him as he walked into a clearing and almost into a wall.

He looked up. The majesty of Cal’s mansion loomed before him. I could steal the disc with the virus before James wakes up and then he wouldn’t have to come find a way in.

Arthur wound his way around the house until he came to a large window. It was a stained glass window with a picture of a knight and a maiden. She was offering him an apple; he was offering her pomegranate seeds. Arthur watched the rain run down the window until movement inside caught his eyes. Cal, in a bright white suit, was leading some girl in the room. The woman, in slinky sparkly blue dress, followed Cal over to the window. Arthur hid behind some bushes. He could hear her giggling. They sat down on the window seat.

“Cal, your house is beautiful,” she said. I know that voice, but…

“Yes, I know. I hired the best interior decorators.”

“How many?” The girl giggled and put her hand on the stained glass window. Arthur noticed that she had her long dirty blonde hair in a ponytail. Sabrina!

“More than I would like to admit,” Cal joked. He wrapped his arm around Sabrina. They stared out the window seemingly completely at ease with each other.

“Ya know, if Arthur were here, he would be singing.” She smiled.

Cal’s face hardened. “Do you have to bring him up?”

“He’s my best friend! He has always been and always will be an important part of my life.” Sabrina shrugged his arm away.

“He was my best friend once too, but now he’s not.” He grabbed her arms tight. Sabrina scowled and tried to shake him off once. “I bet he would never do this.”

Cal pulled her to him and kissed her fiercely. She fought without fighting. When they broke apart, Cal smirked at her.

“That’s true, he would never have done anything like that,” Sabrina said breathlessly.

Cal grinned.

“Although… I still say he would have sang something…” Sabrina smirked.

“And that is why he is a complete nerd that sounds like a dying cat.”

Sabrina smacked his arm. “I like his singing!”

“Ow! What was that for?” Cal rubbed his arm.

“You insulted Arthur’s singing!”

“Well, if he didn’t sound like an animal in pain then I wouldn’t have to.”

“He does not! I bet he could sing better than you any day!”

“Don’t tempt me. I was in two choirs at Vyren Academy.”

“Arthur went there too.”

“Yeah, but he wasn’t in any choir.”

“Then sing something for me.”

“Why should I?”

“Because you love me…” Sabrina stated simply. Cal opened his mouth to argue, but closed it and nodded his acquiescence.

“I am inclined to admit it. Yes, even though we only really met when I saved your life, the time we spent texting made me come to realize that I do love you.” He looked deep into her eyes.

Sabrina grinned and kissed him. “I’m so happy!” She hugged him tightly and they settled back against the wall in a comfortable silence. Sabrina leaned back against Cal’s chest and looked up at him. “You still owe me a song, Cal.”

“What song would you like me to sing, love?” Cal smiled and kissed her hair.

“I don’t care. You decide.”

Cal pondered for a minute before taking a deep breath. He hummed a note, deep baritone. “Where's the girl who was burning for life? I can still feel her breathing beside me. Let the girl in your heart tumble free. Bring your renegade heart home to me. In the dark of the morning, I'll warm you. I'll rouse you.”

“What’s that from?” Sabrina smiled, her eyes slightly glazed over.

“Scarlet Pimpernel, ‘Where’s the Girl’, originally sang by Terrence Mann,” Cal replied.

“It was beautiful.” Sabrina kissed him. Cal smirked in the kiss and it quickly turned into a heated make out.

Arthur could sit in the mud and take it no more. He stood up and started pounding his fists on the glass. “Get your dirty hands off her!”

The couple just inside the glass ignored him completely.

“Stop it! Stop it! Sabrina! He’s evil! He’s just using you!” His fists started to bleed as he beat against the glass and rain. “No! No!”

“Now see here! You can’t just beat on the glass like that.”

Arthur turned around to see a well-dressed British man holding a blue umbrella. He blinked in the rain. “Who are you?” He shook his head. “Never mind, I don’t care.”

He turned back to the window where the activity inside had escalated. Arthur picked up a rock and beat against the glass, but not a crack or a scratch appeared.

“Now, young man, I’m going to have to ask you to stop disturbing the master.”

“Leave me alone!”

“You leave me no choice,” the British man said.

Arthur felt a sharp pain at the back of his head. He reached back and his hand came forward with blood. His eyes started to unfocus and he fell to the ground unconscious.