Lies In A Machine

Chapter 2

It was nearing midnight now so the two of them had to find shelter. Lilith got up and said,

"Get up, we're going to go find a cave or something.'

Henry gawked at her, "Yeah I think you might be out of your mind because you think I can crawl—let alone, walk."

Lilith just remembered that his leg was on the verge of giving out. She just made an exasperated expression and let out a sigh.

"Well? I'm not here to listen to you whine about crawling" She fixed him with a look.

"Well...what?" He prompted. Lilith's heart and mind were arguing over whether or not she should save him. Maybe she could use him for information and get out of this forest. Back to her old life, to her family and friends. To [freedom]. She slid one arm under his knees and the other hooked under his neck and painstakingly lifted him up.

"What the actual heck are you doing?" Henry asked, half amused half dumbfounded.

"Lifting you up because you can't do anything on your own." She retorted. Lilith took the first step. Then the other. Then the other. Four minutes in, she was on the verge of just leaving him here. Her legs were threatening to buckle and were starting to feel like jelly. She pushed harder.  Lilith made an annoyed expression at Henry—an expression that said "I-cant-believe-I'm-doing-this". After fifteen minutes, Lilith stopped dead in her tracks. Henry looked at her. This was the first time Lilith had really noticed his light amber eyes, catching the moonlight in its own way.

"Why'd you stop? What happened?" Henry seemed alert even though if something did happen, he would be as helpful as a twig.

Lilith couldn't answer, she couldn't. she just started shaking her head, and once she did, it was like she couldn't stop.

"There is someone else, someone with a weapon, probably a spear or a trident by the sound of it." Lilith whispered hoarsely. Out of habit, Henry just shared at her. He knows better than to say 'It'll be okay', because he knows it's gonna be [anything] other than okay.

"Put me down." Henry said, not an ounce of care about his about-to-be-broken-leg. She did put him down, a groan escaping her dry throat. She put him down on some branches and leaves, but then spotted a clearing with grass and scattered some leaves over it, magnificent flowers on the packed Earth, and then moved him there. The sound of footsteps— unmistakably a human. drew closer. Lilith walked over to him, not making a noise, crouched down to his level and spoke up, her voice low to not alert whoever's footsteps she heard.

"I'm gonna go check the sound out, okay?," She said, a hint of urgency in her tone. She left before he could summon up a response to her instructions. Lilith crept behind a tree, disappearing into the dark shadows.She poked her head out slightly and saw someone—a man, who was wearing armor pants and had a spear. The man's eyes were a piercing grey as he spotted her behind the tree. He turned his head around slowly, and started speaking.