The Sickness

Chapter Five

We huddled, shivering. The sky was growing dark. Ten feet away was a tree.
"Should we touch it?" I asked, casting a fearful glance at the tree before looking back at Ana.
Ana shook her head. "No, it's not worth it," she said. "So far, the predictions of the parasite have been correct."
I coughed, clearing the black liquid from my mouth, and rubbed my eyes. "That's true. And it didn't even tell us all of the dangers - it just said that there were more."
"We'll just have to learn through trial and error, I guess..." Ana trailed off, squinting into the distance. "Wait." She craned her neck, and then she jumped up and ran off into the distance.
"What? What is it?" I screamed, standing up.
Ana returned with two teenagers. When they saw me, they smiled. "Hey, Kaylee!" they exclaimed, giving me a hug.
"Oh, hi!" I squeezed them back. "Beatrice, Oliver - how are you doing?"
Beatrice and Oliver - the popular kids. Beatrice had long, wavy black hair, and dimples that everyone admired. She was bubbly and outgoing, the head cheerleader. Oliver was quieter, with dark curly hair, chiseled cheeks, and green eyes. He was smoking hot, or so Ana and the rest of the girls said. I'd always said he just wasn't my type, but the truth is, I had eyes for chicks - especially Renee, the artsy genius who always knew what to do in any situation.
Ollie flashed me another smile, tearing me away from my thoughts. "Pretty great. You?"
"I'm doing well." A thought occurred to me. "Hey, have you, by any chance, had your parasite... speak to you?"
Bea paused, eyes wide. Then she slowly nodded. "Um.. actually, yeah, I have. It spoke to you, too?"
"No. It spoke to Ana."
Ana looked up. "Yeah. It told me to beware of hissing stones, silent trees, chipmunks, ants, and lakes that don't ripple in the breeze. What did it say to you?"
Bea seemed to space out. " 'Beware of black trails on the ground, watch out for the leaves that glow gold; avoid the wolves with crackling fur, and steer clear of thorns that feel cold.' " She stared into the distance.
I nodded. "Interesting. So if we take these warnings seriously, we know to watch out for hissing rocks, silent trees, chipmunks, ants, lakes that don't move in the wind, black trails, gold leaves, wolves with crackling fur, and cold thorns."
Ana looked down and did some calculations. I looked back the way we came. All was quiet for a few moments before Ollie's head snapped up. "Where's Bea?"
We all turned around to see Bea, a few feet away, leaning over to pick something up.
"What are you doing?" Ollie demanded, hands on his hips.
Bea smiled. "I'm throwing a rock at the tree to see what happens." She picked up a stone and hurled it at the tree trunk.
It did nothing for a minute, but then, all of a sudden, it exploded. Ollie shoved us all to the ground to avoid the shrapnel. When the air cleared, we stood up.
"That was a great idea, Bea!" I said, giving her a pat on the shoulder. But she didn't look up.
"Bea?" I whispered.
Slowly, she moved her head, and we all gasped. She was frothing at the mouth, and her cheeks looked gaunt. "Poison..." she mouthed, before dropping to the ground, dead.
I ran over to the area where Bea had picked up the rock and leaned down. Sure enough, a hissing sound was coming from the remaining stones. Ana hit her head with the palm of her hand. "Stupid! I should have known that this would happen." She plopped down onto the ground and sighed. "Well, at least now we know three things about this new world: ants suffocate you, trees explode, and rocks are poisonous."