Okay, so I said I wasn't going to update today, but I had to. There will probably be another update this weekend too, because I leave off on a cliffhanger. :)

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I gaze at the mysterious woman who has just appeared in front of me. She's wearing what seems like dome clothes, but they are rotten and patched almost beyond recognition. A battered pair of glasses rest on her nose and her hair is tied back with a strip of cloth. She swings a charred club at the rabbits. 

The rabbits are taken aback for a moment, but they quickly regroup when they see that it's six of them against one puny human with a stick. The woman isn't deterred. She keeps growling and yelling while slashing her stick at everything that moves. She's slowly stepping backward in my direction. 

Or, at least I think she is. I can feel my consciousness slipping away with every passing second. The world is fuzzy at the edges and my head is spinning. I am about to go off the deep end into the darkness when the woman whips around and closes the distance between us. She yanks me to my feet, giving my senses a figurative slap. 

"Get on my back!" she yells. 

Her back? She wants me to get on her back? My head stupidly sways from side to side as my eyes try in vain to focus on the woman's face. I am still inches from blacking out. I feel like I'm going to collapse when the woman grabs me by the waist and throws me over her shoulder with surprising gentleness. She yells one last time at the rabbits before taking off into the woods. The rabbits scream agitatedly and bound after us in a terrifying parade. 

The woman rockets through the forest with perfect speed and agility. I can't help but think that she's done this before. Unlike my ungraceful escapades through the trees, her feet don't falter or trip. Instead, the charred trunks fly by as she runs. 

My consciousness is still only hanging on by a thread when she comes to a sudden halt in front of a tree. I lurch forward and I can feel all of the contents of my stomach threatening to make a reappearance when we start to move upwards. The woman is climbing the tree. I raise my head slightly to see that she's grabbing onto charred rungs of what seems to be some kind of ladder up the blackened tree. 

The rabbits have congregated under the tree. Snapping it's razor canines viciously, one of them jumps and ensnares my leg in its jaws. More pain laces my body. I slip off the woman's shoulder. She screams and grabs my hand. She yanks me out of the rabbit's grasp but not before its fangs tear a long gash on my leg. What seems like half of my blood cascades down my leg and pours off of my feet and into the air. Black spots dance frenetically in front of my eyes. I whimper and smack against the tree trunk. The woman tries to pull me back up to her, but I am a dead weight. 

"Climb!" she cries wildly, still holding tightly to my hand. "You have to climb it yourself!" 

For a moment, I debate just letting go of her hand and accepting my death. It certainly would be the easier option. But, then, my failing mind manages to conjure an image of Drayk and Natlee and Camryn. I recall my parents' picture in my bedroom. They died years ago, but I'm still here, and I have a chance to save myself. I'm only seventeen. I've got a whole lot more life to live. 

I have to survive this. I can do this. After all, I still owe Natlee a date. 

I harden my resolve and latch my hand onto one of the rungs. I force my leg upward and grab another rung. And another rung. And another. My head spins from the effort, but my friends and family in the forefront of my mind. I keep going, scaling the ladder as fast as I can. I am so close to the top. 

I throw my hand towards the final rung, but my shaking fingers slip off of it and I lose my grip. I desperately throw my weight against the tree and try to find purchase on another rung, but I throw myself off balance. I begin to fall. 

This is it. I was so close and now it is all for nothing. I close my eyes, bracing for the rabbit's teeth, but a hand seizes my wrist. I open my eyes to see the woman hauling me upward, using all of her strength to pull my bleeding, hysterical self to the top of whatever this place is. 

She tugs me over the edge of a wooden platform and I collapse to the ground. She is breathing hard from the exertion, but quickly drops to her knees to help me. She examines my arm and leg before hurrying off. She returns with leaves and underbrush heaped in her arms. 

The woman cleans my wounds with wet leaves and wraps them tightly in foliage. Then, she moves to clean my face. Tilting my head upwards, she swipes over my nose and mouth once or twice when, suddenly, she gasps. Confusion makes its way into my brain. I wonder if I have some other horrible injury that I sustained during the chaos. I wouldn't be surprised. 

The woman sits back on her heels and stares at my face with an expression that is half shock and half relief. I'm about to ask her what's wrong, but she speaks first. 

"Kaze?" she says. 

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Hehe, left you hanging! Comment who you think the woman is!

Have a great day! :D