Chapter 2: pt 1

Ash surfaced, coughing with water up her nose, in her mouth, ears, and stinging her eyes terribly. She had to blink a couple of times before her vision cleared and when it did she blinked several more times to confirm wether or not she was seeing things.
To her left Ash could here Vairety coughing as she came to life too. Ash had to suppress a laugh as she did though, since her hair was sticking up at the top and her fringe had fallen over her eyes, making her look like a wet dog.
“Where are we?” Vairety asked, pushing away her fringe.
Ash glanced around but all she could see were dead trees surrounding the area, and it seemed that they were in a large, black lake. Above them the sky was clear, not a single cloud. Oooh, a good dream, Ash usually always had pleasant dreams, but she mostly enjoyed one’s featuring a place she’d never been before, and it was much better than that horrible semi-nightmare she had about those men. . .
As they both struggled rather ungracefully to shore Ash became aware of the sound of shriek coming from somewhere nearby. She was about to ask Vairety what she thought of it but her cousin beat her to it, “What the heck is that?”
Ash giggled, wringing out her hair and taking off her combat boots to allow the water to drain out. “A depressed bird,” she mocked.
Vairety shook her head as she did the same with her hair, shoes and vest. “Where are we, do you think?” she said again after a while.
Ash glanced around whilst trying to get the water out from her ears. “I don't know, but I would rather not stay around here at night,” she had a little shiver as she imagined creatures which went bump in the night crawling out from behind those dead trees, into the black water. . . “Good place to hold a Halloween party,” she joked.
Vairety said something, but Ash had put all her concentration on jumping up and down with her finger in her ear to really notice. But when the water finally trickled out she heard Vairety call out and glanced to see her gone.
She immediately felt a deep ache in her stomach, fear? Hunger? She didn’t really care. “Vee?” she called out, but came with no reply. Then she started getting worried. Ash began walking around the lake, glancing through the trees, trying to find her cousin’s slim figure somewhere—anywhere.
“Ash! Come on!”
Vairety’s voice shot out of nowhere, causing Ash to jump right out of her skin. “Where are you!” Ash yelled, feeling annoyed. She hated it when people surprised her, her friends had learnt that the hard way last year when they decided to play an April Fools day trick on here. Tsk, tsk, Ash almost smiled at the memory of their faces when she—
“You’re slower than a sloth,” Vairety’s voice shot out once more, but this time Ash spotted her and felt a bit more relaxed, all until Vairety grabbed her arm and began pulling her in a certain direction.
“You’re saying I’m slow?” She snapped, trying to wriggle out of Vairety’s grip. “You went galloping off without telling me and expected me to know exactly where you went?”
“I told you I was going to check something out and to come with me,” Vairety replied, just as sharp, she glared back at Ash. “How much water did you get in those ears?”
Ash shrugged, trying to let her anger fade away. “The left one’s clear but. . .”
“Shh.”
Ash was going to say something when she heard the cry come out again and realised why her cousin was so interested in investigating it. She knew Vairety’s kind heart, if she ever heard an animal in need she’d go to it immediately, it was her problem—she was too nice.
“This way,” Vairety said, and before Ash knew it she took off once more. It took her a while before she did actually notice, but when she did Ash gave a shout and gave chase and almost crashed into Vairety who had stopped suddenly, her head cocked to one side.
“What. . . do you. . . think. . . it is?” Ash said, out of breath. The cry came again, to her right. “Sounds human,” Ash said.
Vairety nodded, and pointed. “Come on, get your breath back because we’re gonna have to do a whole lotta more running?”
“What?” Ash watched once more as she ran off. “This is such a pain!” She screeched. But she could see the sun setting just above the trees and she didn’t want to get lost and lose her cousin so she turned and down to leaf-littered road.