Enjoy!

Everything was a blur around him. All he knew was that he had to run. Spirou was running next to him at the same pace. How? He didn't know. Probably because of the adrenaline.
The figure was still running after them. Fantasio hated that that thing didn't make any sound. You could only hear the leaves and bushes around it as it moved. "Does that thing even breathe?" He thought.
But right then, his foot was caught in something, and he almost fell. "Alright, no time to think. Just run!"

Spirou was breathing fast, desperate to fill his lungs with as much air as he could. He thought it was quite funny that he was actually running. He knew it was possible for a human body to do that in life-threatening situations, he'd just never imagined he would ever experience it himself.
A quick look behind him and he knew that the Figure wouldn't leave them alone for a long time. "Damn it."
He looked at Fantasio, and his breath hitched when Fantasio almost fell.
"Are you okay?" He asked as he ran next to the blond. "Yeah, don't worry about me. You just concentrate on the running, alright." Spirou nodded once and looked forward again.

The running went on for some time, and Spirou was getting it harder to focus on it. His legs were getting heavier, and his vision began to blur around the outlines.
"Fantasio…" He said. He wanted Fantasio to know that his body was beginning to fail him. "Fantasio!" He managed to say a bit louder. Spip heard him, and poked Fantasio in the cheek. "What is it, Spip?" Pointing to Spirou, Fantasio immediately knew what was wrong. "Can you go on Spi?" He asked worriedly. "I have to." Spirou said between deep breaths. Fantasio looked behind him. The figure was far gone now, but not completely. "We have almost lost him! You can do this Spirou, I believe in you!" Spirou looked in Fantasio's eyes for a moment, and nodded. Fantasio did slow down a bit though, which Spirou was very thankful about.

Finally, after what felt like hours, the figure was gone. Fantasio slowly began to run slower, and slower, until they had stopped. His legs were shaking, and his breathing was very fast. He doubled over, with his hands on his upper legs to try and control his breathing.
"Did we lose it?" He asked when his body allowed it. "Did we? Spirou?" He didn't get any answer back, so he looked behind him, his hands still on his legs. "Spirou? Spirou!"
Spirou was lying face down on the ground, his injured arm in a very awkward way. Spip was already trying to get a response out of him, but to no avail. "Oh no…" Fantasio ran to the redhead so fast, he almost tripped again. "Please be okay, please be okay…" He quickly turned Spirou on his side and looked him over. But there wasn't anything new that he could see. His wounds were still there, and he was pale, but all that was just like before. Lifting Spirou's upper body so the lad could lie in his arms, Fantasio sighed, and let his head fall. "Hello…" Fantasio's head snapped back up. Two very tired eyes were looking at him. A smile formed around Spirou's lips as he saw Fantasio's expression. "Spirou! Spirou we made it, we've lost that thing!" Fantasio said, too happy to see Spirou awake to pay any attentions to the other signs that were showing. "That's great, Fantasio…" Spirou's breathing was speeding up. His grip on Fantasio's arm loosened, and he made a pained noise.
"Spi, what's wrong? What is happening?" Spirou was too weak to answer. His eyes were starting to close again. "Spirou, stay awake. I need you to stay awake." Fantasio said firmly, shaking the redhead. "Stay with me, can you do that?" Spirou opened his eyes, which was very difficult to do. A small nod was all Fantasio needed. "Try to keep talking Spi, I know you can do that. I need you to do that.."
"I will… try…" The shaking continued, and his breathing was still quick and shallow, but he tried at least. Until the pain shot through him again. His whole body tensed up, and he let out a cry. "Your hand…" He said through clenched teeth. Fantasio looked at his hands. One was holding Spirou around his shoulders, but the other one was on the lad's wound. Quickly removing his hand, he saw that it was covered in blood. The wound had started bleeding again due to the running! Why hadn't he noticed that before? Fantasio could slap himself for not noticing it. "That's why his breathing is so shallow!" He thought, "It's blood loss! Why didn't I think about that earlier, of course it is blood loss." He placed Spirou on the ground and took the bandages off from his side, as well as those around his arm. The wound on Spirou's side was bleeding more than his arm though. "Probably from the movements. How did he manage to run in this condition anyway?" Again, he pulled strings of cloth from his shirt, so that he had a clean cloth to wrap around the wounds. But when he wanted to dress the side-wound, he discovered that they didn't have their luggage with them… and in those were the bandages he needed.
He slammed on the ground with his fists, cursing as he did so. He had nothing! No clothes, no food, nothing. So he had no other option. With a swift motion, Fantasio took off his jacket, and then his shirt, which he would use as bandage. With difficulty, he tied it around Spirou's middle. "Still hanging in there?" He asked when Spirou had to do his best not to scream. When the redhead was lying on his back again, he was breathing heavily through his nose. He nodded though, with the weakest smile. Fantasio put his jacket back on. "Fan...Fantasio, now you… will be cold." Spirou said softly. Fantasio gave him a genuine smile in return. "Don't you worry about me. I will manage as well." They were both silent for a few minutes. Spirou's breathing didn't improve however, but it didn't get any worse either. Fantasio still didn't like it though. Every sound he heard, his body jumped. "Maybe this is how Spi had felt when he couldn't sleep." "Spirou, we should get out of here. I don't know if that thing will come back." Spirou didn't answer. Immediately a wave of panic flowed through Fantasio's body. "Relax, Fantasio, maybe he is just asleep." He thought, "But if he is asleep, he might not wake up again!" The earlier attempts to conceal the panic were now in no avail, because it came back big time when that thought crossed his mind.
"Spirou!" Fantasio laid Spirou in his lap again, his arms around his shoulders. "Spirou, don't fall asleep. You promised me you wouldn't fall asleep." He began to rock back and forth a bit. The feeling of panic was so intense now, that Fantasio felt like he was at the point of a panic attack. "I'm sorry I didn't talk to you to keep you awake, Spi. Please wake up!" The wounds were still bleeding. The shirt he had tied around Spirou's middle was already a dark shade of red. "Please Spi…" But Spirou remained motionless. His breathing was still laboured, and he was shaking a little. Fantasio wanted to scream. He felt so hopeless.
Spip had placed his little paws on Spirou's leg. He didn't dare to go to Fantasio right now.
A sound was what got Fantasio out of his panicked state. It came from behind him, and he and Spip both reacted instantly. "What was that Spip?" Fantasio whispered. Spip looked at the point where the sound came from with big, fearful eyes.

The little squirrel ran up to Fantasio's shoulder, and pulled at the man's ear. "What is it!?" Fantasio asked annoyed. He hated when someone touched his ear. Spip pointed at Spirou. The sound they had heard had also reached the unconscious lad's mind and had woken him up. "Oh dear, Spirou." Spirou's eyes were open, and even though they were glassed over with fever, they looked scared. His mouth began to move, like he was trying to speak. But so sound came. Fantasio felt Spirou's hand tighten around his arm.
"Fa…Fan…"
"Ssh, don't speak Spi, I've got you. Just stay with me, I will get us out of here."
With a bit of help from Spirou himself and Spip, Fantasio managed to carry Spirou on his back. Spirou's head was lying on his left shoulder, and his arms were around his neck. Fantasio did have a bit of trouble with his balance in the first few meters though, almost falling again. "Hold your ground Fantasio! Get going, why are you just stumbling around?" Spip thought as he was holding himself with Fantasio's hair. With a desperate sigh, Fantasio began to walk, even though it was slower than when he started. "Hold on Spi, just hold on…" He said under his breath. Spirou smiled a little as he vaguely heard Fantasio's words.

Spip and Fantasio felt like they had been walking for days. But Fantasio knew that that was not the case, the sun hadn't set yet. "Maybe around 4 hours of something? I didn't even know we were so deep in the forest already before all this happened." He shook his head a bit to clear it from the thoughts. "At some point we will reach the end of this forest… I'm sure of it."
Spip was still lying on Fantasio's head. He was sleepy and was looking very bored. "This forest will never end, I'm sure of it."

"Look Spirou, a wire." Fantasio said curiously. Even though Spirou hadn't made a noise for quite some time now, Fantasio still talked to him. The wire was very noticeable between all the green and brown. It was also very unnatural, something Fantasio really thought he wouldn't find in the middle of a forest. "What do you think, Spip?" The little squirrel stretched once and looked at the wire as well. "We will follow it, Spip. It's our only lead to the civilized world." Spip nodded. It was actually the only good idea he had heard in a long time. "Spi, how lucky are we that we have found this! But… which way to go?" "What does it matter? Either way we will come out somewhere. By the way, don't go back! I don't know if you remember, but there is a man slashing monster out there." Spip lay back down, his little paws stretched out in front of him. Fantasio seemed to realise this as well. Shifting Spirou a bit so his back wouldn't go to sleep, he stepped further, following the wire.

The wire went on and on, and sometimes it went up into a tree, so that Fantasio had to find it again. It also didn't go in a straight line. One time, when it came down from a tree, it went 90 degrees in the other direction, and so on. It felt to Fantasio that he was walking in a huge maze, and that he was following the path of crumbs, just like in the story of Hansel and Gretel.
"Told you." Thought Spip, who had grown tired of lying on Fantasio's head and was now walking behind him. "This forest will never end."
But of course, right when he thought that, Fantasio noticed that the trees were beginning to standing further apart from each other. "Look Spirou, Spip! I think we have finally found the edge of the forest. Could it be?" Because he himself couldn't run, Spip ran a bit further to look if it really was the end of the tree maze.
And it was. Spip was standing on the edge of a foothill, which looked over a valley. The little squirrel was so happy that he jumped into the air, his little paws above his head. "We did it Spip." Said Fantasio, who looked over the valley and enjoyed the cool wind on his face. Even Spirou took a deep breath in his sleep. "That's a good sigh, at least his body is aware enough of his surroundings."

"Hey Spip, do you see what I see?" Fantasio asked, still looking to the valley below him. Spip looked up at him and shook his head. "I see a village." Fantasio gave the squirrel a bright smile. "That's where the wire goes, I think. And a village means help! And help is just what we need."

I will start with the next chapter soon. But there will be at least one week that I am not able to write. Me and my school class are going to Berlin for a whole week!
'Till then, take it easy, and thank you very much for reading.