The Runaways

Chapter 9

Cory left early the next morning to hunt once more. He promised we'd have rabbit today instead of squirrel again. And he said we could finish the strawberries tonight so that they wouldn't get spoiled. I was thrilled. Cory also promised that we could move on tomorrow. I was thankful.

I waited and waited for Cory to get back. By mid-afternoon, I had started to get worried. Just as I was about to go search for him, I heard the sound of rustling leaves and I knew that Cory was coming. I ran to meet him, to see if he was okay, when I saw more than one figure in the trees. My heart pounded in my chest, and I turned on my heel, ready to run, to escape. As I started to run, I tripped over a hole in the ground. I lay there, trying not to cry out in pain, as my back was hurting worse than ever. Cory, two men and a woman came through the trees, and when they spotted me, their eyes widened in shock.

One of the men looked vaguely familiar, and as I studied him, I remembered abruptly who he was. Landon.

He looked taller, more muscled somehow, and had a bit of facial hair. He looked older, as if time had passed more quickly where he was from. When he saw me looking at him, he gave me a genuine smile, not a smirk as usual. How strange.

Cory came and helped me up. I gave him a look of confusion, begging him to explain, but he just looked at me like he would kill someone. Which he probably could've if the man who I assumed to be Landon's father hadn't had Cory's bow in hand.

“What's your name?” asked the man.

“Ally,” I said truthfully without thinking. Cory shot me a dirty look, but I didn't regret telling the truth.

“Is this where the two of you are staying?” he asked.

“Yes sir,” I replied. “May I ask a question myself?”

He chuckled, and I knew then that he really was Landon's father. They had the same smile.

“Yes you can,” he said.

“Who are you and why are you here?” I asked.

“My name is Rodger Gray and this is my wife Rhonda. We were at our cabin where we stay on the weekends during the summer, when your friend here almost shot our son Landon while he was out fishing,” Rodger explained. I gave Cory a questioning look. He shrugged.

“Oh,” I managed to say.

“Now I'm going to have to ask you the same question Miss. Why are you here?” he asked.

I pondered his question for a moment. “I made a mistake,” I said.

He gave a knowing smile and shook his head. “I know all about you and your friend's disappearance. I work for the White Sulfur Springs Police Department. After your parents reported your kidnapping, Ally, I was put on the case. While inspecting your home, we found your note, which told us that you had run away and not been kidnapped as your parents reported. And then when Cory here's parents reported his disappearance, we put two and two together and figured that you ran away together. We've been looking for you ever since,” he explained.

“And now that you've found us, what is going to happen to us?” I asked.

“Well, Ally, to tell you the truth, I have to take you back to White Sulfur Springs. There we will have to fill out some paperwork and find you a place to live,” he said.

“Why would you need to find me a place to live?” I asked.

“About two weeks after you were reported missing, your mom and step dad left town in the dead of night and haven't been seen since,” he said quietly.

My brow furrowed in confusion. I looked at Cory for help, but he was just as confused as I was. “What do you mean, they skipped town?” he demanded.

“It's true. We've tried to find them but we haven't had any luck yet,” he answered.

“And my parents? How are they?” Cory asked nervously.

At this, Rodger took out a handkerchief and wiped his brow. “They died in a drunk driving car accident a week ago,” Rodger said slowly and softly. Cory slowly sank to the ground in shock. Then he let out a sound like a wounded animal and started to cry, harder than I had seen anyone before. I ran my fingers through his hair, hoping to calm him. He pulled me down next to him, wrapped his arms around me, and wept onto my shoulder. He was a wreck. I had never seen him like this.

He kept crying until he had no more tears left, and then he sat there, hiccuping and sniffling. There was heavy sympathy on everyone's face, even Landon's. They all felt sorry for the parentless boy who hadn't even been there for his parent's funerals.

“Landon, why don't you help her pack up their things,” Rhonda suggested. “I'll help Cory. He needs to calm down or he may hurt himself,” she said.

Landon and I walked the few yards to the shelter. He started to pick up things and put them in the packs wherever they would fit.

“Why are you being so nice to me?” I asked while he picked up a canteen and put it into my pack.

“My father unearthed some pretty wicked stuff about both of your families while he was on the case. And I realized that you must've had a hard time at both home and school because of the way that I treated you. And I regret it. I kept thinking that if I hadn't been so mean, you wouldn't have run away,” he confessed.

“Well I don't need your sympathy, thank you,” I said bitterly as I placed the last item into Cory's pack.

“I just thought-” Landon began.

“Stop thinking. It'll get you nowhere,” I interrupted.

“So you don't think that anything I did had anything to do with your decision?” he demanded.

“I think that we made a bad decision based on bad judgment. I don't know if what you did had anything to do with it,” I said.

I turned and walked back, leaving Landon to carry both packs. He did so with ease, which disappointed me just a little because I wanted to see him suffer just a bit.

“We need to walk back to our cabin to get the cars. Unfortunately, one of you will have to ride with us and one of you will have to ride with Landon because we both have trucks,” Rhonda said.

“Okay,” I agreed.

We walked slowly, for Cory's sake. As we were walking, I realized that I hadn't even thought of trying to run after the initial try. I must be okay with going back deep down, even though a small part of me knew that I would miss it, especially since I had no family left.

The ride back in Landon's truck was a long one. I sat there, thinking about the lives we were going back to. The idea of going back to that sleepy little town wasn't an inviting one, but it was much better than getting hurt in the woods again. I just hoped that we weren't viewed as the freaks of the county now.

When we passed the sign to get into town, I sighed. I had a feeling the next few days and weeks would be excruciating.