Clara's POV
"C'mon Grace." I hold onto her arm, helping her run. "We need to hurry."
Grace is crying hysterically, clutching her stomach and stumbling as she runs. "I can't."
"We just need to make it out of the woods. And then we're safe."
"We won't be safe, Clara. We won't!" Grace screams
"Guys we have to go." Malia tells us.
Grace stops running and she stands still, arms hanging by her sides adn tears streaming down her face. "I'm not going. I can't."
"Grace!" I yell at her. "What the hell is your problem?"
"We're not going to make it out. The guys aren't going to make it out. Some of us are already dead and now the rest of us are going to die." She says.
"Are you fucking insane?" Malia grabs her arm, trying to pull her with us.
Grace sniffs, wiping away her tears with the back of her hand. "Probably."
A knife zooms out of the darkness, landing in the tree directly next to my head.
"Move and you're dead." A voice says.
"Dammit, Grace. Now we're really fucked." I glare at her.
"Who are you?" A man walks out of the darkness. He's not one I've seen before and honestly he only looks a few years older than us.
"Why should we tell you? You're just going to kill us." Grace tells him.
"Shut up, Grace." Malia snaps.
"Did you come from the house?" He asks, raising a gun.
"Yea." I answer quickly.
"How'd you get out?" He narrows his eyes at us.
"Through a window." Malia says.
"And they didn't stop you?" He lowers his gun, walking towards the knife in the tree.
"They tried, but we ran."
"You can't run out of these woods though." He tells us.
"What do you mean?" I ask.
"I've been trying to get out of these woods for the past 3 years. I haven't found a way out yet" He says sadly, his face showing a pained expression.
And that's really when I realize that this guy doesn't want to kill us. He has weapons, but for his own protection. He's scared and stuck here just like us.
"How long have you guys been here?" He asks.
"We have no idea. We haven't seen sunlight at all though." Malia answers.
"Sunlight doesn't get in here. It's too dense." He answers.
I hear gunshots in the distance and I begin to panic. My body stiffens and my hand covers my mouth.
"Is there more of you?" The guy asks.
"Yea. Two guys." I answer.
"They've been found." He responds. "Do you want to be found?" We all shake our heads. "Then follow me."
"Why should we?" Grace finally speaks up.
"What other option do you have?" He asks with a smirk.
He begins running through the woods and I assume we're supposed to follow him, so we do. We run after him and surprisingly, Grace doesn't even protest to follow us. He's fast but we manage to keep up with him, weaving our way through the many trees and bushes, occasionally running through a branch and getting a bit scraped up.
Soon we reach another house. This one much, much smaller than the mansion the psychotic men live in. The boy we were following opens the front door of the small house and motions for us to come in. We enter the house and he closes the door behind him.
"They won't find us here." He tells us.
"How do you know?"
"I've been living here for 3 years and they haven't found me yet." He shrugs.
He sits down on the small armchair, running a hand through his tangled, long brown hair. "I'm Carter by the way."
"I'm Clara." I introduce myself then point at Malia. "That's Malia." Then I turn to the other side of me, pointing at Grace. "And that's Grace."
"How many of you did you start with?" Carter asks bluntly.
"How do you know it wasn't just us and the two other guys?" Malia asks.
"I just know."
"We started with eight." Grace answers.
"You've done nicely. The majority of you have survived." Carter looks impressed. "I was in a group of six. Within a couple of ours four of us were dead. I lived with the other survivor for a while but about a year ago he was killed as well."
"I'm so-" I begin to say but he cuts me off.
"Don't say you're sorry." He says bitterly. "I don't need it. I feel sorry enough for myself."
"Okay." I mumble uncomfortably.
"What do you mean we can't get out of these woods?" Grace asks.
"I told you, I've been trying to get out for 3 years and I haven't found the end of the woods."
"But how is there no end to the damn woods?" She throws her hands up in frustration. "They're woods. There has to be a way out, you just keep walking in one direction."
"Yea, I know." Carter snaps. "I've tried. I always get chased or caught in some trap. I can't get out."
The small house is silent after that. None of us really know what to do. I shift back and forth on my heels awkwardly, trying to think of something to say. I can't think of anything though. All my hopes have been crushed and I just feel completely depressed and scared to death. Hearing that this guy, Carter, has been stuck in these stupid woods for 3 years really brought my mood down even more. We have no chance of getting out.
"So what are supposed to do?" Malia asks.
"Nothing. There's nothing to do." Carter answers with a shrug. "You get used to it after a while though."
"I'm scared." I say.
Carter lets out a scoff. "Oh really, princess? You're scared?"
I frown slightly at his rude comment. "Yes I'm scared. And not just for me. But for my friends too. Our other friends, Luke and Calum, are still out in the woods."
"They're dead now." He answers with a sickening chuckle. "Didn't you hear the gun shot? They were found and there's no way they can survive now."
"We survived in the house."
"But you guys don't know these menacing woods. The woods are confusing and dark. These men are used to the dark and are able to maneuver through it. You guys can't. Your friends don't stand a chance."
"Do you have to be so damn pessimistic?"
"What is there to be optimistic about?"
I have no answer to his question because he's right, there is nothing. There is absolutely nothing about this situation that is in our favor. The men who want to kill us are used to this environment, it's their home. We're the intruders here and we have no clue what's going on. They have an extreme advantage over us and as much as I hate to admit it, more of us are probably going to die.
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filler bc writer's block oops
