War of Peace

Chapter Ten

Cooper

I'm barely sleeping when I hear Emma yelling.

"Guys wake up! Maddie and Silas are gone."

All it took for me to immediately stand up was hearing gone and Silas in the same sentence. It's still dark outside and I'm shivering. "You mean to tell me that they are missing? And how the hell did this happen Emma?"

"Whoa Cooper calm down. We need to calm down and see if we can figure out what happened," Emma isn't calm either and I can tell but at least she is trying. I might as well try too. It's easier to find a missing person when you aren't in the midst of a breakdown.

"Why don't we try going around and looking for them?" Alex suggested.

Like that'll do any good. If they come back looking for us, we won't be here. I sit down in disagreement and everyone looks at me as if I'm a toddler who doesn't want to eat her veggies.

"Cooper, I mean what else are we going to do? Sitting around hoping that they're going to show up isn't going to do us any good," Gianna remarked. She sounds empathetic but she doesn't care about either of them. She barely knows them and probably cares less about them. Maddie is my friend and Silas is my cousin, I have to find them.

"Guys, g-guys," Ethan tried to speak but no one heard because Simon and Gianna started arguing about what we should do.

"Everyone shut up!" I scream as loud as I can. "Ethan's trying to say something and you guys are arguing, over what?" Everyone immediately fell silent and looked at me in shock. I'm not sure why it was so surprising to them, I yell a lot.

"There's someone here," Ethan whispers.

I look around but I can't see anyone. For a second I think he's going insane but then I hear a twig snap. After that four men from completely different directions appear from behind Coast Redwood trees which are scattered across this forest. They are some of the tallest trees in the world. I shake away the distraction and notice they all have guns. I don't have time to reach in my bag for one of my guns because they could shoot me as I do so. Everyone starts running ahead but instead I turn running past one of the men who starts following me. I hadn't realized before but Ethan is following close behind me.

"Cooper what are you doing?" he whispers from behind me. I can barely make out if that's what he actually said.

I don't reply, instead I pick up my speed. I can't tell how far he is behind me but his breathing becomes more distant. I look back to see where Ethan is but he's too far behind. I can't wait for him, I just have to keep going. One of the men with guns isn't close behind him. Ethan trips on a tree root, his glasses slip off his face and he tries to stand up but before he's able to regain his balance, he's shot in the stomach. He falls to the ground and begins bleeding out on the bed of moss. He starts hacking and I turn around, heart ready to jump out of my chest and run away.

I run as fast as my legs can take me. My ankle twists and I keep going despite the ankle pain. I stop suddenly at a river. I look behind me and I think I've lost them but I quickly run into the icy water anyways. I dip my head under the water to hold my breath for as long as possible to make sure I'm not seen. I start becoming really light headed and my body becomes really heavy, water starts going up my nose. I can't remember anything further than that.