The scene that was present would send shivers down anyone's spine. The hot blood, flowing down, mixing itself into the dirt below. When Riley looked up from the ground, a loud noise, ringing in her ear made everything become silent, as if things were moving in slow motion. Her blurry vision began to focus, as she did her best to blink back the pain that now radiated all over her body. Caleb had really knocked the breath out of her, and for some time, the blackness was all she saw.
Looking to her right, Riley saw Zoe, on her knees, screaming at something. Although, obvious that she was screaming due to the strain in her body as she did, Riley couldn't hear anything. The ringing noise was louder than ever. Unsure about what had happened since Caleb nearly knocked her unconcious, her could only suspect the worse. Suddenly, it all started to come back to her.
Erik.
Immediately, Riley started to stir, doing her best to force herself to get up, although it was as if her body had had enough. It just wanted to rest, it needed it. The pounding headache became stronger as Riley pushed herself to get up. Glancing up, she saw a sillouetteapproaching her in slow motion. Her eyes then landed on Zoe, who was now holding somethingonto her lap, and just as Riley's vision began to clear, she wasn't prepared for it. Erik's now lifeless body found it's place on Zoe's lap, as she leaned down and cried against it.
Within a split second, she soon realized that the body Zoe was holding onto, no longer had a head attached to it. As she saw Erik's head two feet away, the vomit in Riley's stomach slowly started to rise. She has seen a lot of gruesome things since she's been here, but she wasn't expecting that the next time she opened her eyes, someone else would be dead, in such a horific way.
The sillouete she saw a few seconds ago, finally stood above Riley, and immediately, she put her arms up in defense. As soon as their hands, wrapped around her arms, she started to kick back, ignoring the pounding in her head.
"Riley, stop." A familiar voice said, as they instantly tightened their grip around Riley, pulling her up from the ground.
It was as if this person brought her out of her trance that she was in, and suddenly, the loud ringing noise started to subside. Focusing on the person in front of her, she soon came face to face with the one guy she's been longing to see. Vince's worried look overpowered her confused one, and soon enough he embraced her, sudden apologies coming out of his mouth.
"I thought you were right behind us, I didn't mean to."
Vince's voice started to crack, as the visions of Caleb cutting into one of his best friend's throat resurfaced.Riley wasn't sure when exactly after those couple of minutes when she nearly passed out, that Vince came, but she was grateful for what it was worth. Looking back down at Zoe, her heart sank. Suddenly a new thought apprached her head, and she looked at Vince with worried eyes.
"They are safe." His reassuring words lightened the strain on her heart, but she knew with the others still out there, they would have to reunite with the others soon.
Breaking free from Vince, Riley walked over to Zoe, her heart going out to the poor girl, who just lost her only sibling. Zoe looked up as she approached, her cheeks all flushed red, stained with tears.
"We got to get going." Riley whispered, a sad look upon her face as she said those words. Zoe knew she was right, but deep down she couldn't leave, she couldn't just get up and keep on trying to live when her brother's body would lay here to rot in the darkness.
"I can't." Zoe cried, her arms wrapping tighter than ever. The reality of never seeing him again broke her even more. His last words to her kept replaying over and over in her head, as he yelled at her to run away. That thought only caused her to cry harder.
Riley looked away, and let her eyes focus on other things. Deep down, she knew if she were in such position, she wouldn't want to leave either. Her eyes focus on someone else. With a glare, she stared at the body laying on the ground unconcious. Her thoughts then focused on all the trouble he and his family had caused her friends.
"We've got to go." Vince said, bringing her back to reality. Immediately, Riley reached down and wrapped her arms around Zoe, who at first protested. Within a few seconds, Zoe gave in, and let Riley pull her away from her brother's body. Vince quickly looked around, scanning the area to make sure the others weren't in sight, then he began pulling the girls in the direction in which he left the others.
Suddenly, some rustling noise was heard from behind them, and quickly they saw Gabe shaking off the effects of when Vince knocked him out with the large tree branch. The sadness was quickly replaced by fear. Gabe helped himself up, his eyes soon making contact with the young teenagers. He glared at them, growling as his breathing grew rapidly. At the moment all he wanted to do was kill them. He began looking around, searching for his shot gun, with only help from the moonlight that peeked from around the trees.
Looking around from where he was laying, he soon saw his gun, five feet away. As he made his way towards it, Vince knew he had to try to stop him. Running as quick as he possibly can, he threw himself onto Gabe who wasn't expecting it. The girls watched from a few feet away, as the two guys struggled to over power one another.
Riley quickly ran to Vince's aid. Although it was three against one, that one at the moment was much stronger than the rest, who was dehydrated, hungry, and running with only a few hours of sleep in the last 48 hours.
Jumping onto Gabe's back, Riley tried to pull him off of Vince, and thankful it worked. As Gabe focus his attention of Riley, Vince got up from the ground and kneed Gabe's face, sending him backwards, falling on top of Riley. After he fell, he struggled against Riley, who was placed her arm around his neck, in an attempt to cut off his air supply. Reaching back, Gabe got a handful of her hair and started to pull, while his other hand grabbed her face, his fingers started to dig deep into her eyes, in an attempt to have her focus on the pain rather than tightening her grip around his neck. Vince went on top of Gabe, and punched him in the face.
Anger started to flow through Vince's veins, and he didn't care at that point. All he wanted at that moment was Gabe dead. For all that they had done to his friends, killing Gabe and the others still wouldn't satisfy him. After punching him, he pulled Gabe off of Riley, before jumping on him again. Riley looked in the direction in which Zoe was at, to make sure she was okay. Thankfully, Zoe stayed in the same place where they left her. She hugged herself, as she watched Gabe and Vince fight, tears of fear still flowing down her face. At this point, it was two against one, and in all honesty, Riley preffered having Zoe stay put. She wasn't sure why, but somehow felt having to protect her was the right thing to do, especially after she just lost her brother.
Suddenly, a grunt from Vince caught Riley's attention. Focusing back on the two, she saw that Gabe had managed to find a rock, large enough to hit Vince on the head with. Thinking fast, Riley started looking for the one thing that would help them out the most.
With Gabe now on top, Vince had trouble fighting him off. Gabe send a punch to Vince, causing blood to stream out of his nose. The pain caused Vince to turn his attention now to his broken nose, giving Gabe the opportunity to wrap both hands tightly around Vince's neck. As soon as the message sent through on what Gabe was doing, Vince immediately tried to release the tight hold around his neck. It was hard to concentrate when the pressure started to get to his head, the feeling being suffocated started to scare him, which caused him to kick around. Unfortunately, it did little to get Gabe off of him, and as Vince looked into Gabe's eyes, not once did he see a struggle, or guilt for what he was doing. How could anyone look into the eyes of who they plan to kill and feel no remorse?
Thankfully, Gabe was suddenly shoved off of Vince. Looking up, both of them saw Riley standing above them, shot gun pointed straight at Gabe's face. Instead of showing fear, Gabe just glared at her. Irritated, that his life was now in the hands of her, and knowing from her past experience, she made sure the safety on the gun was off. After backing away a few steps, Gabe kept his ground, doing his best to show he wasn't afraid.
As Riley held the gun in her hands, she was suddenly faced with the delemma of actually killing a person. As her heart raced, and her breathing became heavy, she sent a smirk of her own. Instantly, Gabe flew a few feet back after being hit square in the chest. The loud sound of the gun going off echoed through the woods. As soon as she pulled the trigger, Riley suddenly became worried, as the guilt of killing a person flooded her mind. Self defense can always be the reason, but actually killing someone, especially for being so young and innocent, the thoughts were sure to eat away at her.
Suddenly, Vince was by her side, holding her, knowing all to well what she was thinking. As if a light bulb had gone off in her head, she knew she had to deal with one of the main problems in her life right now. Turning around, she was suddenly faced with disappointment, and fear.
The spot where Caleb had been lying, was now empty.
"Fuck."
-------------------------
When and where were the only two questions that filled their minds, as the three looked around in the darkness of the woods. As they walked in the direction of where the others were waiting, Vince kept looking back, making sure that Caleb wasn't following. After leaving both Erik and Gabe's bodies behind, the three of them decided not to be stupid again and leave behind the weapons that Gabe and Caleb dropped.
Even after killing Gabe, no one felt in the least bit safe, knowing that there were still four more monsters out there somewhere in the woods. The worst of them all still alive.
The three of them rushed towards the area of where Vince said he left the others. Remembering the feeling of turning around and not seeing three people from their group, Vince acted quickly, and although it was unfortunate for what happened to Erik, the girls were still grateful for him coming back to help them.
When they finally reached the area in which Vince left the others, the three looked around in the darkness, hoping that no one had beat them to the others. Soon enough, appearing from behind a bush, Autumn came out and quickly embraced Riley. The reunion was heartfelt, seeing as how most of them thought that their friends were done for. It had been a shock to everyone when they turned around, and Riley, Erik, and Zoe were nowhere to be found.
"I was so scared." Autumn whispered, her voice shaky due to all the emotions she was going through at the moment.
Riley was just thankful to be alive, and not in the arms of Caleb. Soon enough, the news about what happened to Erik came out when Gerald looked around and noticed his friend wasn't with them. The unexpected news brought more tears to Zoe's eyes.
Shadow asked how Vince had managed to find them, in the dark most of all. All of them thinking the same thing, turned their heads to the guy.
With a sad look upon his face, Vince replied, "I followed the direction of the gun shots."
Suddenly, a loud yell echoed around them, and immediately everyone huddled around eachother.
"Where are you little shits?"
The voice sounded much to close for their liking, and soon a debate on whether they should stay in their hiding spot, or keep running, broke out. They were faced with a dilemma. Running would give some chances on finding help outside of the woods, although that was unlikely with being in such a deserted area, and the risk of staying and hiding in one spot might not be worth it. The hard decision was once again placed in the hands of Vince, who at the moment wasn't ready to deal with the pressure.
Soon enough they heard more voices around them, making them all look at Vince to hurry up and choose. He then locked eyes with Riley, trying to decide what was a better way to keep her and the others safe.
"We hide."
Still unsure about his decision, Vince had hoped that if Caleb and the others were to head in their direction, that they would simply pass by and continue on their way. Vince had given Gerald the crossbow that Caleb had left behind back at the other area, and then handed the large knife that was used on Erik, to Riley, knowing that she would need something to protect herself and Shadow. Within seconds, everyone spread out, sensing that the others were much closer than their voices made them out to be. Surrounding them were large patches of bushes, and along one side, there was a ditch big enough for someone to hide. At the moment, it was all they had to work with.
Helping Gerald into the ditch, Autumn then ran to hide in a nearby bush. From where she sat, she was still able to see the tip of Gerald's head. Riley and Shadow went to hide behind a large tree with one of the big patches of bushes right beside it. Zoe quickly hid into one holes that is on the side of one of the trees, a hiding spot that Vince had told her to go to, seeing that she would easily squeeze herself into. It was unknown where Vince had decided to run off to, which didn't settle well with Riley.
Soon enough, sets of heavy footsteps were heard from all around them, no one was sure where exactly they were coming from. All they needed was to stay quiet long enough so that the group would pass by without any problems. As they got closer, each and every one of the young teenagers held their breaths, praying that they wouldn't be found.
"I'm seriously getting tired of being out here." A deep voice was heard, added with a certain annoyed tone.Riley looked up, and finally saw them. They slowly walked to their hiding spot, the lights from their flashlights scanning the area. As they got closer, Riley soon felt a hand tightly grip around her arm. Looking to her left, she saw Shadow with her eyes clenched shut, her lips quivering.
"Those little shits will pay for what they did to Gabe."
The voice of Jacoby said angrily, as his eyes searched in the opposite direction from where they were hiding. It was more than obvious that this wasn't a game to them anymore, it was pure revenge.
Suddenly, the face of the worst person Riley and the others have ever met came into view from behind Jacoby. Riley had to look away, too disgusted to even continue to watch.
After seeing him disappear from back at the scene where she had shot Gabe, Riley wasn't sure when he had even gotten up, let alone where he had ran off to. The idea of being so close to end one of her biggest problems was still planted in her head.
Caleb no longer held the smirk that he was known to have upon his face most of the time. His teeth were clenched tightly, eyes looking hard into the darkness. His blood boiled with anger, having enough of dealing with Vince. Caleb's thoughts traveled back to when he woke up after Vince had knocked him out, and saw Riley pointing the gun at Gabe's chest. It had been Christian who pulled Caleb out of the way. Christian and the others had followed the sounds of the gunshots from when Caleb shot Erik. As soon as Christian pulled Caleb out if the way, Adam was about to shoot both Zoe and Vince, but Caleb stopped him.
"They will lead us to where the others are." Caleb silently growled, making Adam put down his gun. Although he wasn't happy about doing so, Adam knew Caleb was right.
Unknown to the young group, the three did more than reunite with their friends, they led their killers to them. Thankfully, the guys did not know their exact location. All they knew, was the direction in which they headed. It must have been killer instinct, because even if they couldn't see the young teens, the guys knew they were close.
"Looks like they might be headed up by McGuff's old place." Adam said, as he adjusted his gun onto his shoulder, while flashing his light around.
Riley wanted to give a sigh of relief, but knew it was still too soon to do so. All they wanted was for the guys to pass so that they could head in the opposite direction, and with every minute that they hung around searching, the tension ate away at the teens.
Deciding to open her eyes, Riley suddenly felt as if her heart and rolled right out of her chest, and onto the dirt beneath her. Caleb was looking directly at her.
Doing her best not to scream and run away like a lunatic, Riley bit hard onto her tongue. As if waiting for him to walk right up to her hiding spot, she watched him carefully. Just then, Caleb looked away, before glancing at the other bushes in the area.
A few more seconds had gone by, and the guys decided to continue forward. A huge sigh of relief flowed throughout each and every one of the teenagers bodies. They watched as the guys began to walk away. Riley and Shadow looked at one another, and gave a smile. Their plan had worked.
Just then the worst thing that could possibly happen, occurred. The sound of a loud thud instantly got the older guys to stop in their tracks. Glancing over his shoulder, the infamous smirk returned on Caleb's lips.Riley cursed under her breath. Thinking about what the heck gave them away. Looking around, she saw that both Gerald and Autumn looked as confused as she did. She couldn't see Zoe from where she was, so it was unknown whether or not who had made such a stupid move at the wrong time.
Caleb and the others walked back to the area in which the sound came from. It sounded as if someone had hit something a little too hard, and that was more than enough for the guys to go on. Looking at Jacoby, Caleb signaled him, and in an instant, Jacoby started to climb one of the trees. As silent as it was, the group could hear their own heartbeats by now. It had gotten so intense, knowing that from where Jacoby was heading, he would be able to spot some of them out. Riley started to tremble in her spot, Shadow right by her side, feeling the exact same fear as her friend.
Autumn held her breath as she saw that the tree Jacoby decided to climb was the exact one right by the ditch in which Gerald was currently hiding. Although, even with being right above him, Jacoby wouldn't be able to spot Gerald, as the ditch he was in was too dark to even see in, but Autumn being so close, it would as look like she was out right in the open for everyone.
"Anything?" Adam asked, the excitement building within him. He, along with the other guys were long awaiting this moment to get their hands on the teens who had caused more trouble than they should have.
"We have to find another spot." Shadow whispered, knowing as soon as Jacoby reached high enough, they were in his sights as well. Agreeing, Shadow and Riley slowly started to crawl behind the tree that was right next to the bush they were in. Since Shadow is still badly injured, trying to silently crawl away was a task all on it's own.
"Nothing yet, going to climb higher." Jacoby answered, feeling a bit out of breath.
Getting somewhat impatient, Christian gave off some random shots in different directions.
"Hey, watch where you're fucking shooting." Jacoby said, slightly irritated.
Ignoring him, Christain yelled, "Stop hiding you
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