As Sarah walked through the forest, she continued to ask herself why Samantha would turn on her and run away. As she walked, she found a piece of torn cloth hanging from a short branch. Sarah went to it and looked at it for a second. There was a fresh bloodstain on the piece of cloth. The cloth was black, but the color seemed to be fading.
Sarah then thought for a second that the injured girl from before may have left this when she ditched her. Before Sarah could even continue walking—
Scream!
A loud scream burst out in the forest. Sarah paused. Her legs began to shiver in fear; she was afraid of who the scream might belong to—the injured girl or Samantha.
Sarah followed the direction the scream came from. She ran through the branches and jumped over the large roots. It was as if she had forgotten that she had sprained her ankle earlier. Sarah kept running and running until she found herself standing in the midst of the ranger outpost.
It was made of sturdy wood, and at the top there was a room where the lights seemed to be on. Sarah stood for a second and remembered that the last time she saw the outpost from the tree, there were no lights on. But now they were. She believed it might be the injured girl or Samantha, but she had heard a scream coming from it.
Sarah then took a deep breath and marched to the outpost.
As she slowly walked up the steps toward the top of the outpost, one of the steps let out a creak. She then saw the injured girl look down from the balcony. The girl saw Sarah and told her to come up. She then went back into the room. Sarah continued to walk up, but as she did, she began to realize—
How did the girl hear the creak that Sarah made when she came up the steps? Sarah remembered she was deaf. And what about the scream—didn't it not come from the outpost?
When Sarah reached the top door, she saw that the curtains had been drawn—but they weren't earlier. When she opened the door, she was pulled into the room and thrown against the wall. Before she could realize what was going on, she was pinned down by a man.
When she looked up, she saw a man with light brown skin and dark, short hair. His face looked irritated as he began to walk up to Sarah. Sarah took a good look at him and recalled him as Matthew—one of Marcus's goons.
She then heard someone whining. When she turned her head to the left, she saw a woman holding the injured girl by the back of her neck. The woman was white-skinned and looked rather bored. Sarah also remembered her as the same woman who was at the campfire with Marcus and his goons. Sarah recalled her name as Cacy.
Her gaze was on Sarah before she turned to Matthew.
"Matthew, watch these two, will you?" asked Cacy.
Matthew turned to her with an irritable look on his face and asked, "And why can't you do it?"
"Because I don't fall into my own traps," she said straightforwardly.
Matthew looked at her as if he would slap her right where she stood. He never liked Cacy—and he still didn't. He was only doing this for the money involved, not to get along with anyone.
"To make things easier, use this." She put her hand in her pocket and took out a case with small needles in it. "It's easier to watch them when you stab this in their necks," she said convincingly. "It knocks them right out."
Cacy then demonstrated on the injured girl. She threw the girl on the floor and pressed her down with her foot. Cacy pulled out one needle and stabbed it into her neck. The girl slowly began to feel dizzy until she fell fast asleep.
"See? That simple," she said as if she were talking to a child. "Now hold her down while I stab her with it."
Sarah tried to get her arms free, but it was no use—she was stuck. She then looked forward and saw a knife on the floor. She tried one more time, but still no use. Cacy got closer and was about to stab Sarah with the needle. Sarah closed her eyes in defeat, and then—
Bang!
A shot was fired. Cacy sprang up. Her bored expression turned into a rather alarmed one. Same with Matthew. When Sarah noticed the two were distracted and Matthew's grip had loosened, she, without hesitation, quickly grabbed the knife.
When Matthew turned his attention back to Sarah, she twisted her body to face him. She stabbed him in the neck and pushed him aside. Sarah was about to get up until Cacy grabbed her and pinned her to the wall.
Sarah's face was pressed against the wall, her arms pinned down by Cacy.
"Don't even try to move," Cacy said in a sinister tone. "You're going to regret doing what you did."
Cacy then turned to Matthew. His body lay in a pool of blood, the knife Sarah used still plunged in his neck, his eyes lifeless.
Sarah then used her leg to push Cacy's leg back. Cacy lost balance and let go of Sarah's head. Sarah then slammed her head against Cacy's nose. Cacy fell to the ground. Sarah ran to Matthew and took the knife from his neck. She dashed out of the ranger outpost and ran deep into the forest.
Cacy got up on her feet and wiped the blood from her nose. Then, she heard a static voice come from behind her. She looked back, and there was a radio placed on the table. The voice—despite the static—was one Cacy already knew. She was hesitant to answer it, knowing nothing good would come from it.
Sarah ran and ran through the forest until she ran out of breath and sat near an oak tree.
The tree's leaves were all gone; nothing was left except dry branches. She looked to the left and saw a park ranger vehicle. It was a bit rusted on the doors, the windshields were broken, and the tires were gone. Sarah took a deep breath and walked up to it.
She pulled the door handle, and to her surprise, it was not locked. She looked inside and saw a radio on top of the dashboard. She went to it and pressed the button to turn it on—but it didn't work. Sarah then went to the hood of the car and opened it. There, she saw that there was no car battery—not even an engine. The car had been stripped from the inside.
Sarah then sat next to the car. She began to slowly lose hope of getting out of the forest alive with her sister. She was even about to start crying—until she heard footsteps coming from behind the trees.
When she looked closely, she saw someone coming. It was quite dark to tell, but as she looked more carefully, she recognized the yellow hoodie.
Her heart was about to burst open with relief.