End of Days: The Hunted

Chapter 3

Timothy and his younger sister ran through the woods, tears streaming down both of their young faces. Without stopping, the paced swiftly through a forest of green and brown. Timothy tried to block the images of his parents, but the whole scene kept replaying over and over, and he cried. "Why did we leave mommy and daddy?" Rachel cried as they ran.

He couldn't think of a good answer without making her cry even louder. "Mom and dad aren't coming with us."

"Why not? We just left them laying back there!" she screamed.

"They aren't coming! Now just be quiet." said Timothy as they came to a thick brush. Then they heard people talking. "Shh. Come on." said Tim as they hid behind some bushes.

Rebecca and Luke wondered through the wilderness. "I never knew Indiana had woods." said Rebecca as they walked.

"As we get closer to the southern part, the more wooded it'll be. And the more safer we will be." Luke spoke quietly.

They walked and walked, Rebecca occasionally stepping on twigs and branches. "Rebecca, I love you, but please, be more careful. I don't want us getting caught." said Luke nervously.

"Sorry." she said timidly.

"Come on. There is an abandoned road we can take over here." said Luke motioning to the end of the woods.

SNAP! Luke cautiously looked at the broken branch under his shoe. "Crap!" he said to himself.

A car rode up the narrow dirt path. Tom crouched behind a bush. "Maybe we have some friends now." he said to himself.

The car slowly stopped by the edge of the forest. Mary and a tall slender mad came out of the car. "Mary!" Tom called for them, "Over here."

"Thomas!" said Mary. Mary and Matt went over to Tom.

"You're finally here. Run into any trouble?"

"No, just the whole town is in chaos." said Mary.

"Okay, we should get moving. You know if anyone else is coming with?" asked Tom.

"Wait, where are we going?" said Matt.

Mary and Tom looked at each other. "We're getting out of here."

"We'll be going to an abandoned camp where no one will find us." said Tom.

Matt confused, "Why? I mean we could just take the chip and try to fit in, right?"

"Look, they'll kill us. We are Christian, you may not be, but Mary and I are. So if you want to go take that chip and die, go right ahead. No one is stopping you." said Tom angrily.

"I'm not a Christian, but I am here for Mary." Matt confronted Tom.

Mary stepped between them, "Stop it!" she said, "This is not the time to argue."

Tom stepped away, "Fine." He grabbed the gun box and brought it to his car. "Come on. We can take my car."

Mary and Matt started toward his car when suddenly a loud crack shot through the air. They all paused.

Rachel and Timothy froze at the sound. Tim strained to see where it came from, but could see nothing. "What was that?" asked Rachel wiping a tear from her eye.

"Shh!" Timothy hissed.

She shut her mouth. Tim slowly stepped to the edge of the forest of trees. He dropped to his stomach and peeked through a small bush. There were two people. A lean, muscular man with blond hair and a small, timid woman with red hair. They paused at the sound. The man crouched down and suddenly jumped out of the forest.

"Aaahh!!" screamed a man as he lunged at Tom. They rolled to the ground and fought for a minute until Matt grabbed them both. "Get off of me!" yelled Tom.

Matt shouted for them to stop and they stepped from each other. "Who are you?" asked Mary.

"Who are you?" he answered.

"Are you Christians?" said Rebecca timidly as she stepped out of the forest.

They all looked at each other. "Yes, we are."