Runaways- Runaways 1

Chapter 28: Aaliyah

It was almost six in the evening and we were still going. We rarely went this late, and considering we'd started so early, we'd been going for just over eleven hours. Eli had said we'd keep going until the sun set. That meant we had a good two hours to go at the least.

He and Peyton seemed to be on better terms. I'd been worried about them when they'd disappeared the night before, but it seemed like they were okay now.

I felt awful for kissing Peyton the night before. I mean, technically she kissed me, but it still sat the wrong way with me. There was no doubt I loved her, but I didn't want to be the factor that drove her and Eli apart. Even after such a short time, from what I could tell they were perfect for each other, to a seventeen-year-old extent.

"Did anyone else hear something?" Marcus asked, snapping me out of my thoughts.

"Probably a squirrel," Luke said. Marcus shrugged.

"If you say so." But then I heard what he was talking about. It sounded much larger than a squirrel. It almost sounded human. Not again, I thought. I couldn't bear having to kill someone else. We were in the middle of a forest away from the hiking trails. No one else should be out here.

"I heard it that time," I countered. Marcus turned to face me.

"What do you think it was?"

"I don't know. Not a problem, hopefully." He nodded.

I didn't want to tell him that I could feel the presence of other people. Someone was out there. I wanted to believe we would be okay, but that would be wishful thinking. Someone was after us, or at least that's what it felt like.

Suddenly, Eli grabbed my arm. "You feel it too?" he muttered. I knew what he meant. I nodded. He glanced around the trees and must have spotted something because the next thing he said was, "Run!"

Marcus shot him a glance but took off in the direction we were heading, leading the rest of us. Luke brought up the rear. That's when the voices rang out behind us. I could hear hurried footsteps following us. Shit. It was more than one person. Three maybe.

"Luke, Peyton, get in front of me!" Eli called. They were the only ones behind him. Luke moved up quickly, but Peyton remained in the back.

"I'm not letting you get behind me," she replied. "What if they start shooting or something?" Eli shook his head.

"Exactly."

"Eli, you aren't getting anywhere with that! Just move!" Marcus shouted. He rolled his eyes, but I could see the fear inscribed on his face. He knew something the rest of us didn't. He was just too scared to say it.

There was no time to think about that now. The footsteps were loud, but they were a good hundred yards away for now. Maybe we could lose them. We took sharp turn after sharp turn, jumping over fallen logs and branches and tearing through briar thickets. There was nowhere to go but forward.

After five minutes, we still hadn't lost them, and that's when we hit a drop off. The part of the woods we had been running through ended on a steep slope and sliding down it might be more deadly than what was following us. I skidded to a stop just before running into Marcus.

"Sorry," I said breathlessly.

"It's fine, it's fine." It looked like he was trying to decide between rolling down the slant or turning to face what was behind us. Eli decided for him and laid down, letting gravity carry him to the unseen bottom of the hill. Peyton followed, then me, Luke, and finally Marcus.

We were sliding so fast over the dead leaves that I thought if there were any trees at the bottom that we happened to run into, we'd surely die. I could hear people coming down behind us. That was almost scarier.