The Hanging Tree

f i v e

NANCY FELL BACK IN SHOCK, her arms wheeling, trying to hold herself up. Drew caught her quickly, placing a finger over his pursed lips to signal her to shut up - if she still wanted to try to run. But it was too late - Nancy no longer wanted to go through with the scheme; she had seen too much. She now knew what these guys were really capable of. Whether or not you were on their good side, they would kill you. And by following through with their 'plan to escape', Nancy and Drew would be getting on their bad side - something Nancy never wanted to see. So she had to back out, and hopefully her counterpart would comply. Unfortunately for Nancy, Drew insisted on being the braver of the two, and daringly took off into the deep, dark, and dangerous forest. Nancy's eyes widened in shock at his audacious move, and she opened her mouth again to yell at him to come back - but she realized that would be giving away his position.

Regrettably, as Nancy had shrieked with disgust when she encountered the scene of the murder, her captors had been alerted that something was off. They came barging out of their luxurious tent (armed with guns and knives) before Nancy could even process what was going on. She gaped at the pair, unable to handle to current situation; her thoughts were swirling around in her head faster than a tornado.

She watched, incapable of formulating any words, as they trained their guns on Drew, who had only made it about 30 feet. That definitely was not enough. He would never make it in time. Nancy found her voice, and screamed for him to duck. He obeyed, taking a sharp dive onto the rocky ground. Her detainers hesitated, then turned to Nancy, instead sizing her up.

"You care for him?" The man's voice rumbled, making Nancy tremble out of fear - but she quickly nodded. "He cares for you?" Nancy again nodded her head, but at a more slow rate. Did Drew care for her?

As Nancy thought this through even further, she came to a sudden realization: they were going to use the duo against each other. Even though they weren't "star-crossed lovers", it was like Nancy was Katniss and Drew was Peeta and they were in the story 'Mockingjay'. Nancy covered her mouth, and bit back tears. She wished she could take back the [at first not seemingly] valuable information. Either she or Drew was going to come out of this hurt or even dead. And it was all Nancy's fault.

She peered at them, her eyes partially closed out of fright. Her blood ran cold as she looked to Drew, who was crouched down behind a medium-sized boulder, gazing intently at her, waiting for a signal of some sort.

Nancy never had a chance to give it to him, for shortly thereafter, she felt an excruciating pain in her calf muscle. Her muscles started to spasm, and her leg gave out from beneath her. "Nancy!" She heard a deep voice echo through the starry night, but her thoughts were a blur - she couldn't comprehend what exactly was happening. She was in too much pain. A boy's face came into her line of sight, his features slightly distorted in her clouded vision. "Stay with me!" He seemed to be saying, his fat tears falling onto her porcelain skin.

Nancy was rapidly losing blood from the bullet wound in her right calf muscle, and with that, went her energy. She felt herself beginning to drift off. "Nancy!" The boy called, his body trembling over hers. "Please! Don't leave me here!" But Nancy couldn't help the physical pain she was in, and she began to slowly drift away from consciousness and towards the dark unknown.

-

Drew knew that this was all his fault. He was the reason that Nancy may or may not be dead. He sunk to the ground beside his fellow captive, shaking her roughly - just hoping that would wake her up. He had realized in the somewhere in the back of his mind long ago that it would never work, but he still had to hang onto the small hope that she might pull through.

"Why would you do this?" Drew roared, his body shuddering violently with pure anger.

"Well, you came back, didn't you?" The man shrugged indifferently, while his partner grinned maliciously.