Don't Look Back

Separated..

I was leaned up against the tree trunk clenching my side feeling the warm gooey liquid run between my fingers, Jeffrey, Jake and I all got separated since there was too many to take out. I have no clue where they are or if they're even alive, I let out a trembling breath before glancing around seeing nothing was around me. With a small push my back left the tree trunk and I began walking again. It was dark and I can't really see anything without a flashlight which I didn't even think about til now, yea let's take them out I said, we'll be fine I said, I was wrong once again. Alone and terrified I kept moving being as quiet as I could be. I wish I was home, I should have stayed home and none of this would have happened...no not entirely true, rather I was still at home I'm sure they would have dealt with this on their own. The memory of seeing Chelsea's head on a stake kept popping back into my mind, her mouth wide open along with her eyes...a horrible sight for anyone to see. I looked down at my hand since my eyes adjusted, I could see I had lost a good amount of blood. I could go for some whiskey right now, my head shot up since I heard my name being called. I never spoke but stayed quiet, if I get caught now I'm a goner. The voice grew closer and I could tell it was Jeffrey but I couldn't say anything since I was feeling weak. All I could do was follow the sound of his voice, the sound of a gun going off made me use the strength I had left to dart through the woods. I came out of the trees seeing Jeffrey standing over one of the mountain hillbillies,

Me:"J-Jeffrey.."

His head shot towards me then down at my hand,

Jeffrey:"What did they do to you?!"

I slowly moved my hand as it trembled to see he lost the color in his face,

Jeffrey:"Come on."

In an instant he picked me up darting towards the cave, we made it in twenty minutes to find Jake was with them.

Jake:"What the fuck happened?"
Jeffrey:"She was was stabbed. I need you to help me."

Kate quickly helped Josh out of the way so Jeffrey could lay me down,

Me:"The case..it's in my pocket."
Jeffrey:"Save your breath doll, Kate do you have a belt or something?"
Kate:"Yes, one moment."

Kate jumped to her feet taking her belt off quickly to hand it to Jeffrey,

Jeffrey:"You should bite down on this."

I reached up gripping his arm,

Me:"Not stabbed, get the bullet out.."
Jeffrey:"What?"
Me:"Listen to me, there are clamps in there you have to open the wound and use those tweezers to pull the bullet out. I can stitch myself."
Jeffrey:"No I will. Now bite down."

The belt was inches from my mouth so with a annoyed sigh I bit down on it, I couldn't close my eyes I need to see everything. Jeffrey gave a hard tug and out came the bullet, my jaw clenched down on the belt to hold in the scream that tried to come out.

My eyes slowly opened, once my vision became more clear I saw Jeffrey along with Kate and Jake staring at me,

Me:"Take a picture it'll last longer."

That made them laugh a little,

Jeffrey:"You passed out, how are you feeling?"
Me:"Like I've been shot but I feel rested."
Jeffrey:"Good, can you move on your own?"
Me:"Yea I think so."

I slowly sat up looking to see the sun was starting to rise so I looked to see Josh was moving around.

Me:"We have to try to make it to the car, fuck whoever is left we can't stay here any longer."
Jake:"With the sun coming up they'll be able to see us."
Me:"We'll be able to see them as well, look we already lost one friend, Josh was injured first then me. We can't risk that happening to anyone else so our best shot is to just run and hope we reach the car."
Jeffrey:"Josh how's your shoulder?"
Josh:"Sore but I can move quicker then Kayleigh."
Jeffrey:"Good, alright we'll go with Kayleigh's plan. I don't want to stay here a minute longer, she's right our only best shot is to run."
Jake:"Okay, let's see if she can at least stay on her feet."
Jeffrey:"Right."

Jake and Jeffrey helped me to my feet then let go, I started to slowly walk around the cave til my legs felt like I can walk for miles.

Me:"I'm good, let's get out of here."

The five of us left the cave making our way down the hill, I kept glancing around for any movement. With no sighting of those fucked up people we made it about halfway down the mountain, as we came to a hault due to being on a cliff neither one of us wanted to climb down the cliff but what other choice do we have? Instead of going down one by one we came to an agreement to climb down together, during the climb down I felt a few stitches tear causing me to wince in pain. My feet touched the ground at the bottom of the cliff where the others waited for me, while I caught my breath and cussing out my body mentally for being weak we all heard my name being called. My body finally caught up with my movements as my name was called again but this time it was in a frantic tone, my head quickly turned towards my left as I motioned the others to stay quiet but when the voice called out again I felt a rush of relief flow through me as I began to sob quietly, the voice I'm hearing belongs to my father.

Jeffrey:"Kayleigh is that your dad?"

Since I was quietly crying I was able to muffle out a 'yes' in response to his question. I was quickly swept off my feet by Jeffrey as him and the others ran in the direction my dad was coming from. Jeffrey ran so fast I had to bury my face into his chest to keep from being smacked in the face by branches, my dad's voice became clearer so I lifted my head just as Jeffrey came to a stop.

Dad:"Oh God! Kayleigh!?"

Jeffrey sat me down so I could hug my dad,

Jeffrey:"I am so sorry Mr.Williams.."
Dad:"No, I'm just happy to see you guys are alright. Where's Chelsea?"
Me:"She was killed dad, we've been running for our lives from these fucked up mountain people!"
Officer:"I thought they were just stories?"
Me:"Their not okay, it's real and there is a lot more of them up there!"
Officer:"Okay ma'am calm down, why don't we get you guys down to the sheriff."

The rest of the way down the mountain was a breeze which gave me an unsettling feeling until we came out of the trees seeing police cruisers along with all of... our parents? Kate and I rushed towards our moms giving them both a big hug,

Mom:"Kayleigh hun we were so worried about you guys.."
Me:"We're okay now. I have to um speak with Chelsea's parents.."
Mom:"Where is she?"

I stepped back looking at her with teary eyes as I shook my head,

Me:"Let me talk to them."
Mom:"Oh..."

I laid my hand on her arm then walked over to Chelsea's mom and dad,

Chelsea's mom:"I'm glad your okay Kayleigh!"

She spoke with relief and sadness,

Me:"Yea... I wanted to be the one to tell you but um.. it's not easy to say this but... Chelsea didn't make it.."
Chelsea's mom:"No! Kayleigh tell me it's not true!?"

Footsteps approached us so I looked to see Josh,

Josh:"It's the truth.. I'm really sorry.."
Me:"I um, I'll leave you three to grieve.."

Josh softly smiled as I walked away heading back over to my mom,

Mom:"You going to be okay sweeite?"
Me:"No mom, one of my best friends was killed... I'm not okay."
Dad:"You need to get that wound checked out properly."
Me:"It's fine dad, I walked Jeffrey through it."
Dad:"You what?"
Jeffrey:"She did, I promised to keep her safe and I did."
Dad:"Thank you Jeffrey. You have no idea how appreciative I am."
Jeffrey:"Plenty of time to show me since we'll be family."
Mom:"Family?"

Dad softly laughed and looked at both Jeffrey and I,

Dad:"I hope he asked before everything you guys went through."
Me:"He did dad, right before our hike."
Jeffrey:"I asked Kayleigh to marry me Mrs.Williams."
Mom:"Oh! This is exciting news."
Dad:"Ready to go home?"

I looked behind me to see Josh and Jake walking towards us,

Jake:"We should go home."
Me:"What about your aunt and uncle? Their expecting us."
Jake:"They'll be fine."
Me:"No, this trip was planned. So we finish it for Chelsea. After all of this we shouldn't be separated now, she wouldn't want us to end the trip early."
Dad:"Kayleigh, are you sure?"
Me:"I'm sure."
Jake:"Alright we'll finish the trip."
Dad:"We're not leaving Kayleigh, we'll get a hotel for a few days then we can all head home."
Me:"Okay, a few days then we can go home."