The night air was brisk and a heavy fog began rolling low over the fallen leaves on the forest floor. The dead leaves crunched under every step Paige took. Guided by the light of the moon, she was determined to find Hayden.
Paige stopped suddenly at the sound of an echoing crunch from behind her. Someone was following her. Immediately, she pulled an arrow from the quiver on her back and hooked it into her bow, turning around sharply. She aimed at the tall, thick figure standing about 3 yards from her.
"Why did you come?" she spat.
"I couldn't let you do this alone," said a gruff voice.
"Ethan," said Paige roughly through gritted teeth, "go home. I don't need you help and its not safe out here."
"Exactly! That's why I'm here. Just because you have some fancy bow and exploding arrows doesn't mean you're safe." Ethan took a few steps towards Paige.
"Safer than you," Paige mumbled under her breath.
Ethan, having not heard her comment or choosing to ignore it, said, "And speaking of that fancy bow could you please stop aiming it at my face?" Paige lowered the bow and placed the arrow back in the quiver.
"Sorry," she grumbled. Ethan, now standing beside Paige, took the bow from her cold hands. He held it up as if he were going to shoot something, closing one eye to focus on an owl perched on a tree branch.
"What are you planning to do any ways? Kill him?" he says handing the bow back to Paige. "You can't shoot him, they want him alive remember?"
"I don't really have a plan,"Paige replied shyly. It was unlike Paige to act this impulsively. She always had a plan. What was different this time?
"Oh, wow, that's just perfect! Our supposed leader runs into the woods with nothing but a bow to hunt a dangerous killing machine! What could go wrong here?" Ethan yelled sarcastically. Paige loaded her bow.
"Wow, calm down Paige," he said raising his hands in surrender, "I was just kidding. You're very..."
"Shut up," Paige said sharply, cutting him off.
"Dude I'm apolo..."
"No Ethan, seriously shut up." In the silence, Paige looked around them, listening intently to the many noises surrounding them. Listening specifically for the one that wasn't normal.
"Did you hear that?" she breathed.
Ethan shook his head no, afraid to actually say something. He listened too. The tree tops swayed with the light wind on the cool night. He heard his heavy rapid heart beats and breathes.
This reminded him of something he had read a while back. In language arts class his freshman year, they were writing a scary story so he looked up how to describe scary noises. In a certain article, it talked about how when you're alone and its night time, noises tend to be more scary, you become aware of you chest tightening and your breathes. One specific line caught his attention, and he still remembered it; This hyper-awareness of sounds is a leftover of our primeval past, when humans were the prey of natural predators and the keenness of your hearing might make the difference between life and death.
Just then Ethan heard the noise and along with it came a sudden disquietude feeling.
"Paige," Ethan breathed, "where did you park your car?"
"A about two miles north of here. Why?" She whispered, pointing in the direction of her car.
"Because," Ethan started to step in that direction. "I think we should run." They both took off running in the direction of their vehicles. They could hear the heavy steps slamming into the ground behind them. Ethan looked over his shoulder hoping to get a glance at the monstrous thing chasing them. He could barley see anything, but he did catch sight of his eyes. Ethan had never met this man before but he got the strange feeling that he knew Ethan.
He whipped his head back around, barley missing a tree branch that he had to duck under. He saw Paige open a door of her red SUV, pulling out a new kind of arrow that Ethan had never seen before. She loaded it into her bow and turned to face Ethan and the freakish man following close behind him. Closing one eye and taking a calming breath she aimed just past Ethan and shot. The arrow lit up in flames as Ethan arrived at his jeep.
"Lets go," he said as Paige jogged back to the drivers side of the car, threw her bow into the back of the car and started the engine.
As Paige drove back into town with Ethan following close behind her, she thought about everything that had just happened. She knew the arrow she shot at Hayden wouldn't kill him, it would only slow him down. How did this happen to him? she thought to herself, thinking back to a time when she knew Hayden. He was a senior in high school when she was a freshman. He was so sweet and kind, always putting others first. What had happened to him? She knew the one person who would have the answer, her father.
