All Nightmare Long (Norman Reedus & Jensen Ackles)

Chapter 14

*Ruby's POV*

As most of the side of the road was deep woodland, apart from the occasional breakage where there was a field or two, we decided to keep off of the road and walk alongside it a few feet into the woodland, just in case. We had been walking for hours. Of course at no point along the way did any of our phones get any signal so it was impossible for us to call for any help. Jensen found an old battered road map book which someone must have dropped, there were a few undamaged pages that the wet hadn't got to so we decided to have a break from walking to check the map and look for food or water. W

We walked deeper into the woods a few metres and came to a small clearing in which a stream ran through. I sat down on a fallen tree, my feet felt blistered and sore, they even hurt to rest them. Kenzie sat down next to me; we just shared a sympathetic look, not saying a word. The group was silent apart from the cracking of twigs and crunching of leaves under foot. The silence didn't last for long.

"Agghhh" Shawn let out an aggressive cry, kicking a tree and storming off into the woods.

"Should someone go after him?" I asked standing up and walking over to where Norman and Jensen were looking down at the stream from its bank. Norman placed an arm around my waist when I stopped next to him.

"I think he just needs a bit of time to himself. Leave him alone for a few minutes and then we will go look for him." Jensen advised as he took the rolled up map booklet out of his pocket before studying it. Again we fell into silence as Jensen concentrated on trying to find our location.

"Maybe we should try and make a small camp here for the night. It's going to start getting dark soon." Kenzie was right, we had been walking for most of the day, and our exhaustion wouldn't let us carry on much further without food, water and rest. "We need to at least make a fire to keep us warm."

"Is a fire a good idea while it's dark?" I questioned. "Surely the light would attract the attention of anyone driving by."

"We should be far enough from the road to be hidden, but there is nothing we can do about the smoke." Norman said joining the conversation.

"That's true, never thought of that." Kenzie sighed, "also I suppose it could draw any one in the woods to our location." A shiver ran through my body. What if there was someone waiting, watching from the dense woods.

"What about we make a fire here for now, I saw some fish in the creek, we could catch some to cook and eat. Then when we are done we can carry on walking until it gets dark. That way we should be far away from where the fire was." Norman suggested. I know Kenzie didn't like fish but she'd have to manage for now.

"What about water? Do you think the stream water would be ok to drink?" I asked.

"We could make up a filter using stones, sand and soil." We both looked at Norman with raised eyebrows. "Don't you girls ever watch those survival shows on tv?" We both shook our heads.

"We will leave that to you then." Jensen re-joined us. "I think I have found roughly where we are, providing we are walking in the right direction there is a small town about 15 miles away. We won't be able to make it tonight, not in the dark without being on the road, so I say we do camp here or nearby, even if not to sleep then to just rest us and at dawn we will continue to the town." Hearing that there was a town nearby made us sigh with relief. All we had to do was make it through the night in the dark woods, something I really was dreading, much like I'm sure the others were.

Norman began gathering resources to make a water filter so we could drink the water. He walked back up to the road where there was some litter looking for anything he could use. Kenzie and I rummaged through the foliage looking for big sticks that we could use to try and spear some of the fish with. Jensen had gone to try and find Shawn, just to make sure that he was alright.

"How you holding up?" I asked Kenzie.

"As good as can be I suppose. I just don't get it, why would someone do what they did to Lisa?" My eyes began to sting as tears formed and began to fall silently down my cheeks.

"I just don't know Kenz. There are some wrong people about. The only thing we can do now is to find some people and get that piece of shit locked away; we have to get justice for Lisa." I looked at her and she was also crying. "Come on, let's get some dinner sorted. We need to be away from here before it gets really dark and we can't see where we are heading."

After more than an hour we had three fish cooking over a small camp fire that we had built. Norman had found some empty bottles, after cleaning them in the creek he managed to fill them with the filtered water, it wasn't much but it was enough for us to share for a while. Shawn was back with the group but kept slightly away, keeping himself isolated, but close enough so we could all see each other. Another ten minutes passed and we shared out the cooked fish between us. Then it was time to put of the fire and start moving again. The sun was giving a soft orange glow to the sky, meaning it was about to get dark. The group pushed on through the woods, moving closer to the road but still in the woods.

Darkness came a lot quicker than we had anticipated. We had probably walked 2 or 3 miles while it was gradually getting dark but now it was pitch black it was impossible to even see a few feet in front. Jensen was the first to take a sit at the base of a large tree, facing with his back to the road, he reached up and pulled Kenzie down into his lap. She sat down on him and rested her head on his chest, Jensen wrapped his arms around her tightly. I jumped slightly as a hand joined my own, pulling me towards the owner, I looked and it was Norman. He gave me a soft smile before copying Jensen and sitting down against a tree. He gently pulled me down onto his lap and began to stroke my hair in long soothing sweeps. It wasn't long before exhaustion and relaxation won and I fell into a light sleep.

"Babe, wake up, quick" Norman shook me gently, helping me get to my feet so he could also stand, I looked to him his face was one of worry. I glanced over to the next tree where Kenzie had just been woken too. Then I heard why we had been woken. There was the loud chugging and spluttering of a car engine, the exact sound of the one the one the man from the cabin had been driving. It was moving slowly. I looked down the road to where the noise was coming from, sure enough the same car was slowly driving down the road. Its headlights lighting up the road ahead, while the driver and a passenger hung strong flashlights out of the windows shining them into the woods.

"Shit, they are looking for us" I breathed heavily, feeling my heart begin to race.

"Quick." Jensen pointed to the woods. "We have to get out of the line of sight." We all followed quickly, heading down a sort of slope. Just in time too as looking above us the beam from the flashlight shone on the tree above us briefly, before moving forward further down the road. It was then I realised that I had been holding my breath.

"We should be hidden down here, just until morning." Shawn spoke for the first time that afternoon. We nodded and went back to resting.

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