Escape {COMPLETE}

~Chapter Twelve~

Hannah's P.O.V.

I felt my heart freeze for a second, my face leaking pure horror. "Hannah, what's wrong?!" Rachel asked me, climbing down, and I stayed up on the fence. "I've seen him before." I quietly said. My voice was barely audible, yet I knew she heard it. "What are you talking about? He doesn't go to our school or anything....does he?" I slowly climbed back to the ground and shook my head no. "I saw him...in a dream. He had Erin...." Rachel's eyes grew wide, and she yelled, "WE NEED TO GO AFTER HIM!"

"Too late," I murmured. I had thought of chasing him myself, but...he was too fast. "He's surely gone." Rachel was about to retaliate, but closed her mouth and sighed. "He probably is. But we need to find Erin!" She cried. I looked down at the ground, at the blood trail, and closed my eyes. We know where the blood came from now.... I opened my eyes.

I nearly dragged Rachel back into the house. Nick and Patrick were already in, about to walk out the front door. We followed them, and closed the door gently behind us. "Screw the police," I growled, a sudden anger burning away all doubt. "We're looking for Erin." It wasn't a question. Nick grinned triumphantly and Patrick nodded. " I was about to start looking by myself, if you didn't change your mind soon," Rachel chuckled. "One question, though..." Nick muttered. "Where the hell are we gonna start?"

"We'll follow where that guy went. We'll go in that direction and look for clues." Rachel said with certainty. "Scooby-Doo effect...." I mumbled. We walked towards the side of the house, where that boy was headed. We went in separate directions, looking for anything out of the ordinary. "Found something," Nick announced after a few mere seconds. We instantly flocked to him, searching the ground at which he was pointing. "Blood," Patrick murmured. It was in a tiny puddle underneath a large thorn bush, where a collection of the sticky red liquid was dripping along a single barb.

"He must've went this way, and cut that wound on the way...." Patrick spoke. We were sure he was right, and kept following the occasional blood mark along the ground. They lead us down the block, around a few streets, and seemed to get less and less frequent the farther we got. "No, no, no....." I whispered. I couldn't find another drop. Bone dry, the sidewalk mocked me, warm underneath the setting sun. We had been walking a long way--looking up, I realized we were nearly downtown. I could see St. Joseph's Hospital.

I could hear the panting of my friends; my own breathing had become difficult on this journey on foot. "Maybe we should've taken someone's car...." I grumbled. "Should we keep going?" Nick asked. "Well, if we stop now, we might loose the trail...the sun will dry this blood very soon..." Rachel answered between short gulps of air.

"Good point...." I muttered. "But we need to at least get something to drink." Patrick added. I nodded in agreement. We started walking towards a nearby familiar building; the Hilton Suites. They had to have a water fountain or something...

We stepped into the front door and glanced around. The place never failed to impress. We spotted a vending machine nearby and we each popped in a few quarters, gaining us water bottles. We chugged them halfway down in one go...well, I did. We looked at a sign where a bunch of people waited in line; it was a menu. Water Bottles $2.00, it said. Holy crap! Over-priced much?? Just use the vending machine! I ranted in my mind.

Nick had told me once just how much he loved the Hilton Suites. He had visited some family here a few times before and said that he loved it. He told me how fun it was and it gave me an idea....maybe we should stay here tonight.....

No, I thought. We can't stay here just lounging around while Erin is out there waiting for us! I didn't know where she was, or how she was doing...I didn't even know if she was alive. She had been my best friend since we were four years old. She knew me better than anyone else on this whole planet! I wouldn't be able to live without her!