All That's Left

2

Kat almost dropped her pocket knife when she heard the noise. It sounded like someone was searching through the leaves. But who would be out now? She shook Rylie to wake her up. "Rylie I heard someone walking around outside," She whispered. Rylie pressed a finger up against Kat's lips. She rubbed her eyes and crawled very slowly out of the brush. Kat followed behind her.

There was more rustling. Rylie stood up and crept near the noise. She pulled out her pistol and loaded it in case they encountered someone dangerous. Rylie shot a warning shot on the ground and they heard a frightened squeak in the distance. "Go away!" The voice pleaded.

"We won't hurt you," Rylie responded. "Just stay where you are. Are you alone?"The person sniffled, "Yeah, uh-huh." "Ok we won't hurt you stay put." Rylie walked toward where she thought the person was. They found a girl they assumed to be thirteen. Rylie was pretty tall, so she bent down to her height.

"Are you okay?" The girl nodded. "What's your name? I'm Rylie, and this is Kat," she explained. "I-I'm Maddi. I'm 14." She didn't know whether or not to trust the pair. She had no one else, so she decided to. "We need to find somewhere to sleep, somewhere safe," Rylie whispered. "Luckily we were just somewhere that would work. Follow us." Kat lead the way. Maddi walked behind the two.

Rylie walked up to the ring of trees. "In here, there's a bush. A pretty decent sized one, and we can stay here for the night." Maddi nodded and crawled in after Kat. She couldn't sleep. Her anxiety was working up since she didn't know the pair. She noticed Kat started tearing up but didn't know how to comfort her, so she just stayed to herself.

Kat was thinking about what she did, again. She wanted to stop thinking about how much she'd hurt so many people, but she couldn't. She cried herself to sleep. She didn't end up having any flashbacks, however. Rylie tried to make it seem as if she was sleeping, but she couldn't help but watch Kat. It hurt her to. There was something Rylie didn't know. Something she, herself, couldn't explain. She would strive for words, but she couldn't quite grasp onto anything, falling back into bitter confusion. Rylie wouldn't ever say it, but she teared up watching Kat feel so depressed and guilty and disappointed in herself.

Rylie fell back to sleep about an hour later. Maddi never did.

                                                                                                  *   *   *

After a little while, Kat was awoken to more sounds; the crunching of leaves. She jolted up and shook Rylie's shoulder. "Kat... What do you--" Kat slapped her hand over Rylie's mouth and with her other hand, held up her pointer finger, signaling to be quiet. Rylie listened closely, and her eyes widened. She took Kat's hand from her mouth and set it by her. "Don't move a muscle. Don't breathe too loud," Rylie whispered as softly as she could.

The sound grew louder. And louder. And louder. Kat started to panic, but tried not to let anyone notice. They were so close together, Kat could hear Rylie's breaths shake. Tears welled up in her eyes. She was scared. Kat took a quick glance over at Rylie and shot up from the leaves, ran out into the open and yelled, "COME THE FUCK AFTER ME!"

She wouldn't be the result of someone being hurt. Not again. Maddi and Rylie heard screams of terror,  and feet stomping across the ground. Rylie started sobbing, breathing frequently so no one would hear her. Kat knew she couldn't go back to where Rylie and Maddi were. She kept running. She didn't know who was chasing her. Rylie knew she couldn't leave Kat for whoever was out there. She sprang up, yanked Maddi up, and ran. She was pretty familiar with the area, and made her way around pretty well, it was especially impressive speaking it was pitch black out.