Innocent Games

Part Nine- Hunted

Ivy

We watched the legs of the man walk around the house until they were out of view and sat in terrified silence until we heard the sound of a car pulling away and the woman's footsteps retreating back inside.
"What are we going to do? He's letting everyone know to look out for us!" Zoe whispered running her hand through her mattered hair,
"Keep moving?", Laila suggested,
"Go to her and hope she believes us?" Molly said shrugging her shoulders,
"One of us could ask for directions, say our car is broken down or something" I whispered
The others nodded their heads slowly, no doubt thinking of the risks the plan involved.

"I'll go" Molly said breaking the silence.
Without waiting for a reply she began to crawl out from under the house. We sat in hopeful and terrified silence as we listened to the soft sounds of her footsteps ascend the front stairs.
We sat and listened to the muffled voices above us,
"My family's car has broken down a little way down the road and I wondered if you could point me in the direction of the nearest town"
"Sure thing" the woman's voice replied after a moment of silence, "I have a map in the shed, let me show you that".
Two sets of footsteps then descended the stairs and we watched the legs of both Molly and the woman walk towards a wooden structure, not far from the house.

I strained to hear their voices, peering as far as I dared out from under the house. The woman motioned for Molly to enter the shed but as soon as she did the woman slammed the door and padlocked it closed.
In a loud voice the woman shouted into the shed, "your cousin will be pleased to see you!".

We gasped looking around at each other, unsure of what to do. A car started and we saw the woman drive away, towards where we had come from. I scrambled out from under the house, the other girls close behind, and ran towards the shed. Inside we heard the sounds of Molly struggling against the walls.
"We don't have much time!" Holly yelled looking around for something to use,
"There was an axe leaning up against the house" Zoe said frantically before running back towards the house.
After a few moments of anxious silence Zoe ran back towards us axe in hand.
"Stand back Molly!" Holly yelled as Zoe handed her the axe.

Motioning for us all to back away Holly began swinging at the shed. Holly's swings be game stronger and more desperate as the seconds ticked by. Soon Holly had created a hole big enough for Molly to crawl through, dropping the axe she ran backwards yelling for Molly to get out. We helped Molly climb out of the hole before sprinting towards the back of the property, away from the road and away from the sound of approaching engines in the distance.

We didn't stop running, climbing over fences and wading through creeks until we reached another road. We squealed in excitement, on the side of the road there was a sign.
"Only five kilometers to the nearest town!" I exclaimed pointing in the direction we had to head.

Moving into the dense tree line we ran as quickly as we dared, listening for any signs of us being followed. Soon we heard the dreaded sound, an engine steadily approaching.
"Get down!" Holly whispered dropping to the forest floor and covering herself in leaves and dead branches. We all followed suit and waited, terrified, praying that we would not be spotted.
Soon the source of the noise was upon us, I peeked out and watched an old man on a tractor roll past us. We all breathed a sigh of relief.
"Wh-where's Catherine?" Laila shakily asked
A look of horror came over our faces,
"She must've ran off when we were preoccupied with the shed" Zoe said nervously pacing
"That could mean she knows which way we went, and if she knows they do" I said ringing my hands together
"We need to find that town more than ever now" Holly said "let's go".
I nodded my head in agreement and we started running again, this time with more drive than before.