Into The Forest

chapter seven: one by one

Karina's pov:

Judson stopped us and told us to take a break. We needed sleep and we were far enough away from where everything happened. We would leave that behind us now. The first thing I remember was Emma asking if we could hear someone talking, I didn't at the time, but now that I think about it I was earlier hearing voices when we were about 5 days. I turned to talk to Emma again, but she wasn't behind Angelina like she was.

"Guys? Where's Emma?" I asked shaking. Everyone turned their heads to look at Angelina, she was the one in front of her.

"I didn't do anything, she was behind me not the other way around. I didn't hear her walk off." she said dropping to the ground. I looked down at the lantern we had in the middle of us.

'Another one gone, we're all gonna die. I'll be next I know it.'

Laurens pov:

Emma was dead, I knew the forest would get to all of us. I sat there quietly, I didn't say anything.

"We're all gonna die, why not do it now?" I asked laughing.

"Lauren no, we will make it out, i'm not sure what happened to Emma but that's on here, but it was our fault that Alana died, but none of us-" Daniel was cut off.

"We don't talk about that anymore!" Emily yelled.

"Lauren said we left everything behind us when we started walking again. We're far from where that happened." Karina said, I know she was only trying to keep everyone calm. We sat in silence for a while before Emily got up.

"You think we should look for Emma?"

"No, it's better her than us. She walked off alone. There's no way we could find her." Judson said. Emily sat back down next the Liu and Angelina. We sat in silence again.

I'm not sure how long we were up for or what time we feel asleep, but we did and the sun wasn't as bright as it had been 16 days ago. We got up and started walking again, during the walk we didn't see any sign of Emma. We gave up looking for her.

~day 21~

Angelina's pov:

We rarely stopped walking, determined to make it out. I thought it wouldn't be much further. There was no sign of Emma still and we never saw Alana or Alyssa's body again. I knew it would be only a matter of time before another one died. The group feel silent and there was only sadness and suffering in the air. I was walking in the back of the group again. No one saw me as I held the blade of a knife up to my neck. I had tears flowing from my eyes as I tried to keep quiet. I stopped and thought for a moment, I didn't want to keep going on anymore. My depression only hit me harder. I didn't want to keep suffering from everyone dying and walking for days on end. It was only a matter of time, I kept repeating in my head. I closed my eyes and slid the blade against my neck. Blood poured out of my mouth as I made no noise. I feel limp to the ground as my vision faded.

David's pov:

I heard a soft thump from behind me. I turned and saw Angelina. I stopped.

"W-wait, guys!" I yelled running over to her. The rest stopped, Karina and Lauren ran to my side. Blood was pooling under her, there was no telling that she was alive, her throat was cut.

"Did she do this herself?" Emily asked from behind me.

"Yeah I think so, there's still a knife in her hand." Lauren said. I stepped away near Judson and Emily. Emily rushed over and bent down to Karina's level.

Karina's pov:

I couldn't think straight, she was one of my best friends and she killed herself, although I wouldn't think Alana could ever do that. I sat on the ground holding my head. I started laughing like someone who was just admitted to a mental asylum. Judson ran over to me.

"Are you ok? What's going on?" he asked, I still never picked my head up from my hands, I just kept laughing.

Judson's pov:

Karina wouldn't talk to me, I was more worried about her than Angelina at the moment. I knew she was dead and I didn't want Karina to be the next one.

"We're all going to die, we're all going to die in this fucken forest... I didn't want this in the first place. But I won't go down without fighting to the death!" she screamed the last part as she got up. I pushed her back and held her in place.

"What's wrong with you? Why do you want to kill us? We-we can make it out together!" I said starting to cry, she was trying to shake me off her.

"I want to be the one to live! And I can't do that without killing you all!" she said trying to push her way back up from the ground, but I was able to hold her down but she was stronger than I thought. I was getting weaker from crying, I was scared for not only my life but for her. I never really cared about the others until after day 10. I was a little hopeful that we would make it out.

I let my head fall as I was crying and she took this time to push me back, she got up grabbed a knife from one of the bags I ran at her as she tried to go for Emily. I put my arms under her to hold her back.

"Let me go you bitch! I'm going to make it out of here and you all are in my way! You'll only kill me first before you get the chance to die off yourself." she said dropping her head but still fighting me.

She went silent for a few seconds then with her head her down, she began laughing again. She was shaking as I held her, she finally got loose from my grip. I saw white for a second, I looked down at the numbing pain in my side. My eyes widened. There was the knife Karina had been holding, I feel to my knees and I finally felt the pain, I tried not to scream as I looked up at Karina. She still had that smile on her face and was laughing, but much quieter now. The second thing I noticed was the gun pointing in her mouth. We both had tears running down our faces. No one tried to stop her as she pulled the trigger. Blood flew everywhere. I closed my eyes as I kept crying, I couldn't hold back screaming anymore. I sat up against a tree, my side still hurt but I wasn't focusing on that right now when I just watched my own girlfriend shoot herself in the mouth.

Alyssa came over to me with a piece of cloth, it was from Karina's black shirt. She wrapped up my side and helped me stand. I was still crying but not as much, I knew I needed to work past this but it was harder than watching Alana jump from the river bank or Angelina cutting her own throat. She was the only person I hoped to make it out of the forest with me, I wanted to continue my life with her, we'd been together for years now.