Oh How Times Have Changed

XXX

All I could hear was my own heartbeat and the sound of my footsteps pounding against the forrest floor. Twigs and leaves crunched under my feet, causing me to stumble every so often. The night air was nippy, but I felt boiling hot from running. There was a layer of sweat on my forehead- whether it was from running or nervousness I wasn't sure.

I finally spotted a place I could conceal myself and made a mad dash for it, scrambling up the tree. I had to try several times to reach the branch, falling on my ass more than once. Not all of us could have the superior upper-body strength and tree climbing abilities of Jimmy Wellot.

Once I was finally safe up the tree, I focused on calming down my breathing. I was physically fit, but running through a forest while feeling panicked was making me a little frantic. My eyes frantically scanned the thick forest for any sign of the pursuer, but to no avail.

I tucked my legs into my chest, holding onto the branch for dear life. Knowing my luck, I would somehow fall out and impale myself on the way down if I wasn't careful. I was up in that tree for a while, with no sign of anyone even close to me. I pulled out my phone and clicked on Felix's contact.

'Have you been found yet?' I sent to him.

I wasn't waiting long before I received his reply, that he has indeed been caught and that I was the only person still in the game. The objective had now changed. It wasn't about hiding- I had to get back to the campsite without being caught in order to win. We had agreed to do it this way, since we had all been playing 'Dead by Daylight' recently.

I checked the map Saint had given us, trying to workout where the hell I was in relation to everything else. When that failed, I decided to just wing it. Getting down from the tree was pretty hard, especially when I was trying to be as quiet as possible. The second my feet hit the ground, I was on the move.

I ran as fast as I could, rapidly looking around me as I moved to try and spot Oli in case he tried to sneak up on me. A torch light peeked through the dense trees in the distance and I hit the floor rather abruptly, turning off my torch. I held my breath as the torch drew closer, heading right for my direction.

If everyone was back at camp, this had to be Oli. He was coming right my way and if he continued coming straight, he would undoubtedly see me and it would all be over. I tried to shuffled, but it made too much noise. I was quickly running out of time, so I thought back to every horror film I'd ever seen. Would a distraction work?

I grabbed a nearby twig and threw it quickly so that it hit a tree to the left of me. I held my breath, pleading my terrible plan to work. I could have screamed with joy when the torch stopped getting brighter and headed off in a different direction instead, towards the noise.

I peeked up, barely seeing the torch anymore. I breathed a sigh of relief, sprinting off towards camp. I was making a lot of noise, but I figured I could probably out run him. I could almost see the exit of the forest when I heard footsteps other than my own. I didn't even glance over my shoulder, knowing Oli was hot on my trail by the chaotic light bouncing around the forest as he ran.

I let out a high-pitched, half-laughing scream as I spotted the campsite in the distance. Felix was up on Mike's shoulders, cheering me on. I could hear Oli gaining on me and I pushed myself even harder, my legs burning. I jumped over an abandoned old campfire, cutting through to our camp. Luckily, that slowed down Oli and he was no longer hot on my tail.

Saint and Mia were cheering me on too, doing pretend cheerleader routines for me. I couldn't help but laugh, pushing myself one last time as Oli regained on me. He tried to reach for my hoodie, but I was already too close to the gang. I was safe. I collapsed onto the floor, gasping for breath and Saint yelled 'dog pile'.