Chapter 70 Hope At Last
Elsie
When the sound came behind us, the last thing I expected was Mariana walking out from between the trees. She stood there, her face tight, dirt on her clothes as if she had fallen, and that same attitude she carried like a badge of honor.
“I changed my mind,” she said, lifting her chin. “I want to come.”
I looked at her for a long moment. I was relieved she was alive, but the memory of her calling me a monster still sat at the back of my mind. I took a breath before speaking.
“If you’re coming with us, Mariana, you need to behave yourself. No yelling, no accusations, no insults. I’m trying to get all of us out of this. If you’re staying, you cooperate.”
She huffed loudly, rolling her eyes with enough disrespect to annoy the calmest saint. “Fine. I said I’ll come, didn’t I?”
I didn’t bother replying. I just turned and led the girls deeper into the forest toward the part where we heard a trailer horn. Vivian and Hannah padded behind me, but Mariana… she chose violence in the form of her mouth.
Not even five minutes had passed when she stepped closer to me and asked, loudly enough for all of us to hear, “So, Elsie… have you killed someone before? Or was that your first time?”
I pretended not to hear.
But she wasn’t done.
“I’m serious,” she continued, shrugging like she was talking about the weather. “Because the way you did it, you didn’t even look surprised. It was almost like you’ve done it before.”
My jaw tightened.
Vivian shot her a warning look. Hannah whispered, “Stop it…”
But Mariana kept going.
“How am I even sure you’re not one of them?” she said, her voice rising. “Think about it. What if she’s leading us back to those people? What if she’s pretending to help us just to deliver us to them?”
I stopped walking and turned to face her fully.
“Mariana,” I said slowly, trying to hold down every ounce of anger rising in me, “shut up.”
She smirked. “Or what? Will you kill me too? Like you killed that man?”
Something inside me snapped. My fists clenched at my sides, and I stepped right up to her face.
“Don’t push me,” I said, my voice low and trembling with the anger I was fighting. “I am trying to save your life. If you don’t want to be here, you can walk away again. But if you stay, you are going to shut your mouth and behave.”
Vivian grabbed Hannah’s hand. The forest went completely silent.
Mariana blinked at me, and for a moment I thought she would actually back down. Instead, she muttered under her breath, “Whatever. I don’t trust you.”
“Then walk away,” I said.
She didn’t. She stayed right behind me, muttering, grumbling, complaining about every branch, every leaf, every little thing, all while still suggesting in her own twisted way that I was somehow part of the people trying to hurt us.
But even with her attitude wearing down my patience, I kept us moving. I had to. Those girls deserved to live, even if Mariana made me question why I bothered with her in the first place.
Eventually, after what felt like forever, the trees thinned out, and the main road came into view. Relief flooded through me. Hope. Air. A chance.
We started walking again, pushing through the last stretch of thick bushes. Eventually, after what felt like hours of carefully navigating roots and uneven ground, we reached a part of the forest where I could finally see the outline of a road far ahead. My heart lifted a little. If we reached the road, we could get help, find a phone, call Mrs. Lancaster, and just maybe, for the first time since this nightmare began, breathe.
The hope gave us enough strength to walk a little faster. The girls followed closely, and even Mariana, despite her attitude, stuck right behind us, though she kept grumbling under her breath. The closer we got to the road, the more real everything felt.
When we finally stepped out of the trees, the sound of distant vehicles reached us. It was faint but enough to make Vivian whisper with relief, “We made it.”
The road was empty. No cars coming, no cars leaving. I didn’t know how long it would be before we saw houses, or when a vehicle would pass.
Mariana huffed, crossing her arms. “So… what now? What are we going to do from here? Did you bring us to the road to kill us?”
“Maybe i should just kill only you,” I snapped, keeping my voice in control while pinning her with a mean gaze.
She swallowed her, taking a step back, “I’m starving,” she added, her voice sharp.
Another girl tugged at my sleeve. “I’m thirsty. Very thirsty.”
I was about to respond when the sound of an engine broke the silence. A truck appeared in the distance, headlights cutting through the dark.
All of us froze.
A small delivery truck painted with bakery colors rolled toward us. The side of the vehicle had drawings of bread and pastries, and for a moment, I felt like life was giving us a tiny miracle. The driver slowed down as soon as he spotted us. He poked his head out through the window, smiling warmly, wearing a neat delivery uniform, and spoke in a gentle tone that made the girls relax almost immediately.
Are you girls alright?” he asked.
I stepped forward a little, still cautious. “We need help. We’ve been lost in the forest.”
“Oh, that’s terrible,” he said with sympathy dripping from his voice. “Come in, come in. We’re heading toward town. We can drop you off somewhere safe.”
I should have listened to my instincts. Something about the way he kept smiling felt too polished, too practiced. But the girls were tired, scared, and desperate for safety. Some already took small steps toward the van, believing we had finally found good people.
Before I could tell them to wait, the van door slid open—fast, too fast. Men jumped out from inside, the same type we had been running from. Some grabbed the girls immediately. Vivian screamed. Hannah tried to run but was caught. Two girls fought back, but they were overpowered and shoved into the van.
There was no plan, no signal — only pure fear. The rest of us scattered in different directions at the same time, running into the trees as fast as our legs could carry us. Branches whipped against our skin, and the forest floor felt uneven under our feet, but none of us slowed down. We just kept running because every part of our bodies screamed that if we stopped, something terrible would happen.
Some of the girls were unlucky. The men caught up with them quickly and dragged them back toward the road, shouting orders and forcing them to move. A few of us including me, Vivian, Hannah, and Mariana made it deeper into the forest for a short moment. We tried to stay together while running, even though the fear pushed everyone to look out for themselves.
But the lights started to find us.
Flashlights cut through the trees and landed on our backs, making our shadows stretch long across the ground. The men shouted at us to stop, and gunshots echoed through the trees warning shots, loud enough to shake us and force us to slow down. We kept running anyway, but step by step, they pushed us out again. The sound of snapping twigs and heavy footsteps behind us made it clear that there was no way out.
Stop right there!” a man shouted.