I walked forward, leaving the sign in my wake. I tightened the straps on my backpack so it wouldn’t bounce against my body.
Keeping my eyes low, I watched my footing very carefully. If I tripped and fell this far out, I would be in trouble. The cell reception out here was pretty much non-existent and the lack of activity meant that it was unlikely that anyone would find me for days. If at all…
So, I made sure to calculate my every step, keeping my eyes peeled for any dangers that might be lurking nearby.
Gradually, I got deeper and deeper into the woods.
Chapter 4
Before long, a pungent smell invaded my senses. I had to stop, thinking I had come across a skunk hole, but I couldn’t see any of the usual signs. I crinkled my nose and tried to breathe through my mouth so I wouldn’t have to smell it, but now, I could taste it on my tongue.
My eyes started to water from the horrible stench and I lifted my shirt to my face, using it as a mask.
I knew it was probably just an animal marking its territory, but I didn’t remember it smelling this bad the last time I was here. Maybe it’s mating season and the smell needs to be extra potent or whatever.
I quickened my pace, thinking I could put the smell behind me if I just continued forward, but somehow, it just got worse and worse. What kind of an animal even gave off such a reek?
Before long, I reached a fork in the road. Taking the path to the right would bring me to a small lake, while the left would lead to a meadow of wildflowers. I followed the path to the right, thinking that I could dip my feet in the water for a little while.
But a few feet into the path, I felt the hair on the back of my neck stand on edge. I looked over my shoulder, feeling some sort of presence as if someone was behind me, but I couldn’t see anything. “Hello?” I called out, hoping someone would answer. Maybe the couple from earlier had gotten lost again.
When no one answered, I decided to grab the mace from my backpack. I was about to put it back on when I remembered the safety whistle that I always kept attached to one of the zippers. I tried to untie it from my bag when I noticed my fingers shaking. “Come on… Jenna… you’re just being paranoid.” I whispered to myself.
Finally, I managed to grab the whistle, holding it tightly in my hand. Feeling a bit more confident, I stepped forward, but I still couldn’t shake off the feeling that someone was watching me. “Hello?” I called out again, even though I couldn’t see anyone on the path.
Suddenly, I heard a twig snap in the woods and I sprang to my feet, my heart instantly pounding in my chest. “It’s probably just an animal or something…” I tried to convince myself. Looking around, I spotted a large stick and picked it up. I started to bang it against the tree trunks, hoping it would scare away any animals that might be following me.
As I continued on the path, I kept making noise, keeping my head on a swivel. Droplets of sweat formed on my forehead as I started to feel more and more nervous. It was the first time since I had been hiking that I felt like I was in danger.
I could hear my heart pounding in my chest, but my body kept carrying me along the path. My stick banged against the trees, echoing loudly. Birds squawked in irritation as I passed by, flying into the treetops and disappearing.
I watched them, my head craning in their direction.
In my admiration, I didn’t pay attention to my footing and suddenly, I lost my balance. Before I could push my hands in front of me and break my fall, my head smashed into a rock, my vision blurring.
My whole body felt like it was paralyzed as I laid on the forest floor, unable to move an inch. My heart slowed down and my eyelids grew heavy. I tried to fight it, but the darkness was at the edge of my vision and quickly moving in. Soon, it consumed everything and I fell into a dark abyss.
***
I didn’t know how long I was out for. My body felt heavy, my mind foggy. I tried to remember what had happened to me as I slowly regained control of my body. I shuffled my legs. It seemed I was lying on some sort of blanket on the ground. I tried to sit up, but I still couldn’t find the energy to do so.
I took a deep breath and forced my lids apart. For a second, it felt like they were glued together, but slowly, I managed to pry them apart. I blinked a few times, waiting for my vision to come back, but I couldn’t see anything. For a split second, I thought I was blindfolded, but I couldn’t feel anything around my face. I brought my hands up just to make sure.
As I suspected, there wasn’t anything obscuring my vision, so why couldn’t I see? I blinked again, but darkness still surrounded me.
Carefully, I got up, holding onto the surface beside me. It seemed like I was in some sort of a dark cave.
How had I gotten here?
Desperate to see something, anything, I searched around for my backpack, knowing I had packed myself a flashlight. I fumbled around but found nothing.
It was gone.
I searched my pockets to find my phone, pepper spray, whistle, and keys all gone.
Fear quickly bubbled inside of me. I had been kidnapped. Someone had waited for me to knock out on the trail and had brought me here. It was the only explanation.
But I couldn’t understand why they hadn’t tied me up…
If some serial kidnapper was lurking around the woods, looking for girls to do whatever he wanted with, why would he just take their stuff and throw them into a cave? It didn’t make any sense.
All I knew was that I had to get out of here. Whatever was happening, I had to leave this cave before whoever had kidnapped me reared his ugly head.
I clung to the cave wall, hoping it would guide me toward the exit. My palms were sweaty and my fingers were shaking. I had never been so terrified in my whole life. But I couldn’t just sit here and panic. I couldn’t let fear control me. I had to get out of here.
As I continued to shuffle forward, my eyes finally adjusted to the dim lighting.
There was a light trickling in up ahead. This tunnel was leading to an exit!
Chapter 5
Quickly, I headed toward it, eager to escape this nightmare. Just as I was about to reach it, however, someone grabbed my arm.
I screamed, lashing out at the unknown attacker, but their fingers just tightened around my arm before they pushed me into the wall.
The air from my lungs escaped my body, leaving me panting. I gasped as a large, muscular body pressed into mine, easily overpowering me. I wanted to struggle, to squirm from his grasp and make my getaway, but it was like every inch of my body had turned to stone.
“Did you think you were going to leave so soon?” His husky voice caressed against my ear, slithering into my mind, and making my heart beat twice as fast. It threatened to deafen me with its constant boom, boom, boom. “We have other plans for you…”
My eyes widened at his words. So, I really had been kidnapped. My mind was flooded with all the horrible possibilities as adrenaline quickly rushed through my veins.
I started to thrash about and scream at the top of my lungs, fighting against my kidnapper with every ounce of strength I could muster. I tried to headbutt him, but he just tightened his grip until I was sure I would bruise. “Please! Let go of me! I don’t have any money… but you can take whatever you want. Just… don’t do anything to me!” I begged him, my voice turning into a high-pitched squeal.
He just ignored me, his body suffocating mine. His scent invaded my nostrils, reminding me of that same, pungent scent in the woods. It was mixed with something else. Something I couldn’t quite pinpoint, but it was the least of my worries at that moment.
I screamed louder, hoping someone – anyone – would hear me.
“You can scream all you want… dear…” He spoke when I had finally stopped struggling. My throat was hoarse and my mouth dry. “No one dares to venture this deep into the woods.”
I shook my head. “You have to let me go…” I whispered, my voice ragged from my screaming. “I’ll do whatever you want…”
The man chuckled. The sound rumbled through the cave, sending a shiver down my spine. “You’ll leave when we’re ready to let you leave.” It was the second time he had said we. Were there more of him? Who was he working with? What would they do to me? A million different scenarios rushed through my mind, making me sick to my stomach. This couldn’t be happening. It had to be some sort of nightmare.
“Please…” The man didn’t say a word. “When… when will you let me go?” I couldn’t stop the tears from spilling down my cheeks. My already limited vision was clouded up with tears, making it difficult for me to see anything.
“That is for the leader to decide.”
***
The man pushed me back into the cave after a moment of silence. I was in such a daze that I had barely heard his footsteps as he left. I looked back at the exit, but I knew it would be no use trying to escape. He would just stop me again.
With my heart pounding, I headed to the back of the cave where I originally was. Roughly, I wiped the tears from my eyes. How had I allowed this to happen? If I had just listened to Abby from the start, I wouldn’t be in this situation right now.
A knot formed in my stomach as I explored the cavern, wondering if there was anything that could help me.
I stumbled into something, stubbing my toe. “Ow!” I screamed, feeling the throbbing pain radiating through my foot. Carefully this time, I approached the object, holding out my hands to feel what it was.
I felt something soft under my fingertips. It seemed like I had stumbled into a bed covered in blankets. With my legs feeling like they were made of jelly, I sat on the edge and closed my eyes, trying to figure out what I should do.
I was stuck in a cave deep in the woods. I didn’t have a phone or my pepper spray. I gulped. This didn’t look good. My fingers were shaking in my lap. This couldn’t be happening.
Before I could get up to continue exploring, I heard footsteps approaching. I jumped onto the bed, scooting back until my back hit the metal headboard. I scrunched up into a ball, hugging my knees tight against my chest. “Please… don’t hurt me…” I whispered, shutting my eyes tight, tears welling up in the corners.
“I’m not going to hurt you.” The man answered. His footsteps stopped and then I heard him sigh.
“Then what are you going to do with me?”
“My job is just to watch you.”
I wasn’t sure I believed him. “Where’s my bag?” I asked suddenly.
He chuckled. “Do you really think I’m that dumb? Why would I give you your bag, so that you could use something to attack me?”
I frowned. Well, there goes that idea…
“When will I get it back?” I asked, hoping the question would help me figure out if I was ever going to get out of this situation or not.
“When you leave.” His answer filled me with a sense of relief. It meant that they wouldn’t keep me here forever. But, then again, I didn’t know how long they planned to keep me before letting go. My heart tightened at the thought and I had a hard time breathing. My stomach was doing summersaults inside of my body, making me queasy. My fingers gripped the fabric of my jeans in fear.
I had to find a way out of this situation.
Chapter 6
I sat there in silence, waiting for the man to make a move, but he didn’t even make a sound. I was starting to get really spooked out by the whole thing.
The darkness wasn’t helping.
“Can… can I have a flashlight or something? It’s really dark.” I begged, hoping he would be sympathetic to my plight.
“Why should I?” His voice emerged from the darkness.
“It’s not like it’s going to foil your plans or something…” I said, trying to sound courageous. “I mean, we’re still deep in the woods… right? It’s not like anyone can find me.”
“I still don’t trust you. You’ll just try to escape.”
“How am I supposed to escape with you watching me the whole time?” I asked, still hugging my knees. “Please… what harm will it do? It’s not like I can find my way back based on the inside of a cave, right?”
Silence filled the cave, making the air thick and unbreathable. My lungs burned for fresh air, but I knew I just had to play this out if I wanted to survive. It wasn’t like I could just run out of the cave with this guy watching me the whole time.
“Fine.” I heard him get up and walk toward me. I flinched, pulling myself into an even tighter ball. He grabbed something above my head before taking a step back.
Through the darkness, I saw a spark of light followed by the subtle tsk, tsk of someone trying to light a match. Suddenly, the light exploded, filling the cave with a bright luminance. I was forced to look away, shielding my eyes.
As my eyes adjusted, I looked back to see a shadowy figure holding out a torch in my direction. It took me a moment to realize that he wanted me to take it. I grabbed it, my fingers still shaking, but it felt good to have something solid in my hand.
For a second, I thought about thrusting the torch into his body and making a run for it, but that would probably just piss him off and get me into even more trouble. As long as he wasn’t hurting me, I could play it cool and weigh out my options. I tightened my grip on the torch, just in case.
I stared at the flame for a moment before I looked up, getting my first glimpse at the man. He was strange and wild looking. His dirty blonde hair was like a bird’s nest on his head. He had a few crude braids running through it, adorned with small beads. His face was dark with dirt and other grime. His clothes were tattered as if he had been living in the woods for a long time. My fear only heightened at the look at him.
He reminded me of a savage. Like something out of an apocalypse movie where civilization collapses and people are forced to survive by primitive methods. I looked away quickly, his bright blue eyes finding mine, piercing through my soul with their lack of compassion and warmth.
I scooted closer to the headboard. “Why hadn’t I just listened to Abby?” I wondered aloud. “I never should’ve gone hiking by myself…” I mumbled under my breath, laying my cheek on one of my knees. The taste of copper intensified in my mouth and I did everything I could to keep back the urge to vomit.
As I closed my eyes, I remembered sitting on my couch late at night, listening to the news. I had heard about the missing female hikers who had yet to be found. I knew I should have been more careful and yet, I had allowed myself to end up in the same situation.
I wanted to get up, but my body refused to cooperate. I couldn’t get off the bed. “Am I the first...?” I asked, moving the torch in the man’s direction so I could see him.
“No.”
I waited for him to say something else, but he never did. “Does this leader… kidnap girls often?” I asked, hoping for more clues. Maybe if I found out why I was kidnapped, I could figure out a way out of this situation.
“Why do you want to know?” He asked, resting his hands on his knees. His blue eyes were beady, looking around the cave like he was waiting for something to creep out of the shadows. He tapped his foot against the ground as if he was nervous. He leaned back into the darkness, obscuring his face from view.
“I… I just want to know,” I responded. Maybe if I got out of this alive… I could tell the authorities. I gulped, praying that I wouldn’t end up a corpse by the end of this ordeal. If they dumped my body in the middle of the woods, would the police find me before the wild animals did? I shuddered at the thought, hugging myself tighter so I could force away such dark thoughts from my mind. I was going to get through this. I had to.
“No. You’re not the first to be taken. I have followed many and brought them back to this very cave for the Leader.” He explained, his voice husky like he had not spoken a full sentence in many years.
“Why?”
“You ask a lot of questions, you know that?” He exclaimed as he leaned forward once more, his sharp nose coming into view. In a way, it looked like a beak. I shivered with fear, wondering
what this man was capable of and why he worked for the leader in the first place.
“I…” My lips were so dry they were sticking together. I tried to wet them, but my tongue felt like cotton.
“There’s no point trying to figure out what’s going on. It’s not going to help you.” The man said. “You must wait for the leader like all the others.”
Silence followed his statement, leaving me to wonder who exactly this leader was.
Chapter 7
The silence was killing me. I couldn’t stand it. “What’s your name?” I asked, just for the sake of filling the silence that surrounded us.
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