Chapter 76

When Lucas said those eight words, my stomach twisted in knots. The last thing I wanted to do was spend the night in these unknown woods, but it appeared as if we had no choice.

We couldn't find the trail, and even if we could, we had no idea where the others were. It would take us forever to find them in the darkness.

Spending the night in the woods seemed to be the only option.

Lucas and I tried searching for the trail for a few hours with no success. It felt as if we were walking in circles, or deeper and deeper into the woods.

Slowly, the night crept over the woods, leaving Lucas and me in a state of growing unease. As the light dimmed, so did our hopes of finding our way back to safety.

My stomach growled loudly, showing me just how dire this situation was.

Lucas sighed, his expression full of frustration and worry. "Shana, we can't go on like this. We need to have some water, at least."

I leaned against a nearby tree, rubbing my arms to ward off the chill that was slowly creeping in due to the sinking sun. "I know, but how will we find some? We don't even know where we are right now."

"I can try to find us some," Lucas explained. "I don't want you to keep walking on your hurt leg."

"I don't want you to leave me alone here, Lucas." I began to shake my head aggressively. "What if you don't find your way back to me?"

He shot me a sympathetic look, his brow furrowing in concern. "I won't go far, I promise. I just need to find some water for us. We can't go without it. We haven't had any all day."

I shook my head again, my voice tinged with anxiety. "What if you get lost out there, and I'm stuck here by myself? I can't handle that, Lucas. As you said, I can't keep walking on my leg. What if you get lost and I have no other choice but to look for you?"

He chewed his lip, clearly torn between his concern for me and his need to find water. "Shana, we need to make sure you're okay too. Hydration is important, especially in a situation like this."

"But we can look for water together in the morning, when it's safer," I suggested, desperation creeping into my voice. "It's going to be pitch black out here any second. You'll most definitely get lost trying to find me."

Lucas hesitated, his eyes locked with mine as he weighed his options. Seeing the pleading expression on my face, he finally let out a resigned sigh. "Okay, fine. We'll wait until morning. But we can't waste any time when daylight comes. We'll make it the first thing we do when we wake up."

Relief washed over me, grateful for Lucas's understanding. I managed a small smile. "Thank you, Lucas. I know we need it, and we’re only going to get weaker, but I don't want to lose you."

"I don't want to lose you either," he confessed. "Especially not right now. Let's just try to get some sleep, and hopefully re-energize ourselves for tomorrow."

The two of us settled against the tree, side by side, our bodies pressed together for warmth. At this point, everything around us was darkness and it made the woods a million times more frightening.

But I tried to keep my eyes screwed shut. I was too scared to look around and imagine seeing something there. However, the sounds of the woods at night were impossible to ignore.

Every rustle of the bushes or sound of animals had me on edge. I kept pressing myself closer to Lucas, needed to remind myself that I wasn't there alone.

I could hear Lucas's breathing slowly even out, indicating that he had drifted off to sleep, but my own eyes remained wide open. Fear and anxiety held me captive, the unfamiliar sounds of the forest amplifying my unease.

I knew I wouldn't be able to get any sleep tonight. My leg was aching and my mind was racing with thoughts of the worst-case scenario.

I just hoped that Victoria, James, and Emily were okay. I had no idea what they had endured, or if they ever managed to make it out of these woods.

For their sake, I hoped they did.

When the first light of dawn broke through the trees, Lucas stirred beside me, blinking sleep from his eyes.

"Did you manage to sleep at all?" he asked, his voice rough from exhaustion.

I shook my head, offering him a smile. "Not a wink. I guess I was just too on edge... Honestly, I'm surprised you slept so easily."

"I can fall asleep anywhere, you of all people should know that." He squeezed my hand gently, his touch reassuring. "I see that look on your face. Don't worry, Shana. We'll find a way out of this."

His words comforted me more than I thought they would. If Lucas was waking up with positive energy, then I needed to share that same feeling.,

We began to walk once again, scouring the area for any signs of a trail or water source. Lucas had his arm around my waist again and the weight of it made me feel protected and safe. I almost never wanted him to let me go.

But the more we searched, the more it seemed like we weren't getting anywhere. The hours passed slowly and our determination only dwindled with each step.

"Lucas..." I began to say but fell short when I noticed something ahead of us.

A faint trail, similar to the one we had walked on yesterday, was hidden amidst a group of fallen trees.

Lucas and I exchanged a glance filled with hope, and with renewed energy, we shuffled toward the trail as quickly as possible.

"Oh my God!" I shouted with a smile when I realized we had finally found it.

"We need to take it down," Lucas said. "We need to help ourselves, and then we can go help our friends. We're no good to them if we're hurt."

I agreed with Lucas, and together, the two of us took the trail back down.

It was a long and tiring journey— granted, not as tiring as walking uphill — but we eventually made it to the bottom of the mountain.

A swarm of police officers were at the bottom, and I assumed they had been alerted to our absence by the others. Relief flooded me as they saw Lucas and me, and immediately, paramedics came to our rescue.

"I'm fine," Lucas said, finally letting me go as the paramedics took over. "But her left leg is hurt. She has a scrape and can't put all her weight on it."

"Don't worry, we'll take a look at it." The male paramedic said, surveying Lucas. "We also need to make sure you're not hurt. You've been missing for over twenty-four hours, and I'm sure you'd like some water to hydrate yourself."

Lucas and I both followed the paramedics to their safety vehicle and on our way there, I recognized a familiar face in the crowd of people nearby.

Kendrick was here.