In desperation Emma pitched herself forward. Caroline had been kneeling on top of her, and she pitched backwards at the movement. She landed on the moist ground with a harsh grunt. Emma turned to face Kayla, who was still holding the knife.
“Wh...what are you doing?” Caroline wheezed on the ground. “Kill her!”
The words seemed to snap Kayla out of her daze. Her eyes focused, and the grip on the knife hardened.
“Kayla, wait” Emma started, not knowing what to say next. Instead she pointed to a spot at the other end of the clearing. When Kayla turned to look Emma ran.
She didn’t think about direction as she ran, only that she had to put distance between herself and the girls in the clearing. The barrier of green she hit at the edge of the clearing was like a wall, and she pushed hard against the wide, sharp leaves until they gave in and swallowed her. There was no visibility at all; the more she ran, the less she could see. There was green all around her, scratching, clawing, holding her, slowing her down. Her side was throbbing hard now, and a sharp needle of pain stabbed her whenever she put her right foot down.
Behind her were sounds of pursuit through the woods.
Emma broke through the densest of the growth, vaguely noting that there were small cuts and scratches all over her arms and legs. Her face, and neck, stung from their own greenery-induced marks. Emma tried to run as soon as her feet hit clear ground, but her ankle twisted. She fell onto the ground hard, her side blossoming in a flower of pain.
Looking around she saw a root tangled twice around her ankle. How the Hell? The sound of her approaching attackers cut the thought off, and she tore at the green root until she could wiggle her foot out of the tendrils. As soon as she set her weight down she cried out, collapsing to her knees. The sounds of Kayla and Caroline stopped briefly as they heard her.
Emma looked to her swollen ankle. It was at least sprained, if not broken.
Her attackers started through the leaves again. Emma scrambled to a nearby tree, crawling to the far side and pulling her knees to her chest. She made herself as small as she could, knowing that if they saw her around the tree they would kill her. Emma wondered if they would try and drag her back to the chair before they stabbed her to death.
If they did she would fight them every step of the way.
The girls soon emerged from the wall of spikes and stood, panting on the other side of Emma’s tree. Emma held her breath, her heart was beating so hard that she could feel it under her shirt. There was no way they couldn’t hear it thundering through the woods.
“Where did she go?” Caroline spat from the other side of the tree. Her voice wasn’t light and playful anymore. “I’m going to kill that little bitch.” The girls shuffled in the leaves for a few seconds. Emma was sure they would come around the tree and see her, but their footsteps disappeared into the woods.
When Emma thought they were a decent distance away she rose, trying to run. Her right side and leg were wet and sticky. Her shirt was stuck to her side, the material tugging painfully every time she moved. Putting any weight at all on her left foot was like stepping on glass. She knew that she was hobbling through the unfamiliar woods more than running, but she couldn’t stop.
“Emma,” Caroline called from somewhere behind her. “Emma, where are you? We want to help you.”
Emma rounded another tree and pressed her back firmly against it. She was having trouble pulling air into her lungs, and her head was swimming. As she bent over to catch her breath the woods started to fade to gray around her.
Oh no, don’t you pass out now, she thought. If I pass out here they’ll kill me.
“Emma!” Caroline’s voice was closer, impossibly close. They were right behind her tree again as they circled back. Emma straightened, pressing herself hard against the scratchy bark of the tree. “Emma!” The next time Caroline called she was in front of Emma, only about a hundred feet or so away.
Emma scanned the trees, but couldn’t see very far in the gloom. She looked up through the canopy above her, and her heart lurched in her chest. Between the branches the sky was a dark violet. Three small, brilliant stars watched her from above, which seemed impossible. It had been late afternoon when they stepped off the path, but they had been in the woods for maybe an hour tops. Had she really lost so much time?
When Caroline called out for her again, this time behind her tree and a little farther away, Emma took off in the direction she thought she had been going.
Her head swam. Her skin felt cold, but her side where Kayla had stabbed her was on fire. She tripped over a tangle of roots and fell, crying out in a symphony of pain, fear and frustration. “I heard her,” Kayla said from somewhere to her left. Emma’s blood ran cold. “She’s over here!”
Emma was on her feet and moving as fast as she could. Somewhere ahead of her there was light, so without thinking she diverted in that direction. When she hit a wall of thick leaves she didn’t slow, but plowed right into them. With her head down and her eyes closed she pushed on, and when the woods let her go again she fell back into the clearing. Looming above her was the chair, and in the middle of the clearing someone had built a
