“There’s another guy," I whispered to Beth and pointed outside.

She nodded and then with shaky hands, handed me back the knife. My eyes widened and I stared at her.

"I took it after he dropped it," she told me, her voice shaking.

"Good! Good job!" I praised her. We were both in shock. I didn’t even know what I was saying. I held onto the knife and went in front of Beth. Pointing to the door, she followed me as I opened the door and ran outside. Beth hobbled after me. I looked to my left and then to the right and heard the crinkling sound of leaves.

"There’s someone over there!" Beth whispered. I held up my hand, telling her to wait there. I took a deep breath and then slowly walked around to the side of the cabin. I held my knife out and took a few more steps. The leaves rustled louder now and I knew he was coming in my direction. I steadied myself. As soon as he turned the corner, I would strike. I wasn’t even sure where to aim. My heart was going a thousand miles a minute. I could see a shadow and I lunged towards it, screaming.

"No! Ryleigh! No! It’s me. It’s just me!"

My arm stopped in mid-air as I saw Cal’s face. She had her hands up in defense.

"Cal! Oh thank God, it’s you!" I shrieked.

I was trembling and staring at her. Her eyes were wide.

"You’re hurt!" she yelled.

"What? No. No, I’m fine. Beth’s fine," I told her.

She was staring at my shirt. I glanced down and realized I had blood spatter all over me.

"Not my blood," I said weakly. "It’s...not..."

I started crying, shaking as I stood there. Cal reached over and hugged me, letting me cry in her arms. Shel led me back to the front of the cabin. Beth limped over and embraced us.

"Wait!" I shrieked through my tears. "There’s a second guy. He came outside and..."

I stared at Cal. I had been so scared that he had run into her, or worse, that he could have attacked her like the first guy did to Beth.

"The second guy?" Cal asked. "That means there is a first guy?"

Beth nodded and looked away. Cal tried to walk toward the cabin, but I grabbed her arm.

"Don’t," I pleaded. "The first guy...he’s dead."

Her eyes grew wide as she looked at me and then over at Beth.

"The second guy," I told her. "He came outside, I guess. I don’t know where he went."

"I do," Cal said softly. "He almost ran right into me as I was walking back."

"What? Oh no! Are you okay? Are you hurt?" I asked her.

"I’m okay," she assured me. "I cut his arm with the knife, but then I lost it. And then he ran off. I’m not sure where he went. I didn’t stick around to find out. Then I hid in the bushes until you came out."

"Why didn’t you come inside the cabin?" Beth asked her.

Cal turned to look at her. "I thought the first guy was in there. I knew you both were safe down below. So, I hid outside."

"You knew there was a first guy?" Beth grilled her.

Cal put her hands on her hips. "Yeah, Beth. I knew there were two guys. I heard them talking when they went inside, when I was...you know, using the restroom."

Beth didn’t say anything. I looked at her and then spoke softly to Cal.

"The second guy," I said. "He, ummm...he came downstairs."

Cal stared at me. "Oh..."

"We tried to hide, but he found Beth. He attacked her," I explained.

Cal’s mouth fell open and she stepped over to Beth. She touched her arm.

"Beth, I’m so sorry. I’m so sorry I wasn’t there."

A tear fell down Beth’s cheek and she wiped it away, nodding at Cal.

"Wait," Cal turned to focus on me. "You said he’s...dead? Did Beth..?"

I shook my head.

"You?" She asked.

I nodded.

"I stabbed him in the neck with the letter opener," I confessed.

Cal put both hands over her mouth. Her eyes filled with tears and she grabbed me, hugging me tight. Beth turned around and then Cal reached out and brought her in. The three of us hugged and cried, finally letting each other go.

"We should get out of here. There could be more of them, right?" Cal cried.

"Well, we need to find somewhere else to hide, but we can’t go far. We still need to wait for Grant and Will," I explained. "They should be back soon."

It was late afternoon by then and the last thing we needed was to worry about them. We also couldn’t go too far away from here. I didn’t want Grant and Will to return and not only find the three of us gone, but find the surprise dead guy downstairs.

"What about where you were hiding, Cal? Can we sit over there until the guys come back?" Beth asked hopefully.

Cal looked uneasy. "I don’t know. I was just kind of crouching in the bushes. I’m not sure with your leg..."

Beth hopped closer to her, grabbing onto my shoulder for balance.

"Anywhere is better than standing here out in the open, right?" Beth asked us.

"She has a point," I told Cal. "It’s probably not the best idea to be out here."

"I agree, but let’s go down that way, maybe?" She pointed to the woods next to us.

"That’s kind of hard for me," Beth admitted. "And with what we just went through...If we can just please go right there, behind the cabin where you say you were hiding, that would be the best, I think."

"Yeah, agreed," I told Beth. I started to help her along, but noticed Cal seemed apprehensive. I tried to give her a smile, but I barely had the energy to do that. The weight of what had just  happened started to hit me like a ton of bricks.

"How will we know when they’re back though?" Cal asked me. "If Grant and Will..."

"If Grant and Will what?" a voice came from behind me.

I turned my head to see Grant and Will walking towards us. As I spun my entire body around, Grant’s smile faded from his face.

"Ryleigh! What happened?" Grant rushed over to me.

"I’m okay," I assured him. "It’s not my blood."

"What?" he exclaimed. "What do you mean it’s not your blood? It’s everywhere. It’s all over you! Whose blood is it?"

Will came over to inspect me. "What happened?" he asked bluntly.

"We need to get out of...here," I said, motioning to the front of the cabin.

"Okay," Grant stepped past me. "Let’s go inside-"

"No!" the three of us girls all shouted in unison.

Grant and Will both stared at us.

"What’s going on, Ryleigh? Tell me," Grant demanded, looking concerned.

I sighed. "Okay, let’s go inside. But not downstairs. Got it?" I said to all of them.

We stepped back into the cabin and I double checked that the hatch was completely shut. Beth sat down on a chair and I started pacing the floor. I explained what happened as they stared at me in shock. When I had finished, Will crossed his arms over his chest and was breathing fast. He looked at Grant.

Grant ran his hands through his hair. He walked straight over to me and embraced me in a huge hug. My arms hung awkwardly at my sides until I slowly brought them up around him. He pulled away after a few minutes with tears in his eyes. Then he looked at Beth.

Crouching down next to her, he took her hand in his and whispered a few words. She nodded and cried softly. He kissed the top of her head.

"Cal-" Grant started to say.

"I’m okay," she insisted. "They both went through much more than I did."

Grant walked over and gave her a quick hug before turning to address me again.

"The guy..." he said. "He’s downstairs?"

I nodded. "Some of our stuff is down there. I just realized that now. I’m sorry! I think our water bottles and some other stuff are still downstairs."

"Leave it!" Cal blurted.

"I’ll get it," Will volunteered at the same time Cal had spoken.

Cal and Will locked eyes.

"No, I’ll get it," Will stated softly.

Cal didn’t respond. She just watched him turn around and walk to the end of the room, just like we all did. I had no idea what to say, and I’m guessing no one else did either. What exactly do you say to the person who is intentionally going into the room where you just killed a guy? And the body is there on the floor. There were no words.

He lifted the hatch and took a deep breath in and out before going down the stairs.We all stood by and listening to his footsteps descending down. When he reached the bottom, we heard him say, “Oh damn!”.

I looked away, not meeting anyone’s eyes. I could feel Grant staring at me, but I pretended not to notice. I knew he wasn’t mad. If I looked over at him, his face was probably a mixture of sadness and guilt, and there was no way I could see that right now. It would break me. We waited until Will came back up and placed our things on the table.

"You saw?" I asked Will quietly.

"You messed him up, girl!" Will coughed back a laugh.

Something about the way he said it made me laugh, and the two of us stood there laughing while the rest of them stared at us in total confusion.

"You’re a savage," Cal spat at Will, obviously repulsed by his reaction.

"Thank you, doll," he said and winked at her. "Maybe when all is said and done and, uh, we’re outta this place, you and I could-"

"Never!" Cal shouted in disgust.

"Anyway," Will smirked and turned to face the rest of us. "I got most of our stuff. You didn’t want the letter opener, right?"

I gave him a look.

"Kidding!" he joked. "I put the blue tarp over him."

"Okay!" Grant interrupted. "Listen. Knock it off. You’re forgetting the reason for all of this in the first place."

"Aaron," I said.

Next Chapter: Twenty One