The Unclaimed

Chapter 48: Fear and paranoia lead me to bad decisions

   It may have been mid-day and the sun might have been high in the sky, but it was nearly pitch black in the forest. Trees toward above us. Noises echoed from all around us. A cold breeze was present. Everything within me screamed to run in the opposite direction, to find a way out of the woods. There was an odd sense of familiarity surrounding the scenery, it scared me. At every noise that I heard, I nearly jumped. I did everything possible to hide it though, I didn't want to be viewed as weak or nervous.
   A loud noise came from the trees that were right above us. I stopped running and automatically notched an arrow and raised my bow. Part of me felt like I was being paranoid but I didn't care. I was feeling to uneasy to be rational. The other hunters, and Artemis, stopped running.
   "Jessica, are you alright?" Artemis asked me softly. I was well aware of everyone staring at me. I remained silent. Just as I was starting to lower my bow, I heard the noise again. It was slightly farther away this time. I took a shaky breath but started to bring my bow down, I figured it had to have just been a normal animal. If it had been a monster than it would have attacked me.
   "I'm fine," I breathed out. "Sorry, I had heard something and got a little carried away." Heat rushed to my cheeks. Any respect the other hunters and Artemis had for me was probably just now crushed by immature action.
   "You have nothing to apologize for," Artemis lied to me. "It's better to be safe instead of sorry." I nodded. I was just starting to put the arrow back into my quiver when I heard a scream. But not just any scream. It was Michaels voice. Without a second though, I started running in the direction of the scream. I could hear the hunters and Artemis yelling at me to stop, but I didn't listen. The only sound I listened to was the terrified voice that I had grown up with. The voice that I had cared about, the one that I had protected and raised.
  Around me the woods began to blur by. I was running faster than I ever had in my life. Soon I could no longer hear the rest of hunt screaming at me to stop. Not caring how stupid of a move it was, I screamed.
   "Michael," I shouted at the top of my lungs. For a moment there was nothin and then I heard it.
   "Jessica help," my motivation to keep running increased. I followed the sound of his voice. Soon I came to a clearing, there was a small wood cabin in the middle of it. There was something about it that made me think it was there as a trick but something within me said that I had been there before. I could hear Michael scream from inside of it. Notching an arrow into my bow, while forgetting about every common sense strategic lesson that I had ever had, I bolted towards the cabin. Just as I reached the door and swung it open, I felt something hard collide with the back of my head. While I slowly slipped unconscious, I cursed at myself in ancient Greek for being so stupid, it finally hit me that I had fallen in a trap.