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Chapter Seventeen

I pushed the clay-like mud off of myself and crawled out of the hole, peeking over the logs to see if anyone was around.

There was only silence.

Beads of sweat formed on my forehead from the heat.

The mud was now cakey and dry all over my body.

I stood up and made my way through brush, thorns catching on my bare legs resulting in me yelping quietly in pain.

I walked straight for hours, seeing the same thing everywhere.

Huge tall healthy trees.

I found a few signs of large animals. I would have to be very careful.

Little pebbles stabbed my feet every now and then, sharp unseen tiny sticks also having no mercy for me.

I continued going straight, stopping to a creek and staring for a minute.

I was very thirsty.

But I would get sick if I just drunk creek water.

I was starving though and my body needed something to carry onwards.

I grabbed a handful of water and took a sip, hoping that I could find civilization soon in case I did happen to get sick.

I scrunched my nose at the nasty taste after the second handful.

Deciding that I had enough of drinking the water, i figured it would be best to rinse off and cool my body down.

Drinking water until I was full would probably make the potential sickness worse.

I looked around the woods and listened closely.

I knew I was alone. He would have a fun time finding me. Might have been bad to kidnap someone and put them in the middle of a huge forest for him.

I laughed out loud.

Also is bad for me though. I have no idea how large the forest is or what kind of animals are in it.

Also I will need food and I have nothing to make fire with.

Hopefully I won't have to eat anything too gross.

I made a silent prayer to God that I would make it out of here soon.

I picked up rocks and laid them in a circle, allowing water to stream in but barely anything to come out.

I stood up and took off my body suit along with my underwear and bra, placing a stick inside the shoulders of the body suit like I would a clothes hanger, laying it in my little handmade washer.

I laid it on a rock and pressed my hands hard on it, massaging the mud out repeatedly and then did my underclothes the same way.

I then left the slightly mud tinted body suit on a tree branch so that it would dry, hanging my underclothes beside it.

I stepped into the creek carefully.

I bet my toes are extremely wrinkly right now.

I massaged my body until it was clear of mud, doing my hair the same way and then pulling it up into a bun, holding it in place with a stick.

Once I was done I studied the tall tree.

If I climbed it, I might be able to see around me and where I need to go.

I steadily pulled myself up on the lowest branch and swiftly made my way up as high as I could go.

I looked around, seeing nothing but forest.

I should probably camp out here tonight in this tree. It would be while before I found any type of civilization.

Fear crept inside of me as I realized that I not only have to be careful that Lorenzo doesn't somehow find me, but be careful that I don't die out here in the process of trying to escape him.

Though I haven't seen any creatures other than spiders and mosquitoes, I'm sure I will eventually.

There will be no way I will be moving at night.

I climbed back down the tree slowly and carefully, not wanting to injure myself.

Once I made it to the bottom, I pulled my damp underwear on and left my body suit on the branch to dry.

I wanted it to be completely dry before I put it on so it won't irritate my skin.

I climbed back up the and found the biggest branch to lay on. I laid my body suit on it, then climbed back down and gathered all the branches I could find.

Once I had a bunch of branches all sorts of sizes, I got a chill.

The sun was going down.

I climbed up and down the tree, placing branches in between the large branch and other thick one beside it.

I tore vines off of the bottom of the tree and wrapped them around the branches. I continued this until I felt safe to lay on the sturdy branches.

Once done, I laid back and curled up.

It would be a long night.

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•Word count: 807