Anita Vanderhauld's Story

Don't stop, Anita. Don't give up. Never give up. Push yourself, you can do it. You'll make it out alive, honey. Push yourself!

Her father's words were a chant in her head, almost like her own personal mantra. Her fists pumped at her sides, her breathing ragged but her body slowly slipping back into its old routines that had been her life from birth to age fourteen. It may have been two years of malnutrition and abuse, but she was accustomed to this, and when she had been entrapped in her room, she had done nothing but work on staying in shape. She was thin, but not as much so as she would have been were she to have allowed herself to get out of shape over the past two years.

I can't stop, or she'll find me. After what we did, she'll never give up ... She's going to kill us! I need to find the other girls!

She stumbled and clung to a tree, shoving her dirty knuckles between her teeth to keep from sobbing aloud. Her hand clutched at her chest and she wheezed a little, fumbling in her pocket and removing the inhaler The Man had made sure to keep well stocked for her since he had kidnapped her. She had a small bag over her shoulder filled with her stock, and she fumbled with her inhaler. She wheezed a little and braced back against the tree, inhaling the medicine, then leaned back against the tree, holding her breath. She finally puffed it out and took a second dosage, before slipping her inhaler into her pocket and taking off again.

Where are the girls? I can't lose them, not now!

She stumbled again, and this time fell to her hands and knees, scraping her palms. The sting was barely noticeable, and she stifled a cry. She had gone two years without speaking, she could go a bit longer without any sound-making for the sake of her life. Thick tears streamed down her face and she clenched her burning, aching hands, slamming them into the ground.

Why me? Why? I never did anything wrong. I just want to go home!

She dug her fingers into the dirt, pulling up grass and mud, chucking it away. She dropped her forehead onto her fists and closed her eyes, her shoulders shaking.

Why me?

Anita heard the footsteps when they were almost two minutes away from her, but she couldn't find the willpower for her to move. She somehow knew it wasn't the woman, but she didn't seem to care who may happen upon her. She stifled a cry as something hard slammed roughly into her side, causing her to roll across the grass and no doubt a bruise begin to form on her rib cage. She grimaced and clutched her side, pushing herself up onto her knees, and looked up at the girl before her.

Reason.

Anita allowed the older girl to help pull her up to stand and when she began to speak of having to leave, she nodded in response. It was the most logical thing, after all. She brushed herself off, and grabbed the other girl's arm, looking at her for the moment, seeming unable to still speak after all that had happened. She pointed in the direction that she had come from, then held up a hand and brushed her hair back, as if to relay that The Woman that The Man had been married to had been there. She used her hands to made the shape of a small house, or a cabin, and then lifted her arms and flexed for the meaning of 'boys'. She made the same motion for The Woman, then moved her hands as if to be cocking a gun. To her, what she was trying to tell Reason was clear. She had passed by a cabin that The Woman had lived in and had seen several rooms that boys had obviously been kept in. She had gotten close enough to peak in the windows, then had taken off, especially when she had heard the sound of a car pulling up. She had then waited in the trees for the woman to leave the cabin, only with a gun, and then had taken off.

She grabbed Reason's arm again and pointed in the opposite direction, then at the ground of the forest. She dropped to her knees and plucked up a leaf, flipped it over, then looked at Reason, flexing her arms again for the meaning of 'boys'. She then pointed in the same direction as before, her other hand pointing at ground, where she had been tracking their footprints.

"Not ... Alone ..." she whispered, dropping the leaf.

"I guess you two aren't out here on vacation.."

"Nah. We were looking for Camp Crystal Lake. We got the cheap knockoff."

Anita jumped a little at the sight of the boy, who was near their age. She had known there were others in the forest, had known that they had been held hostage by The Woman, whom The Man had always spoken of, but she hadn't expected to see any of the boys. Leave it to Reason, though, to lighten the mood, even in such a frightening, horrific time as this. She stumbled back a few steps as Reason thrust her hand out before her, successfully forcing her to stay behind the elder girl, and Anita peaked out from behind her, her eyes wide and her thumb nail nervously bitten down on between her teeth. She stared at the boy with what could only be explained as curiosity and weariness, but after several moments of her only staring at him, she ducked out from behind Reason.

She strode towards the boy, holding her hands up to show that she meant no harm. Everything that she wanted to say was on the tip of her tongue, but for some odd reason, she couldn't bring herself to speak. It could be from her being traumatized after two years of being held hostage by The Man; it could be shock from seeing a boy out there. It could be anything, but she didn't know what anything was.

She stopped a few feet away from the boy and held up her two fingers, crossing them over one another in an 'X'. She then pointed at herself. She pointed over at Reason, then traced her own lips to make the signal of 'saying', then pointed at herself. What she was trying to say was, 'They call me X', but whether she was successful or not, was left up to him telling her so.

Since they had been locked up in the cabin, without any paper or writing utensils, she had made it so the girls understood to just call her X. Which was exactly what they had taken to calling her. 'Not Alone,' was one of the first things she had said since she had been taken. That and simple words to get her point across, but that was it. It would take a miracle to get her to speak.

She moved over to the boy, rubbed her hand against her dirty jeans, then held it out to him, adjusting her bag over her shoulder as she did so. She managed a small smile and nodded at him, her way of saying, 'Nice to meet you.' She then took a few steps back and cast a look between Reason and the boy, before looking around quickly. She suddenly grabbed up a stick and dropped to her knees, motioning for the boy to look at the dirt.

Taken. Man. Held in cabin. Two years. Dunno why. Kidnapped. You too? By The Woman? She wrote quickly, taking out needless words that would only take up time, before turning her gaze up to the boy and motioning to the words. She then turned back and added several words, going off of where she ended. Has gun. Scouring woods. Must hurry. Find others.

"Nice to meet you, X." He took her hand and she shook his in return, managing a small smile and a nod at him.

"I didn't even know you girls were out here... But yeah, we were kept by the woman. She walked right past me when I was hiding. I backtracked hoping to find a map in the cabin. I'm Charlie, by the way, Charlie Speed."

Anita nodded at him and flipped her hand out, shaking his again and mouthing, 'Nice to meet you, too,' before releasing his hand.

What do you two think? Are we sticking together? If we are, back to the cabin to see if there is anything we can use, or go look for the other right away?"

Anita opened her mouth to speak, but clamped it shut as a though occurred to her. Perhaps her remaining quiet, despite it not being under her control, would come in handy later on. So she pressed her lips together and stifled a sigh as Reason began to speak.

"Sounds like a plan. We all ran like a bat out of hell. She's needs an inhaler so we need to head back," Reason said, motioning to her. Anita moved forward and pulled her bag off of her shoulder. She unzipped it and held it out for the two to look inside, revealing the year supply that The Man had bought her at the beginning of the year. She had been going on her third year in his 'care', and had grown accustomed to him going out and getting her prescription, stocking it for the year, and then leaving her to defend for herself. To be honest, he hadn't taken very good care of her. Her bag had been locked in the living room while she was locked in her own room, and she had gone into an asthma-induced seizure. The only reason she was still alive was because one of the other girls - she couldn't remember which one, but she vaguely recalled seeing Poppy's face - had somehow broken into her room and helped her.

Anita zipped the bag shut and slung it back over her shoulder, then cast a look around her.

One of the upsides to her not speaking, was that she had come to be as quiet as a mouse in everything she did. It was difficult, if not impossible, to hear her walking, unless she wanted to be heard, or if she was merely doing anything, really. It had also made it so she had finely attuned hearing, which was only heightened by the constant training her father had put her through.

She suddenly grabbed Reason and Charlie's arms, successfully yanking them behind a mass of bushes. She pushed them to the ground without seeming to care if they were hurt in the process, then ducked down behind them as footsteps crunched by. She pressed her hands down against the centers of their backs, peering through the bushes at The Woman's feet. She paused, her flashlight's light bobbing up and down, and after a moment of her looking around to see if she caught anything, she moved on. Anita waited about two minutes, before she finally released her new friend's backs and rose. She held up a hand, motioning for them to stay put, then disappeared into the dark forest.

She traveled surprisingly quickly, ducking easily under branches, hopping over roots, and maneuvering lithely throughout the nature. She finally arrived at the cabin and paused, her head cocked to the side, to listen. Hearing nothing, she moved over to the cabin, picked up a hefty rock, and smashed a window. The crash was loud, but dulled by the thicket surrounding it, and she used the sleeve of her dirty shirt to brush away the glass, estimating she had about five minutes before The Woman would return to investigate the noise. Curling her fingers over the windowsill, and pricking her fingers in the process, she pulled herself up and inside the cabin, dropping without a sound to the floor of the living room. She crouched in the darkness, her heart thundering in her ears, and concentrated on listening for footsteps. Hearing none, she took off, darting inside bedrooms and tossing things that she knew would be of use in the near future, into her bag of supplies.

Wire, rope, knives, a pistol, cloth, bottles, lighters, a small vessel of what smelled and appeared to be oil, nail clippers, scissors, thread, needles, and a first aid kit. Her bag was bulging by the time she finished, three minutes and forty-two seconds later. She zipped it shut and crouched low in the darkness, following the wall to make herself more difficult to be seen, and listened for a moment to make sure it was clear to escape the house. Once satisfied, Anita vaulted easily from the window and took off into the dark forest once again, arriving at the area she had left her friends surprisingly quickly.

She placed her bag on the ground and unzipped it to reveal it's contents, gave them a good few moments to study them, then zipped it shut and slung it back over her shoulder. She fixed a look on them, suddenly the girl she had been before she was kidnapped. She motioned to all three of them, then made a fist, held up two fingers, then motioned in the direction away from them, meaning to say, 'We have to go.'

"Alright. Stay together, within arms reach. Keep an eye out for the others. Come along, ladies. We mustn't keep the world awaitin'."

Anita nodded in response to Charlie as they took their weapons, and she pulled the drawstrings of the bag shut. She tossed it over her shoulders and tugged the strings to adjust them and make sure that the bag wouldn't slip or tear of, and then turned to Reason as she spoke up.

"I'll bring up the front. X in the middle. Do you mind bringing up the rear. It would be better if we kept in a line. That way, we have each other's blind spots and we take up less space."

Turning back to Charlie, she studied his expression. He was obviously worried about something. Mentally, she tacked off everything she had retrieved from the house. Everything they needed was in the bag, except ...

Food!

She slapped her forehead with the heel of her palm. How could she forget food! She was so out of practice ... No wonder he was worried. It was no doubt about the lack of food, which was her fault. Luckily, once they found a safe place, she could head out, forage for food and set some traps to catch rabbits or something, anything really.

She moved over and let her hand fall on Charlie's upper arm. She pointed at her lips and pretended to chew, gave him a questioning look, and then stepped back. She moved over to a bush and traced her hand over it's leaves before she pointed to herself, as if signing that she could find food later on. She then tapped her temple and shook her head, smirking a little at him, as if to say, 'Ya' gotta think man'.

She slipped her hand into her pocket and removed a Glock, slipped it into her waist band, and turned to the two. With a wave of her hand, she motioned for them to move, and began to walk.

"Come on. We should stick together, even if he's not all that pleasant to be around." Dani joked lightly. Poppy gave a small giggle, and took her extended hand for a second. "Aye aye, cap'n. You lead the way i guess. I can keep traveling, but i know eventually i'll get lost. Maybe we can get out of here in the morning before i hit fifteen..." The last part of the statement she muttered softly to herself. There were more important things to be worrying about at the moment, but she secretely wished that if she was still stuck in the woods, her birthday would be an unforgettable adventure.

Meanwhile, Darius was wandering around the forest, following his tracks with a small pocket light. He was searching for a backpack that he had left in a hiding spot inside a small hole in the ground. It had most likely been an abandoned rabbit hole, and made a convenient place for keeping his supplies safe. He had obtained the backpack and its contents during the little time he had to escape the cabin. He had been smart and fast enough to pack food and drink, but unfortunately, he wasn't able to grab a cellphone. He didn't regret it though. Even if he did have a phone, there would be no reception. He knew that from the times he had to live on his own. That's why he had enjoyed living in the woods, his uncle wasn't able to contact him.

A few minutes later, he was able to find his yellow backpack. Suddenly, as he was slinging the bag over his shoulder, he heard the sound of footsteps approaching in his direction. He kept low to the ground, and hid himself behind one of the trees. As the footsteps got closer, he could hear the sound of a woman talking.
"Be on the lookout for alot of gnats. They love the water. So the more gnats, the closer we are to water...."
Darius could still hear the woman talking, but he couldn't make out what she was saying. He breathed a sigh of relieved, grateful that it wasn't the woman who had kidnapped him for what seemed like eternity.

He quickly looked around the corner to see the Motley Crue that was approaching. The group was composed of a small pretty-faced girl, a kid with pale skin and an emo haircut, and a tall, atheltic looking girl with black dreadlocks. He assumed that she was the leader.
He started to consider his options; should he let the group move on, or should he stop them? He mentally listed the pros and cons, and came to the conclusion that it was better to let them wander off. After all, more people in a group meant more people to take care of, and Miss Blondie was enough for him at the moment. After the group had passed him, he started to make his way back to Dani and Poppy.

"My apologies. Old habits die hard. We'll be fine... If I were in the city, I'd be out in two minutes."

Anita only caught the end of his statement due to her trained hearing. Oddly enough, she felt as though the two people beside her were trustworthy. They had all obviously been face with a similar, if not the same, misdeed, and although it went against everything her father had ever taught her, she trusted them. She trusted Reason, with her crazy, tough personality, and Charlie, with his kind, happy demeanor.

Turning her mind back to their current situation, Anita began to study their surroundings. Due to the lush greenery around them, she figured that there had to be running water somewhere nearby. Along with that, there had to be berries and other types of food. The soil beside water was nourishing and berries bushes and fruit trees tended to grow quickly. Also, there were gnats, mosquitoes, and other annoying bugs already fluttering around her face. She swatted at them, and slapped two or three on her arm, and all the while, Reason spoke.

"Yo. Check it out. If we find a creek or something. We'll be good. We need to stay hydrated. We could probably make camp there too. And, where's there's water, there'll be a lot of critters trying to drink it. So we could probably find food there. Although we won't be able to cook it until morning. If she sees fire, she'll come right for us. Be on the lookout for a lot of gnats. They love the water. So the more gnats, the closer we are to water. I'm an Army brat. Not a survival nut."

The poor older girl was obviously scared and rambling to distract herself. When she said that she was an 'Army brat', Anita smiled. She pointed at herself, held up two fingers, and grinned, signaling 'Me too'. She pointed at a tree and adjusted the sack over her shoulder, before moving over to the tree and easily maneuvering up and into it. She perched there for a moment, peering around the immediate area, before spotting a small stream a few feet away from them.

She had just turned to make her way back down, when movement on the ground below her caught her eye. She looked in that direction and froze when she saw the boy. For a moment, her shock made her go still, but she thawed out and pushed out of the leaves.

Due to her not being too far above the boy, yet far enough up to be out of sight of him, she reckoned that if she were to fall, she would survive. If she were to jump and tackle the boy, she would be unharmed.

Her expression neutral, she dropped from the tree, immediately coming into contact with the boy. She tackled him to the ground, her legs going around her waist. They rolled over the grass, and she ended up straddling his back, her hand against the back of his sandy-blonde hair, pressing his face into the ground. She leaned down and whispered into his ear, one word, before she slowly and gently moved off of him.

"Safe."

There was a chilling breeze as Darius started to head back to his group. To him, the air was as thick as ice. Was it the middle of winter, or was the cold weather just starting? He had lost track of the time while kidnapped. It had seemed like ages ago when he remembered sitting out in the open woodland, stargazing as he tried to forget what had happened that day. Of course he tried, but sometimes even the dullest of memories still left an imprint in his mind. While imprisoned in the cabin, some of those memories did slip away. However, there were still a few that would leave a scar, no matter what.

These woods were different than the ones he used to remember. The forest he knew was peaceful, calm, serene, and provided a safe haven in times of distress. In this place, danger lurked around every corner, or in his case, from above.

Something heavy had toppled right over him, and was pinning him down to the ground. From the way the thing was holding down his head, and didn't take much guessing to know that it was a person. He could feel long, smooth hair brush against his neck as the attacker muttered one word into his ear:

"Safe."

It was a woman. What a surprise.

The girl, whoever it was, rolled off of him gently. However, Darius wasn't willing to let his attacker go as easily. He grabbed her by the neck, and pinned her down to the ground. He gripped one hand unto her shoulder. His other hand held a knife to her throat. He wrapped his legs around her waist, just like what she had done to him. He was ready to slit this woman's throat once and for all...

....But he didn't. This wasn't the woman that was chasing him. He had made a mistake again. His enraged face turned into a look of realization. He inspected her, and through the darkness, he saw that this was the girl that had traveled with the group. How the hell did she notice him, catch up to him, and then pounce him? Whatever. There was more than one crazy woman lurking in these woods.

He rolled off her, dragged her by the arm, and then pushed her into one of the rough-barked trees. He pinned her like before, and stepped on her feet so that she couldn't escape.
"Alright, Dollface," he started, drawing the knife from behind his back. "I know you're probably from Rick, and you're not a threat to me, but that doesn't mean I can't be a threat to you."
He drew the knife closer. His face was cold, cross, and furious. It was as though his eyes were that of a snake's.
"I'm hoping you don't do what you just did to guys often, cause I'll admit, that was pretty damn creepy."
The knife was against Anita's neck now. Before Darius could speak again, the voice of a young girl cried out from the darkness:

"STOP!"

---

As the two girls walked across the woods underneath the starry sky, Poppy couldn't help but stare into the beauty of the moon. It was something she easily got lost into. Then, out of nowhere, voices could be heard in the distance. The young girl stopped in her tracks, and listened. However, Dani fierce protection started to kick in before Poppy could identify the voices.

Without hesitation, she pulled Poppy high up into the treetops. She was grateful for Dani's help, but she wished as though Dani would let her explore a little more.
"Shh. There are other people out there." she whispered, holding her down so she couldn't be seen. A thought crossed Poppy's mind. A group of people wasn't the crazy woman alone. A group of people could be campers, or the police, looking for them. And besides, wasn't that boy still out there? What if the group WAS dangerous, and he was in trouble? There was no way she was leaving him out in the open. She reluctantly moved Dani's protective hand away from her, and whispered, "I'm really sorry, Dani." a sad yet understanding smile on her face. She knew what she was about to do would probably freak her out, but it had to be done. She jumped out of the protection of the tree, the black of night surrounding her as she became a silhouette. Falling out of trees was starting to become more natural to her. She took off into the night, listening for the voices as she traveled. Finally, she was picking up something. She moved faster, and found that it was the boy's voice. She was worried, but not as worried as when she found out who he was cornering.

It was X.

Seeing that he held his knife promptly against the girl's neck, she decided to blow her cover.

"STOP!" she yelled.

---

Darius turned around, surprised to see the girl again. He released Anita from his tight grasp, and made a concerned and serious face towards Poppy.
"You know this girl?" he asked in a serious tone.
In the blink of an eye, Poppy had her arms wrapped around Anita. Darius crossed his arms and moved away as the girl hugged the brunette.

"Hi, X" she whispered.

One moment she was slowly backing away from the boy, in order to give him space to get up and brush himself off, and the next, her neck was taken in a hard grip, and she knew it would begin to bruise not too long afterwards. She felt him shove her to the ground and promptly pin her, with one hand on her shoulder and the full weight of his body atop hers.

She felt the cold blade of the knife settle against her throat.

It wasn't as if she couldn't have fought back. However, she didn't feel as if it were right to do so. She had been the one that had pounced upon him first. She was the one that was foolish enough to allow The Man to take her. She was the one that was holding Reason and Charlie back.

She deserved to die.

Death would be a welcome relief to this hell-hole called life.

Before Anita realized what had occurred, the boy was pushing himself off of her, and a familiar voice was speaking to her, while the girl's arms wound around her body. Anita's eyes were closed, but when the arms went around her, and the girl spoke, she immediately recognized her.

Slowly her eyes opened, yet she had never once been afraid of what she had thought was the unstoppable death. She had merely closed them so as not to look at the boy in, what he would undoubtedly think, was hatred and disgust. However, she did not blame him. It was merely human nature to do what you could to survive.

She pressed her lips together and slowly sat up, rubbing at her throat. She stared at Dani for several moments, before beaming a smile at the girl and waggling her fingers under the girl's nose, her version of a 'hello'. She managed to pull out of her arms and push herself up, but stumbled a little and bumped into a tree, which she promptly grabbed onto.

Her throat was constricting.

Her air pipes were clogging.

She could feel her heart begin to beat harder, faster, in an attempt to keep up with the oxygen being cut off.

She collapsed to her knees, her breaths wheezing through her throat, one hand clutching her chest while the other wound around her neck.

"Dani," she rasped out. "Asthma ..." she choked, beginning to tremble.

She slumped forward, her entire body shaking. Her vision was beginning to darken, dim, the still of the night settling around her.

"Can't ... Breathe ..." she wheezed.

There were only a few things in that moment that she could still hear. She could hear Dani and the boy; she could hear birds chirping in the trees; she could hear footsteps racing through the woods, which came to an abrupt stop not too far away; and she could hear, in the far distance, due to her trained ears, a single pair of light footsteps.

Despite her inability to breathe at that current moment, she forced herself up and onto trembling legs.

"Here ..." she gasped, stumbling over to Dani. She grabbed the girl's arm to hold her up. "Woman ..." She pointed West of them, her eyes wide with fear, panic obvious in them. There was no time for her to allow her fear of speaking to hinder her ability to warn the others, even if it meant she would die, left behind due to her asthma attack. Her voice was soft, however, a combination of her years of silence and her breathless state.

"She's that way ... Two-fourths mile ... Charlie ... Reason ... There," she pointed to their East, "Ten feet ..." She grabbed the girl's arm in an even tighter grip. "Two more ... Boys ... Behind those trees ..." she pointed to their North. Her bag had to be somewhere nearby. She must have dropped it in the process of falling from the tree and being attacked by the boy.

Her vision grew darker, wavier, and she slumped a bit against the girl's side. She dropped to her hands and knees and felt around on the ground, barely able to see at this point, before her hand closed around a bag that had fallen beneath a bush. She wrenched it out and snapped it open, dug inside of it, retrieved an inhaler, and promptly shoved it before her face.

As soon as the medicine had made it's way into her system, her lungs began to expand, her throat began to return to normal, and she laid there for a few moments longer. Finally, she slipped the inhaler into her pocket, swung the bag over her shoulder, and shakily pushed herself up, clearing her throat in the process.

"I know I haven't spoken to you before, and trust me, I'm going to return to my silent state as soon as we are relatively safe from harm from the woman. However, at this current moment in time, The Woman is approximately two-fourths of a mile West of us. Reason, a boy named Charlie, and I, were all together until I climbed this tree and tackled this boy here," she pointed at Darius. "Reason and Charlie are ten feet East of us. There are two more boys, undoubtedly our age and escaping from The Woman also, not too far behind those trees," she told the two, her arms crossed. Her voice was hoarse from her asthma attack and her having gone silent for so long, yet it was audible and understandable.

"The Woman is closing in. There's no time for you two to argue with me, especially not you," she pointed at Darius. She looked over at Dani. "Find out who those two boys are and meet me back here in two minutes. If those two minutes are up, I'm going to come looking for you," she told the two. With that, she disappeared into the bushes, ducking and sliding beneath the limbs.

She hopped up behind Reason and Charlie, managing a tiny smile. "Boo," she said quietly, moving over between the two. "I don't have time to explain, but I figured it's better for all of us if I drop my silence for now and make sure everyone stays, well, okay. For now, you two just need to trust me. Come on," she ordered, and started through the bushes, walking this time so they could keep up, yet keeping was ear trained on the sound of The Woman's footsteps. She soon returned to the spot where she had told Dani and the boy to meet her at.

"We'll wait here for one minute and twenty-two seconds, and then I'll have to go looking for Dani and the others," she informed the two. She leaned back against a tree to wait, her arms and ankles crossed, her face towards the ground, her entire focus concentrated on listening for The Woman.

"Did you know you have a handprints on your throat?"

"I was aware that I do. It's pretty hard to get marks like that without knowing that you had them," she said, her voice slightly sarcastic.

"Reason said you have asthma, a grip like that would definitely cause an attack. I thought we three agreed to take care of each other. If you keep scampering off, it makes it hard for city kids like me to look out for you. And for you to keep an eye on us."

Correction. You and Reason agreed to take care of each other. I don't need taking care of," she scoffed, looking up at him with slightly pouting lips. She allowed him to turn her head from side to side by the chin to study the bruises, her lips pursed. "Besides, it's my job to look after others. Papa always said so," she shrugged a little, not seeming effected in the least by his miniature lecture. It was pathetic in comparison to her father's famous ones.

It was then that Reason piped up. "You can't keep running off, dude, seriously. If push comes to shove, I can't do a damn thing if the woman catches you. We have a better chance together. We'll go together. Separating is never a good idea in this situation. You're an Army brat, you should know that."

"I only said that we would wait here for fifty-five more seconds, and that I would need to leave momentarily. I never said that I was removing yours and Charlie's free will. You're more then welcome to follow me, but I need to make sure that the others, whom I happened upon when I managed to get these bruises, are okay," she informed the two, leaning back against the tree for only a few moments longer, before she pushed away. She tilted her head to the side for a few seconds, then to the other side, to the back, and then the front.

"The Woman's moving away from our current location," she murmured to the two, her ears twitching slightly as they caught the now-familiar sounds of a female's footfalls through mud, grass, and other foliage.

She turned away and motioned with a hand over her shoulder. "They're just past these trees, and not too far away," she told them, already walking in that direction. She didn't even pause to see if they followed, but simply continued to walk.

She froze mid-step as she spotted the owners of the two footsteps from earlier. Both were boys, and both were around her age, which pinpointed them as victims of The Woman. They looked similar, although one seemed a bit older, and she studied them with a hard gaze. "Charlie, were these two taken by The Woman, too?" she asked over her shoulder.