Chasing a Fox

Chasing a Fox

Seth had received an anonymous tip that James had a hunting cabin out in the middle of a large forest. Having no idea the exact location of the cabin the police had organized a large search party to start combing the woods in search for Irene. Seth couldn't believe the number of people who had turned up to help. There were tents being set up, hot chocolate and coffee getting passed out. Irene had a lot of people who cared about her including himself.

*************************************************************************************************************

In the cabin Irene was swearing at the cuff ready to give up picking the lock when suddenly the lock popped and the cuff slid off her wrist. She rubbed the raw red skin and tried to figure out the next step of her plan. She had no idea where James had gone to or how long he would be gone. She pulled the pillowcase off of the pillow and threw some food from the cabinets inside. Opening up the fridge she found a bottle of water and grabbed that as well.

Outside she thought she heard the sound of an approaching vehicle. Not knowing if it was a savior or if it was James she stepped towards the back door of the cabin and carefully opened it. She could see the driveway leading up to the cabin and could also see a rusty pickup truck approaching the cabin. She hid behind the wood pile to see who was driving. The door creaked open and James slid out. Her heart felt like it was going to beat right out of her chest.

Of course he came back before she could put any real distance between her and the cabin. She watched James go to the back to the truck and pull a shot gun out. A cold sweat broke out down her back. Not only was he already unstable but now he had a gun. She needed to get out of there! Torn between wanting to bolt through the trees and trying to be quiet, Irene decided to be as quiet as possible. After all he didn't seem to realize she was gone yet.

In fact he had picked up an axe and began to chop some firewood up. She slowly walked backwards trying to watch her steps so she wouldn't step on a twig and bring attention to herself. She kept backing away while keeping her eyes on James. If he started to go inside the cabin she needed to start running. Irene was far enough away now that she could just make out the sound of him continuing to chop wood. When the chopping sound stopped she froze for a moment.

Her ears were straining to hear any possible sounds. The hair on her arms seems to be standing straight up, everything in her felt like it was on a high alert. Suddenly a loud roar split the air. "IRENE!!!!!!" James had discovered that she had escaped. There was no time to be quiet now. She turned and starting running through the trees. Probably running for her life.

"I'm going to find you Irene! You can't run forever!" James bellowed. Irene couldn't tell how close he was. He sounded far away but she didn't want to trust that so she kept moving. Climbing over fallen trees. Branches were scratching her face. She had tripped and fallen. The knee of her jeans got torn open. Irene knew that he would follow the driveway to look for her. He would assume that she would stick close to that. The sound of a gun being fired split through the air. A flock of birds flew up above the trees.

She was panting as she continued to run, the food she had grabbed was slowing her down so she decided to ditch the pillowcase full of food and water. Irene laid her makeshift bag up against a tree and covered the whole thing with leaves. She could hear the sound of a creak nearby. She made her way towards the noise.

***************************************************************************************************************

Seth heard the sound of a shotgun being fired. He wasn't the only one that heard it, several police officers c****d their guns and headed into the forest heavily armed. s**t! Irene had to be out here somewhere he couldn't just sit in a tent and not do anything. He had to get out there and see if he could help her. Maybe he could find her before her abductor did. He pulled on his jacket grabbed his backpack and took off in search for any clue he could find.

Since Seth was in good shape he could run easily through the trees without getting winded. He was probably around three miles away from where the search party had first set up. He could hear the sound of officers moving, they were using hand signals as they moved forward in a line formation. Another shot was fired and it sounded like it was coming to the right of them. The police officers shifted and began heading in that direction.

Seth saw a creek up ahead. He decided to go in that direction and let the police go in the direction that the shooter seemed to be in. At the base of a nearby tree something caught his attention. Making his way over to the tree he noticed something seemed to be buried at the base. Brushing some leaves aside he saw it was a pillowcase filled with some food and a water bottle. Irene! She must have ditched this in favor of continuing to run.

Praying that he was closer than whoever was hunting her Seth continued towards the direction of the creek. Spying some broken twigs he felt like he was on the right path to hopefully finding Irene. She must be so scared and worried. Off in the distance he heard another shot get fired. He really hoped that the police were catching up to whoever was firing the weapon. He was trying to keep his head low as he followed the bent branches towards the edge of the creek