Lost (sequel to Cellblock Four)

✣ Part Six ✣

Shout out to @Gen_Is_Trash for being the first person to comment Shyan on the last part. First person to comment "Ryan's holy water" gets a shoutout on the next part.

Ryan's POV

When the three of us reached the bottom of the stairs we began to follow the path back to where it had split into three directions. As we walked, I could hear strange noises in the distance. It sounded like gunshots from the dead spirits of Gettysburg.

I glanced behind me to see Shane give Keith a nervous look, but I pretended not to notice. It was probably best for all of us if I hid the fact that I was scared out of my mind.

By the time we had reached the split, the sounds had subsided and I was feeling slightly braver. We stopped to discuss where we would go next.

"What if we checked down this path?" Keith suggested, pointing towards the gravel that wound throughout the forest. Just as we all looked in that direction, the figure of a soldier on horseback stepped out of the trees a little ways down the path.

Shane instinctively threw his hand over my eyes, attempting to shield me from seeing the apparition, but it was no use.

"Shane, I know what's there." I told him, somehow managing to keep my voice steady despite the fear racing throughout my body.

He sighed and removed his hand, moving closer to pull me into a hug. I could see that, while his hand had been covering my eyes, the horse and rider seemed to have either walked away or vanished.

"L-let's not go down there." Shane stuttered "how about this way?" He gestured towards the other path that we had yet to follow.

I nodded, holding Shane's hand and pulling him along the dark path with me. We both shone our flashlights ahead of us, searching the eerie darkness for signs of more ghostly figures.

"Dude, this is so freaking terrifying." I told Shane, as we walked "I- I don't know what I would even do if you weren't here with me."

"You'd probably be crying." He joked, before turning serious "Honestly, I probably would be too." Shane said to me.

"How come you aren't? What is it that makes you so brave every time we go to these places?" I asked.

"Well..." he thought for a few seconds "I have to protect you. I always feel that... maybe if I'm not scared, you won't be either."

"R-really?" My eyes began to water. Is that really what's kept Shane from freaking out all these times? Did he really care that much about me? How had I been so stupid as to not notice that whenever Shane seemed the bravest, was when he was trying to comfort me?

He nodded, turning his head to look into my eyes. "You're the best thing that's ever happened to me, Ryan."

"I don't mean to ruin the moment, but do either of you know where we're going?" Keith asked, from behind us.

I turned around, looking from him to Shane. "N-no" I stated "I thought we'd just keep going till we get to the end of each of these paths and then turn around if we don't find anything."

"I was thinking that too but... now it kind of just seems like a stupid idea. We don't exactly know if these paths ever do come to an end. They might just loop around for miles. There's also the fact that we don't know whether or not any of the Try Guys actually came through here." Shane added.

"Where else are we gonna go though?" I asked "We've looked just about everywhere else."

"Good point..." Keith shrugged "I guess we'll just keep going."

Our small group continued trudging through the gravel for what seemed like an eternity. In reality, we probably walked for only about five minutes, but we were all too scared of what we might find to tell how long it was. The entire time, I kept my arm around Shane's midsection and he had his over my shoulders.

Eventually, the woods opened up into a large section of battlefield. There were a few old cannons on display around where the path came to an end.

"I dunno about you guys" I said, resting a hand on the barrel of a cannon "but this place makes me feel a little uneasy."

"Yeah same. Let's keep going and get out of here" Shane agreed with me, starting to walk along the field by the edge of the forest.

"Or we could turn back?" Keith suggested.

"They might have come this way though." I told him, following Shane's lead.

We walked along the tree line until we came to another gravel path. Assuming it led back to where we had come from, we began to walk along it. It had only been a minute or two when Shane suddenly slipped and fell into the dirt along the side of the path.

"Oh my gosh! Are you ok?" I asked, instantly dropping to my knees by his side to make sure he was ok. The two of us helped each other to stand back up and I gave him a worried expression.

"Yeah, I'm fine. I slipped on something." He stated, looking around at the ground. "What is this?"

I watched as Shane bent down and picked up something small and round from the ground. My eyes grew wide as he held it out for Keith and I to see. It was a bullet.

"What's that doing out here?" Keith asked.

I took the bullet from Shane's hand and held it in my own, closely examining the shape and size of it.

"This is definitely from the war. How has it been here this long without anybody noticing?" I asked.

"Maybe some kids or a reenactor dropped it here? There's no way something like this could just sit here for two hundred years in a place full of so many tourists." Shane suggested.

"I guess so..." I muttered, dropping the bullet into my pocket. We kept walking as if nothing happened but something about finding the bullet was unsettling to me.

"I guess this path did lead back to where we came from!" Shane smiled as we noticed the familiar landmarks up ahead. We stopped at where the three paths came together and I glance down each of them. One led to the tower we had climbed and the other two led to the battlefield.

"Well I guess now is a good time to head back to our tents. We'll go to the hotel and discuss what to do once we're there." Shane said, beginning to walk back towards the parking lot.

I followed him, kicking the gravel with my shoe as I did so. I wasn't paying attention to where I was going until I ran into Shane who had stopped walking in front of me.

"What?" I asked him, wondering why he was standing still. I followed his gaze to see a man in a soldier's uniform leaning against a tree across the parking lot.