|THE FACELESS KILLER| Hiatus

| S I X |

Cradling his leg with his right hand, he used his left hand to muffle the agonized cries as he used his right hand to plunge out the branch. Successfully removing the branch; blood oozed out of the wound like running water contaminating his pants all together with the earth beneath it.

Finally getting to his foe, the figure stood five feet away examining the damage Chris had gotten himself into. Swaying the ax back and forth—a sardonic smile graced his mask covered face.

Before Christopher could acknowledge his presence, a searing pain jerked his senses at the back of the head. Looking at the direction where the movement came from, all he could make out was a fuzzy silhouette then complete darkness blinded his eyes as he superimposed the ground in a limp mound.

—x—

"Christopher! Chrisss!" Emily called out for the nth time. After fifteen minutes of having a one-sided conversation, she finally noticed Chris's lack of presence.

Retracing her steps to where she last saw him, an unsettling feeling plunged at the bottom of her stomach. Feeling nauseous all of a sudden, she dry heaved behind a fox-glove bush intertwined with poison ivy without caution as the darkness had dimmed her sense of sight.

Getting back to looking for her best friend she reached their last spot, but to her disappointment, he was not there. Shuffling at a distance set her on high alert, shadows circled her leaving her trapped in one spot, with wild eyes she scanned from one point to the next trying her best to locate the figure that had her rigid and ready to bolt for the nearest exit.

As the shuffling got closer, her posture got more rigid—her heartbeat threatened to leap out of her mouth. Shaking like a leaf, she clutched at her body warmer. To no avail did it reduce the tremors overtaking her body, she knew she wasn't cold. She was too terrified to be cold.

She looked up to the moon asking for a sign, a way out of that chilling situation. The moon seemed to sense her distress, she thought as she followed the moons glow. Its glow cast on a solid tree branch—looking up at the moon again she gave her thanks as she approached her newfound weapon.

The snapping of a tree branch got her in attack mode, holding on to the weapon with both hands, she spread her legs apart and straightened her back. Gripping tightly to the branch she moved forward, one-foot in-front of the other.

"Chris, this is not funny," her sharp tone faltered when another branch snapped just meters away from her, "Christopher, I swear. If that's you I'm going to wring your neck."

Two deers trudged out of the shadows fighting with their antlers. "Ahhhh!" Emily made a sound between a battle cry and a scream when the shadows formed in-front of her eyes.

As the figures formed, she realized her mistake—the deers stopped fighting startled by the foreign noise they had never come across before. Frightened for her life, Emily dropped her weapon and ran as fast as she could away from them.

When she saw the pathway that led back to the cabin she sprinted even further willing her feet not to give out on her. Twenty feet away from the cabin she broke into hysterics, she laughed at how stupid she had been, how paralyzed those deer sounds had made her, and how she talked to the moon.

Holding onto her legs she took deep breaths of air to steady her hearts fast-paced beating. Sweat trailed down her back and forehead awakening the seeds that had been planted earlier. Standing erect she scratched at her neck, face, wrists.

The more she scratched the more agitated she became. Trekking to the cabin she kept on scratching. The sweat glistening on her forehead set ablaze a path of irritation. Grunting, she reached momentarily for the cabin door but the discomfort got worse on her hands and she retracted her hand to soothe the area.

Kicking the door with her leg, Oliver opened the door. The look on his face confirmed that she looked worse than she felt. Sidestepping, he made way for her to enter; looking out into the dark he looked at the back of her head as if all the answers he needed where plastered there.

"What's wrong with you? Why's your face red and blotchy?" Melany questioned scrutinizing her appearance from where she sat.

Everyone stared at her silently asking her to be nice. Shrugging her shoulders, she stood her ground as she sent a complacent look at her friend.

"Is Chris back yet?" She blatantly ignored Melany's question.

"No. Weren't you supposed to come back together," Her heart sank at the revelation she got from Bethany.

Trepidation filled her conscious, where could he have gone to? She questioned herself. How had she failed in completing one measly task and lose her best friend in one night? What if something bad happened to him? What if... No! She shook her head ridding the bad thoughts in her mind.

A pull at her hands set her free from the looming heartache she slowly drifted in. Tender fingers brushed away tears that had escaped her turmoil stricken eyes.

"Don't cry, I'm sure he's safe and making his way back," Bethany soothed after she wiped all her tears away, "I think you might have contacted poison ivy, can I take a look?"

"Yes, please. It stings really badly and I just can't..." she trailed off, her shoulders shook violently, not knowing what to do; Bethany helplessly looked at her boyfriend pleading for his help.

Giving her a quizzed look, Oliver sat at arm's length away from Emily for obvious reasons— thinking on what to say he scratched at the back of his head.

"Umm, heey," awkwardly patting Emily's shoulder he looked at Bethany who gave him a warm smile urging him to continue, "Look Em, 'ion know what's going through your head right now, but whatever it is just know that we got your back, we'll look for Chris while you get checked by our very own personal doctor, is that okay?" with shoulders still shaking, she shook her head in an affirmative motion.

Wiping the salty waterworks away from her eyes she sent a grateful half-smile towards Oliver. Standing to her feet, Bethany led Em to her room for further examination.