It's pre-dawn.
You've had a rough night. You spent part of the night trying to remember where you were in the dark forest, and almost cried. You remembered to put the red film over your flashlight since it's harder to see in the dark. You were alright with your makeshift tent and covering it with brush. You were even alright with beef jerky and granola bars. But oh...
"My kingdom for coffee and a toilet," you mutter to yourself. Any little sound had you jumping so you slept terribly. You check your spare cell phone, wishing you hadn't left your primary one behind. "and my phone, not this one."
You sit in the darkness of your tent, conscious of the light breaking through the cracks of brush and green. What do you do now? Where do you go?
You have a few choices. You can stay holed up in the forest. You can find Jared's home on the other side of the forest. You could back track around your own property and head to town, find help there.
"Option three," you sigh heavily. You trust that Henry is looking for you by now, and since he and Jared don't see eye to eye, he will probably look for you alone. If you could just get into cell range--
You start walking away from your makeshift camp. If you could just find that river, or that cave.
You hear footsteps and you tense. You try to remain as still as possible.
"She's around here, I know it," a male voice says. "She has to be."
"Looked by the river?"
Is that Jared?
"Not even a step, just animal tracks."
You sigh with relief. You used hand towels wrapped around the bottom of your boots to mask your footprints. Evidently, that worked. Thanks, Wilson.
"Graham is in custody, it's up to us now."
You're sure it's Jared. You decide to stay quiet, thinking of the message you heard from Wilson:
"Okay, listen, lass...Whatever you do, don't trust Graham. His family controlled your accounts before you were found...and there was a deal in the works to--speaking of the devil--Damn it! Leg it, you got me?! Leg it and don't trust--"
Who am I not supposed to trust, you ask yourself.
"We should help her now," the other voice suggested. "If they caught Graham, the plan is foiled."
"I can do this," Jared said in a low voice. "We just have to find her."
You gasp and cover your mouth to cloak the sound. You want to believe that he is trying to find you for your safety, but now you don't know.
You listen to the footsteps move northeast toward a clearing you and Wilson went to. There is a well there, and you are happy you didn't go there. The ground is very soft and leaves very trackable footprints. You clutch your bag and exhale. You turn to go-
"Hey."
You almost scream at the man. He is not tall, dressed in a coat that had seen better days. His boots were muddy.
"Hey, I'm a friend." He put his hands up.
You look back in the direction Jared went then back at the man. "You are?"
"Yeah, I used to live around these parts."
"Homeless?" you whisper.
"I got a home," he nods. "It got complicated. Those Oxfordshires, they after you?"
"Yes...I think."
"There is one place they ain't gonna go," he nods. "Come on." He starts in the same direction they went.
"We can't--" you whisper quickly. "They just went that way--"
"They won't go that way," he nods. "They don't go to the well."
"Why?"
"They can't," he shakes his head, still looking that way. "They will turn on a footpath and go around. I know the way."
You follow him warily. It sounds crazy, but a vagrant would know how to avoid locals. "I need to get--"
"Home," he nods, not looking at you. "you need to get home."
"Well, actually, Red Lion's Inn--"
"Huh, some help they are."
"If you come with me, I'll help you."
"You will?"
"I'm Lady Edenvale."
He turns and smiles. "I know. Not many of us around here anymore."
"Things are different--"
"Yet--" he ducks down and you do, too. You see Jared and his relative stop and stare at the well and clearing, then move around it. "yet the same."
"Oh." you watch. Why would they do that?
"Did you know that a man drowned in that old well, then was fished out and buried in that field?" He pauses. "Used to be a pond."
You swallow hard. "No."
"It's haunted, but only for Oxfordshires," the man went on with a grin. "When they get close to the well, something bad happens." He leads you out to the well and you sit beside it. "You're safe here."
You curl beside it. At the very least, it's good cover.
"Milady?"
You turn to see Jared and his cohort. You back against the well, not sure what to do.
"Ah!" the homeless man smiles. "He's coming!"
You gasp. Did this man just betray you?
"Your intended is on the other side."
You look up at him. "You know Henry?"
"Briefly, good man," he nods. He rises, and Jared and the man freeze. He offers his hand. "Up. I want you to run across this clearing, you understand?"
You rise but do not see Henry, heart thudding in your chest.
"Go!"
You start off running, if only to get away from Jared who is now running back the way he came, still not stepping into the clearing. You look back surprised that he doesn't cut through to cut you off.
But the other man, he started running.
"Phillip, no!" Jared cries.
You keep moving, deciding to focus ahead. Suddenly, out of the wood, Henry emerges. He cries out your name, and comes towards you, stretching his arms as he comes closer.
It is then you feel the ground beneath you. It's shaking!
Henry catches you and you turn in his arms just in time to see Phillip drop out of sight.
"Oh, my God," you gasp. "A sinkhole!" You sink to the ground and Henry goes down with you as the field goes silent.
"Might be quicksand," Henry's eyes are wide as he pulls you further away from the clearing, still keeping you in the safety of his arms.
"Help him!" Jared cries out, but doesn't move closer from the other side.
Henry's brothers go to work quickly. Piers throws a line with a weight on the end, and waits. Henry holds you close and calls for help on his cell. In seconds, more men came to help.
Phillip is hauled out and Jared collapses in relief as he is carried out. He is talking to himself. He goes to the police and tells them something. One of the officers nods and cuffs him, walking him away. Jared looks at the hole and off to the woods.
You start looking around.
"What?" Henry asks.
"The homeless man."
"You saw him too?"
"Where did he go?" you ask. "I want to thank him."