PART 5 — Into the Woods
I didn’t stop running until my legs gave out.
The trees were thick and the ground uneven. Branches tore at my clothes and face as I pushed forward, one arm wrapped protectively around Ethan’s carrier and the other gripping Rebecca’s hand. Every step sent white-hot pain through my lower abdomen. I could feel fresh blood soaking through the pad between my legs, but I didn’t dare slow down.
Behind us, I could still hear shouting in the distance. Another gunshot cracked through the night, and I flinched so hard I almost dropped Ethan.
“Mom!” Rebecca gasped, pulling on my hand. “You’re bleeding!”
“I’m fine,” I lied through gritted teeth. “Keep going.”
We had been running for what felt like forever, though it was probably only ten or fifteen minutes. The woods behind Claire’s house stretched far, but I had no idea where we were heading. My only thought was to put as much distance as possible between us and the men who had broken into the house.
Claire’s scream still echoed in my head.
I didn’t know if she was alive. I didn’t know if she had been shot or if she had managed to fight back. The guilt sat heavy in my chest, but I couldn’t afford to think about it now. Not while Rebecca and Ethan were still in danger.
We finally reached a small clearing. I stumbled to a stop, leaning against a tree as I tried to catch my breath. My vision blurred at the edges.
“Mom, please,” Rebecca whispered. She was crying now, quiet tears streaking down her dirty face. “You need to rest. You’re going to pass out.”
I wanted to argue, but she was right. My body was failing me. The incision from the C-section felt like it was ripping open with every movement.
I lowered myself carefully to the ground, cradling Ethan’s carrier in my lap. Rebecca knelt beside me, her small hands checking my face like she was the adult.
“We can’t stay here,” I said between breaths. “They might still be following us.”
Rebecca looked around the dark woods, then pointed.
“There’s a light over there. Through the trees.”
I squinted in the direction she was pointing. Faintly, through the darkness, I could see a small glow — maybe a house or a cabin.
It was risky. But staying in the open woods was riskier.
We moved slower this time. I could barely walk now. Rebecca carried Ethan’s carrier with both hands while I leaned on her small shoulder for support. It should have been the other way around, but my daughter didn’t complain once.
After what felt like an eternity, we reached the edge of the trees.
It wasn’t a house.
It was an old hunting cabin — small, dark, and clearly abandoned for years. The windows were boarded up and the roof sagged in one corner. But there was a faint light coming from inside, probably from a broken window or hole in the roof.
Rebecca looked at me.
“Do we go in?”
I hesitated. It could be a trap. But we had nowhere else to go.
“We’ll check it first,” I said.
We approached slowly. I pushed the door open with my foot. It creaked loudly, making me wince.
The inside was dusty and smelled of mildew and old wood. There was an old mattress in one corner, a broken chair, and some rusted tools on the wall. It looked like no one had been here in a long time.
Rebecca carefully set Ethan’s carrier down on the mattress. He was still miraculously asleep, though I didn’t know how.
I collapsed onto the floor beside the mattress, my back against the wall. The pain was so bad now that I could barely think straight.
Rebecca sat down next to me and took my hand.
“Mom… is Claire okay?”
I didn’t know how to answer her.
“I don’t know, baby,” I said honestly. “But Claire is strong. Stronger than most people.”
Rebecca nodded, but her eyes were full of fear.
We sat in silence for a while. The only sounds were the wind moving through the trees outside and Ethan’s soft breathing.
After some time, Rebecca spoke again.
“Dad called you, didn’t he? Before they came.”
I nodded.
“He said they already knew where we were.”
Rebecca was quiet for a moment.
“He sounded scared on the phone, didn’t he?”
I looked at her in surprise.
“How did you know?”
“I could hear him a little,” she admitted. “When you were talking in the hallway. He didn’t sound like he wanted to do this. He sounded like he was trapped.”
I didn’t know what to say to that. Part of me still hated David for what he had done. But another part of me wondered if he had gotten in over his head with people far more dangerous than he realized.
Still, it didn’t change what he had tried to do to our son.
I closed my eyes and leaned my head back against the wall.
“We need a plan,” I said. “We can’t stay here forever. And we can’t go back to the city.”
Rebecca was quiet for a long time.
Then she said something that broke my heart.
“I’m sorry, Mom.”
I opened my eyes and looked at her.
“For what?”
“For not telling you sooner. About Dad. About what I heard.” Her voice cracked. “If I had told you earlier, maybe none of this would have happened.”
I pulled her into my arms as best I could, ignoring the pain.
“No,” I said firmly. “You did everything right. You protected your brother when I couldn’t. You were braver than most adults would have been. Don’t you ever apologize for that.”
Rebecca cried quietly against my shoulder.
I held her until her breathing evened out.
Eventually, she fell asleep leaning against me.
I stayed awake, listening to every sound outside. My body was exhausted, but my mind wouldn’t let me rest. Every creak of the trees made me tense. Every rustle of leaves made me hold my breath.
Around what I guessed was midnight, Ethan started to fuss. I carefully picked him up and tried to feed him. My milk had come in, but the stress and blood loss made it difficult. Still, he latched and ate a little.
As I fed him, I stared at his tiny face in the dark.
This innocent baby had become the target of something I still didn’t fully understand. All because of money. All because of greed.
I thought about David again.
Rebecca was right — he had sounded scared on the phone. Not just greedy. Scared. Like he was in too deep and didn’t know how to get out.
But that didn’t excuse what he had done.
I was still lost in thought when I heard it.
Footsteps.
Outside.
Slow. Deliberate.
Not animal footsteps.
Human.
Rebecca woke up instantly. Her eyes were wide with fear.
I gently placed Ethan back in his carrier and motioned for Rebecca to stay quiet. I grabbed a rusted metal pipe that was leaning against the wall — the only thing that could pass as a weapon.
The footsteps stopped right outside the cabin.
For several long seconds, there was only silence.
Then a voice spoke.
Low. Male. Familiar.
“I know you’re in there.”
My blood turned to ice.
It was the man with the scar.
Rebecca grabbed my arm so tightly her nails dug into my skin.
The man continued, his voice calm but cold.
“You can’t run forever. Especially not with a newborn and an eight-year-old. Come out now, and I’ll make this quick and painless. For all of you.”
I didn’t answer.
He waited.
Then he spoke again.
“Your sister put up a good fight. But she’s not going to make it to morning if she doesn’t get help soon. You want her blood on your hands too?”
My stomach dropped.
Claire.
He was using her against us.
Rebecca looked at me with terrified eyes.
I shook my head at her. Don’t believe him.
The man sighed.
“Fine. Have it your way.”
I heard him move away from the door.
For a moment, I thought he had left.
Then I smelled it.
Smoke.
He was trying to smoke us out.
Thick, dark smoke started seeping in through the cracks in the old wooden walls. It burned my eyes and throat immediately.
Rebecca started coughing.
I grabbed Ethan’s carrier with one hand and Rebecca with the other.
We couldn’t stay inside.
I kicked the back door open and we stumbled out into the night.
The man was waiting.
He stood several meters away, holding a gun loosely at his side. The scar on his neck was clearly visible even in the dark.
Behind him, two more men stepped out of the trees.
We were surrounded.
The man with the scar looked at me, then at Rebecca, then at Ethan.
“Smart girl,” he said to Rebecca. “But not smart enough.”
Rebecca stepped in front of me and Ethan, her small body shaking but her voice steady.
“You’re not taking my brother.”
The man smiled coldly.
“I don’t need to take him alive.”
He raised the gun.
I pushed Rebecca behind me and held Ethan’s carrier tightly against my chest, ready to shield them with my body.
This was it.
There was nowhere left to run.
The man with the scar took one step closer, his finger tightening on the trigger.
And then—
A shot rang out.
But it didn’t come from his gun.
The man with the scar suddenly staggered forward, clutching his shoulder. Blood spread across his jacket.
From the trees behind him, a figure emerged.
Claire.
She was bleeding from her side, one arm hanging limply, but she was alive. And she was holding a shotgun.
Her voice was hoarse but strong.
“Get away from my family.”
The two other men raised their weapons.
Claire fired again.
Chaos erupted.
I grabbed Rebecca’s hand and ran.
We disappeared back into the darkness of the woods as more gunshots echoed behind us.
I didn’t look back.
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I just kept running, praying that Claire would make it out alive.
And knowing, deep in my bones, that this was far from over.
