Chapter 5 - The Trail of Tears
The woods were a nightmare of whipping branches, slick mud, and blinding rain. The flashlight beam cut a weak, frantic path through the darkness.
"Keep running!" I yelled over the storm, practically carrying Ella while Emma sprinted beside me, fueled by pure adrenaline.
We were on Olivia's trail. The path twisted dangerously along the edge of a steep ravine—the very ravine where they found my wife’s body. The irony wasn't lost on me. I was running the same path she had, hunted by the same monster. But this time, I wasn't going to let him win.
"He's coming!" Emma screamed, looking back over her shoulder.
A beam of light sliced through the trees behind us, accompanied by the heavy, splashing thud of Silas's boots. He was fast, driven by a desperate rage.
"You can't hide!" Silas roared into the night. "I'll throw you off the edge just like I did your bitch of a wife!"
Hearing the confession out loud snapped something inside my brain. The fear vanished, replaced by a cold, calculating determination. I wasn't just running to save the girls anymore. I was running to avenge the love of my life.
Ahead of us, the trail narrowed, banking sharply to the left around a massive boulder. Beyond it was a shallow cave system Olivia and I used to explore.
"Get in the cave," I instructed the girls, pushing them behind the protective cover of the rock. "Stay completely quiet. Do not come out until I tell you."
"What are you going to do?" Ella cried, clutching my sleeve.
"I'm going to finish this," I said, clicking off my flashlight.
I backed into the shadows of the heavy pines, blending into the darkness. The rain masked my breathing. I waited. Seconds felt like hours. Then, the sweeping beam of Silas's flashlight broke through the tree line.
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He marched down the muddy trail, breathing heavily, holding a hunting knife in one hand and the flashlight in the other. As he passed the boulder, he stopped, realizing the footprints in the mud disappeared.
He turned his back to me.
