"Look what the train dragged in."
Her voice carried a strange mixture of sarcasm and pity.
She stood near the mouth of another passage, one shoulder resting lazily against the rock wall. Her clothes were worn from years of use, though they were surprisingly well kept. A canvas satchel hung from her side.
Her eyes drifted to the phone flashlights they were using then slowly she glanced down to the lantern hanging loosely around from her hand.
A faint almost imperceptible smile tugged at the corner of her lips.
"Still carrying those around..." she murmured, more to herself than to anyone else.
She looked back at the trio, her expression unreadable.
"Huh."
It wasn't surprise.
It wasn't pity.
If anything, it sounded like she had simply stumbled upon something she hadn't seen in a very long time."You look terrible."
Liam frowned. "Thanks. You don't look too bad yourself "
She gave a small shrug.
"It's an observation."
Henry took a cautious step forward.
"Who are you?"
The woman tilted her head as though considering whether the question was worth answering.
"Someone who lives here."
"Alone?" Calvin asked
Henry needed answers.
He asked quietly, "Why are you here alone?"
A faint smile crossed her face.
"That's a better question."
"Now answer me this... were there only three of you on that train?" she asked.
"There are more of us on the other side of the—" Liam began.
"No," Henry cut in.
The woman looked at him for a moment before giving a small shrug.
"There you have your answer."
"You couldn't possibly be the only survivor," Calvin said, aghast.
"Well, if we're being realistic, a few snakes probably made it out..." she said. "I wouldn't be surprised if there was one among you too."
The three shared a look before turning their attention back to her.
"Is it someone the Chair has chosen?" Liam asked.
She gave him a sidelong glance but didn't respond.
Henry studied her for a moment.
"How long have you been here?"
She scowled. "I didn't let strangers barge in here just so they could question me."
Henry ignored her tone. "You know about the train. You know about the batches. So how long have you been here?"
"If anything, you're just wasting time here, aren't you?" she snapped. "Aren't you supposed to reach the other side by dawn?"
Henry stared at her.
The other side.
She hadn't said if they reached it. She'd said by dawn, like it was a rule.
And then it clicked, she had seen different runs.
"How many batches have come after you?" Henry asked.
Liam and Calvin exchanged glances.
They had reached the same conclusion.
The woman sighed, clearly irritated.
"Again with the questions…"
She turned away from them.
"You have something more important to do."
Henry frowned. "Like what?"
"Staying alive."
She looked back at them.
"That's what I was doing before you came along, at least."
Nobody spoke.
Her expression hardened.
"And you really don't want to find out what happens when you stay in the forest after dawn."
With that, she turned and began walking down a different passageway.
"Hope at least one of us survives."
She didn't look back.
"And oh when the trees bend, follow them. When they stop… don't guess."
The trio stood there for a moment, watching her disappear into the darkness.
Then, without another word, they headed back toward the entrance of the cave, where the rest of the group was waiting.
The first voice they heard was Dan's.
"What if they died and we're just waiting for ghosts?"
Theo turned toward him. "Can you at least think positively for once?"
"What about this whole situation is positive, Goddammit?" Dan barked.
The trio emerged from the narrow passageway and back into the expanse where the group had been waiting.
"We are most certainly alive," Calvin said calmly.
"But from what we've gathered, we'll have to move now," Liam said, staring directly at Mark as if passing him a message.
No one in the group missed it.
Except, perhaps, Dan.
Henry turned toward the injured man.
"Samuel, can you move?"
"Yeah," Samuel replied. "I can even sprint if I have to. Just not at a good speed."
Henry nodded.
Henry nodded. "Then we move at your speed I guess."
"That wasn't what I meant."
"I know."
Samuel gave him a tired look but said nothing.
Honestly, their ragtag team wasn't in the best of conditions. But if what that woman had said was true, they had to keep moving—at the very least, they needed to reach wherever they were supposed to be before dawn.
Samuel, especially, was going to have it rough. And if anything, this perilous forest wasn't done showing them its surprises.
With that, the team rose, ready to move.
It was hard to believe that it had hardly been a day since all of this began. Everything felt surreal. The events that had unfolded felt like they had stretched on for weeks—almost as if a month had passed.
Mark broke the silence.
"Let's move, guys."
"How do you even know where we're going? We've completely lost our sense of direction because of those horrendous bees," Josh complained, genuine frustration evident in his voice.
Mark glanced back at him.
"Intuition, I guess. But we were moving in this direction initially."
His answer was hardly convincing.
Theo scoffed. "What, did they threaten you not to tell us?"
Henry's voice came quietly from behind them.
"Because if they did, that's going to cause some serious problems."
As far as Henry knew, if the Chair had told Mike something and Mike had deliberately kept it from the rest of them, then they had a problem.
An enemy right in their midst.
Calvin interjected, sensing the tension Henry had created.
"Whatever the case may be, we've still got an enemy to face—the forest. So I propose we get moving."
He gestured toward Mark.
"Please, lead the way."
Henry and Calvin exchanged a brief look.
Whatever information the Chair had given Mark, it had to be authentic. But they would still verify it against what they already knew—the bent trees.
If the trees were still pointing the way, they wouldn't have to rely entirely on Mark's word.
As if he had finally been appointed their guide, Mark led the way out of the cave.
He walked with an almost unsettling confidence, as though the direction were already mapped out in his head. Perhaps he simply didn't want the others to know how he knew where they were going.
Henry watched him closely.
Before long, a bent tree came into view. Henry's attention immediately shifted to it, but Mark walked straight past without so much as a glance, heading toward another tree farther ahead.
It was almost as if the arrangement of the trees wasn't part of the map he had in his head.
The eight of them settled into a formation that Calvin and Henry had insisted upon. Mike took the lead, with Henry close behind him. Samuel stayed in the middle alongside Liam and Calvin, while Dan, Theo, and Josh reluctantly brought up the rear.
For now, at least, they had a system.
And Henry intended to keep a close eye on Mark.