Page 29 of Raw

I turned my head quickly to shine back to where we came from, but camp was nowhere to be seen, and when I turned back around, Fennec was gone too.

I stopped, my heart now being the loudest thing I heard.

My breath caught in my throat and my feet were glued to the ground.

“Fennec?” I asked, my voice low and small. “This isn’t funny. I want to go back to camp.”

How could he have disappeared so quickly? Unless…he was close and just messing with me.

“Please take me back to camp, Fennec. I said I’m sorry.”

I kept the light shining through the thickness of the forest in front of me, scared to turn around.

I’ve heard horror stories of people getting lost in the wild before and getting eaten by animals or killed by hunters who thought they were an animal, and no matter how experienced I was to survive in the wild, this could get dangerous quickly.

“Please come back, Fennec. I promise I won’t say a word to Papa. Let’s go back to bed.”

Too scared to move, I felt my feet getting heavier, almost burying themselves into the ground.

“Fen…”

At this point, I didn’t think he could even hear me.

I had to move.

I had to walk back to camp where I knew I’d be safe.

“I’m going back. I can’t stay here any longer,” I told him.

Taking one step back, I stared straight ahead for a few more seconds before turning and quickly walking back from where I came from, hoping my orientation skills wouldn’t deceive me.

I walked straight, which meant I couldn’t miss camp even if I wanted to.

My footsteps and breath were the only things I heard, but the silence around me was so deafening that it felt as if I was walking deeper into the forest rather than closer to camp.

I couldn’t see it, although I knew we didn’t walk too far away from it.

Suddenly, a squeal.

Loud enough to make me stop and tense, lowering my light so I couldn’t be targeted.

“Fen?” I asked, but I didn’t get a response.

My cheeks were heated but I knew I was pale as all the blood left my face.

“I need to go back to camp,” I whispered, trying to encourage myself.

I managed to take one more step, but I got pulled back by a large hand gripping my right shoulder.

Shivers ran down my spine in big waves, making my stomach twist and turn until I ducked and turned around to get some distance between the person and me, ready to shout.

“Shh!”

His hand covered my mouth, and I smelled blood on his skin as the liquid wet my own.

“I’m here, Ves. You’re okay,” Fennec whispered in a calm voice.

Tears rolled down my face as I lifted the flashlight enough to see him in the darkness, but as worried and scared as I was, there was nothing that came close to the emotions on his face.

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