Serena

"Fantastic. Absolutely fantastic." I growl through clenched teeth. My knuckles are white and my nails dig into my palms. My lip quivers, but I bite back tears. Trenton glances at me worriedly. I try to keep myself calm, but it's not working. My vision blurs from tears and I wipe them away fiercely. Don't cry. I can't cry. Stay strong. If I'm going to die today, I'm going to die strong.

"Lets just go find this stupid note so he can kill us already. I'm done," I say angrily. Trenton sighs and we walk further. Shadowy trees loom over us and the sky is an inky black with no moon. Stars shine brightly. Leaves crunch under our feet and the beam of the flashlight examines the forest. We had been walking for about forty minutes when twig snaps from far in front of us. Trenton and I grab each other.

"What was-" he whispers, but is interrupted by the pounding of footsteps. We whip around and sprint off into the forest, powered by fear. We leap over fallen logs and stray branches whip at our faces. Someone yells from behind us, but we sprint faster. The footsteps are closer. We take a sharp left and dodge trees that seem to appear right in front of us. Footsteps seem right behind us. Someone yells again, but I can't hear them over the adrenaline pumping in my ears. Something wraps around my waist and pulls me to the ground. I slam against the leaves then quickly scramble to my feet. I pull out my knife and brandish it to whatever tackled me. Three lumps are sprawled out on the forest floor, all groaning. One is Trenton and the other two are all too familiar. They are Kathryn and Dawson.

"Hey guys," Kathryn grunts and hauls herself to her feet. Blood drips down her hand, so she wipes it carelessly on her jacket.

"Kathryn! I thought you promised to stay at the cabin!!" I yell in frustration.

"Yeah, well we lied," Dawson chimes in, brushing the dirt off his pants then pulling Trenton to his feet.

"Why did you have to tackle us eh?" Trenton mutters, wiping the blood from his lip.

"You two were pretty scared. We knew you weren't going to stop by yourselves," Kathryn replies simply. "Serena, put that knife away. We don't want to lose it." I nod and place it back in my pocket.

"KATHRYN?!" someone yells I the distance. "DID YOU FIND THEM?!"

“YEAH!" she calls back, and I hear footsteps thundering towards us. A minute later, Aly, Kylie, and Eric grin before us.

"So what do we do now?" Dawson exclaims brightly. I put my face in my hands. All I want to do is scream.  I can't handle another death. I just can't. Why couldn't they have just done what we asked. That would've been a lot easier.

"We look for the note," Aly replies.

"We can't look in pitch black," Kylie points out.

"Lets just camp out then," Eric suggests.

"Oh yeah, let's just stay the night in a creepy forest with a murderer. Like he'll be forgiving. You're tired? Okay, I'll leave you alone while you sleep," I say sarcastically. To my surprise, at that exact moment, a note appeared on the tree next to us.

"Let's play a little game. I'll hide, you seek. I’ll be waiting," Trenton reads aloud.

"Who wants to take watch tonight?" Kathryn asks.

"What?! No!! We need to look for the note," I sputter in exasperation.

"What do we have to lose?" Aly asks. "We might as well sleep while he's not trying to kill us." I cross my arms across my chest. The others start trying to find something so sleep on.  This doesn't feel right sleeping in the forest that's home to a murderer. Someone touches my shoulder lightly.

"Come on, Serena," Eric consoles. "I know you're mad at me for some reason, but just relax. This is one more night he's not killing us. Ok?"

I glare at him. "Fine." He sighs and moves off to Dawson. I lay my spare sweatshirt on the ground and my backpack as a pillow. Kathryn has already built up a fire and we all move our stuff closer to warmth. Kylie and Trenton offer to do the first watch shift and no one objects. Trenton stays standing, constantly wary. He’s probably not gonna rest tonight. He’s still against all this camping. I watch as they exchange a few words and Kylie holds her hand out. Trenton drops the necklace into her hand and she quickly puts it on then tucks it into her shirt. Weird. Everyone exchanges goodnights and then there is silence besides the comforting crackle of the fire. That was before a scream rent the air.