Chapter Text
"I have to get the hell out of here, now!" Emma thought to herself as she sprinted from one tree to the next. She was out of breath and exhausted, having run for what seemed like hours now through The Forest of The Dead, trying to avoid being captured by these soldiers. "There must be 4 or 5 of them at least." She pondered as she took a breath behind some brush.
In the far distance she could see what appeared to be a clearing and a building of some sort; a barn!
"If I can make it to that barn" Emma said to herself, " these scumbags should make themselves scarce. They've avoided all other human contact like the plague."
Emma hoped her plan would work. She was completely out of resources - at this point her life depended on it.
She took her breath in, steadied herself, and on her count of three took to the clearing.
Halfway there, an unaccounted sixth soldier jumped from above and tackled Emma to the ground as they began to spar, one against the other.
Quickly, the soldier knocked Emma to the ground as she was caught off guard. As the soldier grabs her by her hair to pull her up and deliver another blow, Emma frantically notices a small, yet thick branch just by her knee. It had a very sharp tip to it.
Emma's thoughts went wild "a shiv in a pinch" she grabbed the twig and thrust it through his neck, pushing the soldier off and continuing her sprint to the barn before the rest of the soldiers could catch up.
Emma ran into a cracked door of the barn, peering through it, watching the group run by missing her completely.
She breathed a huge sigh of relief! Safe at last! "Thank God!" Emma said to herself.
After a few seconds she turned around and saw something that confused her beyond her wildest imagination!