Prologue – 2013, August
The group sprinted across the field and ran as fast as they could into the heart of the forest. They could only hear their racing hearts and their footsteps.
"Where did they go?" A faint voice muttered, echoing throughout the forest.
"They probably ran into the forest, it's like the only place you can hide," Another voice said.
"Oh snap," The girl with frizzy hair whispered. They kept running, looking for a good place to hide as they ran. Another one of the girls stepped on a twig and it snapped. Their heads spun around, looking if anyone heard the twig snap.
The boy with messy black hair caught a glimpse of someone dashing behind a tree.
"They're following us," The boy reported. "At this rate, they're going to catch us,"
"No they're not, so shut up and dive," Another girl said, shoving the boy into a nearby bush and crouched down behind a tree. The boy struggled to sit up in the bush without making too much noise.
"You suck," He murmured.
"Shut up!" The girl hissed.
"Okay you know what, YOLO. Just run," The frizzy-haired girl decided, emerging from her hiding spot and sprinted as far and as fast as she could. The girl with the black-rimmed glasses got up and ran, shortly behind the other girl.
"Uhg, I'm too lazy to get up," A boy with chin-length dirty-blond hair complained. "Pull me up," He extended his arms for the messy-haired boy to help him up.
"Hell no, you can get up yourself, I'm not risking getting caught," The boy retorted, smacking the other boy's hand away.
"Fine, I'll stand up on my own, Mister Sass." The boy said before standing up and running after the two girls. The people that were pursuing them earlier ran after the three that left.
When the group of pursuers were out of ear-shot, someone spoke, "You're going to get caught you know," A boy with blue-rimmed glasses said. The boy and the girl looked up and they saw that the boy was sitting on a low branch on the East side of the tree, out of their pursuers' view.
"Oh, really," The girl said. "And you're not?"
"Well, what can I say, I'm in a freaking tree," The boy replied. "People don't look in trees,"
"I'm looking in one right now," The girl said.
"Okay, guys, quiet," The other boy spoke. "They're going to hear you guys if you talk any louder, you might as well scream it in a megaphone."
"Uhg," The girl face palmed herself. "We're in the middle of the forest, dude, they're not going to hear us," The girl said, slightly irritated. The boy sighed and submerged himself back into the bush, twigs and leaves poking his face and getting in his hair in the process.
"Okay," The boy murmured. "But don't forget that they're sending groups to find us,"
"What the heck are we supposed to do now?" The girl demanded.
"Hide," The boy in the tree replied.
"Why?"
"Did you forget? They're still looking for us," The boy in the bush remarked, peering out from the leaves. "Just because they went after Isabella, Angelo, and Aisley this time, doesn't mean it's safe to troll,"
"It's never safe to troll in Manhunt," The boy in the tree noted.
"It's safe to troll once you're caught," The girl said. The tree boy rolled his eyes.
"You know what I mean,"
…
The two girls and the boy that left earlier weren't having much luck. Their stalker buddies were near and were getting closer by the second.
"Quick, we need somewhere to hide," The girl whispered.
"Crap!" The boy shouted, trying to avoid getting touched by the person behind him. "Ffffuuu- ugh!" The boy was caught. The two girls tried to run faster, but they were tired from running away from the group earlier.
The boy lunged for the girl with the glasses' hair because he was too lazy to run forward and actually touch her on the shoulder or something.
"Ow! Ow! OW, dammit! Let go of my hair!" She yelled, trying to pull her hair free from the boy's grasp. The boy used the girl's hair to pull himself forward and then poked her cheek.
"Ow," The boy complained, pulling his finger back. "Damn, your cheeks are like fricking iron," He let go of the girl's hair.
"Jesus Christ!" The girl shouted. "You don't catch people in Manhunt by pulling their hair!" The girl began ranting and raging at the boy for pulling her hair and how normal people don't do that.
"Nonetheless – troll." The boy laughed, ignoring the girl. While all this happened, the other girl escaped. She ran somewhat farther and climbed up a tree.
The group walked around looking for the other girl. They had walked past the tree the girl was hiding in, but didn't see her up in the tree. There were no sounds except for the group of people's footsteps and the occasional chipmunk or squirrel.
Suddenly, a shrill scream pierced the air. All the birds evacuated the tree tops, cawing and squawking. The girl quickly scrambled down from the tree.
"What was that?" The girl with the glasses asked.
"I don't know; a road-kill, maybe?" The boy suggested.
"Seriously, get real, animals don't make noises like that," The girl who just climbed down said. The now silent air was filled with the sound of the camp siren. Just as the two girls were about to head down to the open field where their camp instructor waited, the boy grabbed their arms.
"Where're you two going? Don't you want to find out who screamed? Didn't you say you crave for the adventurous life?" The boy said.
"Uh, yeah," The girl mumbled, yanking her arm free from the boy's grasp. "That was Richie who said that and no,"
"Yeah, the instructor's gonna get ticked off at us," The girl with the glasses added. "Plus, it's getting dark," The boy pouted, but continued to follow his two friends to the open field.
…
"Okay, gather around," The camp instructor said, rather urgently. The campers sat down in a semi-circle around the camp instructor. "Quiet down, now," The campers' whispers died.
"I'm sure you all, if not; most, of you heard the scream moments ago." The instructor paused. "We'll be quickly counting you all, then we'll do attendance," The director quickly counted the number of campers. "It looks like one of the campers has gone missing –" Before she could finish her sentence the campers broke out into a frenzy of whispers.
'Who do think went missing?'
'How did they disappear?'
'What kind of a sick person would kidnap a camper?'
As the camp instructor did the attendance, matching each person with their name on the attendance, to see who went missing, the whispers just grew louder and louder. The camp director paused and her pen slipped from her grasp, falling into the endless field of grass. She didn't say anything; she only stood there with her mouth agape and her clipboard in hand.
Finally a word slipped out of her mouth, "Kate…" Everyone was silent, but no one heard a thing. "Kate's the missing camper," The camp instructor trembled. Everyone turned their eyes to the 6 children in the back – Kate's friends. Everyone knew that they were Kate's closest friends and they also knew that Kate was the daughter of the camp director.
And everyone thinks they're guilty.
Well, new fanfic time~!/slapped
We haven't finished our other two fanfics yet we're starting another one. Yay for juggling stories. Anyhow, the prologue was written last year, so it might be a little...crappy. Leave a review or something...
-Kayuki