My sincerest apologies for taking so long. I can't publish without internet access, so I've been stuck helpless for a while

I sincerely hope you enjoy reading this chapter, it was difficult to write actually.

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Oliver took in a sharp gasp, and then the real pain began to settle. He fell down to the ground and let out his muted cry into the soil. He knew there was no time for tears, so he got up, held his injured arm tightly and continued running. Oliver kept his most vital parts, namely his head, low enough that Hannah would struggle getting a good shot. The blood streaming down from his arm motivated Oliver to go at a faster speed; his fear made him completely unaware that his hat had fallen off when he had lost his balance, or how the teardrops streaming down his face felt chillingly natural at the time.

All that mattered was making it until daylight came, but that felt so far away. Once the sun shines, Oliver would be able to call for help from whatever town he could find, if he made it to a town. Hannah ran with all of her sick heart to prevent that from happening. A few minutes passed, and they were out of the forest-like environment, and into a more flat and dusty area. Oliver's arm no longer had feeling in it, minus the occasional horrible chills in his shoulders; he continued to desperately flee from Hannah, who now appeared to be gaining speed. Upon noticing this, Oliver began a much more intense sprint than before, making his lungs feel like burnt lead. He had now somehow managed to gain about a meter's distance extra from what was already between them, but now his body was exceptionally tired. More than anything, Oliver wanted rest. He slowed down so that he could try to take a quick breath, but abruptly lost his footing.

In one flash, Oliver caught a glimpse of the beginning signs of sunlight as well as the rocky surface he would land on. Once that flash was over, there was only a series of both blunt and sharp pains as he rolled down the slope, which ended with an immense blow to Oliver's head, nearly making him unconscious. Everything seemed hazy in his sight now; his head felt pulverized, at the least. Even though he could barely even think straight, Oliver tried to get back up. He would crawl at the very least as long he could be out of danger, but it seemed his body wouldn't even allow him to do that. Oliver could barely even lift a finger after all of the strain he had put his body through. Finally admitting defeat, Oliver let his body rest as blood dripped from his head.

With an unimaginably sickening smile, Hannah looked down at her now still target. Her plans now seemed attainable once again, even though Oliver and his friends had been a large distraction. She avoided being careless, for that was what got her into such a mess in the first place, as she went down the slope. Her heart pounded as she got closer to the boy, the reason she did not know. Hannah was now hovering over the young boy, who still remained silent.

"How strange is it that the circumstances came down to this?" Hannah looked down. No response occurred. "Are you going to remain quiet until your dead? I'll let you say some last words, since I preferred you much over Nathaniel."

Nathaniel…Oliver thought. Why did she kill him anyway?

"If you're wondering why I killed that poor excuse of a man, I'll explain it nice and short for you" The woman spoke as if she had read the boy's mind as she reached into her pocket. "Quite simply, he ruined my life when I was much younger, perhaps even younger than you. Considering that nothing he had could redeem my loss, I figured: 'A life for a life'"

"…"

"Hmm? Do you want to say something now?" Hannah asked in monotone, expressing her boredom towards her victim.

"…You can't just assume…that there's nothing redeemable in life…that there's no chance for things to improve…" Hannah grew more frustrated when she heard these words. How could a mere child, a dying child, say something so meaningful?

"…I used to think like you…but then I saw that there are people who are willing to give second chances…people who would hold out for you no matter what, those who would trust you…" Oliver let out a hoarse cough. He was as dehydrated as he was worn out. "Miss Hannah, I never would have thought that you hit a dead end in life...More than anything you looked like you had more opportunity than most people that I knew…"

"Shut up! What would you know about the world? I didn't give you permission to act all-knowing!" Hannah snapped. Oliver did not respond.

"…It really must be sad for you. I dropped my knife as we ran. I could have been nice by painlessly slitting your throat, but I only have a firearm." There was still no response from Oliver; Hannah had lost the little patience she had left. She grabbed Oliver by the arm and flipped him over so that he was face up. "If it were anyone else, I would have been much crueler." Hannah looked at the frail boy, almost with pity.

Oliver looked Hannah directly in the eye as she placed the gun on the center of his chest. I wonder if this was how Ainsley felt when they died… He thought right before saying: "You…heartless traitor…"

The sound of the gunshot could not be heard from the distance.

Mikayla and many of the other residents were horrified once they were notified of the events that took place. Ron was standing by the sheriff, as he had done for the past several hours. Even though he was the one panicking for a while, he took on the task of calming down Mikayla when she was told of Mai's condition. "Mai's health has been improving and the search party for Oliver is heading out as we speak. Please calm down Miss Mikayla, there's no need for tears…" Mikayla wiped away her tears in response, but she still thought there were plenty of reasons for crying. "What are we supposed to do, just wait for the police and do nothing?" She muttered to herself, and then suddenly realized: How would the younger children react to this? No. This isn't the time to be worrying about that…all I can really do now is pray…

Hannah let out a heavy sigh now that her task was almost complete. Now I have to dispose of this one too…She carefully lifted up the body so that she would not fall down the slope in the process. Resources, resources… Hannah looked around for somewhere to hide Oliver's body, quickly realizing that the ocean was right by the slope. Dead bodies float, so I'll need something to weight him down. Hannah headed down to the end of the slope, where the ground was like a beach, though a tad unstable. Oliver's body was dropped without any grace; Hannah reached into her pockets for rope, a back-up weapon she had in store for Nathaniel in case the scenario did not go as smoothly as it did. She then lifted up Oliver's leg and tied one end of the rope to it. Without letting go of the other end of the rope, Hannah picked a small boulder and lugged it closer to the body. After that, she carefully tied the remaining rope around the rock and made sure it was tight enough to last the necessary amount of time. She picked up the small boulder again and pulled at it, dragging Oliver's body alongside her. With all her strength, she tossed the boulder to the water, and then nudged Oliver's body so that it would sink into the water.

The man in charge of the search held up the two sketches that were given to him. They were both sketched based off of Ron's description of Oliver and Hannah. He let the other participants take in the details, and then told them to move out. The group headed to the forest-like area that Ron had mentioned while still at the sheriff's place, all of them determined to find the targets. Meanwhile, Hannah was coming up with a way to dispose of Nathaniel's body, but that task was difficult for a woman who went through the amount of physical work that she did. Her mind and body were equally tired, but she was so close. It would not be long until she could flee for France, if everything there on out was executed perfectly. She lifted up Nathaniel's body and began to lug it over to the spot she thought was be a decent enough hiding place, perfectly concealed by the scattered lower branches of trees. At the very least, it would stall any search party from finding the body.

"Have any of you found a trace of anything?" The chief of the search party asked loudly. Most of them shook their heads, but one man pointed down a thin path. "It appears to be heavily trodden, and some footprints still remain."

"Let me see this." The leader said. Upon further inspection, it was now known that the path was taken quite recently, and it seemed to overlap, going in two directions. "…Half of you go down one end and the rest of you the other. The men obeyed the chief's directions, and said man went with the latter group. A few minutes had passed and the footprints became less distinct, but the area was becoming somewhat clearer. "…The target has either completely vanished or is very close…" one of the searchers said.

Hannah jerked her head up the moment she heard speech. Besides that, she remained as still as the corpse she held, belonging to Nathaniel. She could not see anyone from the angle she was, for she was hidden well among bushes, where she planned to hide Nathaniel's body. Have I been pursued without notice? She gently laid down Nathaniel and looked through the bushes. There was in fact a group of men varying in age, but it was not as close as she thought. Damn…this will have to do for now…I better get out of here! Hannah thought as she looked down at the body she failed to hide. She took a few steps away from the bushes, and then went for a full out sprint. The plan seemed perfect up until now. Why did so much have to go wrong? Hannah lifted up her already torn dress off the ground so that she could run with more ease. Ironically, this caused her to trip and fall flat on her face.

"Did anyone else hear that?" The leader of the search party hesitantly turned around. Some men nodded, others shook their heads. "I think I heard a type of shout, followed by a crash" The leader continued. "It sounded like it came from that direction." A man pointed nearby the same bushes that Hannah had just fled from. Damn, damn, damn! Hannah hissed sharply as she got back up. She began to run again, but could not maintain her original speed. Plus, the area was even clearer now, so there was nowhere to hide. And by now they must have seen Nathaniel's body. Hannah looked behind her to see if anyone was behind her, and her worst fears were becoming real: she was being chased. The three that gave chase to her were gaining, and she had already begun to panic, little did Hannah know that the rest of the men stayed behind with the body. Hannah's fear had actually rejuvenated some of her strength, so she tried her hardest to get back to a sprint.

Why, of all times, must this happen in broad daylight?! Sweat began to drip from Hannah's forehead; she was running out of breath much faster than she had in her previous chase. Wait…this area's familiar…! This is the same place I chased that kid! Now what will I do? I…I could jump into the water and stay there if I get there fast enough. They'll think I committed suicide…hopefully…

The dusty area where Hannah had killed Oliver was now at a visible distance. The woman, now being chased, let a smirk develop on her face. It's only a matter of time… She headed full speed for the slope, but then suddenly stopped in her tracks. There was another group of men facing her, with expressions almost as shocked as hers. Without a word, Hannah backed away quickly, only to see the three men behind her were so close she might as well have been surrounded. Hannah was cornered and too devastated to even bother listening to the words that were being said. The gestures alone were proof enough that they knew she was a killer, and she was definitely going to be punished. "He-Heh…" Hannah began to chuckle, causing the men to stare at her with confusion. She backed away one more stepped and pulled out her gun.

"Shit, she's armed!" A member of the crowd yelled; many flinched back. "Like hell I would let myself be arrested!" Hannah screamed at the crowd like a madwoman; she raised the gun up, aiming it at her head. She let out a few more sick chuckles.

"I guess I will get to see that little boy again…just maybe…"

Hannah shot the gun; everyone in the crowd looked away that instant, for no person wanted to see any of the blood-splattering details. Hannah fell back and tumbled until she landed in the water, immediately being carried away by the current. The search party members stood there in dead silence, trying to comprehend what had just taken place. "Go…retrieve the body…if possible" The chief said, still in shock.

Slowly, the people headed down, but could not find any traces of Hannah's body. After a thorough search, they began to head back up the slope, but one man slipped as they proceeded. He grabbed on to another large rock to regain his balance, and with that he noticed something strange near the bottom of the slope, something that had been overlooked. There was a small boulder that had a rope tied around it; it was stuck in-between two of the many jagged rocks near the slope. "Wait guys, I think there's something down there…"

"Then let's have a look at it." A person in the group responded. With team effort, the search party managed to reach the small boulder in its awkward position; they pulled it out, noticing that something, someone, was attached on the other end.

"Bloody hell…" The leader said as he looked at the sketch o Oliver, then back down at the tattered child which remained.

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Updates for the next chapter might occur at a reasonable time since my computer works again (for now)!