The Missing - Kiersten Modglin (the reading strategies book TXT) 📗

tempestuously, without the cell service he’s so reliant on, he’d be forced to focus on me. With or without his focus, I knew with him there, I’d feel safer than I did at present.

“Good. We’ll leave the pack with the coconuts here, so in case we get split up, we know where to come back to. While you are building the fire, we should look for food and more coconuts for the night. You two want to come with me?”

“I’ve been the coconut fetcher the past few times. What do you say I take a rest this time and keep the place safe?” Noah asked.

Harry’s brow furrowed, but he’d learned Noah’s quirks by then. He knew, as we all did, that he’d try to push the boundary. The trick was learning how to push back without causing him to shut down or lash out. “Fine, just give us your gun,” he said, extending his hand.

“No way.”

“We need a gun if we’re going to hunt. So, either you come with us, or we need to borrow it.”

“You’re going to get it back, Noah,” I added, placing the sack next to a tree and resting my hands on my hips. “Come on. Before it gets dark. Don’t you want to eat something real for once?”

Groaning, he stepped forward. “Alright, fine. I’m coming.”

We’d only been walking for a few minutes when I heard the rushing of water in the distance, and I realized we must be close to the stream that led to our waterfall. Noah and Harry heard it at the same time, everyone’s heads perking up at once. Noah met my eyes, a question in them, and I gave a stiff nod.

Who were we to say no at this point? Perhaps it was the dehydration getting to me again, or the desire to wash my body for the first time in…days? Weeks? How long had we even been here? It all seemed to run together anymore.

“Do you hear that?” Harry asked before we could say anything.

“It sounds like water,” I said, hoping Noah would play along.

“Fresh water,” he agreed. “It sounds close.”

Harry made a sharp left and hurried forward. As I made a move to follow him, I heard something else. A rustling behind us. I froze, though both of the men were moving ahead without me. I spun around, looking in every direction, searching for the source of the sound. Had I imagined it?

“Hello?” I called, gripping the handle of the machete in my hand. The forest around me was silent except for the distant sounds of the stream and the men’s voices carrying on ahead. They hadn’t realized I wasn’t keeping up with them.

As another rustling sound came from just in front of me, I took a step backward. Someone was definitely there. Just beyond the tree line. I took several steps backward, weapon outstretched, refusing to turn my back to them.

“Who’s there?” I called, trying and failing to keep my voice steady. I spoke loudly enough that I hoped the men would hear me and come to my aid, but soon the sounds of the voices had faded altogether, and I knew I was alone.

Shhhhshhhshh…

The rustling had grown closer. My heart leapt into my chest, and I found myself unable to take a breath. I took another step back, my entire body trembling with fear, and heard a snap beneath my feet. My body tensed, and I stepped off the broken branch I’d cracked just in time to hear rushing footsteps headed in my direction. As I did, I saw a flash of blonde hair just beyond the trees.

A woman. I was sure of it.

“Hello?” She’d been watching me.

The footsteps grew closer, and I felt a hand on my back. I jumped. “Are you okay?” Harry asked.

At the same time Noah said, “What are you doing?”

“There was a woman,” I said, pointing toward the trees where I’d seen her only moments ago. “A woman in the bushes.”

“Are you sure?”

“Was it Ava?”

“No, no… She had blonde hair. She…I didn’t get a good look at her, it was just a flash. I think she was following us. She must’ve heard you coming and gotten scared off.”

“Maybe it was just a bird,” Harry said, squeezing my shoulder carefully as Noah moved forward to investigate, his gun drawn. “I’m sorry we disappeared. Why did you stop?”

“I heard something, like swishing…the trees, I guess. I could hear her moving around through the grass…”

“Why didn’t you say anything?”

“You were already far enough ahead by the time I realized it, and I didn’t know if I was in danger. I was worried if I screamed, I’d draw attention to myself if she didn’t already have eyes on me.”

Noah had been swallowed up by the forest, but I could hear him moving through the grass in the distance. The same sound I’d heard earlier. The sudden crack of a gunshot caused us to jump and birds to soar through the air.

“Noah?” I cried out, my skin cold. Harry was trembling beside me, his jaw slack.

“Noah, you there?” Neither of us moved, both frozen in place from fear. The rustling sound was back, and then he appeared, a giant grin on his face as he dragged the hairy body of a wild boar toward us.

“Dinner is served,” he said, licking the sweat from his upper lip as he breathed heavily.

I took a cautious step toward him, my belly growling at the thought of food. My mouth was suddenly full of saliva, and I swallowed twice before speaking. “Did you see anyone out there? The woman?”

He bent down, lifting the boar’s legs and walking in the direction he and Harry had come from. “Nah, I hate to break it to you, but you didn’t see a woman out there. What you saw were birds.”

The white ones that had flown up when he shot the gun. But…it wasn’t possible, was it? I knew what I’d seen.

“It was a woman. I saw her hair.”

“Blonde hair, right?” he asked, glancing over