Tradition Comes Third

In The Woods

Author's Note: Sorry this update took a little longer to update than anticipated. Family Comes First is up to 11 million views. I'm so excited!

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Ava and Leah got away? I looked over to see Mom's shocked face, which I'm sure matched mine. They left us here.

They must have ran and got help. They had to. They ran to get the cops and bring them back here. I had to stop Dad and Jared from finding them. They would never trust us again.

"Let's go," Dad said grabbing the back of my shirt and pulling me toward the door. "They can't have gone too far yet."

"They would have ran into the woods across the road," Jared said.

Dad pulled me outside. Jared slammed the door shut and locked it. HE put the key back around his neck.

"I can't believe you did nothing so stupid, Hunter," Dad said.

"I didn't know that she took the key," I said.

"You should have had it around your neck," he said. "I was thinking about giving you your own key in a few weeks, but I can't trust you now."

Jared took off running into the barn. Dad ran his hand down his face and walked down the creaky steps of the porch.

"We better find them soon," he said. "It's going to be dark soon."

Jared ran out of the barn toward us. He had something in each of his hands, but I couldn't make out what it was, so I tried to squint to see better. My heart dropped when I saw that it was two shotguns. He handed Dad one. He opened it and checked to see if there was any bullet in it.

"You're going to kill them?" I asked, my voice cracked.

"Of course not," Dad said. "We need these to protect the girls."

"Why?" I asked. "Did you see another car?"

"Intruders are the least of our worries right now," Jared said. "There's wolves and bears in the woods at night. We don't want them to become a late night snack."

The sun was setting and I knew that it would be dark in less than an hour. If they hadn't gotten into town yet, they would just be going deeper into the woods. They wouldn't survive the night with these animals. Jared handed me a flashlight. It was large, and I was surprised at how heavy it was.

"Stay with me," Dad said to me. "I don't want you getting hurt."

"I'll go the other way," Jared said. "We'll meet back at the house in a few hours."

"Sounds good," Dad said. "Come on, Hunter."

I followed Dad as he took off running. My chest burned as I tried my best to keep up. The sweat was building up on my palms, and I felt like the flashlight was going to slip out of my grip. Dad stopped running and looked around.

"We're going to go to the right," he said. "The left is the pond. I doubt they'd go down there."

"How can you tell?" I asked. "This all just looks like a bunch of trees."

"You'll get to know these woods," he said. "You and Ava will live here for the rest of your lives."

A sound of a branch snapping echoed through the forest. Dad looked to the right.

He was correct. The girls had run to the right. I was shocked when Dad didn't start running toward the noise, but crept around the trees. I followed him. The sun was already setting and it was getting dark.

There was a rustling of leaves, and Dad continued to follow the noise. I was close behind, and I could see a flash of blonde hair in the corner of my eye.

"Go," Dad said quietly.

"Where?" I whispered.

"Bring them here," he said. "Show me that I can trust you. Get the girls over here. Bring them home."

I took in a shaky breath. I looked down at the gun in Dad's hands. If I didn't get them, Dad would and with a lot more force. I couldn't let them spend the night out in the woods. They would be torn apart by wolves and foxes.

"Okay." I nodded my head.

Dad watched me as I hurried toward where I saw the girl run. IT seemed like every leaf crunched and every twig snapped under my feet. I heard soft voices, and I tried my best to follow.

I could see Leah leaning against a tree. Her hand was resting on her belly, and her glasses were sitting on the top of her head. Her eyes were closed and her head was resting against the tree. Ava's back was to me, and her hands were on her hips. She was looking around. Leah's eyes flew open when she heard me walk over.

"Hunter," she said.

Ava spun around and her jaw dropped.

"What are you doing here?" Ava asked.

"Dad and Jared are looking for you two," I said.

"Hunter, you need to throw them off of our track," she said. "We're going to get help. We weren't abandoning you and Julie."

I looked over my shoulder. I couldn't see Dad, but I was expecting he was watching us. I couldn't hear him, but he was creeping around the woods earlier without a sound. If I was going to gain their trust back, I would need to do what they said.

"You have to come back to the house," I told her.

Ava shook her head and took a step back.

"No," she said. "Hunter, please no."

"There's wolves out here," I said. "I can't let you stay out here."

"We're almost out," Ava said. "We're so close to getting out."

"You're deep into this forest. You'll not be able to find your way out."

Ava took another step back, and I grabbed her wrist. She yanked her arm away from me, and I tightened my grip.

"They will kill us if we go back," she said.

"You'll die if you stay out here," I told her.

Ava let out a cry and pulled her arm one more time. She used both of her hands, and pushed me onto my back. I kept my grip on her as I tumbled down. Her elbow landed on my stomach, and I gasped as the wind got knocked out of me. The flashlight rolled out of my hand. I grabbed onto her with my newly free hand. Ava got on her knees and tried to pry herself out of my grasp.

I brought my knee up and hit her in the stomach. She let out a cry, and I flipped her over so that she was on her back. I pinned her down onto the ground. Ava squirmed under me, and was kicking out her legs.

"No!" she yelled. "Hunter, please don't."

"You two have to come back," I said. "I don't want you to die out here. You're safer in the house right now."

"You're gone," she said.

Ava squeezed her eyes shut, and turned her head to the side. She tensed up, and I raised an eyebrow at her.

Pain exploded across the side of my temple. I grabbed my head, and fell off of Ava and onto my back. I brought my fingers up to the side of my head, and felt something wet and sticky. I looked at my fingers to see them dripping in crimson. My vision was blurry, but I could see Ava hurry up on her feet. Leah was standing over me and she was clutching something. I squinted to see it was the flashlight Jared gave me.

"Let's go," Leah told Ava.

She nodded her head. "We'll bring back help."

Ava and Leah took off running into the woods.