After Liv’s return, the night passes too slow and too fast all at once. Ollie and Hannah scoop her from the dirt, carrying her to Ollie’s tarp. She fades in and out as the night thickens. Hannah wakes Aidan, who blearily gets to nurse duty. They clean the deep gashes in Liv’s neck, arms, legs. Aidan unpacks the first aid kit and dresses Liv’s wounds by the fire. Hannah spoons water between her split, bruised lips, checking every half hour for a fever. Ollie watches the woods, spear in hand.
Before tonight, Ollie’s idea of what “happened” to the coaches was indistinct. There was a piece of him, small and naïve, that thought maybe there was no danger. But given Liv’s injuries, there’s no denying it. She’s been attacked.
The first dregs of daylight pepper the night clouds. Aidan stokes the fire, Hannah prepares breakfast, and Ollie waits. One of Liv’s eyes is bruised so dark her eyelashes disappear. Three identical scratches are gouged into her neck, the skin around them pink and puckered. Every few breaths, she hiccups, jolting her into semiconsciousness.
Eventually, Ollie touches Liv’s knuckles. “Can you hear me?”
Liv doesn’t stir at first. She eases her head to her shoulder. Then, softly, she mumbles, “I hear…”
Aidan and Hannah freeze. Ollie swallows, damming his explosion of questions into just one.
“Are you … okay?”
“I…” Liv sputters. Hacking into the crook of her elbow, Liv leans forward. She presses wisps of blond hair from her face and, shockingly, she smiles. “… I’ve been better.”
Ollie laughs, nervous. When he looks back, Aidan is grinning, too. But Hannah watches Liv with a grimace. Her brow furrows in either fear or … anger?
“Water,” Liv croaks. “Please.”
Hannah snaps out of her strange mood and grabs her water bladder. Liv takes it and tilts her head back, drinking it dry before casting it aside. They wait for her to say something, but she’s quiet.
Ollie clears his throat. “Uh … what happened?”
“I can barely…” Liv starts. She massages the tangled mass of her hair into a ponytail. “How many days has it been?”
“Seven.” Aidan’s answer is quicker than Ollie expects. He adjusts his broken glasses on his nose. “That’s the last time we saw you. A week ago.”
“A whole week,” Liv rasps. She looks at the group and her eyes widen. “Where’s the rest of you?”
Ollie looks down. “They went to find rescue.”
“Oh.”
“We’re so sorry,” Aidan says quickly. “We didn’t want them to go. It’s not our fault.”
Liv shakes her head, which seems to take considerable effort. “No, it’s probably a good thing. There’s something out there. We need to get out of this forest.”
Hannah’s hand finds the back of Ollie’s arm, startling him. Wordlessly, she squeezes. He doubts he’ll be able to offer her much comfort. His heart races, too, eyes tracking the trees. There’s something about seeing Liv afraid that makes his blood run cold. She was supposed to know these woods better than anyone.
“What’s out there?” he asks.
“A bear, I think,” Liv whispers. “I don’t know. It was dark when it found us. I couldn’t see it clearly.”
“It attacked you in camp?” Hannah asks.
Ollie eyes her.
“Not in camp, I guess,” Liv says. “It’s hard to remember. It was a long night. Apparently a week ago. Most of it’s fuzzy.”
“You were attacked near camp and then crawled away from camp?” Hannah asks. “We looked everywhere for you.”
“Hannah,” Aidan warns.
“What about the rest of the week?” Ollie asks. “Where were you?”
“Looking for you,” Liv says. “Or Ethan. Anyone.”
“Ethan?” Aidan asks.
Liv’s expression darkens. “I don’t know. I don’t know what happened to him. I lost him.”
Hannah squeezes Ollie’s arm again, and when he turns to face her, her expression is dark. This isn’t like the Hannah Ollie met his first night here, timid and kind and deathly allergic to confrontation.
“Hannah and I need to go talk,” Ollie says to Aidan. “Can you make sure Liv stays awake?”
“What?” Aidan pouts. “No. If this is a meeting, I need to be part of it.”
“Fine.” Ollie sighs. To Liv, he says, “Do you mind if we talk in private really quick?”
“Fine with me.” Liv breathes. “Might rest my eyes for a bit.”
Ollie stands and his muscles ache. The cold wind through the campsite chaps his cheeks and nose. He wonders if he’ll be able to make it through a full day of hiking like this. He wonders if Liv will be able to make it through a full day of hiking. The patches of sky they can see through the trees are a sickening swirl of gray and orange as the sun breaks through.
Once they’re out of earshot, Hannah takes Ollie’s arm, turning so that Liv can’t see her face.
“Do you believe her?” she whispers.
“What?” Aidan snaps. “What do you mean believe her? What would she be lying about?”
Hannah shrugs. “It doesn’t add up to me. She got attacked in camp, but then ended up miles away? And where’s Ethan? How did she catch up with us if she’s that injured?”
Ollie swallows. He sneaks a glance at Liv, whose head lolls back in exhaustion. Hannah’s questions are valid and Liv’s answers don’t make sense. But if Liv is lying, he can’t fathom what the truth is. He can’t wrap his head around what she’d be hiding from them. He wipes his nose.
“She’s probably just confused from being alone out there,” Ollie says. “I know some of it doesn’t make sense, but … I think we can still trust her.”
Hannah squeezes his arm again. This time, Ollie pulls way.
“I’m not trying to be dramatic,” Hannah pleads. “Why are her wounds so fresh? She was attacked a week ago. They should be … I don’t know, infected?”
“What do you even know about injuries?” Aidan asks, indignant.
“Aidan,” Ollie warns. “Let’s just calm down, okay? I know this is weird but … I don’t think we should get into conspiracy theories. We should just talk to her, figure out what we’re doing, try to get as many people out of here as we can.”
Aidan nods vigorously, but it’s not Aidan he’s worried about. After a moment, Hannah nods, too. She looks at Liv and the panic washes over her face again. For some reason or another, Liv doesn’t just make Hannah uneasy, she terrifies her. Ollie takes Hannah’s hand and immediately feels like he’s overstepped.
But Hannah doesn’t pull away.
“I’m not saying you’re wrong,” Ollie says. “You can tell us stuff that bothers you. I just don’t think we should do anything crazy right now.”
“Okay…” Hannah whispers. “Okay. If you say so.”
They make their way back to Liv as a unit, but she doesn’t stir. Ollie gently rocks her shoulder to wake her. When she comes to, she gasps like she’s been hit.
“Sorry,” she stammers. “I’m still kind of out of it.”
“That makes sense,” Ollie says. “We’ve been, uh … we were trying to follow your guys’ milestone path. We’re about a day or two behind, but we thought this would be the best way to get rescued?”
“That was smart,” Liv says. “You know, I’m really proud of how you three handled this. I’m so sorry I wasn’t here to guide. Hopefully I can help now.”
“Thanks,” Ollie says. “Do you think you’ll be able to hike today?”
Liv leans forward, claps her hand on her knees, and pushes herself up. Despite the severity of her injuries, she rocks onto the balls of her feet and stands. When she stretches her arms over her head, Ollie has to blink to process it. Her injuries aren’t that grave, then, and as much as he wants to be excited, Hannah’s doubts darken his joy. She isn’t as hurt as she looked. He wonders if she ever was.
“I’ll do better than hike,” Liv says with a smile. “I’ll do what I should’ve been doing the whole time. I know this forest inside and out. I’m getting us out of here.”