Another bullet hits the tree next to us before we pivot and take off down a different path.
“We need to get out of here!” I yell, ducking low and running as fast as my short legs can.
“No shit, Sherlock!” Josh snaps back, turning us back toward another path.
Another gunshot, another bullet in another tree high above our heads.
“Wait!” I come to a stop, leaves cascading from the sky in a soft embrace around us from the last shot. We’re both breathing heavily as Josh stares daggers down at me.
“Why are we stopping! Are you trying to get us killed?”
The shooter isn’t trying to hit us. They are shooting near us, but only when we start down a new path. My heart beats in sync with my rapid breathing.
I think the shooter might be trying to show us the way.
“Stay here!” I shout at Josh, then I run back to the first path we took, praying that I’m right and not about to get gunned down for pure idiocy.
The next shot blares through the air, and the bullet hits above me, showering me with pine needles and twigs.
“Capri! What are you doing?”
Something not stupid, I hope.
I’ll test my theory one last time before explaining it to him. I hurl myself down one of the other routes we chose. I nearly shout with glee when the bullet hits high above meagain.
I have to be right, I have to be. This is totally the type of mind game I expect Pierce to play.
Racing back to Josh, I grab his arm and pull him along with me. I nearly cheer for joy when we reach the last open path, and run through with no gunshots to be heard.
Chapter twenty-eight
“The shooter was trying to lead us to the correct path!” I shout, my legs turning to jelly beneath me as I struggle to keep up with Josh’s long strides.
We’ve probably run at least two or three miles by now, jogging the last mile or so at a snail’s pace through this never-ending forest. Neither of us wanted to risk stopping until we put some significant distance between ourselves and the shooter.
Josh finally skids to a halt a few paces ahead of me. I scream as he throws his arm out, catching me before I hit the deep slope ahead of us and fall into a creek.
“Thanks,” I gasp, gripping him hard with my sweat-slicked skin before falling to my knees.
He plops down next to me, panting heavily as he runs his hands over his face. The dry blood flakes like confetti onto his suit jacket. “Explain that again.”
I groan, exhaustion seeping into my soul, and lie my body on top of the damp earth. Staring up at the forest foliage, I tell him my theory again.
Josh lies next to me, his breathing rapid like my own. “I mean, I guess I could see why you’d think that,” he says after a beat. “But what ifthe shooter wanted us to run this way so the Ghillieman could hunt us down?”
My eyes widen, and I shoot to my feet. “I didn’t think of that,” I say in a hushed whisper, my eyes searching the forest surrounding us.
Before I can tell Josh to get up and start running again, we hear a loud shout from somewhere.
“COME AND GET ME YOU AXE-SLINGING DOUCHECANOE! You wanted me, you got me!”
Josh and I look at each other in both shock and awe—because we'd recognize that voice anywhere.
“Lexi!” We shout at the same time before running in the direction of her voice.
“Wait!” Josh grinds to a halt when we reach a fork in the forest. “You go that way, I’ll go this way! Eventually, we have to meet back up.”
I gnaw on my lip. “I don’t think we should split up. It could be another one of Pierce’s ploys.”
