The storm passed, but it left the forest mostly deserted.
Maya sat up slowly, her back stiff from sleeping on the cold stone floor of the cave. Drops of water fell from the ceiling, echoing in the stillness.
When she walked to the entrance of the cave, she gasped. The forest was the complete opposite of what it once was. Broken branches hung at odd angles. Tall trees leaned sideways, their roots visible. Puddles shone in the morning light, and the muddy ground was littered with leaves. The air still felt chilly from the night before.
"Looks worse in the daylight," Rory's voice came from behind her.
She turned. He looked pale, his hair fuzzy, his shirt wrinkled. There were dark smudges under his eyes, and his usual calm wasn't there. He slowly approaches her.
Maya gave him a small nod. "It's like the forest isn't the same place anymore."
"Yesterday was so sudden. I'm starting to question everything," he muttered, gaze fixed on the broken trees.
A weak cough came from deeper in the cave. Lena.
Maya's chest tightened, and she hurried back inside. Lena was sitting against the wall, her knees pulled to her chest, shaking under a blanket they had found at the ruined camp. Her face was pale, almost gray, and strands of hair stuck to her sweaty forehead.
Ethan knelt beside her, holding a tin cup of water. "Sip, okay? Slowly." His voice was gentle but firm.
Lena's hands trembled so much that Ethan had to steady the cup.
"She's not better," Maya whispered, kneeling beside them.
"She will be," Ethan said, though his eyes filled with worry. "She just… she panicked. Her body's still in shock." He hesitated, then added, "We need to keep her warm."
"Where's Sam?" Rory asked suddenly, scanning the cave.
Everyone looked around. Sam's blanket was empty, his backpack gone.
Ethan frowned. "Maybe he went outside?"
"No," Rory said, stepping toward the entrance. "I didn't see him when I woke up."
Maya's pulse quickened. "You're saying he left?"
"Maybe, but either way, we need to find him," Rory responded, looking outside in the distance.
Ethan sighed, pulling a folded piece of paper from his jacket. It was one of the maps they'd found at the camp. The edges were slightly damp, and parts of it were smudged, but the rough drawings of paths and landmarks were still visible.
"Listen," he said, flattening it on the ground so they could see. "Sam missing or not, we can't stay here. The storm showed us how unstable this place is. And Lena…" His eyes flicked to her. "She needs somewhere safer. Maybe even other people, if they're out there."
Maya leaned closer to the map. It showed more of the forest than she thought existed—trails twisted in every direction, some leading to strange markings she didn't recognize. One spot was circled.
"What's that?" she asked, pointing to the circle.
Ethan shook his head. "Don't know. Could be where the last group went."
"Or where they died," Rory muttered, arms crossed.
Maya glared at him. "Stop it."
He lifted a brow. "I'm just saying what we're all thinking."
Lena coughed again, drawing everyone's attention. Her voice was weak when she spoke. "We… we should go. If there's a chance someone can help—"
Maya grabbed her hand. "Don't push yourself."
"But we can't stay here," Lena responded.
Ethan folded the map again. "She's right. We'll move once everyone's ready. The circle's our best shot. It seems far north, I don't know how long it will take. Depends on how big this forest is."
Silence followed, heavy and uncomfortable.
"What if Sam doesn't come back?" Maya asked.
Rory's gaze hardened. "Then we go without him."
"Rory—"
"No. Look around, Maya. This place nearly killed us last night. I don't know what Sam's doing, but if he wanted to be here, he would be." He said with a slight anger in his voice.
Ethan ran a hand through his hair, looking tired. "We give him until midday. If he's not back by then, we move. Agreed?"
They nodded.
By midday, they had eaten some rations they had and got ready to leave the cave.
Ethan led the group as always, holding the map, his brows furrowed in concentration. "We keep moving toward the marker. One step at a time."
Lena leaned against Maya for support. Every so often, she would stop to catch her breath, and the group would pause with her. Her lips had lost their color, but she refused to turn back.
"What if we don't find anything?" Maya asked quietly, mostly to Ethan.
He glanced at her, his eyes steady, "Then we keep looking."
Rory scoffs, "Great plan."
"Do you have a better one?" Ethan shot back.
Rory opened his mouth, then shut it again, muttering under his breath.
Maya sighed, watching the two of them. She wished she could laugh it off, but the truth was pressing in from all sides. The forest wasn't safe.
They hadn't gone far when the sound of crunching leaves made everyone freeze.
Rory raised his branch like a weapon, stepping in front of Maya and Lena. Ethan held up a hand, signaling for silence.
The sound grew closer—slow, uneven footsteps.
Then Sam stumbled out from behind a half-fallen tree. His clothes were soaked, his hair plastered to his forehead, mud streaked across his arms. His breathing was heavy, as if he had been running.
"Sam!" Maya exclaimed, relief and anger tangling in her voice. "Where have you been?"
Rory didn't lower the branch. "Nice of you to join us."
Sam straightened, his eyes flicking from one face to the next. "I went looking," he said. His voice was rough, tired. "I thought maybe… maybe someone else was out here."
"I didn't want to waste time arguing," Sam shot back, then pulled something from his jacket pocket. It was a folded sheet of paper, damp around the edges. He held it out. "I found this."
Ethan snatched it, unfolding carefully. It was another map, this one more detailed than the one they already had. It showed trails stretching further north, with notes scribbled in the margins: warnings, arrows, symbols that didn't make sense at first glance.
"Where did you get this?" Maya asked.
Sam hesitated. "In a bag I found on a random path. Buried under branches near a stream, not far from the cave. There were papers inside. It seemed to belong to another person who was here."
Ethan glances at the bag in his hand, "What's in the bag?"
Sam then shows the bag and opens it, "Guess what...I found clothes!"
They gasped, their eyes widened in shock and relief.
"I haven't showered in 3 days, these are well deserved," Rory said excitedly as he took a T-shirt from the bag.
Maya's eyes glistened as she took out a flowy dress, "This is so pretty!"
Ethan stood close by, chuckling at their behaviour, "If we find another river, we can bathe."
Rory nodded at Ethan, then narrowed his eyes at Sam. "And you just happened to find it on the ground?"
"Yes. And about the map...believe what you want," Sam muttered. "But it's real. Look—see the arrows here?" He pointed at a set of markings leading north, "Someone made it out that way."
Ethan studied the map, comparing it with the one he already had. His lips pressed into a thin line. "It lines up. Not perfectly, but close."
"So we go north," Maya said quickly, "Right? That's our way out."
Rory lowered the branch at last, though his expression stayed hard. "I don't like it. We don't know who made that map. For all we know, they're dead."
"They might also have known something we don't," Ethan replied, "And if there's even a chance it's right, it's better than wandering aimlessly."
The forest was harder to move through now. It felt like they had been walking forever. Hours had passed, but no one knew the time. The storm had scattered branches and left the ground muddy, pulling at their boots with each step.
Rory carried Lena on his back. Maya stayed close, watching and checking her fever. Sam followed a few steps behind, silently. Ethan walked ahead, glancing at the map from time to time.
"If we follow this line," he muttered, pointing at a faint trail marked with arrows, "we should hit some kind of clearing by nightfall."
"Sam," Maya said after a moment, "did you see anyone out there? When you left?"
He hesitated, then shook his head. "No. Just signs. Markings on trees. Scattered belongings. More drawings. Somebody was here before us."
Maya shivered. She remembered the diary pages they had read at the camp, the desperate scrawl of survivors who never wrote their ending. She tried to push the thought away.
"Maybe whoever made those maps is still out there," she said softly.
Rory then glanced at Sam with a skeptical gaze, "Sam... every day you write in that notebook. Why? Is it some sort of diary?"
Sam glances at him, then at the notebook, "It's a diary. Just in case I die here and someone finds it."
They looked at him but didn't say anything.
By late afternoon, the sun had slowly set. Mist started to spread across the dark forest. They reached a stretch where the trees thinned, revealing a slope leading down to a shallow stream. The water moved slowly, carrying branches and leaves along its surface. But seems clear enough.
Ethan stopped, kneeling to compare the stream to the map. "This matches," he said, relief in his voice. "If we follow the stream north, it should take us straight to the clearing. It's our first landmark."
"Good," Rory muttered, "Because I'm done dragging my boots through this mud."
Sam crouched by the water, splashing it on his face. "Tastes clean enough to drink."
"Wait," Ethan said quickly, "We don't know if it's safe."
Sam looked up at him, water dripping down his chin. "Then we boil it tonight. Simple."
Lena stumbles against Maya, her breathing shallow. "I… I can't…"
Maya wrapped an arm tighter around her. "We'll rest soon. Just a little more, okay?"
Lena gave a weak nod, closing her eyes.
Ethan stood, folding the map carefully. "Let's rest for tonight. Early tomorrow morning, we continue."
They settled and set up a temporary camp several feet away from the stream so they had privacy when bathing in the stream, while taking turns.
After everyone changed clothing, they ate by the fire. Ethan still had some fish he had caught at the previous camp, and roasted them.
While the others ate, Maya glanced at Sam, who was sitting on a rock a few feet away. His shoulders were tense, his hand scribbling something in his notebook. She wondered what else he hadn't told them.