They waited behind the bushes for almost a minute before Rosalyn heard it. The voices of people coming towards them on the path.
She did her best to breathe as quietly as possible as she stroked the young boys head, hoping he would continue to stay silent.
Rosalyn's heart started beating faster as her body tensed and she got ready to run at any time, should they be discovered.
Waiting behind the bushes in the dark, the unidentified voices became clear before she could even see their bodies. They came closer and closer to their location, their talk calm and unconcerned.
There were three people in total, two men and a woman. The two men were walking slightly behind the woman, who was seemingly uninterested in their conversation, typing something into her phone as she walked.
Rosalyn watched them from behind the bushes, stroking the young boy's back in an absentmindedly manner.
They had almost walked past them now, just a few more steps and they would be in the clear, behind them.
Feeling the cold sweat running down her back as she watched them in anticipation, her hand stopped stroking the young boy in her arms as her entire focus was on the people on the path.
"Rosalyn?" A young voice sounded in the dark, the three people on the path spinning around, looking in their direction.
They had been discovered.
Rosalyn snapped her gaze down to the young boy who had just spoken for the first time.
He had given away their position.
The two men on the path started walking towards them, quickly approaching the bushes they had hidden behind.
Amon, seeing this, gave Rosalyn the knife as he took the child from her arms, giving her an intense look, showing his determination.
With a whisper so low she could barely hear it, he told her to run.
And she did.
They ran through the forest, angry shouts behind them.
"Who the hell was that?! Are they the captives?" The woman's voice rang behind them.
"It must be! John and them must have let them slip away." One of the men answered back.
"Well, what are you waiting for? Go catch them!" she commanded.
Rosalyn looked to her side to look for Amon, only to see that he was slowly passing her.
Not able to see far in the dark, Rosalyn just ran wherever her feet took them, having no idea if they were actually running in the right direction.
"Shit, why can't you guys even catch up to them. The guy is even carrying a child for shits sake," the woman's angry voice sounded.
Rosalyn was now so tired that she had no concept how close behind their pursuers were. She just kept running with all her might, determined to get away.
Amon looked worriedly at Rosalyn beside him, while holding the child tightly in his arms. He could see how exhausted she was and the toll this was taking on her.
She didn't have the same stamina he had.
The men were slowly catching up to them, and he knew he might have to fight them to get away.
But he wouldn't be able to protect the child and Rosalyn against three trained adults. He had been able to take out the two in the basement thanks to Rosalyn providing a distraction and the kidnapper Matt shattering the bottle against the wall. Having both a weapon provided and both his opponents turning their backs to him, it was the perfect moment.
The third guy they had met had been too focused on Rosalyn on top of him, fighting for the gun, so he had been able to sneak up on him without drawing attention.
It was a strong part luck that had allowed them to escape this far, but now there were three people behind them.
And they were all focused on them. Chasing them through the forest, looking for the smallest mistake to take them down.
There were no chances to take them by surprise.
Had he been by himself, he could have hidden but this was impossible with both Rosalyn and the child with him.
They were going to need even more luck to get out of this unscathed.
Calling out to Rosalyn in a hushed voice, he directed them between trees for coverage while making sure they weren't running in a straight line.
He couldn't be sure they didn't have guns as well, considering the last guy had had one.
Though Rosalyn was now running on almost purely instincts, Amon had made sure they were running away from the house in the direction of the path they had originally taken.
He couldn't be sure the path would continue in a straight line, but following that general direction was their best bet.
Running for a while longer, they finally got some distance between themself and the people chasing them. He could hear them swearing from behind, but just kept running.
They needed to get as far away as possible and put distance between themself and the kidnappers.
Focusing solely on the barely visible ground in front of him, he didn't notice the slope on his left side, where Rosalyn was running.
Neither did she.
Having used all her focus to follow behind Amon, Rosalyn suddenly found herself tumbling down a slope, hitting her head as she went down.
Amon saw her fall in his side vision but had no time to grab her before she went down.
Quickly looking around to canvas their surroundings, he could hear the men getting closer.
Seeing an old fir tree with branches hanging down on its side opposite of the slope, he hurriedly stored the child towards the trunk. After telling him to hide and be quiet, he ran towards the slope, sliding down towards Rosalyn that was lying unmoving on the ground below.
Getting to her side, he saw blood flowing down her face, obstructing her vision.
"Amon?" she asked in a whisper, clearly struggling to stay conscious.
"Yes, it's me. You have to stay awake. Okay?" he whispered back, keeping his voice low.
As he wiped the blood off her face, trying to ascertain the extent of her injury. Luckily it was only a small rift close to her hairline, and no big wound.
Rosalyn kept struggling to stay awake but could feel her mind slipping. She was so tired. Her whole body was telling her to sleep. To close her eyes. Just for a few moments. Just a little while would be fine.
"You need to stay awake!" Amon's low, but insistent whisper broke through to her, tearing her away from the thoughts of sleep.
"The child?" she asked back, her voice coming out a croak.
"He is fine, I hid him away," Amon answered, glad she was talking.
Looking around, he found some branches to cloak them as he tried to come up with a new plan.
Rosalyn wouldn't be able to move for some while, and the kidnappers were getting closer as each second went by.
He could only hope they would run straight past, not discovering them in the dark.