Backtrack and go north.

Eventually Jen shook her head and decided to cut back and head north to the pond. Another trail ran south of that and would get her back to the main path, taking her to the parking lot. She would lose a little time but it was clearly the safest way to avoid being seen.

She turned around and began heading back the way she came. She weaved through the trees quicker than when she came this way, feeling more secure that there wouldn’t be anyone to hear her stepping on fallen leaves or nudging tree branches. The area wasn’t too well traveled, compared to other areas of the park.

She was able to return to the eastern path quickly enough and started moving north. She could tell that the trees ahead, bordering the left side of the trail, was starting to thin out. She slipped up to the edge of the treeline, made sure no one was within earshot and scampered across the cement path, over a swatch of trimmed grass and into the trees on the other side of the trail. She stepped a few yards in and began walking northwards again.

She returned to her slightly slower pace, focusing again on not making too much noise or stepping on something that would injure her bare foot. The sound of a bicycle humming rose and faded to her left. She felt like she was making tolerably good time- the quick move back eastwards had kept her lost time to a minimum and now she was making her way in roughly the right direction.

After several minutes of walking she estimated that she was maybe halfway to the pond, maybe a bit less. Wanting to get her bearings, she started moving slightly to the left, not losing much northwards progress in doing so. Jen kept creeping carefully to make sure she didn’t make any noise in case someone happened to be walking by.

Another few minutes passed before a noise stopped Jen dead in her tracks. It was a voice, somewhere ahead, low and quiet. Another voice sounded, and a few coughs. Glancing left Jen could see the path but couldn’t make out if the pond was ahead or not. She knew she still had some distance before reaching it. Worried that this meant people were on the trail she moved back to her right, deeper into the trees.

As quietly as she could manage, Jen moved north at a snail’s pace. She wasn’t certain where exactly she had heard the voices but knew she had to be getting closer. Another few steps and a familiar scent reached her nose.

Is that skunk? She thought to herself. No, not skunk. I know what that is.

Moving from tree to tree, knowing she’d be safely hidden she was finally able to find the source of the noise. Peering out from behind a trunk she saw a group of teenagers sitting on the forest floor straight ahead of her. Some trees blocked her view but she thought it appeared to be a total of five of them, three boys and two girls. One of them held a marijuana pipe to their lips and triggered a lighter. The familiar scent was renewed shortly afterwards.

Now I have to contend with this, she thought. Immediately she began stepping backwards, getting further cover with more trees between her and the teens. Maybe I can get past them fairly quickly.

Jen started cutting to the east, aiming to outflank them. She chose her paths carefully, ducking under branches and stepping over sticks, avoiding any noise that might give her away. After she made it several yards away she began curving back to her left. Another few yards north and she was stopped in her tracks again.

She was able to see where the five teens sat but now further north of them, separated by about two yards was another group, this one comprised of four girls. Just beyond them Jen could make out more teens sitting on the dirt floor, both boys.

Of course, Jen thought. Hell of a time to the place people come to smoke weed.

She was a teenager once and knew how it worked. She had only tried weed once or twice and didn’t care for it, but that didn’t stop her from hanging out with people who used it more regularly. Things hadn’t changed that much over the years. It was still illegal in this state so they play the same game. Find a place where no cops are likely to stop by, and the woods had the benefit of offering leaves and sticks to hide the pipe under if a cop did decide to check things out. You’d then hope he didn’t look too hard for evidence.

She got herself completely into hiding and thought over her options. Over ten people, that was more than twenty ears that might hear her moving about here. Jen felt like she’d gotten pretty good at sneaking about without making too much noise but this many people stacked the odds against her pretty badly. One misstep causing her to stumble might draw investigation. Getting caught by anyone would be terrible, but teenagers might be more relentless in teasing her, enjoying the view, or both.

Okay, we’ll just head further east, deeper into the woods, where a twig snapping underfoot wouldn’t reach their ears. Easy enough.

Then she began to re-think herself. She knew these woods were pretty sizeable, surrounded by city and suburb but built around and left alone. At least an acre or two of trees. If she got further in, it wouldn’t be hard for her to get turned around and start walking the wrong way. It wasn’t big enough that she would be lost in here for days, but she couldn’t stop her mind from going to those ideas.

Well the only other option is waiting and hope they leave soon, she thought. I really don’t want to keep losing time but that would beat getting lost in these wood for who knows how long…