Zack spots Victoria following him

Zack was halfway to the sign now, the sky slowly getting dark over his head. Despite the feeling of danger and helplessness up ahead, he knew that he couldn’t give up now. He couldn’t forgive himself if something happened to Chloe and Gavin, his closest friends.

The forest was eerily quiet and, aside from the sound of some twigs breaking in the distance, Zack couldn’t hear anything more. Still, he had the uncanny feeling that he was being followed. By whom or what, he didn’t know.

”I hope that it’s not a bear if it’s true, though,” He jokingly thought. ”That must be my imagination.”

A couple of minutes after that, his phone buzzed in his pocket. Puzzled, Zack fished it out and looking at the screen, he smiled at the picture of Heather sporting one of her sexy smirks. He accepted the call and lifted the phone to his right ear.

“Heather?” He asked.

”I certainly hope so, unless someone is impersonating me.” The busty brunette teasingly replied from the other side.

Zack laughed. “Ok, it’s really you. Did one of them arrive there?”

”Nope, and it’s gotten worse,” Heather answered. ”Victoria has vanished, we’ve already looked everywhere and couldn’t find her.”

“Oh, really?” Zack asked in a sarcastic way, suddenly figuring out that there was indeed someone following him and who it was. “Don’t worry, she’s here.”

Heather laughed nervously back at the cabin. ”So she followed you, then,” She deduced. ”Well, another thing, Chloe may not have arrived here, but she called Brandon from god knows where and said that she would be looking for Gavin.”

Zack frowned. “They got separated?” He asked. “Then I think that I was right, your cousin really didn’t tell us the whole story.”

”Yeah, I should’ve figured out that something was up with him when he decided to forego dinner and remained locked in his room,” Heather said. ”Well, I’ll let him have this night and tomorrow I’m gonna rip the truth out of him.”

Zack chuckled at the mental picture. “I’m going to keep looking, then,” He said. “Thanks for keeping me informed, Heather.”

”You’re welcome,” The cheerleader captain answered warmly. ”Listen, if you do have to sleep out there, be careful.”

He smiled, suddenly remembering their time behind the waterfall. “I will, sleep well.”

“Ok then, bye Zack!”

“Bye!” He hanged up and then looked back behind him. “You can come out now, Victoria, I know you’re there!” He yelled.

Slowly, Victoria peeked from behind a few trees and showed herself, a sheepish look on her face. She walked over to him wearing jeans and a buttoned up red shirt with a black jacket over it. “How did you know that I was there?” She asked in disbelief.

“Easy,” He smiled, the green eyed blonde was so adorable that he didn’t have the heart to get mad at her. “I sensed someone following me, and then Heather told me on the phone that you had disappeared.”

“Sorry for trying to trick you, Zack, but I really wanted to help,” Victoria apologized. “I’m worried about Chloe and Gavin too.”

“It’s ok, seeing as you came along, I think I can use an extra pair of eyes,” Zack reassured her. “Heather said that Chloe called and told Brandon that she was looking for Gavin.”

Victoria got a thoughtful look on her face. “Then, they probably won’t be at the same place.”

“Probably not, but I’m not gonna be the crazy one and suggest that we split up to search them,” Zack said as they resumed walking. “It’s better if we stick together here.”

“Yeah, we could end up missing too.” Victoria agreed.

After a while of walking through the fast darkening woods, they reached the sign that indicated the trails.

“Now, which way do we go?” Victoria asked. “We know that they were going to the cave, but they probably didn’t get there.”

“Or they did and split up afterwards,” Zack suggested. “I think our best shot is head to the cave and see if we can find something that they may have left behind, what do you say?”

“One of them could have gone back to the cave to spend the night as well.” The blonde opined.

That said, the duo set out on the trail that led to the cave. Zack suddenly remembered Jennifer’s warning from the day before and grinned.

“So, Victoria,” He said. “Aren’t you afraid of the bears that may be roaming the forest?”

She looked at him with a small smile. “Only if one of them jumps on us.”

Zack chuckled. “I admit that I don’t know what I’d do if we run into a bear or two.”

Victoria laughed. “Well, I suppose we’d have to run like our pants were on fire.” She joked.

After that, their conversation once again fell back on mystery novels and movies until some good thirty minutes had passed and they finally found the entrance to the cave.