Chapter 18 Responsibility And Accountability Pierre ran as fast as he could to get out of the woods. Finally, Pierre dropped to the ground in front of everyone’s feet. “The rules have changed.” The group was silently thinking to themselves without saying a word out loud. Merna shook her head, “No the rules have not changed!” She said calmly. Pierre’s rage came out as he shouted, “what do you mean, that thing has never planned on us leaving but killing us instead.” Merna tapped her finger on her chin as she listened to the surroundings. “Yes and no!” Steve laughed sarcastically, “you are not making sense, Merna! It is other a yes or a no, it can not be both!” Merna clicked her tongue once, “Yes, he wants us dead. We trespassed onto his land. Fine, we are not the first to take a walk in the woods. But if we had not set up the tents, we probably would have been able to leave with no issues.” Merna paused to think about what she was going to say next. “No, because he allowed us to leave as a GROUP. Something we have yet to do!” Camile started to cry, “I am like really scared rate now!” Merna exhaled roughly, “when I was a child and I was dealing with different entities I would always ask for favours. And the entities would always ask, what do I get in return if they help me out. I learned the hard way by the time I was in my late teens that nothing comes for free. Whatever I asked for had to be paid in equal value.” Pierre was pinching the bridge of his nose, “How does this pertain to this situation ... your story doesn’t make a lick of sense!” Merna lowered her head, “the laws here are different!” Lifting the charm, "I am going to make an offer!" Camile sniffled, “What do we have to do to get out of here?” Emma chimed into the conversation, “What about an offering? Maybe that will buy us some time!” She tried to sound hopeful. Merna starts to take off her ward. Realizing what Merna was about to do, Pierre said, “put that back on!” Merna glanced at Pierre, letting him know she wasn’t going to do as he said. Strolling over to where the fire pit earlier had been dug. She lifted the loose grass piece out, placed the ward in the hole, and put the grass cutting back over it. “If I want something, I have to pay with equal value!” “How do you know if it worked?” Emma watched as Merna’s lips moved while no words could be heard. Merna brought her attention to Emma, “I will see results right away.” “What did you ask for?” Emma asked Merna. Smiling, “I asked if I could get directions to Markous’ whereabouts! I am sure that if I had asked for directions out of here, I wouldn’t get an answer, so I went with the one thing we need to get out of here!” “Why don’t you ask where Markous is?” Steve was starting to show more signs of being stressed and tired. “If I did that I would only be shown where he is, we already know he is in the woods wandering most likely around in a circle. I need to know the path to where the moron is!” Merna said as calmly as she could. Nodding in understanding, “that makes sense too… it is all in the wording!” Steve said to Merna. Pierre removes his charm and hands it to Merna, “take it; you will need it!” “No, I have to pay the price and I have to accept responsibility for what I have done!” Merna refused to take Pierre’s charm. Camile was staring at the pendant in Pierre’s hand, “you should take it and wear it!” “No, here it is all about accountability and responsibility. I was the one that asked for assistance, I am the one that needs to pay the price.” Merna refused to budge on the topic. Emma was starting to glance around, “how long do you think it will take before someone answers you? It feels like we have been waiting for a very long time!” Merna shrugged, “it depends on who is willing to take the offering.” Steve pointed to the moon, “the moon is getting closer to high peak, I am guessing we have less than an hour to find Markous and get out of here.” Camile placed her hand on her rumbling stomach, “I never thought I would ever be this hungry!” Emma chuckled, “I was thinking the same but my mind keeps me from feeling the hunger pains. I am seriously freaking out here!” Merna forced a smile on her face, “as a whole, it is easy for us, all we have to do is go to the grocery store and get what we want. We are privileged and never have gone without.” Steve kicked a rock with his boot, “we should have never come here. I didn’t even want to be here, Markous pressured me into doing this. I hate camping! I hate bugs! Most of all I hate the fucking silence, it is unnatural!” Merna leaped as if shocked, “Someone has answered me!” “How do you know if they are being truthful?” Pierre was following the direction that Merna was going. “They will not take an offering without being truthful … It is an etiquette thing. I should go in alone, it would be faster this way.” Emma was hot on their path, “I am thinking no!” Camile was slightly jogging to catch up, “I agree, everytime we split up something happens.” Steve had no issues keeping up with the group, “I don’t know about anyone else but if we go as a group we can head out of this damn place faster instead of you finding my brother, bringing him back here and then hunting for the road.” Motioning towards the sky, “Besides, we are running out of time!” Pierre pointed out. “How are you going to find Markous?” Camile asked Merna. Pointing to the ground, “I can see a line of light going into the woods, come on!” Merna was now starting to scramble ahead of the group. ... “We have been at this for at least fifteen minutes, how far do you think Markous wandered into the woods?” Pierre asked Merna. Dodging another branch, “The light is still strong so I am thinking the idiot went deep into the woods.” Merna sounded out of breath. "Though I think the master of the land had a hand in this as well!" Pierre was rated behind Merna, “Does it seem a little too easy, I mean nothing has happened and that doesn’t settle well with me!” Steve stopped briefly and glared at Pierre, “Bro... shut up ... you are going to jinx us!” He yelled whispered as if someone could overhear our conversation. Merna walked over a rock, “finding Markous is going to be the easy part; getting out is the issue. The master of the land isn’t going to make it that easy. The individual who helped us has probably already warned him or asked for his permission to aid us! Something like that!” She was huffing and puffing due to exhaustion. “Why would he do all of this just to kill us in the end?” Emma was huffing and puffing as well. “When we get out of here, I am n.e.v.er entering the woods again!” Camile spoke out loud. “I second that!” Emma agreed with Camile. Merna chuckled at Emma and Camile’s little conversation. “It is all about the principles. The intent was always there, it is the hope we hold onto of getting out of this in one piece that keeps us going. In the end this is just an amusing game for him. The hunt!” “This seriously pisses me off!” Steve uttered in annoyance. "What person would do such a thing to another?" Pierre started to laugh, "Serial killers! That is who would do this! Since you have forgotten ... the master of the land isn't human! I don't even think it ever had a human life at all!" Merna placed her hands on her hips resting long enough to catch her breath. “The second we entered the woods, we made it into a game. None of us followed my gut instinct; we all are at fault here. Each of us had our reasons for coming into the woods. Pierre was to keep the money that he was paid to be here, Camile to please her dad, Emma to have fun, Steve following his big brother, and Markous to make as much money off the land as possible to get himself out of debt and myself to protect my friend from danger. Responsibility and accountability that is what this is about. In the mind of the master of the land his method of reason, he is being fair by offering us a chance to leave together. I am sure the entity believes this shows how impartial he can be. And if you think about it, in a way, it is. We just don’t like the fact it is us in this situation.” “This doesn’t seem fair!” Camile pouted! Pierre was listening to the whole conversation, “actually, in a way, it is. You have to think about it from a different perspective. We come from a privileged background where we do little and expect a lot. We think things are unfair when they don’t go our way or suit our personal agenda. Always wanting but never taking accountability for our own actions. If anything, in a way, this entity had given us more than what it most likely would have given anyone else.” Camile huffed out loud, “how so?” “He could have killed us the second we had our tents up.” Merna pointed out like she had so many times. Pierre pointed to the distance, “there is Markous!” “How much time do you think we have?” Camile squealed. Steve studied the sky, “less than thirty minutes to get out of here!”