Who: Tobias, Owen and Chase Where: Outside the mill When: After sundown
Chase had absolutely no qualms with shouting his lungs out as he'd headed directly north from his starting position, once he'd realized what was going on, panic already settling in his gut once he realized the sun was going down not coming up. He knew where to go, he knew who to call for, and when he and Tobias met, he knew full well they had to hurry.
Following the river was always going to be the best option, and it was lucky that they were probably one maybe half the people in the house who had such a reliable path back to safety. He wanted to think that they'd get back before dark, but the detour to meet up had cost them some daylight, and even his most optimistic hopes didn't last long. He didn't want to think about what was waiting for them if they stayed too long, just focusing on keeping his feet moving in the right direction, and telling himself that Kiley and Lennon would already be there waiting. They were fine. They weren't out looking, they'd gone to the house and were waiting. Kiley was waiting.
Except the mental image of her descending from the porch the night before wouldn't leave his head. Her marching out into the woods like a heroic, chain smoking honey badger, armed to the teeth, to rescue him like a damsel in distress, like she'd wanted to the first time he'd disappeared followed suit. He wasn't sure if that was better or worse than the first one, considering the first he'd seen himself and the second one would be hot if it weren't so anxiety-inducing.
She'll be there, he told himself, though even the little voice in his head didn't sound particularly confident.
He hated not having his phone, which seemed to be by design as Tobias didn't have his either. He definitely hated being out there with no weapon. It had been hard enough on the porch the night before, with safety only a few feet away, and an arsenal at his disposal, and not dragging Tobias along with him if they messed anything up. He'd frozen up the night before, with all of those advantages, and he didn't know if he'd do any better if it came down to being out in the open with no defenses and one of those things hunting them down. He had enough sense not to say any of that out loud. Tobias wasn't there last night, so he hadn't seen any of that.
He was so focused on his own quick footfalls, not wanting to stumble and cost them more time, and trying to piece how close they were to the mill that they were nearly on top of the figure by the time he even noticed.
"Gah!"
The sound escaped automatically, loud and awkward as his body jeeked back reflexively, his hand moving to clamp over his panting mouth like he could shove the noise back in. He went wide-eyed even as brain desperately pieced together that that shape in the dark was not only human, but very familiar. "Owen?"