“It’s just... strange that there are no cars anywhere. We must be in a totally different place than where we started."

We’re out!” Elchanan whooped, high-fiving Avi. “We’re out of the forest!”

Avi mustered up a smile, but he couldn’t bring himself to join Elchanan’s excitement until they were actually back home — or at least on the way. True, they’d left the forest — but where were they now?

He examined their surroundings. They were standing on a grassy bank beside a wide, winding, empty road. Across from them were miles and miles of fields. It looked like they were in the middle of the country.

“This isn’t the highway where we started,” he said. “Honestly, I don’t think we’re much better off than we were before. At least inside the forest, the search party’s looking for us...”

“Inside the forest, there are also armed criminals who wanted to kill us,” Elchanan reminded him. “Let’s follow the road. We’ll have to get to a town eventually. Or a car will pass us by, and we can phone for help.”

Avi looked up and down the road. There was no sign of any cars, people, or houses as far as his eye could see. He sank to the ground in exhaustion. “Let’s just... rest… for a few minutes,” he said.

Elchanan looked concerned. “Are you okay? Maybe have a drink or something.”

“Finished my water,” Avi said briefly. He rested his head in his hands. Now that he thought about it, he was thirsty. And hungry, too.

“You finished your water? Here, I have a couple spare bottles, take,” Elchanan said, crouching down beside him. “And maybe we should eat something... good thing we kept those backpacks on us.”

Food. That was a good idea. Avi reached for his bag and rummaged through it. He pulled out a squashed foil container half-filled with crinkle cookies. Elchanan had a few granola bars and an oversized package of potato chips.

“Not too bad for breakfast,” Elchanan said.

They ate slowly. Avi was in no rush to start walking for miles again, and even Elchanan seemed to be feeling the aftereffects of the past 24 hours. When they finished, he stood up and stretched, wincing a little.

“We just need to find a phone,” he said. “If we could only get to a town...”

Avi shaded his eyes and peered in all directions. “If we could find a signpost, it would tell us the name of the nearest town,” he said. “Could that be one over there?”