Elchanan could say what he liked, but it was time to use the map for real and work out what had gone wrong

“You want to know what we’re up against?” Avi’s eyes opened wide. “So you— you also think that—”

Elchanan kicked at the ground, restless. “Something’s wrong. Something doesn’t add up,” he said. “About this whole thing, the trail, the people behind us... I want to figure out what’s going on.”

Avi very much doubted that going to spy on some violent strangers with guns was a good place to start their investigations.

“I think we should get as far away from them as possible,” he said firmly, starting to walk off in the opposite direction. Out of the corner of his eye, he saw Elchanan shrug and reluctantly follow.

“It’s just — really, really strange,” Elchanan said, his voice troubled, as they walked, single file, along the narrow trail, as it moved deeper into the forest. “I mean, Mr. Kreiser kept saying that the forest is safe — monitored. So if these people are really dangerous, then either we’re in the wrong place entirely, or everyone else in the class... they’re in danger, too. And we have no way to find them or warn them about what’s going on.”

“Listen, the best thing we can do is keep walking,” Avi said, feeling calmer now that they were putting distance between themselves and the fearful noises. “I don’t hear them anymore, it doesn’t sound like they’re following the path that we’re taking. Let’s just keep walking. Maybe we’ll meet other hikers, we could borrow a phone...”

“If we meet anyone else. Without guns,” Elchanan said, darkly.

“If we don’t, we’ll just keep walking, okay? The trail’s got to end somewhere.”