Corl POV

..Continuation of chapter 26..

I catch up to Denis and he smiles at me. We begin walking, waving our flashlights over everything just to make sure we don't miss anything.

"You made the right choice," he says, smiling at me.

"I know. I guess I was just afraid. I need to learn that fear should never get the best of me," I reply.

"Wise words, young grasshopper," He jokes, though seemingly surprised by my words.

I chuckle and we both continue our search. Truthfully though, I'm surprised by my words too. I guess our circumstances are just forcing us to change our outlook.

If we hadn't started thinking differently, we'd probably all be dead already. It's the harsh truth. As I'm walking, I continue shining my light on everything I possibly can, still wrapped up in my thoughts.

Just then, I see something and all of my thoughts come to a halt. I don't know what it is, but I know that it's out of the ordinary. I stop in my tracks and Denis stops too, looking at me confused.

"What is it?" He asks.

"Shh!" I shush him, slapping a hand over his mouth.

I take my hand off of Denis' mouth and point to the outline of a figure, though it's barely recognizable since it's so dark. It almost completely blends in with all the darkness around. Mors. I point my flashlight towards the ground so that she can't see the light, but I can still just barely see her.

Just then, I see two people tied to the base of the tree she's in front of. I can't really see them, but I can just barely tell that they look almost identical. It must be Elijah and Ethan.

I faintly see one of them looking at the other. I can't see their expression since they're looking the other way, but I can just barely see that whoever's next to them is unconscious. Or maybe dead.

"Oh my god. Is that-" Denis begins to whisper, but gets cut off by a worried voice.

It's coming from the one who was looking at the other. He's now looking Mors in the eyes. Bold move. It seems to be giving him physical pain just by doing so. I suppose it's a sign of bravery though.

"Please don't hurt us! Please!" He begs.

I look down at the ground. I can't bear to watch this. All of a sudden, the person who was begging for mercy is silent. I worriedly look up and see that they were now in the same position as the one next to them.

Their head was flopped down to their chest, as if their neck suddenly broke for no reason. However, I knew that wasn't the case. They had to be unconscious or dead. I look up at Denis and he looks back at me, terrified. Then, a crumpled piece of paper drops from the sky and falls at our feet..