"Um Wayde?" I asked. 
"What the hell do you want?" He shot back. 
"I'm just wondering why you shut the cave already? Luke and Garret aren't even back yet." 
"Because I'm fucking tired. They took too long, so they can sleep outside tonight too. Now shut your yap and go to bed," he ordered. 
This wasn't ideal, but at least he admitted to being tired. I shared another look with Adam and Wes as we made our way over to our sleeping area. Adam laid down to my right, and Wes to my left. We couldn't risk whispering and talking about the plan, but we all knew that what we needed to do now was wait. 
The longer we waited, the more I doubted our plan. Now that the cave was closed, running was much more difficult. What if the sound of the rock sliding wakes Wayde up? He wouldn't hesitate to shoot us if he thought we were escaping. I shuddered at the thought. My entire body was hypersensitive at the moment. I was a trembling mess of nerves as I listened for any sign that Wayde was either awake or asleep. 
Wes and Adam must have felt me shaking because both of them offered me a hand. I gladly took hold of both of their hands as we continued to wait. I've become so used to being touched by these guys that what used to make me uneasy was now a huge source of comfort. 
We continued to wait as I listened closely for a change in Wayde's breathing, indicating deep sleep. Luckily, thanks to the large dose of drowsy herbs, we didn't have to wait horribly long. Once I was sure Wayde's breathing was indicative of a deep sleep, and he had been that way for approximately 10 minutes, I gave Wes and Adam's hands a firm squeeze.
I was the first to sit up, being careful not to make any noise. Wes and Adam followed my lead, mimicking my silence. It was pitch black in the cave which made it very difficult to navigate, but we'd been living here for over a month and I was very familiar with every pebble in here. Slowly, I crawled forward towards the rock door, feeling occasionally against the cave wall to locate the edge. Adam and Wes were my shadow, following my every move exactly as I did. Finally, I knew we were at the door, and I stood up. 
Wes put a hand on my waist, slowly guiding me to stand behind him as he got into position to push. He had to be quiet. The sliding of the rock alone could potentially be enough to wake Wayde, there was no room to make any kind of other noise. I backed up even further to allow Adam some room to join Wes. The faster and easier they could push this thing the better. 
I listened as the boys pushed on the rock. They slid it a little, stopping when it made a grinding noise against the dirt. I listened to Wayde's breathing when they stopped, making sure the slow steady rhythm was still able to be heard. This process continued repeatedly: push, stop, listen, repeat. 
They boys had pushed it open just enough for me to fit through when I heard movement from Wayde. I tapped them both hard on the back, ordering for them to stop pushing. I tried to focus on the breathing of Wayde which was a little harder as it was now being masked by the slightly heavier breathing of Wes and Adam. After a minute though, I determined Wayde to still be in a deep sleep and gave them another pat to keep pushing. 
Adam leaned into me, his lips almost pressed to my ear as he whispered, "You can fit through this. Go now." 
I nodded as I scooted past them. I stuck one of my legs out, firmly planting it on the ground and sucking in as I used my hands to guide the rest of my body sideways through the door. Jake immediately appeared by my side, offering me a hand to steady me as I squeezed out of the cave. 
Once I was out, I stood on my tip toes and placed a hand on his chest to try and get close to his ear, "help them push. It's kind of loud with them pushing from the inside." 
Jake nodded and immediately took his spot at the rock. He whispered something to Adam who disappeared back into the cave. He then planted both hands on the rock, and pushed hard with Wes.  the rock moved further than before with one smooth movement. It was a little noisy, but it was now wide enough for the boys to slip through. 
Wes hopped through the opening, followed by Adam who handed Jake a backpack. That must have been where Adam went. We had packed up one backpack but couldn't put much in it incase Wayde would notice stuff was missing. 
The moment we were out of the cave, I felt a rush of adrenaline. We were finally going to be free. Jake secured the backpack and grabbed my hand as the 4 of us took off at a sprint into the forest. 
Although the moon was large and bright, the thick tree cover made the forest almost as dark as it was in the cave. Luke was given a flashlight, but until we got to him the forest was going to be extremely tricky to navigate. I was lucky to be holding Jake's hand. He never let go, and he caught me from tripping and falling over several branches and pot holes as we ran. 
Adam however, took a huge digger right in front of me. I would have tripped right over him if Jake hadn't caught me and steadied me on my feet. 
I offered a hand to Adam and helped to pull him back up, "Are you okay?" I asked. 
"Ugh. That's embarrassing; but yeah I'm good," Adam replied. I would have laughed at him if my nerves weren't still on overdrive. He didn't appear to be hurt at all. 
Just then, we heard someone else whisper-shouting from a ways away. "Guys! Over here!" Luke called. He must have heard the commotion from Adam's fall. 
Immediately, the 4 of us worked our way over to Luke, an unconscious Garret at his feet. 
"Did he wake up?" Jake asked. 
"Once, but I hit him again and he went out pretty easily. Now let's go incase he wakes up again!" 
Luke and Adam took off in the front since he had the flashlight, Wes ran closely behind in the middle, and Jake and I were at the rear. It felt so good to be able to talk with everyone again, to act without being watched, and to be touched by Jake again. I had missed being able to hold his hand, and now as we ran it was like we both refused to let go. 
I don't think any of us knew where we were going, but we did know that we had done it; we had escaped. Now we just had to last the night unprotected in the forest, and we needed to put as much distance between us and them as possible before dawn.
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Hey! 
Here's part two to the escape chapter! They have done it! Now what? Lol see you all in the next chapter! Thanks for reading and remember to comment with thoughts, ideas, suggestions, or whatever's on your mind! I love to hear from my readers. 
I'll try and have the next one up soon; like I said before, I feel like I'm kind of on a roll right now lol bye!
-Haley