Chapter 146: The chase
Dry leaves crunched beneath her feet as she ran between the trees. Twigs snapped under every desperate step.
Leo struggled to keep up, panting heavily. "Aunt...I’m tired..."
"Just a little farther," Elena urged, refusing to slow down. "We are almost safe."
Behind them came angry shouts. "I saw them. They went this way."
The men crashed through the undergrowth, breaking branches as they searched.
Elena’s breathing became ragged. Her legs burned. Then she spotted a dense cluster of thorny bushes growing beside a fallen tree.
She pulled Leo down beside her. "Quick."
They crawled beneath the tangled branches. The thick bushes concealed them almost completely.
Elena wrapped one arm tightly around Leo while using the other to push aside the leaves just enough to watch.
Her heart hammered so loudly she feared the men would hear it.
Heavy footsteps approached. One man stopped only a few feet away.
"They couldn’t have gone far. Search every inch."
Another kicked at nearby bushes. Leaves rustled all around them.
Leo began trembling violently. Elena immediately covered his mouth with her hand.
"Shh..." Her whisper was barely audible. "Don’t make a sound."
Leo nodded rapidly, tears welling in his frightened eyes.
The men continued searching.
"Come out," the scar-faced man shouted. "Don’t think you can hide forever. If you hand over the boy, we’ll spare your life. But if we find you first, you’ll die."
Elena slowly reached into her handbag. With trembling fingers, she unlocked her phone.
She dialed Elias.
The call seemed to ring forever. Every second felt like an eternity.
Finally, the line connected.
"Elias..." Elena whispered, struggling to keep her voice steady. "We are in danger. There are men after us. They are trying to kidnap Leo."
"Where are you?" Elias demanded, panic evident in his voice. "Elena, answer me."
Before Elena could respond, she felt a sharp tug on her hand. The phone slipped away from her grip.
She looked down.
Leo’s tiny face had gone deathly pale. His wide eyes were fixed on something ahead, filled with sheer terror.
"A-Aunt..." His trembling voice made Elena’s heart skip a beat.
She instinctively followed his gaze. Her blood ran cold.
Barely a few feet away, a snake slowly emerged from beneath the fallen leaves. Its dark body slithered silently over the forest floor before coiling itself. Then it lifted the front half of its body, spreading its neck slightly as it faced them.
A low, chilling hiss cut through the silence.
Elena’s breath caught. Her fingers went numb.
On the other end of the line, Elias shouted, "Elena? Talk to me."
But she couldn’t answer. Every instinct told her that one wrong move could be fatal.
Leo instinctively shrank closer to her, his entire body trembling.
"Aunt..."
Without taking her eyes off the snake, Elena slowly reached behind her and wrapped an arm around him. Her own heart was pounding so violently she could hear it in her ears.
She swallowed hard, forcing herself to remain calm.
"Leo," she whispered, "don’t move."
The snake continued to sway gently, its tongue flicking in and out as though testing the air.
"Stay completely still," Elena murmured. "Don’t make any sudden movements. If we don’t threaten it, it won’t attack."
Leo squeezed his eyes shut for a brief second before nodding ever so slightly. Neither of them dared to breathe too loudly.
The snake remained poised before them, while somewhere behind the bushes, the kidnappers’ footsteps drew closer.
"Where are they?" one of the men barked. "Find them."
"That woman can’t get far with a child. They have to be hiding somewhere nearby." The scar-faced man scanned the woods with narrowed eyes. "Search every corner. We leave only after we get that boy."
The three men split up, disappearing in different directions as they combed through the forest.
Hidden beneath the dense bushes, Elena didn’t dare move. Her gaze fell on the phone lying only a few feet away. Every instinct urged her to crawl over and grab it.
But the snake was still there. It remained coiled near the phone, its head raised, tongue flicking in and out.
"Aunt..." Leo whispered. "Why isn’t it moving? Is... is it going to bite us?"
Elena gently squeezed his hand.
"It won’t," she whispered, forcing herself to sound calm despite the fear gripping her heart. "As long as we don’t frighten it, it won’t attack."
Just then, the phone suddenly lit up. A loud ringtone shattered the silence.
Elias’s name flashed across the screen.
Elena’s eyes widened in horror. "No..."
The shrill ringtone echoed through the woods.
"The sound came from over there," one of the kidnappers shouted.
"I heard it too."
"Move."
The men immediately rushed toward them.
At the same time, the vibrating phone startled the snake. With another sharp hiss, it swiftly slithered into the undergrowth and disappeared among the fallen leaves.
The moment it was gone, Elena lunged forward and snatched up the phone. Her fingers were ice-cold and trembling so violently that she nearly dropped it again. She fumbled with the screen, struggling to answer the call.
The ringtone continued to echo.
The kidnappers’ footsteps grew louder and closer.
Finally, she managed to silence the phone. "We have to go," she whispered urgently.
She grabbed Leo’s hand and pulled him to his feet.
The two had barely taken a few steps before an angry shout rang out behind them. "There they are. Running. Catch them."
Another voice roared, "Stop right there, or I’ll shoot."
The threat sent a chill racing down Elena’s spine. But she never slowed. She couldn’t.
’As long as I’m alive, no one will take Leo.’
The thought fueled every aching muscle in her body. Ignoring the branches whipping against her face and the burning pain in her legs, she kept running.
Suddenly, she spotted a steep slope a short distance ahead.
"There." She tightened her grip on Leo’s hand. "Come with me."
They scrambled down the slope as carefully and quickly as they could.
Thick bushes and tangled vines concealed the area below, shielding them completely from anyone standing above.
Elena quickly crouched behind the dense foliage, pulling Leo close against her. Both of them struggled to catch their breath.
Holding the phone with shaking hands, she immediately called Elias. The call connected on the very first ring.
"Elena," Elias’s anxious voice came through instantly. "Where are you? Are you hurt? Is Leo okay?"
"We are hiding in the woods near the school," she whispered, struggling to steady her breathing. "Please... come quickly. If you are any later, you might not find us."
"I’m already on my way," Elias said, his voice firm despite the panic beneath it. "Stay put. I swear to you, Elena... I’ll get both of you out of there safely."