„What starts badly, ends badly,” thought SolHi. „As it has happened tonight, a bad night that doesn’t end.”

Such thoughts crossed SolHi’s mind when she and Ha Rin advanced on that narrow path between the mountain’s wall, which was to their left, and that bottomless chasm that was to their right. A chasm that would have definitely been their escape from their stalkers too if those had decided to catch up with them no matter what. If this had happened, SolHi intended to use the surprise element. Which one? To turn the light on in front of them and do it suddenly. Thus, the moment they would have protected their eyes with their arm not to go blind, they would have taken advantage of that and pushed them into the chasm.

„Something I hope won’t ever happen,” she whispered at one point. Then, the moment she stepped on a sharp stone, whose edges she felt deep in her soles although she wore shoes with thick soles, SolHi gasped. However, this didn’t help her with the stone or wet soil, which was also a dangerous trap. It was a dangerous trap after the long rain that had been falling all day, which stopped only at dusk, not long before SolHi decided to give that phone call.

„A phone call that has been our sentence, it seems to me,” SolHi heard Ha Rin’s whisper into her right ear. Then, she felt Ha Rin grabbing her arm to support her and not allow her to be the first victim who fell into that bottomless chasm.

„I don’t think so,” said SolHi, swallowing hard. „I mean… I don’t think that all this happened because of the call,” she added, straightening her back.

„I think the same,” murmured Ha Rin, releasing her arm when she ensured that SolHi was already safe. „It was planned that way: for both of us to be sent to the other world today. Yet…”

„…If I hadn’t given that phone call, we would have had more time to prepare and wouldn’t have left our hideout in a hurry.”

„It is not only that, SolHi. I think they rushed things because of the call. Just think about that: they found out already that you are fine and somewhere around, and this means…”

„…that very soon this place would be surrounded by police officers and dogs, looking for a single prey: us.”

„That’s right. And, for this not to happen, I mean for the police not to catch us before them, Scar sent his dogs here. Three dogs that are probably in our former hideout. I also think they realized already that we escaped and would try to catch up with us.”

„Something that seems to me SF, Ha Rin. Why? Jackal probably knows this place. You told me about this. Thus, it won’t be difficult for him to understand where we are heading.”

„That’s why I say to rush. And… is there still a long way toward the new hideout you say you saw a few days ago?”

„About three hundred meters, I think. As far as I remember, all the way there was about 650 meters. We crossed half already. To cross the rest faster, we need light.”

„I know. Yet, if we turn the light on, it’ll be even more dangerous for us. I say to keep up the rhythm. Going faster, it’ll also be a possibility.”

„Only if you want to lose your head in the chasm over there,” said SolHi, forcing a smile. After that, she turned her back to Ha Rin and moved away.

Ha Rin didn’t follow her right away. She looked back first, worriedly listening to the voices heard from their former hideout. It wasn’t clearly heard what the three men were talking about. Even so, she was sure that they were probably wondering where they headed. „A mistake, in fact. By asking such questions loudly, they only hint to us what they are planning. Something strange though.”

What exactly?” SolHi asked her.

By asking this, SolHi made Ha Rin wince because she didn’t expect that SolHi would return next to her or that she wouldn’t go. Even so, Ha Rin didn’t scold her colleague but said, „It’s strange that we can hear their voices when it should have been damn quiet there right now.”

„Maybe our absence drove them crazy, don’t you think so?”

„No, SolHi. Jackal isn’t stupid or at his first crime, I think. That’s why I find this weird… that he loudly speaks when he should have kept his mouth shut and tried to find us faster.”

„Do you think that he’s doing this just to give us a chance to escape?”

„Honestly? I have no idea. Yet, we’ll find it out eventually. Now… let’s go!”

Ha Rin’s urging and the concern felt in her voice convinced SolHi that it was time to move away. Yet, this didn’t mean she totally trusted her new friend or Jackal. SolHi did that because she decided that it was necessary to wait for a while and focus only on their salvation. For this, they had to get as fast as possible at their new hideout, something that convinced them both to quicken their pace eventually.

***

Entering their new hideout, SolHi and Ha Rin felt a pungent smell reaching their noses. SolHi was even about to sneeze after that because „The mold had always been my worst enemy,” she thought. She had been eventually capable of controlling herself and the sneeze inside her, even if she knew it was wrong to do that. Even so, she knew that it was safe to do that, and, to make sure she wouldn’t sneeze, she kept rubbing her nose with her palm until she calmed down. Only after that did she take the small flashlight out of her pocket, turn it on, and look around.

Ha Rin did the same. Yet, none of them saw a big thing there: only big rocks all around, wet and shiny walls because of the water that kept dripping from above, and the stony floor, which was also covered by water that got up to the two women’s ankles. For the rest, „A dead-end,” as Ha Rin murmured, pointing with her head in front of them.

Looking over there, SolHi understood that Ha Rin wasn’t wrong in saying that because there wasn’t any other exit from that place. „Only the one through which we entered, one that would lead us right into the wolf’s mouth.”

„Something like that. And… I think that we have to continue advancing on that path and see where it goes.”

„It’s even more dangerous if we do that,” whispered SolHi. „The reason? We don’t know where it goes.”

Ha Rin smiled. „Do you think that’s safer here? On the contrary, we are like in a cage here. Outside… well, at least we have the chance to throw ourselves off the cliff, saving others from having more sins.”

The irony felt in Ha Rin’s voice made SolHi smile again. „I rather get others into trouble than throw myself off the cliff,” she said, being the first one to step through the water and advancing into the darkness of the new hideout.

Ha Rin followed her right away this time. She did that not because she didn’t trust SolHi too much but because they didn’t have another choice: both of them had to try to save themselves because SolHi was right eventually - they would have been vulnerable in an open space. There, they at least had a chance to save themselves, sneaking beside the rocks or finding a hole through which they could vanish.

Yet, they found no safe place to hide, not even after they advanced about 500 meters into that grotto of terror as Ha Rin considered it, seeing drops dripping off the walls all around them. Drops that made a strange sound all over. Both of them even winced at one point, feeling the cold sneaking into their veins. „As though we are in a freezer,” SolHi joked eventually.

„The miracle and the beauty of the mountain grottos. Yet, they ensure us an advantage.”

„Which one? If they kill us here, we at least have a chance to be found in one piece?”

„It’s also a good idea. Anyway, I was thinking that the cold helps us to keep our beauty and the youth of the skin.”

SolHi smiled. „It’s a good idea too. Yet, you should also tell our stalkers about this. Who knows?! Maybe they’d think more about their youth than about us.”

„I think that they’d rather think where to bury us than about this. I mean, under which rock to put us, better said. And… wait a minute: is it only my feeling or do I hear the rustle of a spring?”

Ha Rin’s question made SolHi stop. Looking around, she finally saw a small drip on the wall from their right. Following the drip, both of them saw the spring heading toward the same door they used to enter. After that, they followed the source up, finally seeing the hole through which the spring entered the grotto. „Up! Two o’clock!” Ha Rin whispered.

„The hole seems pretty large. Do you think we can get there?”

„Only if we don’t lose our heads first!”

„I don’t think that’s something on tonight’s menu. So, I say to try to get there! Make some light!” She urged SolHi. After that, Ha Rin made sure the backpack wouldn’t fall from her back, and, helped by SolHi, she started climbing on those rocks to get to the hole.

The hurry didn’t work for them that night though. Because of this, Ha Rin slipped on the rocks a few times before she managed to get on the upper rock. After that, she told SolHi to climb. And, while SolHi was preparing to climb, Ha Rin took the small flashlight out of her packet and tried to make some light for her colleague.

Suddenly, both women winced when they heard the voices of the three men not that far from the grotto. „Where did they go?” One of them yelled. „Damn, bitches, couldn’t they just stay and wait? No, they had to get us in trouble tonight.”

„What about keeping your mouth shut?” Jackal told him through his teeth. Even so, Ha Rin recognized the voice because of the grotto that amplified the sounds.

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After that, she told SolHi, „Hurry up! It won’t take them long to find this place!”

„Got it!” SolHi replied. Then, turning the flashlight off and relying only on her memory because she paid attention to any detail while Ha Rin climbed, SolHi started climbing those rocks.

Halfway up on those rocks, SolHi stopped and listened. Even her breath stopped halfway through her throat when she heard an unpleasant splash of water when the shoes of the three men entered the grotto. This made SolHi frown and think, „They are here! Probably, they saw the entrance, even if it’s not something easy to spot because of the darkness. This means only one thing: Jackal knew about this place.”

Ha Rin felt the same - that the new hideout wasn’t an unknown place to Jackal. The man could also know about the hole they wanted to use to escape. A hole in the wall that might have led them outside and reach freedom. Yet, until this happened, they had to wait because SolHi wasn’t with her yet. She was still somewhere on those rocks, probably trying to remain hidden in the shadows, „Making sure that she won’t lure them here,” Ha Rin said in her head. „A mistake though. This won’t deceive Jackal. On the contrary, she has to climb here no matter the consequences.”

She would have liked to tell SolHi about this too. Yet, Ha Rin was afraid. She was afraid that her whisper would give them away and bring their stalkers closer to them. All she had to do at that moment was to keep her mouth shut and wait. She had to do that no matter what, for the safe of both of them. Also, she had to trust SolHi, whom she knew as someone who wasn’t stupid at all and would have eventually understood what was at stake at that moment and what her priorities were.

The waiting made Ha Rin feel more concerned than ever. She felt a strange feeling in her stomach and her heart madly pounding in her chest, something that made her feel she lacked air. A feeling that was amplified by each step taken by their enemies in front but none taken by SolHi up on those rocks.

Suddenly, Ha Rin winced, feeling something moving to her left. Looking over there, she froze for a few moments. „Snake?” She thought. „No, it can’t be. Even if this place is perfect for water snakes, I don’t think that one of them is here. At least, I don’t think that one can be found at this height.” Yet, this didn’t mean that the fear vanished. It didn’t happen because she realized that snakes weren’t creatures to be afraid of heights. Especially, they weren’t afraid of them if those places were wet and slippery, the perfect natural environment for them.

Feeling someone’s hand touching her wrist, after she sat on all four, trying to see something through the darkness, Ha Rin understood that the sound of something moving on a wet area wasn’t made by a snake but by SolHi, who crawled on her stomach to get there. Once next to Ha Rin, SolHi touched her wrist to let her know that she needed help. Understanding that, Ha Rin grabbed her hand and pulled her up, making sure SolHi was safe on the same rock where she was.

When she pulled SolHi up, Ha Rin had been inattentive and dropped the flashlight. And, even if the flashlight was off at that moment when it fell into the water, it had been the trigger for their enemies to realize where they were. „On the upper rock!” One of the men shouted. „They are there, boss!” He yelled after that. After his shout, three flashlights had been headed up, seeing two black silhouettes stopped on the upper rock.

„Damn it!” Jackal said through his teeth, seeing Ha Rin there and recognizing her. Then, for seconds only before the two women disappeared through the hole in the wall, he saw Ha Rin’s middle finger, a hint that he had lost again in front of her. „Not again and not this time,” the young man told himself, feeling outraged. „No, Min Ha Rin, this time you won’t survive for sure.” Then, furious, he asked his friends to make some light to see where he was climbing and followed SolHi and Ha Rin’s path.

Once on the upper rock, Jackal stopped. He didn’t move further until he didn’t have the gun in his hand. And, taking the safety off and making some light, he carefully advanced, following the two women.

The place where Jackal got eventually wasn’t different from the grotto. The same shiny and wet wall all around him, dug by the water that had been crossing that path for millennia, forming a small tunnel this way, a tunnel that was pretty height, having about 1.85 meters in height. The floor of that tunnel instead wasn’t formed from sharp stones like the floor of the grotto. On the contrary, it was damn smooth and slippery. That floor was dangerous also because of the water that covered it, getting to the man’s ankles.

It felt damn cold there. It was really cold, but this didn’t impede Jackal from advancing, just as he didn’t shudder because he was already used to the cold and to the places that were savage and unfriendly. Places he would have liked to avoid though because they weren’t something he liked. Yet, once he didn’t have another choice but to do this that night because it seemed to be the path of death the two fugitives chose to follow that night, he’d also been forced to take it.

Knowing all this, Jackal opted to advance carefully. He did that not because he was afraid of being shot or stabbed because he already knew that none of the fugitives was armed. Actually, he was sure of that because he took Ha Rin’s gun after leaving the stuff she asked for in that grotto. All he left her was a dagger, but even the dagger wasn’t with Ha Rin at that moment because he found it between her stuff, which she left behind. „A foolishness,” as he thought because „Only stupid people leave their weapons behind when they venture into an unknown place.”

There was something more than foolishness there and Jackal finally understood that when he remembered that Ha Rin wasn’t stupid at all. Even so, he couldn’t understand why she left her things behind and how she realized that they’d been attacked, and they understood that much earlier than they got there. „Particularly, I can’t understand why they risked giving that phone call,” he told himself, still advancing through the tunnel and looking around to make sure he wouldn’t fall into a trap or something.

Suddenly, Jackal stopped when he heard a strange splash made by someone’s feet, about 1 km in front of him. „Did they stop?” He wondered. „Yet, why? What made them stop? A trap?”

No. Jackal was sure that it couldn’t have been a trap there and he knew that because he trusted his instinct. And, to chase such thoughts away, the man even shook his head several times. After that, to make sure that his thoughts were real, he started carefully listening to the surroundings and the silence in particular.

Something bothered him all of a sudden. What exactly? „The rustle of water!” He whispered eventually. „But… where is it heard from? What exactly is what I hear?” He wondered all this, confused. Yes, Jackal was damn confused that night because he definitely couldn’t understand where that rustle was heard from. Then, when he remembered that he’d seen a waterfall not that far from the hideout he prepared for the two women, he hissed through his teeth, „How the hell I didn’t think about this? The waterfall! The waterfall can help them escape!” Then, not to lose the chance to get rid of the two women that night, Jackal quickened his pace, getting to the end of the tunnel running, from where he clearly heard the rustle of falling water…

***

„Should we jump?” SolHi asked, looking down but seeing nothing. Even so, both women were sure that a waterfall was right under them because the noise of falling water was unmistakable. They were also sure that, where the waterfall touched hard soil, it should be a small lake or a waterhole, which would have cushioned their fall.

„This doesn’t mean that we won’t crush if we hit the rocks eventually instead of water,” whispered Ha Rin, looking behind them for a few seconds when she heard Jackal’s footsteps approaching them. „Instead of a waterhole, we can hit something hard.”

„Tougher than a bullet in your back?”

„Well, this is already something that I don’t know. Even so, I say no to such an experience. I rather do something to twist that one’s neck before he can shoot.”

„I have a different opinion though,” said SolHi confidently, making Ha Rin attentive. „We jump!” She suddenly said that, grabbing Ha Rin’s hand and dragging her into the void.

Both women jumped just in time. If they had hesitated even for a few seconds more, a bullet would have hit the back of one of them for sure. A bullet that hit the air eventually, followed by a terrifying growl - Jackal’s shout when he realized that he failed.

„Damn it!” One of the men who were with him also growled when they got next to Jackal. „The two idiots really jumped.”

„They weren’t to wait for us to greet them with a bullet, don’t you think so?” Jackal growled, glaring at him. „Let’s go!”

„Which way? Do we also jump?” The second man asked, frightened.

„Only if you look for leaving your head there,” Jackal said through his teeth. „I’ll take the same path I’ve taken to get here.”

„What about them?” The first man asked.

„We’ll hunt them later. If we find them, of course. Now, let’s go!” Not to prolong his agony born from failure because he definitely hated to lose in front of someone, Jackal spat with contempt to the side and left that place as fast as he got there.

***

„Do you think they left?” Ha Rin whispered. She was with SolHi, next to the sharp stony edge of something that seemed to be a natural pool, supplied by the waterfall that was heard rustling about ten meters away from where they were. Both women were still in the water after they decided that it was safer this way in case Jackal would have shot another bullet.

SolHi didn’t answer the question. She only looked up for a while, listening to the surroundings. Only when the voice of the three men stopped being heard for a while did she say, „I think so! Now, let’s get out of the water until we don’t turn ourselves into penguins!” Then, supporting her palms on the rocky edge, she pushed herself up, managing to shelter herself eventually.

Ha Rin did the same. Then, both sitting on that rock, they looked in the distance. It was damn cold there, coldness amplified by the wind that suddenly started to blow and by the falling of water that was well felt behind them. Even so, none of them rushed to leave that place but looked around, understanding that they reached a path toward nowhere. „A path of death, it seems to me.”

„It might also be a path to freedom, Ha Rin,” said SolHi. Then, she pointed her hand somewhere to their right where dozens or hundreds of lights could be seen. „That place looks like the city.”

„I also think so. Yet, what amazes me is that they didn’t follow us.”

„Who? Jackal and his friends?”

„Yes. As far as I know, Jackal isn’t afraid of heights.”

„He’s still a human being, Ha Rin. And, as any human being, he might be afraid of unknown places. That’s why he decided to watch his back first.”

„Only you jumped into the void. Not alone but dragging me after you.”

„What would you have preferred then?” SolHi asked, laughing. „To leave you there as food for the Jackal?”

„No, to warn me at least.”

„I didn’t have time. Why? That bullet had a name written on it and I didn’t want to be my name there.”

„And, not to die alone, you decided to take me with you, right?”

„It’s funnier when you have company. Now, let’s go!”

„Where?”

„To the city! It’s our only chance to survive, Ha Rin! If we stay here, a sure death waits for us for sure. Why? Because… either Jackal finds us, or the jackals eat us. Or… we get pneumonia and die! I say that’s safer if we go. At least… walking, we can warm up.”

„You forget one thing,” Ha Rin said, standing up. „The city is even more dangerous than this place. Why? San DuSik and the guillotine wait for us there.”

SolHi grinned. „Not if we make sure that San DuSik experiences the guillotine first. Something I intend to take care of as soon as I have the chance.” Then, grabbing the backpack Ha Rin left on the rock, she put it on her back and headed with sure steps toward the woods, having a single thought in her mind: to get to the city and a safe place.

Seeing SolHi leaving, Ha Rin sighed. „Well, at least she’s right in that: the guillotine isn’t more terrifying than the wilderness. So, Min Ha Rin, grab some courage because you’ll need it to face the beasts in that town.”

„Are you coming?” SolHi shouted, who was a few dozen meters in front.

„Do I have any other choice?”

„Not really. Why? You got us into the cage with lions and you should get us out of here.”

„I think you’re doing great without my help,” said Ha Rin ironically, descending the same slope as SolHi.

„The reason?”

„You belong to the same class of beasts as those who hunt us?”

„I had the best master,” replied SolHi, laughing. Then, she turned her back to Ha Rin and kept advancing. „You are the best example, Min Ha Rin. So, don’t complain if your pupils live up to your expectations.”

Ha Rin grinned. „What a wise woman who knows everything,” she whispered. Then, she kept silent, understanding that both of them were right eventually when they said that they were just two monsters trying to survive in a world of monsters after taking a path toward nowhere.