In the woods 2

"There is a dead body," Gilbert said in a shaky voice. He wiped the sweat formed on his forehead with his sleeves and turned around to show the directions. 

Reaching the spot, Evelyn scrunched her face looking at the body of a man lying on the ground. Someone had stabbed him on the side of the neck, giving him instant death. She was stunned that the death occurred during the task. Her eyes widened as she realised what they meant by the survival of the fittest. 

Felix crouched down near the body to examine it. 

"Looks like work of the imposter," he said, pointing at the knife.

"Poor him, couldn't even have got time to scream for help," Evelyn said, feeling pity for the candidate who lost his life. 

She would have been frightened witnessing blood and a body if she wasn't aware of the council tasks earlier. Last year there were two deaths and when her uncle informed her about it she was horror-struck thinking about the candidates who fall to any extent in order to enter the council. 

"This.is.not.DONE!," Gilbert said, stressing each word. It was hard to tell if he was furious or frightened. Evelyn looked at him perplexed. He continued, "They didn't inform us there's going to be a murderer, wandering in the forest. It's their responsibility to take care of the candidates and they can't raise their hands off from their duty."

"That was what the task was about. Did you leave your ears at home when they explained it? They clearly stated that there is an imposter. What do you think he will do? Cook food and wait for us to join him for dinner?" Felix said sarcastically. 

"We are unarmed! You can clearly see that the knife he used is ain't a normal one. It's a combat knife. He is well prepared for the fight. We can't do anything now," Gilbert said, feeling terrified. He paced around, panicking. 

"We can do one thing. Find the imposter before he kills all of us," Evelyn recommended. Gilbert stopped in his tracks and looked at her unbelievably. 

Looking at the way Gilbert was staring at her, Felix said, "She is right. All we need to do is stay together and watch out for the imposter."

"How are we going to do that? And you fool," he turned towards Derek, and continued, "Stop trembling!" He said furiously to him. Looking at the angry face of Gilbert, already frightened Derek, started shaking like a leaf hanging on a twig. 

"Calm down a bit, Gilbert. You are here to be a councilman. Looking at your reaction after witnessing a body is not appreciated. Be quiet and let others think of a way out if you can't think of one," Felix said in a commanding tone. 

Gilbert took a deep breath and sat down on the ground. Not that he wanted to obey Felix but his life was at stake due to the imposter, therefore shut his mouth without retorting back. Silence surrounded them as there was no more drama. Both, Gilbert and Derek, sat quietly letting the other two think in peace.

"To begin with," Felix clapped one time, getting everyone's attention towards him. Looking at the attentive eyes, he continued, "We know there are twenty candidates, alive or dead, present here in the forest at the moment. Four are ourselves and one is dead. We need to keep track of the other fifteen members, but we don't know where they are." 

"But we can deduce it," Evelyn informed. She took a stick laying on the ground and drew an oval-shaped figure and two lines above it. 

"This is the forest," she explained pointing at the oval figure, "and this being the river that flows the other side," she added.

"They can't enter the forest from the riverside. So it remains this region. We entered from here," she drew an arrow from the downward right of the oval figure and continued, "Three groups went in the left direction of us and group fifth to the right side, which is the nearest to us among others. Does anyone remember the faces of other candidates?" She asked. 

Everyone tilted their heads in denial. She let out a sigh and continued thinking. 

"I wish we knew from which group he was," Felix murmured. 

"At least we know that one group has decided to split themselves, which is why the imposter got an opportunity to attack him," she put her thoughts. 

"Maybe two groups one, it's not confirmed yet," Felix reasoned, nodding at her. 

"What will this information give us?" Gilbert asked, frowning at them as from what he heard, nothing consisted of a plan to save themselves or catch the imposter. 

"There's nothing like a perfect plan. Mind, this is just an assumption. All we know is, he is hunting for his next target. I suggest we stay together and search for the clues," Felix advised.   

Evelyn agreed to what he said. Soon they all moved towards the deeper side of the forest, hoping not to encounter any more dead bodies on their way. Felix was walking ahead of them, behind him Gilbert and Derek. Evelyn was last so she was keeping an eye from behind. 

"It's good that he has just killed one person till now," Gilbert said, glancing around the huge trees and pleased that he wasn't alone. More than two hours had passed and it seemed that it was evening. 

"I wish it was like you said," Felix blurted and stopped in his tracks. 

Evelyn bent sideways, perplexed by Felix's word, only to see blood spattered on the ground changing the earthy coloured ground into the red. 

"Holy Crap!" Gilbert exclaimed. 

Evelyn's eyes widened thinking how many more lives the imposter is going to take. 

"I know this man. He was in group two," Felix informed. 

"Does that mean group two decided to split themselves?" Evelyn questioned. She was concerned about Ana as she was in group two. All she wished for was that Ana was safe and sound. 

"Seems like. Well, we just need to survive till tomorrow morning," Felix said and continued walking. 

They continued walking as it wasn't safe to halt at a place for a longer time. Evelyn thought about the imposter. For a moment she doubted Gilbert as he was the one who found the first body and there wasn't anyone else with him at that time. She brushed it off thinking he was a coward, which was true.

More than six hours had passed and they had encountered two dead bodies already. She hoped to find the imposter soon before he murders someone else.