Title: Into the Woods

Author: Shannon – shannyfish

Disclaimer: I do not own "Haven" or its characters, Syfy and other people do. This is merely for entertainment purposes only.

Rating: PG-13

Summary: When a teenager is chased into the woods by a serial killer, Audrey and Nathan must race to find him. Meanwhile, they have to keep tempers down while Driscoll and his people "help" with the search for the boy. I watched the sneak peek of the next episode and this is what I came up with.

Warning: 02.10 - "Who, What, Where, Wendigo?" Spoilers

Author's Note: This is my second "Haven" fanfic. Constructive criticism is appreciated!

. . .

Into the woods

Without delay,

But careful not

To lose the way.

Into the woods,

Who knows what may

Be lurking on the journey?

Into the woods

To get the thing

That makes it worth

The journeying.

Into the woods-

- "Prologue: Into the Woods"

. . .

A child was missing.

Taken possibly.

There was also a serial killer on the loose.

They weren't both missing in Haven, no they were in the forest. Audrey and Nathan had already rallied their troops, but Driscoll had rallied his own as well. Audrey appreciated the help, but she honestly didn't think that the reverend's help was the kind of help they needed. There was a good possibility that there would be a "troubled" person, okay, so really there was no doubt. Nathan was there. Nathan was "troubled", though he was a lot less "troubled" than others in Haven. The reverend's people weren't the only ones who had joined in the search, others from the community were there to help too.

At the forest's edge, a multitude of people were already gathered and all of them were armed. Audrey really wasn't feeling like this was the best idea. Nathan was already ahead of her and ahead of everyone and facing the gathered armed group. He was giving instructions and Audrey just hoped that they listened.

Audrey watched those listening to Nathan and knew that out of all of them, besides Nathan, the ones she knew would definitely listen were the Teagues and Duke. They truly wanted the boy returned home unharmed. The reverend and his men, though...that was another story.

It started off perfectly, everyone was listening and they were all no more than three feet apart. She had started off between Dave and Nathan, but had moved in the middle of the rev's people when one of them almost shot Duke. Apparently after walking past a tree, the sudden figure in his peripheral vision had scared him and he'd automatically swung around and shot. Luckily, the guy was a bad shot. So, Audrey was basically babysitting. No one was to fire unless she or Nathan instructed them to do so.

"I see movement up ahead!" one of the reverend's men shouted out and immediately everyone started to move. Audrey opened her mouth to speak, but found her head coming into contact with something. She swung around a bit and put out a hand to help break her fall. She saw Nathan, his mouth open, probably yelling, but she couldn't hear him. Audrey hit the ground and the world went black around her.

. . .

When she came to, Audrey couldn't find anyone. No one was around her. She pulled out her phone and took in the time. She couldn't have been out for very long. There was no signal, though, which meant that she couldn't call Nathan. It was still light enough, so Audrey figured she could proceed forward and hope to find Nathan. She looked to the ground and found her weapon nestled between two rocks. Retrieving it, Audrey straightened and then headed off.

"Nathan? Duke?" she called after a while of moving along.

So far, she'd found no one. The sky was darkening and with the tree canopy thickening the farther she walked in, the darker it was getting overall as well. She had a flashlight, but she was hoping to find everyone before it was dark enough for her to use it.

The further she walked, the darker it became and Audrey pondered turning back. Eventually, she'd hit the road or the seaside... Somewhere along there she'd be able to use her phone and she could at least get a ride, if not contact Nathan. She was sure that her absence had been noticed, but Nathan had his hands full.

. . .

Audrey had stopped checking the time on her phone. It seemed like it would feel like thirty minutes and it would only be five. It was dark enough that she needed her flashlight. Some light shone through from the tree canopy above her, but she felt safer with her flashlight out and her gun at the ready.

dialogue from sneak peek

"Come on, Nathan. You couldn't've just disappeared," Audrey said to herself as she continued to walk.

She heard a rustle and then suddenly a flashlight was on her and a familiar face came into view. It wasn't who she was looking for though. It was Reverend Ed Driscoll with rifle in hand. He was pretty much the last person that she'd wanted to see.

"Officer Parker," Driscoll greeted evenly.

"What happened?" she asked quickly, lowering her gun and walking towards him.

"We must've scared it away, everyone went back to camp," Driscoll told her.

Audrey became a bit angry and leaned closer to the rev. He really just didn't get it and he didn't really seem to care. "Okay, we don't know what we're up against out here. So, when your men splinter off to play action hero, it puts the whole group at risk." She could tell from the even and calm look on his face and his lack of body language that he really didn't care, but she was going to say it anyways.

"Oh we know what we're up against. We're chasing down the troubled," he told her and then paused for a moment. "Only this time we're going to do it my way," Driscoll told her with a smile and tilted his head slightly.

"Your way is going to get people killed," Audrey told him, trying to remain calm.

"Maybe," Driscoll responded. "But it'll be the right people." Driscoll smiled a bit wider and tilted his head to the other side. "You know the way you've been coddling the troubled, it's cost a lot of people their lives. And now we're going to do what we should've done a lot time ago." He said and waited for Audrey to look directly at him before delivering his answer. "Wipe'em out."

Audrey waited there for a moment, absorbing the rev's words. He walked past her and she waited a heart beat before stepping in the opposite direction a few steps. In the process of her moving, she made it so that she could pull her gun immediately if needed. Worry held her down and she stopped and turned. "Reverend," she spoke up. Her words were heavy and a bit sad. He turned towards her. "Where's...Nathan?" she asked slowly and quietly, her eyes on him the whole time.

He looked at her for a long moment before turning and walking off without a word. Audrey wanted to yell at him, to go after him, and make him tell her. She was afraid, though, that if she did and he remained obstinate that she'd be forced to use her gun on him...and though she was sure he deserved it, it wouldn't get her closer to finding Nathan or the others. She watched him go for a few moments, hoping that he'd speak up. Hands came up and grabbed her, pulling her back and onto the ground. She struggled and tried to scream, but the hands held her and silenced her.

"Shh! Shh! Shh!" came a voice. "Parker, it's me," Nathan said in a whisper.

/sneek peek dialogue

Audrey froze as his arms let her go. Nathan was there. He was okay. With all the rev's talking of wiping out the troubled, she'd worried that he could have possibly already done away with Nathan. She was overjoyed for him to be okay and there and she stayed quiet. She knew that she could have alerting Driscoll when Nathan had pulled her behind the tree, but she was pretty sure that they were safe.

They both moved to sit up, Nathan was still behind her and she desperately wanted to hug him and to actually feel him there. It seemed like she'd been looking for him for so long that it was almost dream-like that he was there now. They stayed there quiet together and then they slowly almost at the same time felt that it was safe to move and got to their feet.

"The rev-" Audrey started.

Nathan interrupted. "He's determined to wipe out the troubled. I know. He tried to shoot me before. Duke's keeping Dave and Vince safe. Dwight showed up, so really...he's keeping them all safe at the moment."

Audrey knew what Dwight's trouble was...he was a bullet magnet. He always wore a bullet-proof vest, which meant that any bullets that were fired in the direction of Duke, Dave, or Vince would be attracted to Dwight and his vest. So, they would be safe. Though, for the two of them...they'd have to be careful. To tread quietly and cautiously.

"Nathan, the boy..." Audrey started and found that she was stretching out her hand to touch his arm. She wanted to feel Nathan and the moment that she touched him, he saw the look on his face. Nathan could feel her, maybe that's what they both needed, a reality check that they were both okay. "We have to find him. If the rev and his men are shooting first, then they may accidentally shoot him."

"I know." Nathan's face darkened. "I saw the killer...what's killed the others... It's a woman, we came upon her..." He paused for a moment. "She was eating someone or something...what we saw, you really couldn't tell."

"You think she's troubled?"

"Perhaps..." Nathan reached out and touched her. He pulled her closer. "Stay close, I think I can get us back to where the others are camped..."

Audrey didn't pull away from Nathan. It was nice to have him close, to feel that he was real. She honestly felt a wave of exhaustion wash over her, maybe it was her body allowing herself to be tired after all the walking. With Nathan there, she didn't need to keep up her need to stay sharp. He would watch her back and she could take a moment to breathe.

"You okay?" he asked.

It took a moment for her to process what he had said. She looked at him for a moment and the nodded. "I'm just tired."

"We can rest-"

"No."

"Parker-"

"I'm fine."

"Audrey..." Nathan said. This time his voice was hushed and concerned.

She could see the concern in his eyes. Audrey rubbed his arm in the hopes of relieving his worry. "Nathan, I'm fine...really. Just...wish the day was over already..." She noticed that he smiled now. A scream pierced the quiet night and they both tensed before looking at each other. Nathan grabbed her hand and started off in the direction she assumed he'd come from.

. . .

The End