We’ve been running for hours and haven’t stopped. Jay ran after us for a while, yelling threats, then just…stopped. I didn’t like that at all. There’s nothing around us besides empty land and even emptier buildings. We figured we would be safer in the woods than in one of the houses because Jay would look there. We took out three guards, but that left two to help Jay, and we don’t know how many more he has at his disposal. He knows where he’s looking; we don’t even have the first clue about where the hell we are.
“Just a little bit longer, Beautiful,” I reply, kissing the back of her hand tucked into mine.
“You’ve said that the last ten times,” she replies, and I could cheer with joy. The further we get away from that place, the more Les comes back to herself.
“I know. But we can’t stay in these woods.”
She tugs my hand to get me to stop. “We have to stop for a minute.”
I look into her tired blue eyes illuminated by the moonlight and search for somewhere we can hide. I spot a big group of trees and lead her that way. We hunker down behind them, and I pull her intomy lap so she doesn’t have to sit on the hard ground in that thin nightgown. I can’t even offer her a shirt because all I have on are dirty grey sweatpants.
I don’t know how much I have left in me to run, either. We’re malnourished and dehydrated. Our feet are bleeding from being barefoot. I have fresh wounds on my chest that occasionally bleed and a broken nose. I cleaned it up the best I could on our way out with a towel I grabbed on the run, but it still hurts like a bitch.
She’s rigid against my chest until I wrap my arms around her, pulling her closer. She melts against my chest, and I soak up whatever I can because I know I won’t get this anymore as soon as we find her guys. No matter what happened back there or what we said, I know she will never choose me, and Ryder will never let me into her life.
“I don’t know how much longer I can go, Zane,” Les whispers, finally turning her head to look at me.
I kiss her forehead. “We can rest, but we have to start moving again soon.”
When we finally broke out of the backdoor, the sun was high in the sky, and I guessed it was around twelve or one in the afternoon; it started getting dark hours ago.
I hear a twig snap to our left, and our heads shoot in that direction. I listen closely and hear the soft rustling of leaves, like something or someone, is walking toward us.
“Get ready to run,” I whisper to Les, and she nods. Could he have caught up to us that fast, or was he biding his time until we stopped?
We hear another twig snap and take off, running like hell. I’m not going to risk staying there like sitting ducks. I keep my hand securely around hers and slow my stride as much as I can to match her shorter one. We run until I hear Les struggling to breathe, and my breath is also sawing in and out of my lungs. I jerk her behind a tree and pull her against me. I strain my ears, listening for pounding feet behind me, and don’t hear anything; I risk looking around our hiding spot and don’t see anything either.
She’s shaking in my arms, so I pull her closer. I just want thisnightmare to be over for her. She’s been through hell and back but somehow found the strength to help me fight to get us out of there.
After I killed the first guard, it was like a surge of adrenaline for both of us. It took us forever to figure out how to get out of that nasty basement, but when we did, she was the only one who had been to that part of the house. We stumbled on the guard in the kitchen, and he came at me hard. Les jerked the closest weapon she could find, a huge butcher knife, and between the two of us, got him to where she could stab him. I caught the guard by the door by surprise, quickly snapping his neck. We pulled all their masks off to categorize who they were because these motherfuckers would pay for what they did to her.
“Zane,” Les whispers, pulling my attention to her. I look down at her, and she’s pointing in front of us. “There’s a break in the trees.”
I look one more time to make sure we just panicked and ran for nothing before grabbing her hand. We run full force towards the trees, and when we bust through, it’s just an open road, but you can see the city below us. I take a closer look around us, and this place looks familiar.
“We can’t stay on the road,” Les says, pulling me back toward the tree line. “It’s too open.”
“Beautiful and smart,” I reply, kissing her hand again.
She shakes her head but doesn’t comment. We walk the tree line for miles before we see headlights coming toward us. I pull her into the trees and push her to the ground, covering her body with mine before we’re seen, my heart hammering in my chest. I hear the car go by but don’t risk looking. There’s only one reason someone would be out this way in the middle of the night, and none of it’s good. I feel Les shaking below me and slide off her. She rolls to her side, and tears stream down her face.
“Fuck. Did I hurt you?” I go to sit up, and she pulls me back down to lie beside her.
She shakes her head. “We have to stop.”
“Beautiful, we can’t lay on the ground,” I say, pushing her hair off her face. I run my finger over her cheek, wiping awaytears.
“Where are we supposed to go?” she asks raggedly, trying to choke back a sob. “We don’t even know where we are.”
I need to search for a clue to tell us where we are, but I need her to stay safe. “You stay here, and I’ll go look around.”
She clutches my arm before I can move. “No. Please don’t leave me here alone.”
“Let’s walk further and see if we can find something. If not, we’ll find a place to lay low for the rest of the night,” I reason, rubbing her cheek again because I can’t help myself.
She nods reluctantly. Hopping to my feet, I help her stand. When I have her on her feet, I grasp both sides of her face. “I’m going to get us home,” I promise. She closes her eyes and nods again as more tears splash over my fingers. I gently peck her lips. “Hop on my back.”
“No. You’re just as tired as me,” she argues.
