“How do I know that?” I risk taking a step toward her. Shetenses and raises the weapon slightly. “You’ve done nothing but threaten to kill me since you found me.”
“Look, I don’t want to hurt you. I just need to get away.” Of course, she’s an escaped inmate. But there’s more here.
"You running from something or toward something?" I ask.
Her eyes widen just enough that I know I've hit a target. "Both," she says, quieter this time.
“What?”
“I can’t tell you.”
"Can't or won't?"
"Both.” She sighs. “Look, it’s just safer for you if you don’t know.”
"I'm way past safe, darlin'." The endearment slips out before I can catch it. I expect her to raise her weapon. Anytime I’ve been friendly or familiar, she’s reacted by putting her guard up. But she doesn’t this time. She worries her bottom lip, and despite everything, I have the unbidden thought that I wish I could do that for her.
“Look, I just need to get back to civilization.”
“Why? You’re better off escaping deeper into those woods.”
I can see the torment in her face. “There’s something I need to do.”
“What do you need to do?”
She shakes her head. “The less you know, the better.”
“Sotheycan’t ask me?”
Her face has transformed into an open, transparent expression. She’s lost. And the weight she has to bear is too much for her alone.
“You won’t believe me. No one has. But what I need to do is more important than me.” Her face turns hard again, and her eyes narrow. “But it’s also more important than you. I justneed your truck, and I promise you I will let you go. But if you try to escape or disarm me, I will kill you.”
A slight tremor when she says the word kill betrays her. If she can barely say it, she can’t do it. That speech wasn’t just for my benefit. She’s trying to convince herself that she can do it. Maybe what she needs to do is so important that she can pull that trigger.
Maybe.
And maybe this is where the answers I can get out of her end. But she’s not going to kill me. I know that now.
And I won’t kill her. I think I knew that the minute I laid eyes on her.
She’s in trouble. Far deeper than just the law.
I go to speak but then stop, every nerve in my body firing at once at the air that’s been sucked away and replaced with electricity. That familiar prickle crawls up my spine. My hand instinctively reaches for a weapon that isn't there.
"What's wrong?" Naomi asks, her voice tense.
Then I hear it—the low, rumbling growl. Branches crack in the underbrush to our right. I turn slowly, keeping my movements calm despite the adrenaline flooding my system.
The grizzly emerges from the tree line, its massive form dwarfing everything around it. It rises on its hind legs, towering over us. And unlike before, when I had the drop on it, it has the drop on us.
Naomi gasps, taking a step backward. I can see the panic flashing in her eyes, the instinct to run.
"Don't move!" I bark, my voice commanding enough to freeze her in place. "If you run, it'll chase. You'll never outrun it."
The bear drops to all fours and lets out a roar that seems to shake the very air around us. It begins to advance.
"Naomi! Give me therifle!"
