No, she thought.Not Ben.
“Don’t tell me you’ve crawled away already. Wouldn’t you rather come out . . . and play?”
He stepped into view, wearing another one of those wifebeaters. This one was black and so were his jeans.The better not to see you, she thought wildly, braced on her hands and knees.
He reminded her of a wolf as he stalked through the shadows, ducked into a partial crouch.
With the steel stock braced against his shoulder, she saw him take aim at something and fire. There was a thud as the hapless creature dropped to the ground and she saw Ben lope over to examine his quarry, only to let out a sigh of disappointment.
“Fuck.”
From the bush, Nadine weighed the distance to the next clump of trees and shrubs. Adrenaline pounded through her body as she ran, and from the corner of her eye, she saw Ben look up and do a double-take.
“Nadine.”
No.
“Nadine, I know you can hear me. I saw the flutter of your skirt.” He raised his voice: “Did you know, I watched your sister die? Yes,darling. I stayed to watch her burn.”
No, no, no.
“That’s what happens to sparrows who fly too close to the sun.” She heard him move closer and scarcely dared to breathe. “I would have given her everything but apparently that wasn’t enough. Because she couldn’t give me the—one—thing—I—needed.”
He pivoted sharply and Nadine fell to the ground just as a shower of leaves fell over her in a prickling shower of sharp, pointed edges. There was a wave of displaced air that hit her like a slap on the cheek. As she waved the falling debris from her eyes desperately, she heard Ben say, “Found you. Come here, Nadine. Get up. You don’t want to die on your knees, do you?”
Horror gripped her.“No!”
“Thenrun!”
She ran right into the night, terrified, and he followed with an inhuman-sounding cry, pursuing her through the ferns and berry bushes, under winding ribbons of light and shadow. Something sharp gouged at her bare foot and she lurched sharply to one side just as Ben fired again.
There was a sock of pressure that hit her back like a punch, propelling her forward a few stunned steps, followed by a fiery ripple of pain that tore the breath from her lungs and had her staggering, gasping wetly from the shock.
He’d shot her—in the side.
She could feel the blood warming her skin as it soaked her dress.
“First blood, Nadine.” There was a click as he reloaded. “It’ll be your heart I hit next.”
The ground exploded at her feet and she leapt to one side with a panicked yelp. Running over this mulched soil was like running over broken glass and sharp blades. With every step she took, there was something there to gouge her.
And he was missing onpurpose. Goading her to panic. Herding her. Just like his great-grandfather andhissick little games.
Wasn’t there a fairytale where someone had been forced to dance to death on bleeding feet?
She ran faster, dragging herself through the syrupy air. It felt like there was a knife in her lungs and she wasn’t sure if that was due to fear or exhaustion or something else terribly wrong, because the sweat on her skin felt like hot beads of fire and every move of her hip sent a shockwave of pain flaring up and down her side like flares.
Then a bullet clipped her leg and she went down on one knee. The rock she hit on the way down shattered through the numbing horror, shredding skin along with sense.
She screamed again and the piercing sound of it splintered and scattered, like a light through a prism. When she felt the hand at her back, she flailed like a beached fish. Fabric tore with a loud rip, and she kicked out her good leg as she fought against the cold and the pain that were threatening to consume her, twisting her body to free herself.
This wasn’t supposed to happen, she thought wildly.He said I was a sparrow!
Something tightened around her wrists—oh god, rope? No, another one of those fucking blackberry bushes. Rolling desperately now, with her eyes slitted to protect them from thorns, she fought against the winding boughs of leaves. In her panic, she forgot about the first bullet wound—until she landed on her bleeding right side and the resultant pain was so exquisite that she blacked out.
Dead.Her brain raced around like a frightened animal performing tighter and tighter circles.I’m dead.
“Second blood.”
