Bryce steps out in front of me.
He’s grinning, which is the first thing I notice. The second is that he’s still got that knife. I stop dead, eyes wide, body seizing with the all-too-familiar panic.
“You two really are the most stupid people I’ve ever met. Honestly? Screaming out for each other? Did God even give you a brain?”
He has the nerve to use God in a sentence? Sick.
“You touch her, I’ll kill you.”
Noah.
My eyes move over Bryce’s shoulder to see him standing, shirtless, powerful, covered in sweat. He’s holding his leg slightly off, but otherwise he looks like nothing can bother him. Not a single thing in the world.
Bryce reaches into his jacket, which I now notice is long and hanging down to around his knees. He pulls out a machine gun. My body goes stiff.
“I’m sorry, what?” He laughs, turning so he can see both Noah and me.
“You want a hunt, I’ll give you a fucking hunt. But you let her go.”
“Noah, no,” I yell, terror seizing my chest.
“Giving up his life for hers, honorable,” Bryce muses. “I don’t honestly know why you’d take such a risk. I mean, it’s her fault you’re here, after all. If she wasn’t enough of a smart-mouth that her grandmother got killed, I’d have never stumbled across her.”
Noah snarls.
Bryce laughs, getting his desired reaction. “I must warn you, I’m in somewhat of a foul mood after your little girlfriend here threw rocks at me. Be careful, Noah. I might accidentally hit something fatal.”
No.
* * *
“Noah!”
“Run, Lara. Now,” he barks.
“No,” I scream.
Bryce turns and aims the gun at me. “Do as he says, pet. I’ll come for you soon enough.”
“No,” I cry defiantly.
Bryce spins around and the pop pop pop of the machine gun goes off. Bullets fling at my feet and I leap backward with a scream. No pain comes and it takes me a moment to realize it was a warning.
“Run,” Noah roars. “Fucking run!”
“Noah.” I tremble, scurrying backward as Bryce pulls out his knife and charges toward me.
“I think you need to learn a lesson.”
“Lara, run!” Noah yells so loudly, so fiercely that I push to my feet and turn, running.
As I disappear through the forest, the sound of the machine gun rips through my soul.
No.
I left him.
What have I done?
TWENTY-THREE
I’m lost again.
I don’t know where I am. It’s dark and I’m terrified. I find an overhanging tree and sit beneath it, but it’s not protecting me from the vicious storm threatening to roll in. I haven’t found the cave. Or the stream. I don’t know if Noah is alive. In fact, right now, I know nothing. My entire body is numb; gone is the fear, the pain, the panic. I feel nothing.
In this moment, I think I could die and be okay with it.
Thunder rolls and lightning can be seen slashing across the sky and hitting the ground in the distance. It’s coming closer and there is a chance I’m going to get stuck in it. I huddle closer to the tree, praying it’ll give me the protection I need, but the truth of the matter is it probably won’t.
Imagine that, a storm takes my life after all this fighting?
I laugh bitterly at the thought.
The storm rolls closer and it begins to rain, softly at first and then it comes down hard. It’s loud, deafening, and it’s freezing cold. I huddle against the tree, but I was right, it isn’t enough to protect me from the rain. Branches sway around me, some snapping, and the wind howls through the trees, giving an eerie whistle that makes my skin prickle. I throw my head back and scream. I let it all out. The fear. The pain. The desperation. I scream until my voice goes hoarse and my body gives way.
Then I lie down on my side and curl into a ball, tucking my head into my arms.
After a few minutes, I can’t feel the cold from the rain anymore; my body is a numb mess, my mind even worse. Lightning crackles, lighting up the sky. Not enough for me to see anything vital. The shivering starts about ten minutes into the storm and continues until it passes. My skin is soaked, my hair, my body. It feels as though it goes right down to my bones. Maybe it does.
Somehow during that storm, I fall asleep. I don’t honestly know how, I think my body has just finally had enough. When I wake, it’s to the sound of my name being called. I’m sure it’s a dream at first, because there is no possible way Noah is still alive, but after a few minutes I realize that it isn’t a dream. He’s calling me. I jerk upright, soaked to the bone and shivering. It’s still dark. The rain has stopped, but I can’t see a thing.
Is this another trap?
I’ll risk it.
“Noah?” I call, my voice hoarse and raspy.
“Lara?”
Oh God, he’s alive. Tears, the ones I thought were all dried up, burst forth and run down my cheeks in thick waves.
“Where are you?” he calls.
“I don’t, I don’t know.”
“Keep calling out to me.”
For the next ten minutes I call out his name until finally I hear his boots crunching through the leaves. He’s coming for me. He’s so close.
“I’m here!” I cry happily.
I reach out, I can’t see, I can’t fucking see, but I reach anyway, hands flying around. Finally, they hit a warm, hard, bare chest. I crumple into his arms. His go around me and we both fall to the ground. My tears run down his skin and my body trembles in his arms.
“You’re alive,” I sob against him. “You’re alive.”
“I don’t know how, baby. I don’t know how.”
“H-h-how did you get away?”
“He made a mistake turning to hurt you. I used the rock and hit him over the back of the head just before he turned around once you’d disappeared. Dazed him for a good few minutes. I got a head start. I found a track to the deeper water. I dove in, came out the other side, and went up a tree. By the time he got to me, he couldn’t find me.”
“How did you find me?”
“A stroke of luck in all this insanity. I was following the track and I thought I saw you over a rise, then I lost you in the darkness so I risked calling out. Fuck, baby, you’re soaked.”
“I couldn’t get out of the storm.”
“Me either. I think he’s gone back for the night, but we can’t be sure. As soon as morning light comes, we’re going on the attack guerrilla-style. He might have weapons, but there are two of us and today proved he isn’t as smart as he thinks he is. He turned his back on me, the biggest mistake any hunter could make.”
I make a strangled sound in my throat. “I honestly thought you were dead.”
He makes a raspy sound with his chest and holds me closer. “We’ve got to take him down, Lara. He’s getting desperate.”
“I know,” I whisper.
“Fuck, baby, being separated from you is something I never want to happen again.”
I tremble in his arms.
“Let’s try to get some sleep. God only knows when he’s going to be back and what he’s got planned this time.”
I don’t even want to think about it.
Little by little, my spirit is dwindling.
I don’t know how much longer I can take this.
They think they’ve outsmarted me.
They think they actually escaped.
They think I didn’t allow it.
I just wanted to give them a moment of hope.
I’m a hunter. I know where my prey is, even if they don’t know I’m there.
I know what they’re planning.
I’m going to make sure they know I’m in charge. It’s time to finish the game.
TWENTY-FOUR
Morning comes.
Forcing my tired body to stand up is one of the hardest things I’ve had to do. My leg aches, my body aches, my a
rm is throbbing. Dried blood coats my skin, and my wound desperately needs to be cleaned.
My body is in no shape for a fight, but my mind needs to be. There are no options left.
“Where do we go next?” I ask.
“Higher ground, where we can see him coming. The best spot is back near the waterfall, but instead of hiding inside it, let’s wait at the top. If you see any good rocks or spears on the way, grab them. We’re going to need them.”
We start walking through the forest, eyes peeled for any sign of Bryce. We walk, trenching through the mud created by last night’s rain, for hours.
We reach the big dam near the cave and swim over to the rocks leading up into it. We should be able to climb up to the top of the waterfall through the cave. It’s the fastest way up. We climb the ledge and with ragged breath push through the waterfall. When we get out the other side, we’re so busy rubbing the water from our eyes that we don’t notice them. The second our vision clears, an agonized scream is ripped from my throat.
I tumble backward, tripping over a rock.
There are bodies. About five of them. All of them young, teenagers maybe. They’ve been slaughtered in the most gruesome ways, and there is so much blood. It paints the walls, the bodies, everything. My screams cut off and become agonized little whimpers as I take in the most horrific sight of my life. I can’t even make out the gender of some of them, they’re that mutilated.
Noah moves. Quickly.
He grabs me, locking his eyes with mine. “You can’t fall apart on me, baby. I need you to block it out and keep going.” His arm stays around my waist and he hauls me up.
I scale the wall as quickly as I can, which is agonizingly slow. “Take your time, Lara. You’ve got this,” Noah coaxes from behind.
Eventually I haul myself up to the top of the waterfall. I turn and watch Noah come up behind me, but the moment he’s over the ledge, his eyes fill with fear.
“Run, we have to ru—”
His voice is cut off when Bryce appears from behind the trees with a shotgun in one hand and a bloodied knife in the other.
“Did you think I wouldn’t figure out your next step? I knew all about it. Just like I knew about your little hiding spot. Did you see how I decorated it? Lovely, wasn’t it?”
I can’t take this. I can’t.
Noah pulls me close, but my legs are weak and trembling.
“I must say, it wasn’t my usual kill. I just stopped a car and they so gullibly let me in. It was fun, you know. There was this blond girl, she struggled so much as I was slitting her throat.” He laughs, shaking his head as if he’s telling a story about a child doing something simple, like going to the potty. Not like he just killed innocent young people. “Do you know how much someone bleeds when they’re injured? Honestly, it’s quite fascinating.”
My knees tremble.
“You would have enjoyed it, Lara. You do enjoy watching people die, after all. Tell me, how was your last visit to your nan’s grave? Did you apologize? Poor old woman, she had no chance against your smart mouth.”
I flinch. Pain rips through my chest.
“Imagine how long and fulfilling her life would have been if you weren’t in it to get her killed? You and I, we’re no different. I’m just honest about the kind of monster I am.”
“Don’t listen to him,” Noah orders.
“You don’t have to listen to me, Lara. You already know it. You’re a murderer. Poor Nan.”
“Fuck you, asshole,” I yell, moving quickly and launching Bryce forward.
We tumble, tumble, tumble. First through the air.
Then we hit the water hard, our bodies sinking beneath the surface. I struggle to come up for air but he’s there, too. I know I need to create distance between us now. He probably lost his gun in the fall, but he’s too big for me to fight without Noah.
I try to pull away but his arm snakes up and grabs my neck, pushing me under.
I have no breath in my lungs.
Water fills them and I struggle, inhaling way too much.
I reach the surface and sputter, my lungs burning. And again he pushes me down. This is it. I’m going to die here. I feel my body growing heavy. Sinking.
Darkness closes in.
* * *
“Lara, wake up.”
Noah? Is that you?
“Come on. Please wake up.”
I’m trying.
“Fuck, don’t leave me.”
Is he crying?
Oh God. Noah. I can hear you. I’m coming back.
I try to focus on my eyes, but they won’t open. They just won’t work. I take a ragged breath, and try again. They flicker.
“Yes, fuck. Baby, please.”
I’m almost there.
Another deep breath, and this time I manage to flutter one open. It’s blurred, my vision, but I can see the hazy outline of Noah leaning over me. I blink a few more times, getting my other eye open, and I realize I’m on something soft. Really soft, like a bed. I frantically clear my vision and peer around. I don’t know where we are. It looks like some sort of room.
“Noah?” I croak.
“Oh thank God,” he rasps. “I was worried you wouldn’t wake up.”
I blink again. “I thought … I thought I was going to drown.”
He leans down and presses his head against my forehead. “Fuck. I was afraid. You’re okay. Are you feeling unwell?”
“Sore, but okay … I think. Where are we?”
“I found his hideout,” Noah says, voice thick. “It’s underground. I noticed an oddly placed shrub and was walking around it, and I realized it was an entrance.”
Underground.
Of course it is.
I bolt upright, body screaming in pain. “Where is he? Is he dead?”
Noah shakes his head. “I don’t think so. I bashed his head with a rock once I reached you in the water, but you went under and he got away while I was bringing you to shore. Didn’t get his bike, though. I saw it at the waterfall and drove us a safe distance away, then happened upon this place. I hid the bike in the bushes, I don’t want him to know we’re here.”
I study the space. It’s big, considering its location. It has rustic wooden walls, no windows, and a staircase going upward to what looks like an exit. There is a bed, a sofa, a small kitchenette, and a bath. There are also televisions everywhere, lining one entire wall. The other wall has a closet that’s open, and I can see that it’s full of military-style clothing and tactical gear. A desk in the corner is stacked with papers, clippings about my nan and Noah’s time with the fire station, and pictures of the two of us arguing, together, running, all of it.
“This space is making me feel ill,” I rasp.
“I know, but it’s the only place we can be right now where we can anticipate him. He’s injured. It can finally be over.”
“Are there any weapons?”
He gets a troubled look on his face. “Yes, one knife.” He pulls it from his waistband and hands it to me. I clutch it likes it’s the Holy Grail. “Bryce isn’t a man to make stupid decisions, so either his leaving this here was a mistake … or he planted it here, knowing we would come.”
“Do you have a feeling one way or the other?”
He shakes his head. “Impossible to tell.”
I look down at my leg and see that my shin is covered in clean white gauze. “You found bandages?”
“First aid, yeah. Peroxide and antibacterial ointment, too. I cleaned us both up. I also found food and water. You need to drink and eat a little.”
“Phone?” I ask hopefully.
“No communication out. He’s not stupid.”
“What do we do now? Just wait for him to show up?”
“If he knows we’re here. If not, this is the perfect place to ambush him. That’s why I turned off all the lights and hid the bike. This is our last chance to end this.”
“And when we do, how do we get out?”
“I disabled the electric fences. When he
’s dead, we’ll find a way out past them.”
“I feel like we’re closer than ever to being free.”
“Thanks to you, brave girl.” He squeezes my hand. “Your nan would be proud.”
I smile at the thought of her.
“Remember the first time you met her?” I say, trying to change the subject.
He smiles and nods.
“Nan, this is Noah,” I say.
Nan has just stepped into my house, a container of cookies in her hands, when she stops dead and looks up at Noah.
“This is the man you were telling me about?” she asks, squinting.
I inwardly giggle. She likes to act tough but my old nan is the sweetest woman in the world.
“Yes. Noah, this is my nan.”
Noah steps forward and extends his hand. “Lovely to meet you. Lara has told me so much about you.”
Nan sets the cookies down and takes his hand. “Do you have a criminal record, Noah?”
He blinks. “Ah. No.”
“Ever stolen something?”
“No ma’am.”
“Ever hurt an animal or a child?”
I press a hand to my mouth to stop my giggle.
“Of course not,” Noah says, his lips twitching.
“You going to hurt my granddaughter?”
“Not if I can help it.”
She narrows her eyes, but her lips twitch. “Which baseball team do you root for? Be careful how you answer, Noah. I’m picky.”
“The Cubs, ma’am.”
She smiles. Nan loves the Cubs. She might not live anywhere near them, but she’s a diehard fan.
“Pizza or pasta?”
I’m giggling hysterically now.
“Pizza.”
Nan lets him go with a huge smile on her face and turns to me. “I like him, you can keep him.”
Noah is laughing when I snap out of the memory. “She was the coolest lady I’ve ever met.”
I laugh. “She was. I’m glad you got to meet her.”
“Me too, Lara. Me too. Now get some sleep,” he says. “We need our strength for what’s coming.”
He turns out the lights and lies back down beside me.
I close my eyes and think of my nanna, smiling as another memory comes back to me. She always wanted me to believe in myself. She embraced my confident side.