But the further I stumbled into the forest, the tighter my stomach clenched with fear.
It’d been so easy.
Too damn easy.
There was no longer any doubt in my mind. I'd played right into a trap. But he still had to catch me, and it was about damn time Chase Lockhart realized I wouldn’t go down easy.
5
My absolute confidence that this was all part of a sick game for Chase didn't slow me down as I plunged into the darkness of the forest. It was cold enough to make me shiver, despite being May. Or... I thought we were still in May. Maybe June? Time had lost all meaning.
Thoughts and plans turned over and over in my brain as I forced my feet to keep moving, one after another. I'd tucked the knife into the pocket of the coat I'd taken, and the boots were still clutched under my arm. But they were growing heavy, and I’d need to drop them soon.
My feet were too small to wear them. I'd just trip over shit and break my neck. I'd grabbed them on a whim, thinking they might save me if my feet got damaged, but they were just slowing me down.
Gritting my teeth, I dropped the boots, then forced myself to lay a false trail through soft earth, leaving obvious footprints as I went. I could hear water running somewhere in the distance, but I needed to cover myself. If Chase was following—and he would be—then I couldn't just run blindly in a line and hope he was too dumb not to see the signs of my clumsy passage.
So after a couple of minutes, I dug deep for strength and slowly pulled myself up into a tree. Fuck me dead, it hurt. Way more than I'd anticipated, and I found myself clinging to the first branch and praying I wouldn't pass the fuck out.
Berating myself mentally for being so damn weak, I took deep breaths and forced some calm while the blood returned to my head and the fuzziness cleared. Then I refocused on my goal. Getting free.
The process of climbing the tree was agony and took so long that I could swear Chase would find me any second. But he didn't, even after I made the reckless crossover to the next tree. Then the next. Then the next. I was so damn slow. Time still held no real meaning, though. So it could have been hours since I’d escaped his house or just minutes. Based on how slow my movements were, I'd hedge my bets on hours.
When I'd made it only about fifty yards away from where my trail had ended, I had to admit defeat and drop back to the forest floor where the going was considerably easier. I'd have to hope that gap would be enough to lose him, at least temporarily.
"Shit," I breathed to myself as I checked my wrist. The fabric I'd cut from the bed was soaked through, and blood was running down my arm as I held it to my chest. If I didn't make it to medical attention soon, this whole escape plan would be for nothing. I was bleeding out.
My feet burned as I stumbled through the forest with no real direction. I was weak enough, injured enough, that my coordination was severely impaired. I kept tripping on shit and bumping into trees. My sole focus was on following the sound of running water because that was my best bet at hiding my trail.
Then a sound behind me made me drop behind a boulder like a puppet with cut strings. I held my breath, my ears straining.
Just when I thought I'd imagined it, the sound echoed through the darkness again. Breaking twigs.
I swallowed hard and frantically tried to calm my racing heart. I was in no condition to outrun him, and I sure as fuck wasn't winning in a fight. My absolute best bet was to lay low. Hold still and silent and pray that the darkness would conceal me until he passed right by.
"Come out, come out, little rabbit," he called out in a sing-song voice. "I know you're close. I can practically smell your fear."
More slow, deliberate footsteps and crunching twigs. He was so goddamn close I was surprised he couldn't hear my racing heartbeat.
"I knew you couldn't resist the lure of freedom," he chuckled, stepping closer still. By my guess he was only twenty or thirty feet away. Far too close for me to make a run for it. "I have to say, Darling, you got out a whole lot faster than I expected. I'm impressed." He clapped slowly, and I stiffened against the shudder that ran through me. Sick fuck had wanted me to run.
I kept my mouth shut, though. Not a single sound left my lips as I huddled behind the boulder. Silently I prayed to gods I didn't believe in, begging for Chase to keep going and pass me by.
For the longest time, there was total silence in the forest. Total, eerie silence. Then the unmistakable slide and clunk of a shotgun being loaded.
"You wanna do this the hard way, huh?" Chase called out into the night. "So be it! I'm going to shoot your sexy legs out from under you, then fuck your ass raw while you bleed out in the dirt."
He fired off a shot, and I flinched. The sound of it was damn near deafening, but I didn't move from my hiding place. His shot hadn't hit anywhere near me, anyway, so hopefully he was looking in the wrong direction.
The running water that I'd been following sounded so close; I must almost be there. If I could only get a moment's distraction... just enough to sneak away and hide my trail in the water...
"What the fuck?" Chase muttered the comment under his breath, sounding like he was almost on top of me. He was confused about something.
It took me a few moments longer, but then I heard it too. The faint whirring of an engine in the distance. But there were no roads leading to Chase's house. Were there? Maybe I'd just overlooked one... except Chase clearly wasn't expecting visitors.
He grunted another curse and took a few strides away from my hiding place—enough that I risked peeking around the boulder, still hoping the darkness of the night would conceal me from his gaze.
Chase was about fifteen feet away, his shotgun resting on his shoulder as he scowled down at his phone screen. The light from his device illuminated his face, which told me that whatever that sound was, it was wrinkling his plans.
Good.
The sound grew louder, and Chase looked up to the sky. I did the same, realizing it wasn't a vehicle approaching. It was a helicopter.
"What the fuck?" Chase hissed again, still with his head tilted up to the sky.
That was my opportunity, I knew it. He was distracted, there was noise... if that wasn't my chance to escape, I didn't know what else I was waiting for.
Biting down on my cheek to steel myself against the pain, I pushed to a crouch, then as quietly as I could, started moving away from Chase.
My pulse raced so hard I couldn't tell the sound of the helicopter nearing from my own heart, but a few steps later, my nerve snapped and I broke into a run. The motion or maybe the sound alerted Chase, and a shot rang out to my right. Splinters of tree bark sprayed at me as I ran, but I didn't slow. Now, more than ever, I was running for my life.
Strength wasn't on my side, though. No matter how badly I wanted to survive, I was still only human. Barefoot, basically naked, malnourished, weak, drug-damaged, and bleeding, I was no fucking match for Chase and he knew it. His laughter echoed through the night as he pursued me at a leisurely pace.
I stumbled my way through the darkness, my heart in my throat, bracing against a flinch with every shot he fired off. He wasn't trying to hit me—yet. He just wanted to scare me. Right as the river came into view, I tripped on a tree root and ate dirt as I crashed to the ground.