14. Lauren
LAUREN
L auren had almost calmed herself down and talked herself into braving the cabin to thaw out her face and hands when dragging firewood brought her near the corner of the cabin. A low voice from inside reached her through the logs, and she paused to breathe and press her fists against the small of her back. Why did wood have to be so damn heavy?
It wasn’t until she heard Finn’s cold, hard voice that the rest of her froze all the way to the bone. He sounded like a completely different person. Completely different. He didn’t like whoever he spoke to, and said he’d done what he’d been hired to do, he’d sent the coordinates for where something could be found, and he was gone in a few hours whether or not the other person’s guys were in place.
Her heart sank and her stomach twisted. He was calling in backup and getting out of Dodge before he had to deal with her again. Clearly rejecting him had an impact, and he meant to hand her over to someone else, or a team of someone else’s. Shivers wracked her as she stared at the wall, trying to process what she was going to do. At least he’d let her leave, so she wasn’t boxed in or trapped in the cabin. He’d probably done it to call his friends without her knowing it, so they would take her by surprise.
Lauren gulped for air around the knot in her throat, and clenched her fists. Well, she wasn’t going to sit there and wait for the trap to close around her. No one would be coming to get her out of a trap, unlike Finn.
She retreated, still trying to formulate a plan, when Finn said something sharp and growled with irritation. Then he silenced, and she froze, terrified he’d heard her. It was too late to go inside and get supplies. All she had was what she carried, and that had to be enough. She could probably make it to town and hide out at the bar where Ginger used to work. Maybe she could find a way to call Ginger and stay in the garage or something until she came up with a better option.
Lauren turned and ran away from the cabin, hating that every step crashed through the brush louder than a gunshot, and heard Finn say something behind her, the door closing hard. At least he couldn’t follow her on that busted up leg. It was the only saving grace.
The freezing air made her lungs ache, and pain spiked in her side as she stumbled on a root and tweaked her back. She kept looking back to make sure that Finn hadn’t somehow come up with a bicycle to chase her down, even though the only sounds she heard were her heavy breathing and the sticks under her boots.
She stayed close to the track that would eventually connect with a wider trail, and eventually the unpaved road to town. She would probably make it to a place to lay low in an hour or two, with hopefully enough time to avoid whoever Finn had been talking to. She just couldn’t slow down, no matter how much her chest hurt and her legs ached. The previous day’s exertions caught up with her immediately and created aches and pains in muscles she didn’t even know she had.
Finn wouldn’t be able to give them precise instructions on where she was, and if she was lucky, the people trying to track her down wouldn’t know how to follow a trail through the woods. Of course, with the ways things had been going, they’d have freaking’ Davy Crockett on her heels in no time.
Lauren wiped her eyes and tried to move faster despite the way her thighs ached and cramped. She couldn’t afford to have a tantrum in the middle of her escape. She could mourn whatever might have been when she finally curled up somewhere safe and had a good cry. It was too bad she’d thought, for just a few seconds, that Finn might have been that ‘somewhere safe.’
Well, that wasn’t meant to be. She had bigger problems to worry about, like bounty hunters and pending charges and possible hypothermia. Her boots weren’t the greatest and she’d thought there was a hole in them, which was confirmed as she stepped through a patch of snow and her socks went soggy a heartbeat later. Even better.
She stopped in her tracks and covered her face, tilting her head back so she wouldn’t scream in frustration. Someday, her bad luck had to turn around. She didn’t deserve it. She’d been a good kid, she’d helped her mom as much as she could and cleaned up after the drinking binges and called the ambulance when she overdosed. Lauren tried really hard in school and worked part-time jobs since she was thirteen and could get paid under the table. She didn’t deserve to be constantly knocked back, and knocked back, and knocked back.
Lauren took a moment to gather herself and think about how nice dry socks would feel, and started walking again. She just couldn’t make herself jog again for a little while. If she tried, a broken ankle probably waited in her future.
But things wouldn’t get better standing on a trail in the middle of the forest.
She put all her effort into hustling for at least another fifteen minutes before the subtle sounds of birds chirping and other forest noises disappeared. Lauren paused on the trail and held her breath to listen. Usually that kind of change meant a predator in the vicinity. She searched the undergrowth first, followed by the branches above her, in case it was a mountain lion waiting to drop down on top of her.
Nothing. Lauren turned in a slow circle. Nothing else moved in the trees, no other sounds broke the silence. Her skin prickled.
Then, a low voice in the distance. Male, with the hint of an accent she couldn’t decipher. Answered by another voice. Boots crunching through the undergrowth.
She held her breath and tried to figure out what to do. If she ran, they would hear her. If she waited where she was, they would see her quickly. And she would be on her way to jail right after. The jig was up.
She was so tired. She wanted to give up. She’d fought for so long and nothing ever went right and…
Lauren took a deep breath. Not yet. She wouldn’t forgive herself if she just gave up. She had to at least try to stay free. She needed to know she’d tried everything to save herself. It might be a comfort when she sat in jail for the rest of her life.
She’d managed to go about twenty feet before the trees to her right rustled and two enormous men stepped out onto the trail. Lauren froze, her heart jumping to her throat, and the men did the same. They stared at her.
She backed up a step and attempted a smile. “Are you hikers too? I’m on a thru-hike, just passing through. Looks like the weather is going to turn, don’t you think? Clouds. And it’s cold. Could be a storm rolling in, so I was just going to head back to town for a good meal.”
They didn’t move or speak. She tried not to stare at the large packs they carried, the rifles they both had, smaller pistols at their waists, massive machetes, and tattoos. They definitely could have been bounty hunters, but they didn’t seem to recognize her. Maybe they weren’t looking for her.
But if they weren’t bounty hunters, what were they doing out there so heavily-armed?
Not her business. Definitely not her business.
Her cheeks heated. If it wasn’t her business, why did she keep staring at them? Lauren smiled brightly and waved, even though they stood six feet away, and got ready to bolt. “Well, enjoy the rest of your hike. Watch out for bears and Bigfoot, there have been sightings in this area and…”
She trailed off as one raised his rifle and pointed it at her. Her mouth dried out and her knees wobbled. Shit.
Lauren cleared her throat. “I don’t know why you would…”
“Stop talking,” the other one said. His expression hardened and he reached for his pistol. “Who sent you? Who do you work for?”
“N-no one,” she said. Lauren struggled to catch up. “I don’t… I don’t know who you are. I’m just hiking. My f-friends are waiting for me, and…”
The one with the rifle adjusted his grip. The other one, his head shaved, didn’t blink. “Who sent you? You’ll tell me eventually.”
She didn’t like the sound of that . Her stomach twisted and suddenly she needed to pee. Like, really needed to pee. And she couldn’t swallow or breathe or move. Her hands shook as she stared at the barrel of the rifle pointing at her chest.
Sure, her luck would turn around eventually. But it definitely wasn’t today.