Chapter 5
Chapter Five
She was cold and wet.
Something brushed against her cheek. So chilling. The icy touch of death. Why was death so soft? Feather-light?
Her eyelashes fluttered. She stared straight up. Softness rained down on her. Softness. Cold. Snow.
She knew snow was falling. That was the icy touch she felt on her skin. Her breath shuddered out. A white cloud appeared before her mouth. And pain pierced through her body.
Her hands flew down, touching her stomach. It was wet. Not wet like snow, though, more…soaked. Her dress stuck to her, and when she pulled at it, she felt the tear in the material. Her fingers lifted. She saw the red on her skin.
She looked down her body…and saw the red soaking her. Saw that the snow wasn’t white around her, but was dark red. Her blood had flowed onto the snow.
Her head pounded. Throbbed over and over, and her blood-covered fingers rose to touch the left side of her head.
Swollen. Wet, too. From the snow? Yes, from the snow, but…blood. More blood.
She surged up. Dizziness nearly sent her tumbling back onto the snow, but she staggered and stayed on her feet—bare feet, frozen toes—as fear spiraled through her. “H-help…”
Her face hurt. Her cheekbone. Her lips were busted. Parched. “Help!” she cried again. She spun around, looking at the snow. How long had she been unconscious? There were no signs of footprints. Just the terrible circle of red where she’d sprawled in the snow. No tracks to show where she’d been.
Nothing around her but snow. So much snow in every direction. Trees heavy with the weight of the snow on their branches. Woods that waited in the distance. No person. No cars.
Fear settled deeper around her. One hand shoved against her bleeding stomach.
Run. Get away.
Her other hand stayed clutched to her head. She…she couldn’t fall down again. Couldn’t give in to the pain. She had to keep going.
Keep running.
She turned, spinning, and her blood spattered onto the snow. Where to go? Which direction? She had to escape.
Because he was coming for her.
She slogged through the snow, her blood dropping in her wake, but the snow fell and covered it. She kept going and going, hurrying desperately even when she had no strength. She couldn’t feel her toes. Couldn’t stop shaking. But she had to keep going. One foot in front of the other.
But her feet were sinking in the thicker snow.
She had to keep going. Go, go, go. Couldn’t stop. If she stopped, she’d be dead. Or maybe she was already dead. Ice cold, through and through.
Is this what it feels like to die?
She headed forward. Straight ahead. No stopping. No hesitation.
Brakes screeched. Tires squealed. Her head whipped to the right. The darkness had grown. When had the night come? How long had she been walking? It had been lighter before, when she’d first woken. Light enough to see the blood.
But now darkness was everywhere. Darkness except…
Except for the two headlights that stared back at her. And there was no time to move. Only a split second to realize that she’d reached a road, that she’d stumbled right into the path of a vehicle.
Then it hit her.