Chapter 14 #4
The only thing Devyn could hear was the sound of wind and a few birds chirping in the distance. Her arms hurt. And her stomach. And her face. She vaguely remembered opening Lucky’s door, but that was it. She wrinkled her nose—and barely kept herself from crying out in pain. Her face really hurt.
When she felt something crawling on her arm, all pretense of still being unconscious was forgotten.
Her eyes popped open and she looked down, releasing a little squeak when she saw a spider on her biceps.
She tried to jerk her arm to flick the little bugger off, but was stopped short when something made a loud clang in the quiet air around her.
Confused, the spider forgotten, Devyn tried again to move, realizing that she couldn’t. Her arms were wrenched behind her, wrapped awkwardly around a large tree.
“What the hell?” she said out loud, more to hear her own voice than anything else. Looking around, she saw that she was sitting on the ground in the middle of some sort of forest. She had no idea how she’d gotten there, or even where “there” was.
“Hello?” she called out, beginning to panic.
She didn’t know if it was better to stay quiet and not let whoever had brought her there know she was conscious, but she didn’t like being alone.
Never had. It reminded her too much of waking up in the hospital and being scared and in pain…
and not having anyone there to comfort her.
Her parents had stayed with her as much as they could, but with four other kids at home, they couldn’t always sleep in the hospital.
“Is anyone there?” she cried out.
She heard nothing but silence.
Devyn jerked on her hands, hearing clanging again—chains.
Looking down, she saw thick links wrapped around her waist, following them with her eyes as far as she could around the tree.
Then, using her fingers, she felt what she thought was a pair of handcuffs on her wrists.
She panicked harder then, pulling as hard as she could on her shackles, trying to free herself.
But after several minutes, all she’d managed to do was hurt herself more.
Her wrists throbbed and she was still stuck in the awkward position.
The tree at her back wasn’t comfortable to lean against at all, and her ass was on an exposed root.
Her shoulders were screaming from her arms being wrenched backward.
When she’d tired herself out, Devyn rested her head against the tree bark and looked up.
She had no idea what time it was, only that it had to be early evening, based on the setting sun.
It was going to be dark soon. Was someone going to come find her before then?
The thought of sleeping out in the open, tied up and helpless, was horrifying.
It wasn’t as if she wanted whoever had kidnapped her to come back, but even that might be better than being utterly alone.
The tears started then. Devyn wanted to be strong, but she was terrified.
Was this how Gillian had felt when she was on that hijacked plane?
How Kinley felt when she’d been attacked and left for dead?
She’d never truly understood what they’d gone through…
until now. And despite her tears, she knew what she was going through didn’t seem as bad as what her friends had experienced.
She’d been hit in the face, obviously, but not beaten to a pulp like Kinley.
And there weren’t people with guns in her face, threatening to shoot her and throw her out of a plane like she was nothing but trash.
But still, being left alone in the woods, tied up and helpless, was enough to make Devyn’s throat close up, making it hard to breathe. Whoever had chained her to this tree had to come back at some point…didn’t they?
“Help!” she yelled. Then, in a stronger voice, “Is anyone out there? Hello? Help me! I need help!”
She got no response except for a few birds taking off from the tree branches they’d been sitting on.
Devyn yelled for help until her voice was hoarse and her stomach hurt from the effort it took to scream.
When she finally realized no one was out there, no one was coming to help her, she cried again. Huge sobs that shook her entire body.
She couldn’t believe this was happening.
“Please, someone help me,” she whispered, her words getting lost in the slight breeze blowing through the trees.
As darkness fell, she began to shake, realizing that for the first time in her life, she was truly and completely on her own. No nurses, no doctors, no siblings or friends. No parents.
No Lucky.
She was terrified…but something deep down inside shifted.
She wasn’t ready to die. Not now. Not when she’d finally found a man she wanted to spend the rest of her life with.
She wanted to see Lucky again. And Fred.
Even Spencer. She was in this situation because of him…
but the thought of what the men might’ve done to her brother after they’d knocked her out haunted her.
She was upset with Spence, but she didn’t want him dead.
She just wanted to get him some help so he could go back to being the brother she knew and loved.
The resolve to live increased, as if someone were blowing up a balloon inside her.
She had no idea how she was going to get out of this situation, but she’d do whatever it took.
She wasn’t quite ready to gnaw off her arm yet, but if it came to that…
she might just do it. Devyn didn’t want to die in this forest.
Even though the will to live had settled deep, that didn’t mean Devyn wasn’t scared out of her mind.
Tears continued to fall down her cheeks as she looked into the sky.
The light was waning quickly; soon it would be pitch dark outside.
“Thankfully you’re in Texas and not Maine,” she said.
But of course, then another thought hit her.
She had no idea if she was still in Texas or not.
She could be anywhere. She had no idea how long she’d been unconscious.
“No, I’m still in Texas. Probably the Hill Country. Maybe around Austin somewhere,” she mused to herself.
Trying to use her shoulder to wipe her face, Devyn sighed in frustration when she couldn’t even do that. Taking a huge breath, she tried to get control. “Lucky’s looking for you,” she said out loud. “And Fred. And their team. They’re gonna find you. Somehow. Just have faith.”