22. Noah
Chapter twenty-two
Noah
“ B e careful,” I whisper.
Mia’s fighting with the zip tie around her wrists. I can see her skin breaking and bleeding.
“I’ve almost got it,” she hisses.
My heart pounds as I watch her, every second feeling like an eternity. I hate that she’s hurting herself, but it’s this or worse. I’m trying to break my own ties, but mine are much tighter. Regardless, I still fight, pulling and tugging at the sharp plastic tearing into my skin.
I bite back a curse as I feel the blood pooling in my palms. I barely felt the pain. But we have no choice. It’s either this or a bullet in our skulls.
“Got it,” Mia exclaims quietly, holding up her now-freed hands.
I can hear our captors in the living room. Judging by the smell of meat, they are helping themselves to the cans of soup. Every footstep sends a wave of panic, but I swallow it down, focusing on Mia’s determined expression .
“Wrap your hand in a blanket,” I instruct her, my voice barely above a whisper. “Break the window as quietly as possible. Then, use a piece of glass to cut my ties.”
She nods, moving as silently as a shadow across the room. The blanket muffles the sound of breaking glass, just as I anticipate. I hold my breath, praying the noise doesn’t alert the men outside. A shard of glass in hand, she makes her way back to me and begins the delicate process of cutting through my restraints.
“Sorry,” she gasps when the glass nicks my skin.
“Just do it,” I order.
I see fear in her eyes but also resolve. She grits her teeth and continues cutting, working through the zip tie with a ferocious intensity. It’s painful, but I barely notice. Cold air comes through the window, further chilling the room. It is dusk. Darkness will be our cover.
All I can focus on is the sound of the men in the living room, their voices rumbling ominously through the walls. If they decide to check on us, we are screwed if they realize she got out of her restraints .
One of them shouts something, and my heart freezes in my chest. But then they all start laughing, and I let out a shaky breath.
Finally, after what feels like an eternity, the tie around my wrists loosens and falls away. My hands are free.
I flex my fingers experimentally. I rub my sore wrists, grateful for her quick thinking. We exchange a brief, tense look before I lead the way to the window. The night is clear, with the full moon already out, illuminating the icy wilderness beyond.
“Ready?” I ask her, picking up my backpack.
“No.”
I smile and give her a quick kiss. “We’re going to be okay.”
She looks at me, clearly not buying my reassurances. “I feel like we’re choosing our own death.”
She isn’t wrong.
I take the blanket and clear the rest of the glass from the window. “Let’s go,” I tell her.
She takes a deep breath.
“No matter what happens, run,” I tell her.
“Don’t you dare leave me out there. ”
“I don’t plan on it, but just in case, you don’t stop. You don’t look back. You get your ass to safety.”
She nods, but I don’t trust it. I carefully boost her up. She goes through the window and disappears. I hand her the blanket. We will need all the protection against the weather we can get. I toss my bag out and quickly hoist myself up.
With one look back at the cursed cabin, I push myself through the window, landing with a soft crunch on the icy ground beside Mia. My heart pounds in my chest like a drum. We stand still for a moment, hidden in the shadows of the cabin.
I grip Mia’s hand tightly, her palm cold and clammy against mine. “Ready?” I ask again.
This time, she looks at me, determination burning in her eyes. “Yes.”
We sprint into the forest, leaving behind our footprints. The snow crunches softly beneath our feet as we make our way toward the tree line, my heartbeats thundering in my ears.
“How are your wrists?” I ask her, slightly out of breath.
“Fine.”
“I’m sorry,” I say .
“No time for sorry,” she says, her voice brittle as we navigate through the dense forest. “Just keep moving.”
We do. We run deeper into the woods, fueled by adrenaline and terror. Of course, because it seems like the forces of nature are against us, it starts to snow.
I feel like crap. I hate that I’ve put her in this danger. She was trying to be safe, but now she is in real danger. Her crazy ex is one thing. I might have been able to take him, but Vincent and his thugs are a different story. I don’t know how to fight that.
We’ve been walking for an hour with nothing but the blanket wrapped around her. My lighter and pocketknife are still in my pocket, small comforts in this disastrous situation. I want to put as much distance between us and those men as possible, but the cold is relentless.
“Our best bet is to keep low and stay in the trees,” I suggest, trying my best to sound confident.
Mia nods, her face half-lit by the moonlight. “Okay.”
“For now, we just need to get as far away as possible. We’ll figure out the rest later.”
She bites her lip, a sign of worry I recognize well .
“What?” I ask.
“What if they come after us?”
“They will,” I say matter-of-factly. “And we’ll be ready.”
Her eyes narrow at my comment. Fear is all over her face. I hate that I’ve done this. I would do anything to take it away.
“All we can do is put as much distance between us and them,” I tell her. “I think we’ve got a pretty good head start.”
“Our footprints?” she says.
“I guess it’s a good thing it’s snowing.”
“It’s not snowing hard enough,” she replies. “They are going to track us!”
She’s right. I pull out my pocketknife and quickly cut off a few branches.
“What are you doing?” she hisses. “We have to keep moving.”
“I’m going to tie these to the back of my boots. Hopefully, they’ll brush away our tracks.”
My hands work with practiced precision, lacing the branches to my boots with a strip of cloth torn off from the hem of my shirt. Mia watches silently, her breath coming out in short puffs of fog .
“Done,” I declare. I take a few steps and test the makeshift camouflage. It seems to work well enough. Mia’s eyes flicker down to my boots, then back up to my face.
“Smart,” she admits, although her voice is strained.
We resume our trek through the forest. The snow starts falling harder now, fat flakes swirling downward and obscuring our trail. It’s a good thing, but it also makes walking harder. And I’m struggling to keep my sense of direction.
“I’m so cold,” Mia murmurs.
“I know, baby, I know.”
I wish I could take away her discomfort.
“We’re making good time,” I tell her, hoping to give her the encouragement she needs. “They’re not following us. That means they probably don’t know we’re gone.”
“But how would they not know…” Mia’s teeth chatter between her words, “… that we’re gone?”
“I’m hoping they got distracted,” I say, although my tone is not convincing. “Maybe they’re too busy looking for us in the wrong places. Or they’re too busy waiting for Vincent. ”
“I hope you’re right,” she says, pulling the blanket tighter around herself.
We keep moving, every step taking us deeper into the white oblivion. Maybe we’ll have a better chance if we can make it till dawn. Until then, all we can do is run and pray.
Every now and then, I turn to glance back at our trail. It’s there, but it’s not obvious. In the canopy of the trees, it’s dark, and moving quickly isn’t an option. It’s cold. Neither of us is dressed as well as we were the first time.
“How are you doing?” I ask Mia, who has gone very quiet.
“I’m okay.” Her voice is weak, and it’s evident she’s freezing.
I can feel my body temperature dropping as well. The adrenaline has faded a bit, and now the cold is setting in. My fingers are numb. My ears and nose hurt from the cold. It doesn’t sound like we are being pursued. Maybe they know it is impossible to find us out here.
“Noah?” Mia’s weak voice pulls me from my thoughts.
“What is it? ”
“I don’t think I can make it,” she says with tears in her voice. “I’m sorry.”
“Don’t be sorry. You’re strong. I’ll look for somewhere for us to get warm for a bit. I’m cold, too, but we’re going to make it.”
“I don’t know how,” she whimpers. “I think we’re out of luck. We shouldn’t have made it this far.”
“Hey, hey, no.” I wrap an arm around her shoulders. The movement causes me physical pain. I can feel my body locking up, literally freezing. “We’re not giving up.”
She doesn’t answer. Our pace has dramatically slowed, telling me we have to find somewhere to start a fire and take off the chill. After what feels like an eternity, we come across an abandoned shack. Its windows are boarded up, but it will offer shelter from the relentless wind and cold. With shaking hands, I pry open the door. The interior is musty and dark, but it’s better than freezing to death outside. It’s tiny, but that will make it easier to keep warm.
We huddle together in the blanket, our breath visible in the frigid air. “We can’t stay here long,” I whisper, more to myself than to her. “They’ll come looking for us. ”
Mia nods, her teeth chattering uncontrollably. “What’s the plan?” she asks, her voice trembling.
“We need to rest for a bit. Get our strength back,” I say, trying to sound confident. “Then we keep moving. We have to get as far away as possible.”
She nods again, her eyes tinged with fear but full of grit. “Do you think they’ll find us?”
I hesitate, not wanting to lie to her. “They’ll look, but we have a head start. If we keep moving, we have a chance.”
She leans into me, seeking warmth and comfort. “Noah, I’m scared,” she admits, her voice tremulous.
“I know,” I say softly, wrapping the blanket tighter around us. “But we’ll get through this.”