14. Trapped
Trapped
Snow, snow, and more snow.
Every step was biting agony. It hadn’t even taken a second for her ankle-high boots to greedily swallow the white carpet. She sighed, heaving one foot in front of the other. It would be good when her toes went numb. Not too long anymore now.
She glanced ahead, peering between the branches to catch a hint of light from the road.
Kate knew well enough that Lucien would also have multiple cameras facing the forest. She’d purposefully gone into the forest heading away from the road, only to veer back around as soon as she was out of view.
Near the road, but definitely not on it. Lest she start walking in endless circles.
Lucien could be gone for days, or for mere hours. If he saw her on his way back…
Nope. Don’t go there.
Every snap of a twig had her wheel around. Eyes flitting between the shadows of the trees. Alas, so far she had been alone. Either that. Or whatever animal had stepped on the crackling wood had deemed her to be a threat, or too meager a meal.
She hoped it would be the first one.
Letting out a muffled shriek, she slipped, barely holding on to the branch of a tree to break her fall. Headlights cut through the darkness.
She huddled down, thin branches scratching her face an angry red. But she didn’t dare wipe them away. Breath trapped in her body, she peered around a tree trunk.
Reason told her not many would be on the road tonight. Not here. Which made it easier to believe that instead…
Large car. She squinted, trying to distinguish the color, which proved impossible. But… a silver running board along the sides. It came nearer with its rumbling engine. She saw the grille of the car. A Volvo.
It was Lucien heading home.
She ducked even deeper, ice sticking to her cheeks. He drove by. Same speed, no slowing down. Her stomach clenched together into a ball of nerves.
Please, be gone.
The sounds of the engine faded into nothing. The regular hoot of an owl taking over the forest’s silence. She forced herself upright. Time to get the hell out of here. Pins and needles attacked her hands and feet. But she barely felt it.
Those were problems for later.
Hours went by, with only the lights of the lanterns to guide her. With her pants soaked through and through, her teeth had long since started chattering. Hugging herself she continued down the road. But still no houses. Nothing. Youuuu… gottt this… keep going.
Rounding another corner she let out a hushed squeal of joy.
Lights!
Lights up ahead. Brightening the night. Which meant… civilization! Finally!
She choked back a sob. Pulse shooting up, quickening in pace with her long strides.
Katherine kept her eyes firmly on the goal, forming a path for her wildly beating heart to follow.
A bark pierced the heavy silence.
Kate froze in place. Heart skipping a beat as another deep bark echoed out beneath the snow laden trees.
She knew that bark. Knew all too well to who he belonged.
She forced her feet forward. Panic threatening to creep in at the edges of her mind.
The guiding light grew closer, but so did the bark following her every move.
Breaths clouding in front of her, she pushed on. Slipping and sliding, she nearly lost her balance but managed to hold herself up by a frostbitten branch, fingers burning to life.
“This is of no use, Kate.” Close. Too close.
Gathering her courage she whirled around. Meeting the owner of the voice head on. “I’ll scream.” To her credit, it came out strong.
Lucien halted a few feet away. He wasn’t even out of breath. While her lungs threatened to burst out of her. His trusted dog flanked him, a pale ghost in the forest. Once again loyal to the person who would take her back to that suffocating house, with its black orbs tracing her every move.
All this… for nothing.
Lucien tilted his head. The shadows shrouding his broad form in darkness. “You can. But it won’t do you much good.” He jerked his chin toward the lights. “See that right there? It’s a solar farm. Not a city, not a town, not even a house.”
She vehemently shook her head. It couldn’t be…
“Don’t believe me? Take another good look.”
Kate didn’t let her eyes stray from his. Toes pointing away.
“We’re in the middle of Montana Big Sky, Kate. The only living beings here are predators and prey. No humans.”
It was as if the cold hand of winter itself squeezed around her heart. “Just like us then.” She whispered. Hands pressing against her temple.
He paid no heed to her comment. “You’ve been traipsing through the snow, the poison still lingering through your veins. You wanted it to be a town, so your brain made it one.”
The world spun around her, she leaned her hand against the bark of a tree. The pitter-patter of paws approaching was all the warning she got before Ghost stroked himself against her.
“Let’s go.” His tone brooked no argument.
“No.”
“Kate, look at you. Barely able to stand on your legs. I’d rather not have to do what I did mere hours ago.”
Drag her back there.
His voice dipped deeper. “Let me make this simple for you. We can do this the easy way or the hard way. I’d rather not throw you over my shoulder and drag you back screaming.”
She didn’t respond. Holding onto the tree as if her life depended on it. It does.
“I’m not going back there.”
Lucien heaved an impatient sigh. The night had taken long enough.
She stared at him. “I’m never… going back there.” And leaned back.
“Kate.”
She turned and ran.
***
She slipped. Caught her balance and kept going. Her feet pound across the hard ground. Echoed by the one hunting her. Lights burned bright, like a beacon leading her away. Away from the nightmare that her life had been.
From the frying pan into the fucking fire. Kate sped up, faster, faster. Faster then she’d ever run. Ever had imagined possible.
He was lying. It had to be a town and if not, there would be someone. Someone to help her.
Her lungs burned from the cold.
Doesn’t matter, just go!
Snowflakes whirled around her. The winter silence broken only by her heaving breath, and the feet beating the ground behind her.
She pushed and pushed. Nearly there. Ice! She skidded, slipping over the smooth surface below her. It burned everywhere it touched her. A pool. No. A lake.
Finally, she came to a halt. Scrambling on hands and feet, she pushed up.
Lucien stood on the edge with his hand outstretched toward her. “Kate. Get back here.”
She lifted her chin, defiance dripping from her face. “No.”
He took a tentative step onto the ice. “The ice can break.”
She stepped backward. Away from him. To the lights. He’d been right. It wasn’t a town. But if she got over the lake, she might buy enough time to get away.
“I’m not…” She shook her head. “I’m not going back there again.”
Crack.
Kate glanced down at the split into the ice.
“Kate!”
It rippled out. Little arms reaching out, farther and farther.
“You have to spread your weight. Get down… and slide back here.”
Unease… Was that unease in his tone?
The crack spread out even farther, curving below her shivering body.
Why would he even care? It would be a gracious gift to him. Her nails bit in her palms.
For the last fifteen years… She had been caught in a web of violence.
From the second that car tumbled down the road.
Her life had been stolen. No longer would her mum sing her bedtime lullabies, the warmth in her voice guiding her to sleep.
She had survived yes. But there were those days.
Where she huddled beneath the covers, holding her knees to her chest. Those moments where she’d thought, maybe it should have been all of them.
“Kate. You’re going to die.”
Her heartbeat slowed.
One last shot. She stepped back, inching toward the lights waiting behind her.
“Kate!” It was the only other sound she heard, alongside the last crack.
The hole beneath her opened and pulled her in.