bag.
Through the window she saw her brother slump over. A scream welled up inside her. Her hand over her mouth, she backed away, desperate to keep the scream inside.
No!
She blinked as though that would erase the horror she saw through the window. Taking another step back, her gaze glued to the scene inside the cabin, she bit down on her hand. The ropes about her brother’s chest held him up, but the bright red of his blood filled her vision. Tears sprang to her eyes. She had to get help.
Please let Derek still be alive.
She spun around to flee and bumped into a bench, sending it flying off the porch. The crashing sound reverberated through her mind. She glanced over her shoulder. The tall man looked up, his cold, dark eyes fixed on her. She shuddered.
Run! her mind shouted.
She leaped off the porch and started for her car. Halfway there she realized she had no keys. They were in her purse on the porch! Frantic, she slowed a few paces, scanning the terrain.
No time to get the keys. Where could she hide? The woods? The shed? Behind the cabin?
The banging of the door against the logs of the wall sent her racing toward the woods. The report of a gun pierced the air at the same time a bullet hit a tree trunk a few feet to her left, pieces of bark flying outward. With pounding feet that matched the racing of her heart, she tore into the forest, praying the dark shadows enveloped her and hid her from their view. Gasping for air, she kept running, afraid to stop and find a place to hide for fear they would find her.
Branches ripped at her face and body. She stumbled and fell to her knees. Pain shot up her legs. Pushing herself to her feet, she clawed her way up a small ridge, littered with underbrush and stubby trees. One of her sandals caught on a limb. She tugged, the shoe coming off and tumbling down the incline. Emma stared at the bright red leather that reminded her so much of the blood she’d seen on Derek. She shoved that image away. She couldn’t think about that now. She had to get him help. She had to stay alive.
She started back down the ridge. In the distance she heard the two men tearing through the woods. Not far away. No time to get her shoe. Spinning back around, she looked about her to see which way she should go. Deeper into the woods? Or toward the highway?
The crashing sound of the men tracking her, who obviously didn’t care if she heard them, dominated her thoughts as she tried to decide. The closer the sound came, the more frenzied her heart beat. Panting, she headed for the darkness of the denser trees on the other side of the ridge, away from the highway.
Deeper and deeper she pushed into the forest. Something sharp cut the bottom of her bare foot. She didn’t stop to see what it was. She kept going, an ache in her side intensifying and rivaling the pain from the wound on her heel.
The farther she went, the darker it became until she could barely make out the area ten feet in front of her. Her lungs burned. Her eyes stung from the tears that loomed just beneath the surface. Holding her side, she stopped by a large trunk, leaning into it for support as she drew in large gulps of air. Her legs quivering, she listened.
For a few seconds silence tantalized her with visions of a successful escape. Then the sound of breaking twigs and a muffled voice resonated through the trees. They had followed her into the woods. They weren’t far behind.
Scanning the black curtain around her, she glimpsed the faint outline of some large bushes. She dove toward them, seeking their shelter. Darkness and leaves cocooned her in safety. The scent of earth and vegetation peppered the air. She waited.
An eternity later, she heard plodding footsteps approaching. Every muscle tensed to the point of pain. She waited, not even daring to breathe much.
“Ouch! Watch it, will you?”
The rough voice pierced the quiet and sent Emma’s heart racing even more. Not far away. She squinted and peered out into the gloom. Nothing but faint shapes of trees surrounded by blackness.
“We ain’t gonna find her. Let’s get back and check her out. Probably Derek’s latest girlfriend. Fancy car means she has to have money.”
“Will you shut up? I can’t hear a thing over your constant chattering.”
The man who belonged to the rough voice must be the leader, Emma thought and decided it was the tall man she’d seen at the cabin, the one with the cold, black eyes. She’d never forget those eyes as he’d stared at her through the window, Derek’s limp form next to him. Again she pictured the man with the chilling eyes. The niggling sensation she’d seen him before wouldn’t loosen its grip on her thoughts.
Where have I seen him? Who is he? Why did they shoot my brother?
Oh, Derek. Tears crowded her throat. What if her brother was still alive? She needed to get him help, and time was against her.
“What’s the point? It’s too dark anyway,” the other one said, his voice higher. It riveted Emma back to the problem at hand.
If she was right, that was the man who’d shot her brother. Throat tightening, she squeezed her eyes closed, trying to keep the tears inside. She didn’t have time to think beyond getting to safety. She’d fall apart later.
“We need some flashlights. I have one in the car and I bet there’s one at the cabin.”
The voices were nearby. Emma shrank back deeper into the underbrush. Her heartbeat roared in her ears so loud she couldn’t make out what the short, bulky man replied.
She tried to run through a relaxation technique she used when stressed, but nothing took the edge off. Even taking deeper breaths didn’t calm the loud thumping of her heart. She clamped her hands over her ears, her eyes scrunched closed. Like a child playing peekaboo, she hoped since she couldn’t see them, they couldn’t see her.
Minutes ticked away. She waited. Slowly, she opened her eyes and dropped her hands to the damp ground. Nothing…but the wind rustling the leaves on the bush, a curtain of black shrouding her.
She crawled forward from the depths of the thick underbrush and scanned the darkness. Still, silence greeted her. No sound other than nature’s. A bird chirped. A frog croaked. Crickets trilled. The normal sounds of a forest.
She inched farther out of her shelter. She needed to get to the highway for help. Thankfully, she knew the woods surrounding the family cabin and realized if she circled around to the right she could reach the highway, flag down a car and escape the two men—and maybe, just maybe, help her brother.
With her eyes adjusted to the dark, she picked her way through the maze of trees toward what she believed would be the highway. The continual hammering of her heart and the shallow gulps of air made each step difficult. The trembling in her legs spread upward to encompass her whole body. Her pace slowed, shock slipping through her defenses.
Again a sharp object pierced the bottom of her foot. It was too dark even to see where she was stepping. Can’t stop. She focused all her concentration on lifting one foot and placing it in front of her. Not far, she was sure. She was now glad of all those times she and—a lump lodged in her throat when she thought of her brother. She and Derek had loved to play hide-and-seek in these very woods as children.
The memory produced a tear. It leaked out of her tight restraints and rolled down her cheek. She brushed it away. No time.
