Expecting to Die (Alvarez & Pescoli)

dark trees swimming in her vision.

Panicked, she clawed at his gloved hands. If she could bite him, kick him, scratch the hell out of him . . . All she could think about was drawing in a breath, just one. But there was nothing.

She was desperate for air, her lungs screaming, her brain pulsing against the skull.

Dear God, please, please help me. Save me. Save my baby.

Her eyes felt as if they would pop out of her head and her arms became useless, swinging without any force as the blackness began to swallow her. She struggled, but it was useless, she could do nothing, her arms and legs still, the pain receding as she began to lose consciousness.

No . . . No . . . My baby . . . My precious . . .

Then she was gone.

CHAPTER 2

This was a stupid idea.

Make that a really stupid idea.

Bianca Pescoli ran through the darkened forest with only a weak shaft of moonlight as her guide. She’d been a fool to agree to come here, in the middle of the night, lying to her parents, for what? Some sick kind of game in the woods? Frowning, she slapped away a mosquito as the heat of the summer simmered through the Bitterroots and the sound of crickets was a low hum. Faintly, from a distance, she thought she heard the sound of voices, but then there was silence. Just the crickets. She decided to stick as closely to the trail as possible, that way she wouldn’t get lost.

At least she hoped not.

Up, up, up, she loped, the path dusty, rocks poking through the dry soil, a canopy of pine branches nearly destroying what there was of the moonlight. Why had she agreed to this? she wondered for about the millionth time as her legs began to ache.

The idea had been Maddie’s. Make that Madison Leona Averill, Bianca’s heretofore best friend. Well, after tonight, maybe she’d change all that. Maddie’s status was about to go down. Big time.

A branch slapped her in the face and she let out a yelp, then bit back any more noise as she didn’t want to be heard. That was the whole point of the game, an idiotic teenage version of hide-and-seek, up here at Reservoir Point. Again, it was dumb. She rubbed her cheek where the pine limb had hit her and swore under her breath. Her calves ached and her lungs had started to burn with her run up the hill.

She should never have come, she knew that now, but it was too late to back out. A group of kids from school had come up with the brainstorm of meeting at midnight at the lower parking lot of the wilderness that abutted the Long property, where Bianca’s stepfather worked as a manager. That was another problem. If Nate Santana ever got wind of the fact that Bianca was one of the kids who trespassed across the Long property to get to this spot, he would have a fit and probably ground her for life or something—that was, if her mother didn’t kill her first.

She was reaching the highest point on the trail, where the path jogged around several massive trees, and she slowed a bit, catching her breath, glancing over her shoulder to the darkness below. For a second, she was certain someone was following her, chasing her up this ridge, and her nerves pulled tight. Even though that was the whole point, that a random boy would “catch” her, it was scary. She didn’t know who was behind her. Or what. Her pursuer could be a moron of a teenager or it could be a deer or an elk. Maybe a mountain lion, even a bear. Right now, an innocent rabbit hopping through the underbrush was enough to scare her to death. Anything larger would give her a heart attack.

Get over yourself.

She swallowed hard and slowed, taking in deep breaths, feeling the forest close in on her. Cautiously, she looked over her shoulder, her gaze piercing the blackness. Was that a pair of eyes staring at her from beneath a nearby tree, or just her imagination?

Her insides went cold. She stopped breathing.

Don’t panic. Remember: this is just a game. You grew up in these woods.

The eyes disappeared as if swallowed in the malevolent darkness.

Oh. God.

A twig snapped in the summer night.

What?

A musky smell wafted toward her. She peered into the gloom, squinted at the shadows and heard a low warning growl that caused the hairs on her nape to rise.

What the hell is that?

She didn’t take the time to find out.

Bianca bolted.

Fear propelled her. Up the hillside, the sensation that she was being followed by something malevolent driving her upward. Her feet slipped a little and she pitched forward, caught her balance, and kept moving. Ahead, the trail would crest on the ridge, then wind its way down the backside of the mountain. She’d end up in Desperation Flats, which wasn’t a lot better.