Deep Woods

It wasn’t. And it was full of chunky black keyfobs. I grabbed one at random and hurried back through the hall. I pressed the button on the keyfob and one of the cars outside flashed its lights. A few of the guards turned to look. I raced across the gravel driveway to the car, stones cutting into my bare feet, wrenched open the door, and threw myself into the driver’s seat.

A shout went up. Shit! I groped for the start button and the car came to life. But now guards were running across the gravel towards me. I stared frantically at the unfamiliar controls and tried to figure out how to shift into drive.

A guard wrenched the driver’s door open.

I shifted, stamped on the gas, and the car shot forward. I sped down the twisting driveway with the door still open and swinging wildly. Then the gates were looming up ahead of me, much bigger and sturdier than I remembered them. I suddenly remembered I wasn’t wearing a safety belt and yanked it into place.

I closed my eyes as I hit the gates. There was a sickening crunch and a jolt that rattled up through every vertebra of my spine, but then I was through and speeding along the road. Some weird sounds were coming from under the hood but for now, I was still going.

I reached the next junction and slowed to a stop, leaning forward over the steering wheel, panting in fear. Which way? Left led back to the highway and civilization...but it was late at night and there was nowhere to hide on the empty road. They’d run me down in minutes.

I looked the other way, into the blackness. The woods.

Headlights behind me: they were coming. I turned right and sped into the ocean of black. I took each turn I came to, driving down smaller and smaller roads until I was thoroughly lost, deep in the forest. But the headlights behind me kept creeping closer.

I rounded a corner and eyes gleamed in the darkness ahead of me. Before my brain had even fully registered deer, I’d wrenched the wheel to the side. Enormous pine trees loomed up to meet me.

This time, it wasn’t a crunch. It was a bang as the car slammed into a tree and stopped dead.

I must have blacked out for a second because the next thing I remember is lifting my face from the soft pillow of the airbag and hearing a car pulling up behind me.

I pushed open the driver’s door and ran into the woods, gasping as the chill night air breezed straight through my thin dress. Twigs and stones dug into my bare feet. Branches scratched at my arms. There was no path to follow. This was wild land, littered with fallen trees and loose branches, and the only light was from the moon.

I stumbled, went down, and scrambled to my feet, fear lending me speed. I ran until the air in my lungs felt like liquid fire, until my muscles screamed. But it was no good. I could hear the men crashing through the trees behind me, gaining fast.

They were going to catch me.

And way out here, there was no one to help me.

5

Cal

WE WERE maybe ten miles from home. We’d been hunting for the last couple of days, sleeping under the stars at night, and I was just thinking about finally heading back.

I should have been pleased. We’d done well on this trip, getting plenty of meat we could smoke and store. We wouldn’t starve, this winter.

But I had a gnawing, empty feeling inside: something was missing.

Stupid. I had everything I could need: food, a roof over my head, a dog for company.

But she slid into my mind, the memory seductive and irresistible. A lock of hair, soft as silk, brushing my chin. Big hazel eyes, a soft valley of pale cleavage peeking from beneath a cranberry sweater—

Goddammit! Every day. Every. Damn. Day. And even worse, every night, those pale curves haunting me until I was hard and frustrated as a teenager.

I’d lived out here a long time. This was my life, now, all I deserved. So why couldn’t I get her out of my head, when I knew damn well I couldn’t have her? I’d been doing fine until—

Until I realized what I was missing.

Don’t think that way!

And the truth was, I hadn’t been doing fine. Sure, being out here, away from people, helped keep the memories buried. But they were finding new ways of surfacing. The nightmares were back, and getting worse.

Rufus was snuffling in the grass, fluffy tail swishing. Suddenly, he went stock still and lifted his head to stare at the trees.

“What?” I asked. I followed his gaze but couldn’t see anything.

Rufus cocked his head to the side and sniffed the air, then gave a sudden, sharp woof!