Deep Woods

He found a spot, took a blanket from his small backpack, and laid it out on the ground. “Stay here with her,” he told Rufus. Rufus immediately sat down on the blanket. I knelt next to him and watched as Cal walked off into the trees, getting smaller and smaller and then—

It came as suddenly as if someone had thrown a switch. One second, I was watching Cal through the trees; the next, I couldn’t even see Rufus next to me. It was black, the sort of darkness I’d never known. I looked around in panic but there was nothing, not the soft, glowing square of a window with a streetlight outside, not the bright rectangle of a phone screen, not even the tiny, cold sapphire of a laptop power LED. I couldn’t even tell if I still had my eyes open. I heard myself begin to panic breathe—

And then I heard the slow panting of Rufus next to me. I groped in the darkness and found him, then flung my arms around his big, furry neck, cuddling close. “Good boy,” I whispered to him, relieved. “Good boy.”

I strained my ears but couldn’t hear anything. How far had Cal gone? Would he be able to find his way back? I petted Rufus, stroking his head and then scratching behind his ears. He pushed his head into my hand in ecstasy and thumped the ground with his hind leg.

It was the first time I’d really stopped since this whole thing began. Reality caught up with me and my stomach lurched. Only that morning, I’d been starting my shift at the call center. I should be tucked up in bed, now, asleep, ready for another shift tomorrow morning, and instead I was...I looked around at the impenetrable blackness. I was out here, in the middle of nowhere. And somewhere out there, the men from the club were looking for us. Just knowing that things like the club existed was terrifying.

And what about Cal? He’d saved me from the guards, he was taking care of me...but I still barely knew him. And I was out here alone with him, about to sleep out under the stars. About the only thing I knew about him was that he lived way out here on his own. Didn’t that make him a little...strange?

Suddenly, I heard footsteps, right in front of me. I sat bolt upright, but then Rufus gave a happy woof and leaned forward to lick a hand and I knew it was Cal. I heard him clearing a patch of ground, then the rattle of dry twigs and the clack of branches as he built a fire. Then the flare of a match, dazzlingly bright after the darkness. For a second, it lit him up as he hunkered down in front of me, his face only a few feet from mine. It threw dancing shadows under those heavy, brooding brows. It turned the gold of his hair and beard to warm amber. The flame danced in his eyes as he watched me and I realized it must be lighting me up for him, too.

I felt myself relax. Yes, he was a stranger. Yes, he was intimidatingly big. But there was something in the way he looked at me that told me he’d never, ever hurt me.

He put the match to the fire he’d built and the flame caught and slowly rose. I’d never heard fire, before. I’d never been in a place quiet enough. Out here, it was like a living thing, a fourth person who’d joined us, filling the air with snaps and creaks, sticks shifting and tumbling as it devoured them. An orange glow filled the clearing.

Cal sat down close to the fire. “Let me see your feet.”

I scooched around on the blanket and extended my feet towards him. Rufus pressed close to my shoulder, curious about this new game. I’d almost forgotten about my feet hurting: I’d been walking on them for so many hours, the pain had just become normal and the numbing cold had helped a little, too. But now, as Cal’s big hands warmed them and the blood flow returned, I winced at all the cuts and scrapes I’d picked up.

“Nothing too bad,” Cal muttered. “But you can’t keep walking around like that or they’ll get infected.” He took a first aid kit from his backpack and cleaned and dressed the wounds, his hands gentle despite their size. I had to push my feet almost into his lap so that he could get to my heels and when he lifted them, the dress slithered down my legs. I pushed it back into place. It slithered down again and I felt Cal’s eyes following it.

When he finished, he sat back and considered. “My boots won’t fit you.”

I blinked, my heart unexpectedly lifting and bobbing. He would have given me his boots?!