by Mae Doyle
Another step back, then another, and finally she turns, running into the woods. She doesn’t make it very far before the settling fog swallows her up and I can’t see her any longer, but I can hear her. She’s noisy, crashing through branches and climbing over downed trees.
She’ll have to be a bit quieter if she wants to have any chance of making it out of here.
My hand rests on my radio and I unhook it from my jeans, tossing it in my hand while I think for a moment. Finally, I press the button and hold it to my mouth. “Two minutes, Nora. I’d turn your radio down if you don’t want me to buzz you.”
She doesn’t respond. I grin and clip my walkie back onto my pants then stretch, lacing my fingers together to crack my wrists.
My prey is running and it’s time to go hunting.
Chapter 4
Nora
The look on Teague’s face before I turned around tells me that this is not a joke.
No matter what I thought he was doing bringing me here, handing me a walkie, making me run…it’s worse than anything I could have imagined. I trip over a large root just 20 feet into the woods and land with a loud thud on the ground, pine needles and tiny rocks digging into the palms of my hands, but I barely register the pain.
The part of my brain that would normally be concerned about falling and getting hurt is screaming at me to get up.
Run.
Hide.
I should fight, but I have nothing to use against him. He’s huge and angry, and has a dark look in his eye that terrifies me. I’ve never had anyone look at me like that before and I want to put as much distance between the two of us as I possibly can.
After I scramble to my feet, I don’t even take time to brush off my pants before turning my walkie down to low. The thought of turning it all the way off runs through my head, but I want to know if he calls me.
If he’s coming for me.
The thought that I may not be able to hear him behind me terrifies me and sends adrenaline coursing through my body. What kind of messed up game is this if he thinks that it’s okay for him to chase me through the woods?
I’m so sorry, Mom. You wouldn’t want this to happen.
As I run on, the woods get darker, the trees pressing closer together. He had mentioned that there were paths through the woods, but there’s nothing like that here. I must not be close enough to where people go hiking and camping, because the brush keeps getting thicker and harder to run through.
I’m panting, hitting my hands on trees as I run by them, low branches snagging my hair and ripping strands out.
It’s just one tree after another, the space between them filled with brambles and large sticks. A small amount of sunlight filters down through the thick branches, giving me enough light to see, but not enough to see well.
I’m surrounded by shadows. They press in on me at all sides. Since my heart is pounding so hard, it’s all I can hear, and I force myself to hide behind a huge trunk. I have to be able to tell if he’s coming after me. In my mind, I see him slowly walking through the woods, following the path I took. He’s scanning the ground, his fists clenched tight. I swallow hard and shut my eyes, trying to block out the visual image.
Panting, I grab its bark, the rough edges digging into my palms. When I sink to my knees, I feel the cool ground through my jeans, the dampness wetting me, but I don’t care.
I have no idea where Teague is.
In my blind run to get as far away as possible, I’m not sure if I turned or kept going straight.
I have no idea which direction I’m going.
These are his woods and I’m lost in them.
My finger strokes the volume knob on my walkie, but before I can twist it to see if he’s calling me, there’s a crunch off to my side. Ducking down, I bite my lower lip hard enough to draw blood. Sucking at it, I peer through the fog, trying to see what’s coming for me.
“Nora.” The way he calls my name gives me shivers. My mom always told me that the fog can change things, and she was absolutely right. By the time my name reaches my ears, it’s distorted and garbled.
But still unmistakably from his mouth.
Besides, who else would be out here with us?
He calls me again and I gasp, turning around in the dirt, my eyes searching through the fog. This time, his voice sounded like it was on the other side of me. I can’t get my bearings. I have no idea where he is.
Silence falls and my ears ache as I strain to hear him. I’m so focused on listening for my name that I don’t realize that there aren’t any sounds in the woods.
And in woods as thick and deep as these, that’s not normal.
Every living creature in the woods has shut up. All the little birds, the squirrels, the rabbits…they’re all holed up somewhere. Listening. Watching.
Thankful that they’re not in the sights of the hunter.
Like I am.
“Nora.” This time, Teague’s voice is commanding and sharp, and I gasp as I turn around. He has one hand on my ankle before I can stop him. “I thought that you were going to make this much more fun.” Yanking, he pulls me to him, and I fall back flat in the dirt.
“No!” I scream as loud as I can, but the noise is immediately sucked up by the thick fog. Reaching over my head, I try to grab the tree to hang on, but my fingers slip uselessly off of the bark. My nails break as I dig them in, and I feel one rip away from my finger. The pain shoots through me, but it’s nothing compared to the fear I feel looking down at Teague.
“I’m disappointed, Nora,” he continues calmly, standing and dragging me out from my hiding place at the base of a tree. Small sticks and leaves get caught in my hair, and I reach down to my ankle, trying to claw his hand off of me.
“Let me go! You monster!” My other foot is loose and I kick out, hard, connecting with his shoulder, but he just grunts and tightens his grip on my ankle.
His nails are digging half-moons into my skin as I twist away from him.
“Nora, I told you we were going hunting, but if you keep squirming like that, we’re going to do something else, instead.” He lets go of my ankle long enough to drop down on me, his knees on either side of me, squeezing me to hold me tight.
I buck under him, trying to force his body off of me, but he just laughs. Every time I twist, he tightens his hold on me, squeezing his legs around my body to keep me still. He’s impossibly strong and much bigger than I am, and after a moment, I lay there, exhausted.
“Keep this up and I’m going to have something else on my mind. You feel good between my legs, Nora, you know that? My perfect little virgin.” I shiver away from him as he reaches out and strokes a finger down the side of my face.
“I hate you.” I spit the words at him while at the same time reaching out on either side of me to try to find something – anything – to use to hit him. My right hand finds a rock, but it’s too heavy for me to pick up. At the same time, my left hand digs into some soft dirt, and I close my hand around it, praying.
“Do you, though? Or do you just hate that you are absolute shit at my game? I’m sure that there are kids who could play this better than you, honey.” Grinding his hips a little, he leans down and leers at me, a wicked smile parting his lips. Again, he licks his lower lip, and I can’t help but remember that I thought he was a snake.
He’s much more dangerous than a snake.
He’s a cornered bear.
An injured lion.
“Let me go, Teague. We can forget that this even happened, okay? I’m not mad.” Fighting him isn’t going to work, so I try another tactic. If I can just get him to let me up, then I can run for it, but he reaches out and slowly lifts my shirt in response. Begging him makes me want to throw up, but I don’t think that I have a choice right now.
He ignores me. “Let’s see those little titties that you have under there, Nora,” he says, sucking in some air as he lifts my shirt and catches sight of my bra. “I bet that they’re the perfect size for me to really squeeze, what d
o you think?”
“No! Stop!” I had a plan to get away, but now all I can think about is getting him off of me. I buck harder than before and cry out when he yanks my bra down and grabs my tit, squeezing hard and pinching the nipple between his finger and thumb. “I’ll kill you!” I scream, clawing at his face with my right hand.
“Fuck!” I’d managed to get a small piece of rock in my hand and I slashed out at him, cutting him right above the eyebrow. “You cut me, you fucking bitch.” My body forgotten, he leans down, his face close to mine. “I will kill you for that.”
Blood drips from his forehead and splatters on my face but he doesn’t wipe it away. I can smell it as it runs down my skin.
Taking a deep breath, I swing my left hand around and shove the dirt into his face, taking time to grind it into his open eyes and mouth. It mixes with the blood pouring from his wound and I try to cake it so that he can’t see. Teague sputters, leaning back and clawing at his mouth, trying to clear it out, giving me enough of an opening to plant my hands on his chest and shove.
Hard.
He topples back and I worm out from under him, losing a sneaker in the process.
It doesn’t matter. If I don’t make it out of these woods alive then who cares if I only have one sneaker? Running, I try to put as much distance between the two of us as I can, but I pause behind a tree when I hear him start to laugh.
“Fuck! You bitch!” Teague leans over and spits, trying to get the dirt out of his mouth. “I’ll kill you for that, I fucking swear it! Get back here, Nora!”
Turning, I try to put as much distance between us as we can. I have no idea which direction I’m going or where I came from. All I care about is getting away from Teague before he gets back on his feet.
My blood runs cold when he stops screaming my name and starts laughing.
His laughter echoes through the fog, surrounding me. I feel like it’s all around me, filling me. I’m choking on it and there’s not a damn thing that I can do. He’s not even touching me and somehow he’s managed to get inside not only my head, but also my body. It’s exhausting and I can’t catch my breath.
“You’re going the wrong way, Nora!” He screams, and I glance around the tree back at him. His face is red and smeared with dirt. He’s stopped clawing at it to try to get it off of his skin, but he’s yelling so loudly that the tendons in his neck are standing out.
“Wrong way, bitch!”
I shiver as his words wash over me. Adrenaline courses through my body, but I stay where I am, pressing my back into the bark of the tree.
“Which way?” I whisper to myself.
He could be trying to trick me, trying to force me deeper into the woods. I could be going in the right direction. I squint, trying to make out any landmarks that seem familiar, but everything looks the same. There’s trees and brambles everywhere I look, and my head starts to spin as I realize how lost I really am.
“Get back here, Nora! Don’t make me come after you.” The threat is obvious. If he has to come after me, he’s going to kill me.
The sun is starting to set and shadows in the forest are lengthening. A shiver runs through me and I bite my lower lip, trying to focus.
I have to make a decision.
Fast. Before he follows me.
Squinting, I try to peer straight ahead through the woods to tell if I’m going in the right direction, but everything looks the same. Trees, briars, dirt.
Nothing is familiar.
Maybe to the left. I spin in that direction, tapping my foot. There’s a hole in my sock and I can feel the cool dirt on my skin.
“Focus, Nora.” My voice is quiet enough so that he can’t hear me.
Yes. To the left.
I don’t know that anything is familiar, but there are fewer briars.
It may be a death trap for me, but I have to get off of these tiny rocks and dead sticks.
My foot’s going to start bleeding soon, and then he won’t have any trouble tracking me.
I stumble forward, trying to be as quiet as possible. Even as I take fast steps and weave my way through saplings, I’m listening.
Listening for his footsteps.
Listening for the way he calls my name.
Listening for him to be close enough to ruin me.
Teague
For a moment I can hear Nora tearing through the woods. She has no idea where she’s going, and the thought of her turned around and lost thrills me.
I wipe a bit more dirt and blood off of my face and stand up, breathing deeply to enjoy the way the woods smells. Nora is afraid out here, but I love it. This is my second home, and I know these woods better than anyone else ever has.
She may think that she won when she cut me with a fucking rock and then rubbed dirt in my eyes, but all she did was awaken the hunt. My cock throbs in my jeans and I adjust myself.
Her little body writhing between my legs made it hard for me to concentrate. I wanted to hunt her and hurt her from the moment I saw her, but now I want more.
Now, I’m not going to stop until she’s mine.
She’s running scared, which means that she’s going to make mistakes. Stooping, I pick up her shoe and carry it with me as I carefully pick my way through the woods.
“Nora,” I call out, enjoying the way my voice echoes in the darkness. The fog is thicker now and bits of water droplets condense on my arms as I wind my way around thick trees and step over briars.
She’s shoeless and scared, which means that she’s not going to get very far, but first I have to decide in which direction she went.
Dropping to my knees, I reach out and lightly touch a disturbed patch of ground. My fingers trace over the dirt and dried leaves, reading the story.
My dad taught me to hunt, but even he was surprised when I began this good at tracking. She may think that she can run and hide, but unless she learned to completely disappear, I will find her.
And it will be sooner than she thinks.
The dirt is piled along a ridge and I imagine her turning in this spot, trying to decide which way to go. She hesitated a moment before pushing off. I look to the left and see exactly what I knew I would – a broken twig, snapped in half, dead leaves crunched along their edges, the ridge of her shoe tread.
“Hello, Nora,” I whisper, reaching out and picking up a dead leaf. It crumples easily in my hand, the broken bits falling to the ground as I stand back up.
She went left.
Not, like she had probably hoped, back to the house.
No, my little Nora is all turned around. She doesn’t realize it, but she made a stupid decision. The way that she took leads deeper into the woods. Eventually she would come across some campsites, but there’s no way that I’m going to let her get that far.
I’ll let her run for a little bit and tire herself out, but then I’m going to put an end to her little game.
Eyes on the ground so that I can look for more signs, I follow her. She wound her way around the larger trees and jumped over fallen branches and limbs. At one point she slipped and I stand for a moment, reading the ground.
Even though she’s not bleeding yet, I know that she will be soon. Her shoe is light and I toss it to myself as I stroll to the woods.
Eventually, I start whistling. She’s going to hear me coming, but she’s not going to be able to do a damn thing about it.
Chapter 5
Nora
Even though all of the nerves in my body are telling me to run, I force myself to walk so that I don’t trip or make too much noise.
I know that Teague is out there behind me somewhere, but I’m beginning to think that I’ve left him far enough behind when suddenly I hear something.
Stopping, I cover my mouth with my own hand to stifle a cry. He’s whistling. The bastard is hunting me and whistling. Tears spring to my cheeks and I sink to the ground.
My foot is cut up from briars and rocks and I’m hopelessly lost. The woods are just getting darker and darker and I though
t that I was going in the right direction, but now I’m not so sure.
Yeah, I’m lost.
“What do I do?” Pulling my knees up to my chest, I scoot closer to a tree, looking for some comfort or shelter. Even though I know that I can’t stay here because Teague will find me, I can’t seem to move.
It’s all too much.
He’s won. The thought is exhausting and my tears start to run down my cheeks. All I want is to be back at home with my mom, but instead I’m out in the cold woods being hunted by a teenage psychopath. It’s too much for me to bear, and before I can stop myself, I make a stupid decision.
Energy bolts through me and I stand up. “You’ve won, you asshole!” I scream, as loud as I can. “You won! I hate you! Just let me go!”
Tears stream down my cheeks and my throat threatens to close up, but I keep screaming. “Fuck you, Teague! You won, do you hear me?” My voice echoes through the woods and is carried back to me on the fog. Falling silent, I try to listen, but I’m crying so hard that all I can hear is my heavy breathing.
“That was too easy.” He’s behind me and I whip around, gasping, holding my hands out in front of me for protection.
Yeah, like I could protect myself against him. He’s stronger than any guy I’ve ever met and taller than me by about 7 inches. Even though I know that I can’t stop him from hurting me, part of me knows that I have to try. The thought of his muscled body taking control of me is almost too much for me to bear.
I won’t give up without a fight, even though right now I just want to go home. The easiest way to get out of this situation is to let him do what he wants so that he’ll take me back to the house. Even though I know this, my body is still screaming at me to run.
“I didn’t want this to be easy, Nora.” He circles me and I turn, trying to keep the tree behind me, but the woods are too tight. We’re close to a briar patch and I can’t move any more without risking falling into it. My foot aches and each time I step on a rock it sends a jolt of pain up through my leg.
