by K. K. Allen
“You should have seen the panic on your face when I almost ran you and Mills off the road. But it was when you spread your legs for your boy-toy at Hollow Falls that triggered my ache to kill again—just like old times—and I knew I could pin it on the crazy man’s little girl if I had to.”
“You’re a sick bastard,” I spit.
The back of his hand whips forward, stinging my cheek as the smack rings through the air, echoing off the cave walls. He steps forward, directly in front of my face, his nose practically grazing mine. Pain shoots down my throat, down my arms, and it lingers as his mouth begins to open. “Listen here, princess. I may not have finished what I started seven years ago, but you’re sure as hell going to get it now. I’d watch that pretty mouth of yours. After watching that fuck-show you put on for me the other night up in your daddy’s old bedroom…” He lets out a low growl, knotting my stomach and causing another sour taste to rise in my throat. “I’m more than ready to sit you right here in my lap—”
A bark sounds from beyond the cave. Distant, but I’d recognize Lacey’s bark from anywhere. My pulse quickens. Brooks whips his head toward the entrance and curses low in his throat. “That dog of yours sure knows how to crash a party.” He looks at me again with a sneer, eyeing my shackled wrists with approval. “It’s time I finish that mutt of yours off once and for all. And this time you ain’t goin’ anywhere, sweetheart.” He steps forward, pressing his oily cheek roughly against mine. “Wait right here, princess.”
I’m so consumed with the visuals of what Brooks is capable of, with the disgust that slithers down my throat and winds my gut in a chokehold, that I don’t even realize he’s left until the rush of the falls over my head brings me back to the present. Back to the physical pain Brooks inflicted on me with just a slap of his hand.
He won’t touch me again.
I yank my hands down, and the sharp, cool edges of whatever is wrapped around my wrists cut into me, slicing through my skin.
“Gah,” I moan. The pain is intense, but I manage to keep my scream to a whisper. I’m in cuffs, that’s for sure. But connected to what? Rock? I twist my body as much as the restraints will allow and try to feel around. My palm slides against a cool metal surface, a plate of some sort with a hook on it. Focusing on my right hand only, I shake my arm, seeing how far the chains allow me to move. Sure enough, after I’ve almost extended my elbow, I hear the crunching of rocks. I tug again, hope sparking in my chest. I’m hooked to a metal plate that’s been secured to the wall. But the plate is small, and the rocks are giving way with each tug.
And just like that, I see the light.
Lacey’s been on the hunt for what feels like hours. I know it hasn’t been that long, but my adrenaline is pumping and my feet haven’t stopped moving.
By the time we hit a clearing in the woods near the old abandoned cottage, I stop to catch my breath. Lacey is still moving, but even she has slowed down some as she takes her time to sniff around, tracing whatever scent she’s picked up.
Three shots in the span of a few minutes. From two miles back, they were distinct but not loud. I’m not sure how Lacey knew which way to run. And what is she running toward, exactly? Maybe I should call it in, but what’s the point? No one has picked the phone up all night.
A bark rips through my thoughts, calling my attention to where Lacey stands in place a few yards away, barking over and over. I aim my flashlight first at her, then in the direction she’s facing. Dark brown mountain boots are all I see at first. There are two of them, crossed over each other, peeking out from under long blue pants cloaking a man’s—at least, I think they’re a man’s—legs. I step closer to get a better look, careful not to move too fast. The last thing I want is to startle whoever it is in case it’s a vagrant living out in the woods.
“Hello,” I call out, softly.
The man’s feet jerk, making me jump back slightly. I pan over him with the flashlight. My gut clenches as I get a glimpse of the man’s shirt, tan with a gold badge on his pocket. My heart leaps in my chest.
“Tanner?” I dart forward, almost dropping my flashlight on the ground.
Falling to my knees in front of him, my eyes widen at the sight of blood drenching his trousers over his knee. “Jesus, man. What happened?” I’m not sure if he can hear me, but a moan slips from his throat as I search for his pulse. His skin is growing cold, but at least he’s alive. I try to rationalize the situation. Maybe he’s drunk. He could have fallen. Landed on a rock. But now I’m more certain than ever that those were gunshots I heard earlier.
“Buddy, wake up. You need to tell me what’s going on here. Did you get shot?”
His mouth opens but no words come out. Another groan comes. Then he nods. The movement is slight, but unmistakable.
“Shit.” My pulse quickens and I aim the light around the space to see if anyone else is there. I stop when I see a white SUV parked a few feet away. It looks familiar, but I can’t place it at first, not until I see the Duke University sticker on the back window. My world begins to spin. That’s the same SUV I remember seeing parked outside the café when I walked in to find Scott with Aurora—the same SUV I remember him peeling away in after he realized Aurora had already moved on without him.
Fear begins to grip me, inch by inch, as I sort through what I know.
Scott hasn’t left town.
A girl went missing during a storm.
Tanner is unconscious in the middle of the woods.
Aurora is missing.
Scott has her. He must.
That bastard has her, and this is how he’s going to try to get her back. But how? By abducting her just as she was taken seven years ago? By mimicking the actions of her father that sent her away to begin with? Because that’s exactly what seems to be going on here.
Lacey’s bark turns into a growl as she backs into me, her snarl now aimed in the other direction. I beam the light toward her dark enemy to find a man approaching.
“Brooks?” The man comes closer, and I get a better look. It’s Brooks, alright, and he’s looking between me, the car, and Tanner.
“What the hell is going on out here, Mills?” Brooks demands. “Why’s my boy on the ground?” His hand moves to his holster and I stand quickly, backing away.
Lacey’s fierce growl continues in one agonizing string of warning.
“Lacey, hush,” I warn without taking my eyes from the sheriff. But she’s relentless, and she keeps growling. “Lacey found him. He’s alive, but looks to be in pretty bad shape. I think he was shot.”
“Shot?” Brooks asks incredulously.
My head tilts a little. “Surely you heard those gunshots, sheriff. I heard them all the way back at my place, and Lacey took off toward the noise. That’s how we got here.” I nod in the direction of the SUV. “That car belongs to Aurora’s ex-boyfriend. He’s got her, Brooks. You need to help me find her.”
Brooks releases his hold from his holster and squints at the vehicle. My stomach churns as I realize he still hasn’t checked to see if Tanner is okay. Like he expected to find him here.
“We ran the plates on it earlier,” he says. “Came up as a Scott Turner. Haven’t been able to find him, and it’s a little late tonight to start a hunt.”
“You think Scott Turner might be to blame for the hiker girl’s disappearance?”
“Ah, I’m afraid I can’t speculate with you, son. Why don’t you run on home? Take your mutt, too. This is no place to be alone at this time of night, no matter how experienced you are with these woods. It’s dangerous right now. Killer on the loose and all.”
Air freezes in my lungs. Did he say “killer on the loose”? How would he know there’s a killer? Have they found a body? I think back on the news from Tanner earlier today. A young woman went missing last night during the storm. A strange coincidence since that’s how Aurora and all the others were taken years ago. That doesn’t mean there’s a killer in the woods. Unless—
&
nbsp; I run the flashlight over Tanner, giving him another once-over. Why isn’t he more worried? “Sheriff. He’s losing blood, and fast. We need to get him to the hospital. Now.”
“You’re such a good boy, Mills, but I’m sure you and Lacey need to run along. Let me deal with Deputy Tanner here. We’ll have the rescue teams out here in the morning if you want to join us on the hunt for the missing girl. Like old times.”
I cringe at his statement as discomfort snakes through my body. Swallowing, I call for Lacey to stand by my side. She does, never once taking her eyes off Brooks.
Brooks looks down at Lacey with a smile that seems to hurt. I frown before poking the bear further. Something is off with Brooks, besides the fact that he’s clearly been drinking on the job. There’s nothing unusual about the drinking bit, but his mannerisms are off. He’s almost…too casual for the situation.
More growling from Lacey. She’s never taken to the old sheriff, but her aggression toward him now is more intense than ever. I take a moment to scan his body, from the annoyed look on his face to his dirty and wrinkled clothes, to his boots—one of them caked with blood. At least, it looks like blood.
“Looks like you’re hurt, too.”
“This?” He shakes his foot. “It’s nothing, just a stumble. Don’t you worry.”
“Okay, Sheriff,” I say, despite my growing suspicion—of what, I’m not exactly sure. “Well, Lacey and I are still looking for Aurora, but we’ll get out of your way.”
I step forward, moving the Sheriff into my periphery. Almost as soon as I do, I know it’s a bad idea. He lifts the gun in his hand slowly, deliberately, aiming it at my head. Lacey’s facing him, her growl fierce and rising in volume.
Freezing, I lift my hands and turn slowly to face the barrel of the gun that’s aimed straight at me.
“There a reason you don’t listen to orders, boy? This isn’t the time or place for you to be running around searching for your girlfriend.”
“I’m not leaving here without Aurora.” There’s no hesitation in my tone, but maybe there should be. Maybe I should have tried to hold Brooks off longer. He’s losing his fucking mind.
“That’s the second time I’ve heard that tonight.” The corner of his mouth curls as he narrows his eyes. “Didn’t go so well for my son.”
The click of the gun’s safety causes me to jump.
Shit.
“Sir,” I try again, but Brooks takes a step toward me, jabbing his gun in my direction.
“Don’t you ‘sir’ me. I told you. To get. The hell. Out,” he spits. “I have enough to deal with tonight. But now—I’m afraid you’re in the wrong place at the wrong time, and you’ve seen too much.”
I look down at Lacey, feeling like she’s my only hope. She whimpers up at me, letting out a weak bark, asking me to come with her. “Go on, girl. Get,” I say again. “Go find Aurora.”
Lacey whimpers again, but this time she begins to back up, still hesitant to leave without me.
Brooks coughs out a laugh to my right. “Oh, no you don’t, you little shit.”
The metal gun whips toward Lacey, and my heart leaps up my throat. “Go!” I scream at Lacey. This time she takes off. Brooks aims—and shoots. Every inch of my body lights up. Fear tranquilizes me, but only for a second as the bullet blasts against the rock where Lacey’s feet just were, bursting a small boulder into shards that shatters against my jeans. Lacey is already running past Brooks in the direction of Hollow Falls.
“No!” Brooks growls, moving his flashlight around to find her. “Not again.”
Not again? I scramble backward, then duck behind the SUV, which separates me from the sheriff.
Brooks swings back around to find me. I can see his light waving in front of him, but he can’t see me as I crouch on the other side of Scott’s SUV. If Aurora’s out there, Lacey’s going to find her, and I’m going to buy them both some time. Somehow.
I don’t have time to stop and fear the man with the gun. I’m determined to get to Aurora one way or another. Sliding around the front of the SUV, I wait until Brooks starts his approach on the other side of the car, widening the space between us, and then I turn to run after Lacey’s tracks.
Almost as soon as I do, another shot rings through the air, and the last thing I feel is my face slamming into the earth before my world fades to black.
There’s blood everywhere. It’s running from my wrists, where the grind of the cuffs has cut through my skin, onto my palm and down my arms in long streams. And it’s not by accident.
I clench my teeth harder as I try to use the sticky, red lubricant to slip my hand through one cuff. “Argh!” I scream. It’s still too tight. Yanking again against the rock, I feel more of the base where the metal plate is secured to the wall crumble.
Oh my God. Did I do it? Elation flits through me. Looking up, I yank on the cuffs again, then again. Each time, more rocks fall, until it feels like the plate is hanging on by a thread. One more tug, and it comes loose completely.
My heart pounds as my hand, which is still attached to the cuff and plate, falls to my side, pulling on my arm with its weight. I groan and pull the limb up as I face my other arm. Using the weight of the metal as a hammer against the other base, I detach it quicker than the first one.
Both my hands are now free, but the heavy metal plates are slowing me down. I moan and cross my arms, grabbing the plates with opposite hands to free myself from the heavy objects tearing at my wrists. Shuffling around, I try to find a way out. The terrain is flatter than I imagined, but I stumble over several objects on my path. Rocks, plastic bags, tools—at least, I think that’s what I see in the dark, but I don’t stop to take to a closer look. My goal is to get the hell out of here, get help, and come back for the girl.
I use the wall to feel my way in one direction, moving slowly but still stumbling along the way. And then I see it. A tiny sliver of dim moonlight filtering into the dark space. And then another. And another. I realize I’m no longer staring at a rock wall, but a thin sort of curtain I can’t quite make out.
As I near the light, my senses come back to me in a rush, and I realize where I am now. It’s the cave from my drawing, but the entrance, which was wide open in my dream, is now covered with what looks like a curtain of vines. A few feet more, and I’m there.
A loud bark from just outside the entrance makes me halt my tracks. “Lacey?” Hope and panic fill my lungs as I clamp a palm to my mouth with regret. If Brooks hears us, we’re both dead.
I can see her, just a faint outline, but she’s staring right at me, as if unsure at first. My heart jumps into my throat and I fall to my knees, dropping my shackles to the ground. “It’s just me, baby girl. C’mere,” I say softly.
Lacey lets out a cry and then pads over, licking my face and nuzzling into my neck. “You found me again,” I whisper with a smile. “This time I won’t forget. I promise.”
“Where are you, you little shit?” a voice roars from deep in the woods. But it’s close enough for me to begin looking for an escape plan. We could make a run for it. That might be our only hope. We could try to find a place to hide. But where? I look around and remember the girl still unconscious in the cave. We’ll come back for her. First, we need to escape Brooks and get help.
Then something dawns on me as I’m scratching the backs of Lacey’s ears. “Where’s your daddy, huh? Where’s Jaxon?”
Lacey whimpers in reaction to my words. My heart does a deep dive into the pit of my stomach. He better be okay. But one thing’s for sure; if Lacey’s here, Jaxon’s nearby too. Her whimper morphs into a growl as the vines covering the cave entrance part to reveal Brooks. His flashlight catches Lacey almost immediately, blinding us both, but a second later I hear his footsteps charging toward us at full speed.
“No!” I scream.
It’s enough to make him look up. To give us time. I cross my arms and grip the metal plates again so I can stand without the weight bearing dow
n on me.
Then everything happens so fast.
Brooks nears me and wraps his hands around my neck. Lacey charges Brooks with a growl and jumps onto his back. And then I swing my left arm up, bashing the side of his skull with the metal plate.
He falls back, and Lacey’s snout opens in a snarl before her bright white teeth, dripping with saliva, chomp down, piercing Brooks’ neck. His yell is so loud that it seems to reverberate off every surface of the cave.
I reach down and fumble for his flashlight, which went dark when it hit the ground. If I can find it and it still works, it will help us get out of here much faster. Mud and rocks scrape against my knees as I crawl until my palm hits hard plastic. The object rolls against the ground, and I chase it. The moment my fingers wrap the circumference I let out a deep breath. With a lightness in my chest, I successfully flick on the light and leave it facing the front of the cave. It’s emitting enough light that I can leave it here to guide us out, thank God. I don’t think I could carry the flashlight too.
I turn to the battle between Lacey and Brooks just in time to see Brooks backhand Lacey the same way he did me earlier. A yelp tears through the cave, echoing off every wall as my heart howls in response.
“Don’t touch her!” I scream, my voice no longer my own. I’ve been possessed by the seventeen-year-old still kicking around inside me. She never died. There were moments when she wanted to, but she continued to float until the time was right to fight back against the current. She’s not going to let history repeat itself.
Lacey doesn’t waste a second as she pounces on Brooks again. Before he can hit her, I roar and shoot forward, slamming the plate in my right hand against his head. He grunts, stunned by another blow, but he’s focused on Lacey, who’s now got a good grip on his leg. She sinks her teeth into it, and his pants darken as blood seeps through the cloth.
He mewls, and I charge forward again just as another figure approaches the entrance to the cave.
