by Julia Derek
“Ouch, my bloody foot…” Ian moaned.
I sank down beside him. He was sitting up, hugging his knee.
“I think I broke my bloody ankle,” he moaned. “Fucking cunt!”
I relaxed somewhat as Ian kept cursing like the worst kind of sailor. It seemed he’d tripped on something and twisted his ankle.
“What happened?” I said as I went over to pick up the big flashlight to get a better view of Ian.
“I stepped into some fucking hole or something… Goddamn, it hurt. But I’m fine now.” He pressed out a grin that didn’t quite convince me he was fine.
“You scared the living hell out of me. Let me help you up.” I shone the light on Ian, who was trying to push himself up into a standing position, struggling to do so.
“Here,” I said and put his arm around my shoulders. “Just grab on to me. You ready?”
On the count of three we got him back up into a standing position.
“Ouch!” he moaned again.
“What now?” I asked.
“Bloody hell, I think I may have in fact broken it. I can’t walk on it.” He sighed heavily. “This is just what we needed.”
“It’ll be okay,” I said even if I couldn’t agree with him more; that was the last we’d needed. But we had to make the best of the situation. “I’ll help you walk. Just keep that arm around my neck.”
I made him swing it over my shoulders again, and then we started to walk again, Ian holding the spotlight as I was busy holding onto him and my gun. I thanked my lucky stars for being such a gym rat; if not, we would have been so screwed right now.
We reached the glade a couple of minutes later, the close-growing trees suddenly giving way to a wide open space. As we walked into it, we saw the moss-covered side of a low mountain at the other end, some trees at the bottom of it.
Stopping a few steps into the clearing, Ian shone the spotlight slowly over the trees that surrounded the glade like a wall on either side of the mountain. What must be the creek glittered behind a couple of trees as the light slid over the water. He stopped the light as it hit what appeared to be a human form around one of the trees in front of the mountain. We had to get closer to be sure it was indeed a person because of the leafy branches that partly covered the body, all the while worrying about Alyssa seeing us, me having to help a hurt Ian walk. I consoled myself with the fact that she probably didn’t have a gun at least, or she’d have used that to get Burt to go with her to see Nadja, not resorting to emotional blackmail.
Exactly like Burt had described, there was Nadja, looking like she was tied to a tree and her mouth covered by a gag. Her head hung, which suggested that she was unconscious.
“You see her?” Ian asked me as we were a few yards away.
“Yes.”
We walked toward her, both mindful of Alyssa suddenly jumping out from somewhere. With Ian handicapped now, we were a lot more vulnerable. She might not have a gun, but she obviously had some kind of knife that she had used to stab Burt repeatedly, not to mention a weapon she had used to slug him over the head. While his wounds had been bloody, they didn’t seem to be immediately life-threatening. Had it been her intention for him to survive them?
Only she would know.
As we neared her, we could see that Nadja’s eyes were closed, further indicating that she must be out. She was wearing one of the T-shirts and shorts I had given her. There were a few scratches on her arms and a couple on her legs. What must be coagulated blood streaked one of her cheeks. Rope encircled her ankles and her arms were pulled backward. From our current vantage point, we couldn’t see if her hands were also tied around the thick tree trunk, but they probably were.
“Hold this,” Ian said, handing me the flashlight as we reached her, “and hold it so it doesn’t shine directly into her face. And keep an eye open for Alyssa.” As long as he didn’t have to walk, putting all the weight on one foot, he was okay on his own.
He turned his attention to Nadja, removing the gag that was tied around her head. She didn’t seem to notice his actions. He threw the white material aside and slapped her cheeks lightly. “Nadja, wake up!”
She gave a light moan, turning her head, but she kept her eyes closed. Ian slapped her cheek harder. “Nadja! Can you hear me?”
She moaned again, and she finally opened her eyes.
“Nadja,” I said, my gaze flicking between our surroundings and Nadja now, my gun at the ready. “It’s me and Ian. Wake up. We’re going to help you get out of this.”
“Shine the light behind the tree,” Ian said and hobbled around the trunk, using the tree trunk for support. “I need to see how she’s tied up and untie her.”
Taking a few steps around the tree to see what was going on back there myself, I shone the light behind it. Both Nadja’s hands and feet were tied around the thick trunk with white rope, and the person who had done it had used several knots. In fact, there were so many of them and they were so intricate-looking, I wasn’t sure we’d be able to ever undo them.
“How are we going to open up those?” I asked Ian, who was inspecting them closely in the light I provided him. “We should’ve brought a knife.”
“Let me give them a try,” he said and sank down to his haunches. “As you know, I’m pretty dexterous, so maybe I’ll get lucky...” He grinned at me, his eyes gleaming with mischief.
I rolled my eyes, not about to deign his silliness with a comment of my own.
“If I fail,” he continued, “you can go back to the house and get a knife. I can use the flashlight on my cell to see back here and keep trying in the meantime. But give me a minute before you leave.”
He pulled out his cell and switched on the light, illuminating the knots at the bottom of the trunk while sitting cross-legged on the ground now.
Removing the spotlight from Ian, I shone it slowly across the glade, scanning the area. It was as quiet as when we got here, a soft breeze weaving through leaves nearby providing the only sound.
Nadja moaned again. I turned to her. “Nadja? Are you okay? We’re trying to get you out of here as quickly as possible. What happened?”
She sucked in a couple of breaths, gazing at me with groggy eyes; the moon light combined with my eyes being used to the darkness now enabled me to see her face okay.
“This big, dark-haired girl came out of nowhere when I was going to bed,” she began, speaking surprisingly clearly for someone who’d just come to. “She jumped on top of me and started to beat me. I did my best to defend myself, took the lamp on the nightstand and tried to slam it into her head, but I missed and hit her shoulder. The lamp fell on the ground and broke. She and I both fell on top of all the shards and rolled around there on the floor, fighting. She was too strong for me. Finally everything became black and then I was here, tied around this tree. Where is she?”
“We don’t know,” I said earnestly. “Right now we’re trying to get you out of here and back to the house.” In a split second, I decided that I wouldn’t bring up Burt. Hearing about his state would surely only serve to upset her; it would be easier to work with her if she was as calm as possible. She must have been passed out when he came around since she hadn’t mentioned him so far. “Don’t worry, she can’t do anything to you any longer. Ian and I are both armed. We’ll protect you if she appears.”
“What if she comes back to the house?” Nadja asked, her voice thin and scared. “Who could she be?”
Again, I thought it better to lie than to tell Nadja the truth. It was far too gruesome.
“She must be some kind of burglar,” I said. “Don’t worry, we’ll take care of it.” I threw a glance around the tree trunk to see how Ian was doing. “Any luck?”
“No, they’re very, very tightly knotted,” he said through clenched teeth. “I haven’t managed to get even one of them out yet. I think we may need that knife, so get going. Do you remember your way back to the house?”
I gazed over the glade, searching for the spot through which we’d entered. I thought I k
new where it was, but I couldn’t be one hundred percent sure. Ian, having somehow managed to get to his feet, hobbled up bedside me, pointing an index finger to the very area I looked at.
“We came out from there,” he said, confirming it for me. “You can take the spotlight with you. I’ll be fine with the light in my cell. The moon helps, too.”
The gray clouds had sailed off and the full moon was yet again casting a silvery sheen down on earth, making the contours of trees and bushes, even their leaves, clearly visible.
“If you continue straight,” he said, “you should soon get out of the woods. Maybe not exactly at the spot where we entered it, but close enough. As you know, ours is the only house in the vicinity, so it’ll be impossible for you to miss it.”
I bit my lip as I kept glancing at the spot Ian indicated. Given that he could barely walk, his suggestion for me to go was the only thing that made sense. Also, it would give me an opportunity to check on Burt.
“Okay,” I said. “I’ll do my best to hurry back. If Burt looks considerably worse, we should consider calling for an ambulance, so they can come get him now. What with your foot being in such bad shape, it’ll take us forever to get him to a hospital.”
“What’s wrong with Burt?” Nadja exclaimed. “Is he here?”
Fuck. Why had I opened my stupid mouth? Well, it was too late now. I glanced at Nadja, who was staring at me with big eyes. I had no choice but to explain to her that he was indeed here and what had happened. But I did so in the most rudimentary form, claiming that I didn’t have time to go into details; I needed to get to the house.
“Then Ian can explain further,” Nadja said, which he could. I didn’t envy him having to do so.
“Yes,” I said, then glanced at Ian. “You’re okay with me calling for an ambulance then?”
“Yes,” Ian said, “definitely call an ambulance for him if he looks worse. But be sure not to use his old phone or Adler may find him. He still has his phone with him, in addition to the burner he got in Philly. Or any of your phones. Use his burner, it’s the newest.”
“Right,” I said. “Thanks for reminding me of that. I’ll see you soon.”
Turning away from Ian and Nadja, I crossed the glade and entered the woods at the spot we’d used previously. I was careful where I put my feet and to shine the heavy spotlight in my hand before me, part of it on the ground; I wasn’t about to repeat what had happened to Ian.
As I made my way through the bushy terrain, my heart pumped hard. Any moment, I expected Alyssa to jump out from between the trees—or down from one—attacking me. Was I heading in the right direction? It was impossible to tell. All I could do was keep walking and hope for the best. Hope that soon the trees would part and I would be out of the woods finally, even if I ended up way off. Like Ian had just said, I should be able to easily spot the big house across the open field, and then I could jog over there.
A thud near me followed by a rustle that grew louder in intensity caused the blood to freeze in my veins.
Was that Alyssa approaching me?
Chapter 7
My fingers tightened around the gun as I directed the spotlight downward to be able to get a better view of my immediate surroundings. Turning my head in every direction, I saw no human form approach me. I discovered that the rustling sound quickly approaching me seemed to emanate from somewhere below my hips. As I turned my head to the right, I spotted a hare sprinting out of the bushes, soon followed by a large dog— or maybe it was a wolf—both of them rushing past me and then disappearing in the thick undergrowth to the left of me.
Blowing out the breath I’d been holding, I relaxed and continued walking forward.
It took me only another three minutes to reach the outskirts of the woods, and when I exited, I soon determined that I wasn’t that far off from the garage behind which Ian and I had entered. I didn’t even need the spotlight in order to see where I was and the terrain under my feet, the full moon was shining so brightly from the sky now. Turning off the flashlight, I started to jog toward the house.
I soon reached it. I had to walk around it to get to the front and immediately saw that the lights from the hallway and kitchen were still on, exactly like we had left it. I walked up the few stone steps before the front door, but before I opened it, I called out Burt’s name loudly.
“It’s me, Gabi,” I added, not wanting to scare him, thinking it was Alyssa suddenly appearing, prompting him to shoot me in self-defense. “I need to get something from the kitchen.”
No reply came from the house, making me pause.
“Burt?” I tried again, a little louder. “Burt, are you there?”
Has he passed out?
I could only hope this was the case, not that Alyssa was sitting next to him, forcing him to keep quiet. Not about to take any chances, I put my back against the side of the door and, grabbing the doorknob and pulling it open, I rounded the corner and pointed my gun at the insides of the house.
When I saw that Burt was still in the corner, I lowered my gun. His head hung heavily to his chest, making it appear like he had passed out and his arms rested by his sides. It was only as I got closer that I noticed the knife buried to the hilt in his chest. Gasping his name out loud, I ran up to him, already suspecting from all the blood he was drenched in that he was and had been dead for some time. Even so, I sank down beside him and tried to find his pulse by placing two fingers against the side of his neck. As I had already feared, I found no beat.
Closing his staring eyes, I looked to his sides to retrieve the gun Ian had given him. There was no gun anywhere. Going cold, I realized that the person who had buried that big knife deep into his chest must have also taken the gun. Alyssa…
Keeping my gun at the ready, I scanned the tall, long hallway. It appeared I was alone there, but that didn’t mean she had left the house. She could easily be hiding somewhere. Holding onto Burt’s gun.
I had to move away from Burt and get into the kitchen, find a knife that could be used to get through the ropes that kept Nadja tied to that tree. A quick look at the knife buried in him told me it was likely not the kind that would work to saw through thick rope—the blade was too thin and smooth. We’d need a breadknife with a serrated edge.
I got to my feet and, moving as fast as I could and with my eyes wide open, I walked over to the kitchen. No one was in there. I ran over to the cabinet under which there were several drawers and pulled them out, my heart pounding like a jackhammer. I had gone through four drawers until I found what I needed. Grabbing the small breadknife, I strode out of the kitchen, stopping slightly as I reached the hallway. What with the open space beneath the L-shaped stairs that began at the opposite side of where Burt sat, Alyssa could easily shoot me from the second-story landing.
Carefully, I peeked out through the wide doorway between the hallway and the kitchen, trying to determine how long it would take me to get to the front door. I could make it in less than ten seconds if I ran fast. I threw one more glance up the stairs and at the other end of the hallway that led into a big sitting room, seeing nothing that looked like Alyssa, and then dashed toward the front door.
I reached it and barged out of the house, making sure I was crouching all the while.
As I reached the garage, I was still panting hard even though the run over there had been short, less than thirty yards. I turned around and gazed at the house; it appeared as quiet and normal as it had when I’d first gotten there.
It struck me then that I had never been that worried that Alyssa would shoot me, nor attack me once I’d gotten inside the house. I hadn’t felt her presence at any point when I entered; instead, the house had felt empty. The only reason my heart had pounded like it was on speed in my chest was because I’d been upset to find Burt like that, I realized now. And if she wasn’t in the house, it could only mean one thing—she was going back to Ian and Nadja. Where else would she go? She had made it abundantly clear that this house was hers now, and that she didn’t appreci
ate any visitors. So if she wasn’t leaving the area, she must be on her way toward the glade where her other victim was still tied to that tree trunk.
Running around the garage, I flipped on the spotlight and found the entry spot Ian and I had used. As quickly as I dared, I moved through the close-growing woods, again careful not to step on a big root or in some hidden hole and twist my foot like Ian had done. If I did, it would be over for us.
Two gunshots rang through the air then, fired in rapid succession, sending a jolt of horror through me.
Oh, God, please let that have been Ian shooting Alyssa, not the other way around.
I picked up my speed, hoping by God that I was heading in the right direction. By the time I could spot what appeared to be the glade, my lungs were burning with lack of oxygen and sweat was pouring down the sides of my ribcage. When I heard a voice that sounded like Ian’s, I slowed my pace and walked the rest of the way. The moon was providing so much light that I flipped off the light as soon as I started walking. It seemed better that I stayed as hidden as possible until I could be sure that Ian was in fact alive.
As I was at the edge of the glade, I heard the voice more clearly—and it was definitely Ian talking.
“Come out, you crazy bitch,” he demanded. From behind the tree where I was at the moment, I saw him standing next to Nadja, who was still tied to that same tree. But I could only see her from the chest and down from my current vantage point. At least Ian didn’t appeared hurt.
I contemplated what would be most helpful—to keep quiet or announcing my presence to Ian. I opted to stay quiet; he must know I was on my way back. I wasn’t sure if Alyssa realized that—for all she knew, Ian was alone out here in the woods.
It seemed unlikely that she’d be aware of Ian’s limited mobility, having been busy killing Burt when Ian and I headed for Nadja. If she was aware of it, she’d know she had a great advantage. It wasn’t like Ian could outrun her or chase her down.
The question remained, though—who had fired the shots? Ian or Alyssa?
