Page 95 of Healing Conviction

The woods were impossible to run through in the night without tripping and falling. Add to that the ever-increasing exhaustion and the danger of Drake’s oh-so-effective traps, she was practically crawling toward their campsite.

At least shehopedshe was going in the right direction. She tried to listen for the river and orient herself that way but doing so required completely tuning out the gunshots and shouts. That was something that was becoming increasingly hard to do the longer she was away from Drake. The sharp cracks in the night were terrifying, but at least with the gunshots, sheknewhe was still fighting. Still alive.

When the shots stopped, her chest squeezed until she was certain she was going to pass out or have a heart attack. After pausing for a moment to listen, she swallowed and trudged on, hoping the quiet night was good news.

The farther into the forest she went, the more convinced she became that she was lost. She didn’t want to take out her phone for fear that the light would immediately reveal her location. The box was heavy in both her arms, not helping her balance at all, and with her adrenaline dropping, so did the blessed numbness that came with it. Her back was already sore where her backpack had banged against her while she ran and every step felt like her legs were an odd combination of wobbly Jell-O and heavy lead.

A flicker in her periphery made her still, and she darted her eyes up to the shiny mark on the tree.

What the…

The moonlight was reflecting whatever was on the tree, and she squinted to identify what it was. Another glimmer caught her eye on the adjacent tree, and when she went to follow that, a straight line across the canopy made her narrowed eyes widen as she realized what the reflectors were.

Shoot a monkey, I’m in a trap.

She stilled completely, not moving a weary muscle as she tried to scan her surroundings and determine which snare she’d walked in on. The reflective tape Drake had marked each tree with was there to help her if she ever got lost at night. It told her she was close to camp, and now she had the chance to find the trap before it found her. Gulping back her stress, she relaxed enough to focus on locating a wire anywhere near the trees.

It took a long minute, during which the box nearly fell out of her sweaty hands and throbbing arms twice, but she finally found it. The thin silver wire held up an enormous slab of rock. Once again, she marveled at the pulley system he’d created to lift it. A thick piece of tree trunk propped up the bottom of the rock.

Deadfall.

Knowing this particular trap was so close to camp, her tense shoulders sagged with tentative relief. She paused before taking another step, only remembering after she felt her empty pocket that she’d given her gun to Drake for their getaway.

Even though the campsite was nearby and surrounded by traps for her safety, she’d be completely defenseless inside the small clearing until Drake met her there. She’d felt safer there than she ever had, but that wasonlybecause Drake had been with her. Without him, she’d never felt safe.

Beside the big boulder, she found a tree with a trunk bigger than her. She kneeled down in front of it, trying to make herself small as she brainstormed her next move.

Her eyes traveled up the massive rock, and a cold chill ran down her spine just thinking about how freaking heavy the thing was. Three of her could fit comfortably underneath. The rock would have no problem squashing a man.

Her mind raced with ideas and worst-case scenarios until the wind gently rustled the leaves around her, nearly making her jump out of her hiding spot. They’d been so loud they’d snapped her out of her thoughts. The realization rang through her mind.

It was quiet.

At some point, the gunshots and shouting had stopped. The only sounds she heard in the night were the leaves, the wind, a distant owl, and her rapidly beating heart.

She was alone.

Drake said he’d meet me. Where is he? Is he okay? Should I go check?

Her mind went back to running a mile a minute until another thought sparked.

Maybe I just need to get back to the campsite. Maybe he doesn’t know where I am and we’re both hiding.

Deciding that was her next course of action, she waited for a few more breaths before finally getting the courage to move.

Heavy footfalls… much too heavy for a forest lover like Drake… made her still.

Angry, whispered muttering confirmed her suspicions.

“Where the fuck are you, little bitch?Fuck, that hurts.”

Leaves crashed around, muffling which direction the man was coming from. With his slurred American accent, it had to be the drunkest one. She tried to figure out which way he’d come when he stumbled down the same path she and Drake had been using. If the man hadn’t been cursing up a storm, she might have mistaken him for a bear the way he was lumbering around. He was heading straight for her, holding his phone flashlight out to the ground. If he found her before she could run away…

She scrambled up, leaving her backpack and the box where she’d sat and stood right beside the tree that was barely holding up the rock.

“Hey there, mister. Lookin’ for me?”

The whites of his shocked eyes gleamed in the moonlight before he glared at her. “You… little… bitch. Where the fuck is it?”