by Noelle Marie
She didn’t need to be told twice.
Katherine bolted from the room, trying to ignore the colossal shame she felt at having to leave her dad and Brad. But she knew she wasn’t physically strongly enough to drag either of them with her and still get away in time.
She was getting help, she reminded herself. She wasn’t leaving them there. She was getting help.
Because the front door was blocked off by the fighting men, Katherine was forced to head back to the garage door, intent on leaving and running to a neighbor’s house to call the police.
She had just opened the door when she heard it. A deep howl of pain.
Katherine paused in her hurried movements, concerned for the first time that if she left the stranger with those men, he could die. Should she stay and try to help him?
Her indecision cost her precious time and before she could dodge the masked man who suddenly appeared, she was thrown violently into her car, the back of her head smacking hard against unyielding metal. “You’re not getting away, you little beast!”
Following her instincts, Katherine kneed the man where she knew it would hurt the most. When he buckled, but didn’t go down, she swung her fist wildly, ramming it right into his nose. She heard a satisfying crack before he finally toppled over.
Wasting no time, she threw herself into her car, her original plan of running to a neighbor’s house dashed. She jammed the key, which she thankfully still had in her pocket, into the ignition, twisting it and bringing her car to life.
The man forced himself up as soon as she’d revved her engine and began violently banging on her driver’s side window. She didn’t have the time to open the garage car door, so slamming her Chevy into reverse, she drove straight through it.
She managed to get the vehicle onto the street, the furious man chasing her down the driveway, screaming obscenities at her as he did so. Katherine hoped that the commotion would alert someone to what was happening.
Somehow, despite her shaky hands, she was able to maneuver the car past the man. Looking into her rearview mirror, however, she could see him running to a black BMW that was parked across the street from her house. She berated herself for having missed it when she had gotten back from practice. She had been too focused on Brad’s car.
The BMW sped off the curb and was soon on her tail. Katherine raced through town, but to her distress, couldn’t shake the man. Praying that her parents would forgive her, she whipped her car out onto the highway, hoping she’d be able to lose the BMW in time to get them some help.
CHAPTER FIVE
For the first time in nearly two hours, Katherine thought she may have finally lost the black BMW. She hadn’t seen it emerge from the last back road she had taken and could only hope that the masked man driving it had made a wrong turn somewhere on the twisting gravel.
Until now, he had been on her tail the entire time, even threatening to run her off the road on one occasion. After that, she’d been forced to abandon the much-too-open straightness of Highway 67, continuously turning off onto rarely used back roads in attempts to lose the crazed man.
She had somehow made her way back onto the main highway a few minutes ago and had seen no sign of the black BMW since. She remained suspicious, however, and couldn’t stop herself from glancing into the rearview mirror every few seconds, expecting to see bright headlights every time she did so.
Despite her fears that it was some sort of trick, she knew she’d have to pull over somewhere soon. Every time she looked at the gas gage, the pointer got closer and closer to E.
Empty.
She was almost out of gas and she’d have to stop whether she thought she’d truly lost the black SUV or not.
Katherine had thought she’d be relieved when she finally lost the fanatical man chasing her, but the truth was, as the adrenaline she’d been running on for the past few hours began to fade, so did whatever was keeping her together. She felt more and more nauseous as the true horror of the situation she had found herself in sunk its claws into her.
All she could think about was her dad bleeding out onto the dining room floor, blood gushing from his side. Her mom, scared and hurting somewhere. Brad, unconscious and suffocating under a heavy pile of rubble.
And the man who had so fearlessly come to her rescue. The howl of pain she had heard before getting away. Were they all going to be okay?
Dead. That’s what the cruel man had told her in his cold, emotionless voice. They were dead.
But Katherine couldn’t bring herself to believe it. She knew that if she did, she’d completely lose whatever strength she had left. She’d surrender to the terrible pounding of her head and give up. But if that happened, those evil men would win. And Katherine couldn’t allow that. She would get help for her parents, for Brad, and for the man who had saved her.
So many emotions filled her as she thought of them – especially her mom and dad. She’d been so defiant and disrespectful to them lately. Now the frustration that usually enveloped her when she thought of her parents was replaced with burning regret. All she wanted was to be able to apologize for every hurtful thing she had ever said to them.
And then there was Brad, who had been so kind to her despite the rudeness she had shown him just last week.
Cold, hard guilt nearly consumed her as she thought of how Brad wouldn’t have even been at her house if she hadn’t asked him to come over. It was all her fault that he was hurt – or worse, dead. She had dragged him into this, whatever this was.
That thought triggered something within her and the words that the malicious men had spewed at her returned at full force.
"Too bad ya dragged them into this."
Like it was somehow her fault that they had attacked her family. Like she was responsible. Katherine’s grip on the steering wheel tightened as more of the men’s words resonated in her head.
"This ain’t no little girl."
"This is here is just a dirty, rotten creature that needs to be put down."
"We’re here because monsters like you don’t deserve to live."
Monster? She wasn’t a monster. There were no such things… were there?
For a moment, the evidence nearly overwhelmed her. The wolf attack. Her increased physical ability. Her improved sense of smell. Her sudden cravings for red meat. The notes. The dreams of nothing but blue eyes.
But… but that was preposterous! It couldn’t possibly be true!
Katherine quickly regained control of her thoughts and shoved the ludicrous theory as far back into a dark corner of her mind as possible. No. None of that had anything to do with what was happening. Those men were just crazy. Plain and simple. They had to have been. Monsters like that weren’t real. They didn’t exist!
And Katherine refused to believe even for a moment that they did.
Because if they did… that would make what was happening completely her fault. And she couldn’t deal with that. So if she felt a painful twinge in her chest as she denied their existence, well, she’d just have to chalk it up to her imagination.
Forcing herself to concentrate on more pressing matters, Katherine glanced down once more at the gas gage. She couldn’t suppress the panic that rose when she saw that the indicator was now pointing firmly at the E. If she didn’t reach a town soon, her car would break down and she’d be a sitting duck. She couldn’t let that happen. She needed to get help – not only for herself, but for Brad and her parents. They’re still alive, she told herself firmly. They had to be.
The problem, however, was that Katherine had no idea where she was.
She’d never taken most of the back roads she’d forced herself to brave and didn’t recognize the section of Highway 67 she had ended up on. To be honest, she wasn’t even completely certain in what direction she was going.
Was it really just a few hours ago that she’d been worried about hurting Mallory’s feelings? It seemed like a lifetime had passed since then.
All of her earlier concerns – like her parent
s’ reactions to the true nature of the note they had found, or how to best avoid Mallory’s wrath – seemed so trivial. So insignificant. Especially when she couldn’t get the image of her dad choking on his own blood out of her head. Or the grotesque picture Brad’s leg had made sticking awkwardly out of that pile of debris.
It took all of Katherine’s will power to push those memories aside. She needed to focus solely on driving and looking for any residences or farm houses that she might be able to spot from the highway. She needed help and would take it from anyone at this point. Unfortunately, she had yet to spot a house.
She was losing hope of finding help before her car ran out of gas when she saw it. About half a mile up the road was a gas station. The shabby-looking building stood alone and for one horrible second, Katherine thought it had been abandoned. As she drove closer, however, she could see that the lights were on, and that a glowing, neon sign – though only three of the letters lit up properly – proudly proclaimed the place as Gary’s Rest Stop.
Tears of relief filled her eyes when she saw the lights and sign, but Katherine refused to let them fall. She hadn’t cried yet and couldn’t afford to give into the temptation now.
As she sped closer to the gas station, the small brunette could see that it even had a pay phone, located only a few feet from the right side of the building. It was practically screaming for her to use it. Glancing once more into the rearview mirror and seeing nothing but the darkness of night behind her, she hastily pulled into the gravel lot that surrounded the building and parked near one of the gas pumps.
Finally.
She could get help.
Katherine looked once more at the phone. Should she head straight for the little booth or ask for help from whoever was running the station? She shifted her gaze to the building’s entrance. She frowned when she noticed the group of rough-looking young men lounging against the brick wall near the double glass doors, a rusty white van parked not far away. How could she not have seen them before?
There were five of them, all wearing beat-up jackets. Even from a distance, Katherine could see that they were filthy. All five were laughing uproariously as one of them – the tallest one of the group, who had a red bandana wrapped around his greasy-looking hair – pointed in the direction of her car. In essence, they were exactly the type of men her mother had always warned her to stay away from.
Her mother. Dead. No! No, she was not dead and she was going to get her help right now! Decision made, Katherine grabbed the spare change she would need to be able to use the phone.
She glanced once more at the suspicious-looking men by the station’s door, and seeing that they no longer seemed to be paying her any mind, she quickly opened and closed her car door and rushed to the pay phone. When she got there, however, she couldn’t stop herself from letting out a curse. “Damnit!”
The cord connecting the phone to the booth had been completely bitten through – no doubt by wild animals of some sort. She took a deep breath to calm herself. It was fine. So what if the phone didn’t work? Surely the gas station manager would help her.
Katherine hadn’t taken more than a few footsteps toward the building, however, when she realized something important. She was covered in copious amounts of blood. Who knew how whoever was running the station would react upon seeing her?
Katherine saw the restroom attached to the side of the building and made the split second decision to use it. She was certain she could get at least some of the blood off. She hurried to its entrance, determined to be in and out in less than a minute.
The room was positively grimy. The walls and floor were encrusted in dirt and other disgusting muck. The smell was even worse – a rancid odor originating from the door-less stalls and encompassing the whole room. Katherine forced herself to ignore the unsavory conditions of the dank place, however, and headed straight for the single, cracked mirror. She cringed when she saw herself.
She looked absolutely horrid – like something out of a horror movie. Her hair was a mess, wayward waves going in all kinds of directions and a part of it plastered down with dry blood. She gingerly touched the spot and flinched at the unexpectedly sharp pain. This was definitely where the throbbing in her head was originating from. It must have happened when her head had been thumped against her car.
Her clothes were in even worse shape than her brown locks. The jeans she wore weren’t too bad, but her blue top was covered in dark stains that she knew to be blood. Katherine didn’t even hesitate in tugging the shirt off. She turned on the sink’s faucet and waited a moment for the brownish-yellow water to run clear before sticking it underneath the stream. After rubbing out the stains as best as she could, she used the drenched shirt to wipe the dried blood from her face and scrub at her matted hair despite the dull pain it caused her.
Once finished, she rinsed the once-blue shirt out again before yanking it back over her head. She felt the goose bumps rise on her arms as the damp, cold shirt stuck to her skin.
Katherine then spent the next half a minute roughly washing her hands, desperate to get the blood off her arms despite the absence of soap or hot water. It was a difficult task as the pink stains extended all the way up to her elbows. She knew where they had come from. Her father. He had looked so lifeless when she had last seen him. But she refused to believe she had her dead father’s blood on her hands. Just absolutely refused to acknowledge the possibility.
Knowing that she’d done the best she could do, and not wanting to waste any more time, Katherine swiftly exited the unsanitary restroom, relieved to be rid of its odor. Taking a deep breath to calm her nerves, she marched determinedly around the corner of the station and headed straight toward the building’s entrance.
She had resolved to ignore the men still loitering near the double doors. They were even grubbier up close – all five of them with sweat and grime caking their faces. And some even smelled worse than the restroom she’d just come from. She didn’t react when the bandana-clad man whistled and called out to her. “Hey, doll face. What brings ya ‘round these parts?”
Katherine quickly pulled the glass doors open, not turning to acknowledge the man. Relief flooded her senses as the doors closed behind her, making a resounding ding as they did so. She was so close to getting help.
The noise should have announced her presence to the manager, but no one greeted her as she walked up to the counter and there was no one behind the cash register either.
“Hello?”
Katherine didn’t receive a response. Not even the sound of shuffling feet. In fact, the place was entirely too quiet. An empty sort of quiet. Katherine felt her stomach plummet as realization hit her.
She hadn’t seen any other vehicles parked out front except for her own and that rusty van. One of those thugs – maybe all of them – was running the place. Fantastic. And she had just snubbed one of them.
Reminding herself that those men were the only chance she had at getting help for her parents and Brad, she forced herself to go back outside. The ding of the door, which had served to relieve her a mere minute ago, suddenly seemed more ominous as she exited the building.
The group of men eyed her as she came back out, the one who had spoken to her looking especially smug. She approached them as confidently as she could manage in her soiled clothes and ignored the snickers she heard as they found amusement in her predicament.
“What do ya know, boys? Looks like the little princess realized I’m the one runnin’ this place.”
It was the bandana-clad man who spoke, sharing a dark grin with his companions before turning his eyes back on her. They were gleaming with something she didn’t want to identify. “It’s okay, doll,” he said condescendingly, voice full of false understanding. “I’m sure ya can make it up to me somehow.”
Katherine steadfastly ignored the clashing emotions – hot anger and cold fear – that rose within her. Be polite, she reminded herself firmly. You need help and it looks like this is all you’re getting.
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br /> She clamped her jaw shut and swallowed down a scorching retort, knowing her conversation with these men would end badly if she let her mouth get the best of her. “I’m sorry to bother you,” she bit out as civilly as she could. “But do any of you have a cell phone I could use?”
One of the men – the scrawniest of the bunch – strutted forward and smiled yellow teeth at her. “I have a phone, sugar, but I can’t just let ya go using it for free.”
Katherine clenched her fists – whether it was due to indignation or fear, she wasn’t certain. “I have money,” she pointed out reasonably, hoping her voice didn’t betray the emotions swirling within her. “I’ll pay you whatever you want if you let me use it.”
The rat-faced man smirked. “Oh, sugar, I don’t want your money. Ya got somethin’ else more to my likin’.”
Katherine knew all too well what he was referring to as his eyes swept up and down her body. Aware that her wet shirt was clinging to her skin, she quickly folded her arms across her chest. The man sniggered at her actions.
“A credit card then,” she offered, refusing to acknowledge the man’s disgusting leering. “I have one in my car if you want it.”
Before he could answer, the tall man with the bandana pushed him back and took up the space he had been occupying, his own phone gripped between his fingers. He was clearly the leader of the little group as Rat Face didn’t protest.
He grinned predatorily, but Katherine refused to be intimidated despite the spike of alarm that traveled up her spine. “I don’t think so, doll face. How ‘bout some lovin’ instead? I haven’t had a thing as pretty as you in… well, ever.”
Behind him, his friends laughed. Katherine searched their faces for empathy, but couldn’t find any – though the scrawny one looked a bit put out. She quickly came to the conclusion that none of them were willing to help her. If anything, they thought the whole situation rather entertaining. Suppressing her disgust, she realized what she’d have to do if she wanted that phone. Forcing what she hoped was a friendly smile on her face, she stepped a bit closer to the man. His grin widened.