by Sara Schoen
"Oh, Tegan?" I heard Alec call behind me. I froze in my tracks in the middle of the forest. My thoughts were racing as I tried to decide what to do. "Is that you, Tegan? I always knew you'd give me a fight. I would have thought it would have been Casey, but when she escaped I was lucky to have found her. She would have ruined it for me."
I raced behind a large tree and placed my hands on my knees trying to catch my breath. I felt as if I had run for hours, but it was impossible to tell how long I had been out here. My thoughts couldn’t help but go to Callum. I wondered where he was, what he had done since I last saw him, but mostly I wondered if he would miss me if Alec caught up to me. He had gotten nervous about the question the reporter gave him, but we had never said anything to each other about a possible relationship.
I had felt something when I first met him. He was attractive, smart, and highly determined. I admired that for the job and for a person, but had he seen anything in me or was I just some annoyance that he needed to deal with? What was he doing while I was trapped here, fighting for my life, and trying to stall so that he could figure out where I was but why had I waited for him? I did need help, but I didn't need his help, anyone's would do, but it always comes back to Callum.
I thought that he would have been here by now, but Alec was smart, maybe smarter than Callum. Alec had planned for the police to close in on him, he had set up decoys and plans so that he would have time to react. I knew that Callum was trying to save me, along with the rest of his team, but if he didn't get here soon I would die. He had left without me, sent me away and forced me to go back home. He had given Alec the opportunity to take me, and now I had to survive on my own.
I was used to it in a way, but I had been hoping that when I met Callum I would finally have someone to fight alongside with. That I was going to have a real partner one that would stay, and be by my side, but I was wrong. It hadn't blossomed how I had hoped it would, and most of that was my fault. I couldn't blame it on Callum, it was all on me and there was nothing that I could do about it. I had lost my chance, and I don't think that I was going to get another one. I could be dead by morning.
I blinked a few times, trying to get rid of the tears in my eyes, and glanced around. There was nothing but trees and foliage. There was nothing around for miles, and I didn't know the terrain or where I was going. I only knew the small town of Boulder, anything past that was out of my knowledge. I would have to go back, go to Boulder instead of further into the woods. Maybe I could turn him around a little bit. It wouldn't last for long, but I could possibly send him in the wrong direction so that I could have a little time to make it to town.
"Tegan," Alec called. I guess I looked the most like Tegan, she was the oldest one there and we all looked similar. "I'm getting tired of this, Tegan. Just come out and I will give you a second chance. This time no more cages or beatings. I will give you that second chance you begged me for."
I didn't answer, I pushed my back into a tree and waited. I heard Alec let out an angry groan before he took off running. He passed by my hiding spot, and continued down the path that he had been following. There were a few moments that slowly ticked by as I listened for his footsteps. They raced further into the woods, and I took my chance.
I dashed back toward the house, but made sure that I didn't travel directly to it. I knew that Alec would think that's where the girls would go when he ran past them. He was planning on it so that he could find me and catch me again. So if I ran close to it, but not right to it I should be able to avoid him. If I could trick him then I would have a better shot to make it out of here. Then find a car that he didn't control and make my way back to town.
I had to think one step ahead of him, or I'd end up dead.
There was a hiding spot a few meters away from the house, a little hole in a tree that was shrouded by the foliage. I took my chances and hid inside, knowing that if he caught me I wouldn't have a way out, but I didn't have another choice. He raced toward me—his plan had worked! In his mind I had gone back to the house, now I just had to wait it out one way or another.
I slipped into the hole in the tree just before he rushed by.
I heard his footsteps retreating, and eventually I couldn't hear them anymore. I took a few moments to catch my breath, and try to see if Alec was just tricking me. I didn't want to rush out and have him waiting, so that meant I had to spend time to make sure that he was gone for good. Time wasn't on my side, I would have to start moving soon so that I could have a chance to make it back to Boulder.
I wasn't sure if the girls had made it, or if they made it out of this area. I was hoping for them to make it, and to find someone that would listen to them when they said that they had escaped, and now had to save the ones that they had to leave behind, but I couldn't be sure. That meant I had to do it. I had to make a break for it, but it wasn't meant to be.
I had waited about ten minutes for Alec. My legs had fallen asleep in the crouched position, my eyes were growing heavy from exhaustion, and the pain was starting to return in full force. I had to run to get the blood flowing again, that was the only way I was going to be able to work, through the pain, and then I had to somehow make it back to Boulder.
The only way I could think to do that was if I could make it to a main road and follow it back to town, but to do that I had to go by the house again. That meant risking getting caught by Alec, whether when heading back to the house or trying to find a ride back to town. I should have known I wouldn't have even made it back to the house, because Alec wasn't going to give up until he had all the girls. He wouldn't let one go, just to catch the majority.
When I had thought he left, I started my way back to the house. I darted between trees, trying to keep an eye out, but it hadn't been good enough. As I neared the house, there were suddenly footsteps behind me, but before I could react a pair of hands latched onto me. One grabbed me around my waist and the other latched over my mouth.
"If you scream, I'll kill you right now."
Chapter 27
One hand held me tightly around my waist, preventing any movement. The other latched over my mouth so that I couldn't scream. I felt him lift me up and walk back into the trees. Slowly the house disappeared as he dragged me into the woods. Suddenly I was flashing back to when the news was showing bodies being dug up. My father tried to hide it from me, but I had seen too much already and I knew what was happening.
They were digging up the bodies of his victims. Now Alec would have to decide if he would do the same.
He dragged me deeper into the woods, further from the house and from view if anyone came looking. "I'm shocked to see you out of the house, Jessi," Alec whispered in my ear as he lifted me up again once he had a better grip. "I thought it was Tegan for sure. That long blonde hair, and the stature just seemed to be her," he said, seeming to beat himself up over getting it wrong. Whether it was because now he had three other girls still out there that he had to find or that his plan had failed I wasn't sure. "So Jessi, how did you get out? I left you locked in a cage, locked in the basement, and you would have had to go right past me in order to get out. How'd you do it?"
I couldn't answer him, even if I wanted to. His hand was still latched covering my mouth, he was waiting for the right time to let me go, and he wasn't going to let me go easily this time. I had escaped more than once from him, broken his rules, and was the one that ruined his fantasy for good. He was going to make sure that I wouldn't escape. This time he was going to make sure I was dead, I just knew that my luck was going to run out.
He found a spot where he thought he could control the outcome of our last stand. I was tossed onto the ground like trash, thrown away, and discarded. It didn't take long for him to come back though. He stomped back to me within moments, and slammed his foot into my side sending my rolling a short distance, but he chased after me.
"You just couldn't stay out of this could you, Jessi?" he cried as he came at me again. I rolled away until that I had picked up enough mom
entum to get back to my feet.
"No I couldn't," I responded as I tried to stay a few steps away from Alec. "I couldn't let you drag those girls back down there just to slaughter them."
Alec chuckled lightly for a few moments. He took a while to collect himself again before speaking. "Well don't worry, Jessi, you won't be alive long enough to see them get slaughtered. They've been alive too long, I can't risk letting them get out and telling everyone what happened. If they had behaved from the start then they wouldn't have even been put in their cages. They had their chance, they could have taken your spot. If it wasn't for them failing, if they had succeeded, then you wouldn't be here." He took a few steps toward me, and I stepped back again. "You should blame them like I do."
We continued our dance for a few moments. He was taunting me, playing with my mind. I was able to keep just far enough away that I was out of his reach, but not far enough to make a successful run for it. He was careful, and I was calculating. I had to find a way that would let me get out before he had me trapped again.
He took a few steps closer to me and I backed up into a tree. I had nowhere to go, I wouldn't be able to escape, and now I had to fight. As he got closer to me, I could feel the fear seeping into my veins, but I took it as a welcoming sign. I had always been told that fear was going to keep me alive and now, I just hoped it was right. Without another moment of hesitation, he sprang forward and launched another blow. On instinct I dove to the ground, and quickly rolled out of his way as he crashed into the tree I had just been pressed against.
He stopped, before slowly turning to me and coming at me again. I could see the anger in his eyes as I forced myself up, but he kicked me back down. I landed roughly on my back, and Alec was leaning over me, laughing. I curled my legs up, so that my knees were tight against my chest, and then forced my feet straight into his gut. I felt the air leave his lungs as my kick landed dead center of his stomach and the air rushed out to hit me in the face. He moved a few steps away and I took the chance to get up and run, but I didn't make it far.
Alec recovered quickly; when I got up he was already moving toward me again. I put my arms up as his fist sped towards my face, I cringed as each blow made contact with my skin. I was backed up against another tree, and when he took too long to land the next hit I jabbed him in the side. He groaned as the hit landed, and I pulled my arm back to land another one on his nose. I ducked, then used the palm of my hand and hit upward to his nose. There was a loud crack, which told me I had broken the bone, and a cry as he fell backward onto the ground. He reeled back, and stumbled until he rested against a tree a fair distance away from me to recover.
The next few seconds went by in slow motion as he grabbed his nose in pain and I looked for an escape route. I was going to break away from him, but as I rushed out, he hit me square in the jaw. I flew backwards at the blow, he shoved me backward and started punching me repeatedly. I wanted for his motions to slow, but the hits kept coming, and in that moment when he took a second too long to hit me again I head butted him.
There were a few passing seconds that we used to catch our breath until I moved to gain ground on him. Without a moment of hesitation, he launched a punch that I narrowly escaped. I landed a hard hit to Alec's torso, and pushed away from the tree. This time I was able to get a far distance away from him when I heard the sound of a gun locking a round into place.
"Turn around, Jessi," he ordered when I paused.
I took a deep breath, and tried to control the fear, but it was no use. I turned around to face him, the smirk predominant on his face. He knew he had me, I had to obey because he was done playing around. Any more stalling on my part meant for sure that those girls were going to make it to town, even if they had escaped that morning, and he couldn't have that.
"This was fun, Jessi," he stated. "It's a pity it has to end."
"It doesn't have to," I replied.
"But it does, because now I have to hunt down those other girls. I don't have time to drag them back now. I have to leave before your precious Callum figures it all out." He had spat Callum's name as if it was an insult. "He's going to find you, but you'll be dead before he can."
"Is this an 'if I can't have you, then no one can' situation, Alec?"
He laughed for a moment, "You could say that, Jessi. I would take you with me, but you would just cause trouble wherever else we went. It looks like I'm going to have to start from scratch with a new batch of girls, new place, and new methods. I'm sure Callum won't stop until he stops me, don't worry, Jessi. He will just have to work really hard to find me, I don't plan on taking another cop. No matter how beautiful they are," he said with a smirk as he stepped toward me.
There was a tense pause before he leaned in to touch me, and I reacted on instinct. My knee lifted up and landed a hit right where it counted. I grabbed the gun just before he shot it off during the struggle. I heard the bullet hit a tree behind me and prayed that it wouldn't start rebounding around us, and ripped the gun from his hands as he groaned, his hands clutching the crotch of his pants in an attempt to stop the pain. I turned the gun around and shot him. I didn't see where I hit him—I hit him and then ran.
He was down, and I had the chance to run. I wanted to take a moment to kick him, to make sure that he was down, but then he could grab me again and we would start the whole fight over again. So instead I forced myself to run, against my better judgment I raced around the house to find his car. If I could take that with me then there would be no way for him to leave. He would have to go through the woods, but he wouldn't get far without a car. I could delay him, except I didn't get the chance.
As I rounded the corner of the house, and opened the front door to get the keys to his car there was a distinctive sound of a gun being taken off the safety. I froze, my breath caught in my throat, and I knew that I had nowhere to go. I was in front of the house, no bushes around to conceal me if I jumped out of the way of the bullet, and if I dove forward that would be an easy adjustment that would get me shot in the back. Either way I was stuck, I had nowhere to go and I wasn't going to make it out of this one. He would take me back to the basement to finish it, or finish me off here because he wouldn't let me escape again.
I was dead either way.
Chapter 28
"Jessi?" I heard a male voice question behind me. I was stopped in my tracks, the gun fell from my hands—there was no way that Alec had caught up to me this quickly. I was stuck, there was no way that I was going to make it out of this one. Alec had already held me at gun point once, now that he had me again there was no way that he was going to let me escape. He would take me back to the basement to finish it, or finish me off here. I wasn't going to see Anna or Audrey again, I wouldn't see my father or Callum again either.
I had lost so many chances, and I couldn't get them back now. My dad would never know how proud of him I was for raising me on his own, for divorcing my mother, and fighting to keep me. Anna and Audrey would always worry about the next guy following in Steve's shoes because I couldn't stop Alec. Callum, well Callum would never find out how I felt about him. He would never know why I pushed him so hard, why I felt it was my duty to show him that losing his team wasn't his fault. It was because I loved him.
"Jessi, is that you? It's me, Callum."
I felt my stomach tighten, the breath left my lungs, and my bottom lips started to quiver. I could feel the relief washing over me, but I couldn't move. There was a sudden fear that if I turned around and Callum wasn't there that I had lost it, and I was going to be disappointed. What if I turned around and he wasn't there? What if Alec came around the corner and saw him? Either way, I would be alone again.
"Jessi, please turn around," Callum begged. His voice cracked with emotions that I hadn't heard since Anna and Garrett reunited after Steve was arrested for the second time. We had been staying in a house to bait Steve, but I had been able to see Anna and Garrett reunite, and I've never been more touched than in that moment except for now. "Please, Jessi
," he asked again, but when I didn't move, he did.
I heard his footsteps race behind me, then slow as he got closer to me. I didn't move as he approached, but I listened to his footsteps and his quickening breath. He paused momentarily, causing me to shake with anticipation. He slowly came into view, he looked me over with shock, and I could've sworn that I saw a tear racing down his cheek, but before he could ask me anything I collapsed in his arms.
"Callum," I cried as I buried my face into his shirt and started to cry.
"I found you," Callum said as he tentatively wrapped his arms around me. "I'm so glad to see that you're okay. It's all over now."
Callum tried to sooth me as I cried, and held me up now that my legs were too weak to hold me. He slowly lowered us to the ground, still keeping visual around us, but I was too emotional to do it. I didn't bother with worrying about trying to look strong so I wouldn't have to hear comments about crying later, I had been through so much not to break down. Callum waited patiently for a few moments, hugging me tightly to him, and talking to me so that I could calm down.
Then the conversation took a turn.
"What happened here, Jessi? Where is the man that took you?" he asked.
I tried to answer, but I had lost my voice. I shook my head violently, saying that I couldn't talk about it now. Callum took my face in his hands. I flinched away when his firm grip pressed onto the bruised skin of my cheek. I saw anger flicker in his eyes before he gingerly took my face in his hands and looked over my injuries. I could feel the black eye I had earned in the struggle with Alec, the swelling partially closed my right eye, and the throbbing pain reminded me that I had a bruise predominately on my face.