She could hear footsteps coming around to the trunk, then the voice. “Better stop kicking that god damn trunk if you want to live to see New York again!”
“I need to pee! I’ve been holding it all day but I can’t anymore,” she shouted back, hands busy placing the tire iron where it wouldn’t be seen when the trunk was opened. “I’ll go in a bush or something!”
“…call you back babe. Yeah.”
Did he have a phone out? She couldn’t have planned this better in any way.
The sound of a key being pushed into the trunks lock came through, then she was blinded as sunlight flooded the cramped space she had occupied for the last hour.
She raised her left arm to shadow her face, but the thug immediately grabbed it and started pulling her out of the trunk. “Any funny business at all and I’ll leave your body in the woods,” he said, the lack of emotion in his tone practically shouting that he didn’t care one way or the other.
Laura climbed out of the trunk slowly. Her muscles had tightened up while locked in that little box, and it was an effort to step out with first one leg then the other. As planned, she placed her right on the floor of the trunk to balance herself.
This was it. Both her feet were on the ground, and her hand closed around the hidden tire iron. The sunlight was still blinding her, but the man still had his hand around her wrist. She made a guess based on where his arm was, turning her body as she brought the length of metal out of the trunk and swung it in a tight arc.
It connected dead on with the side of the man’s head, the sound a lot more muffled than she had been expecting. The effect was instant, however, as the man collapsed immediately, sinking to his knees then falling sideways. She heard the clatter as the phone he had been holding in his other hand hit the pavement.
Dropping to her knees, she ran her hands across the ground for the phone. She could still see hardly anything, her eyes taking their sweet time adjusting to the outdoors again. But within seconds she had it in her hands. She stood up and tried to get her bearings.
The driver’s side door opened then, a voice calling back. “Jim you dipshit, hurry up! We’re on a schedule here.”
Her vision was starting to come back now. They were on a long, deserted stretch of highway, no buildings in sight. Just down the slope leading away from the road was a forest. It would have to do.
Gathering herself and praying that her sore legs could do this without collapsing, she ran down the embankment and sprinted for the trees. She tried to sprint anyways, but it came out as more of a stumbling jog.
She had gotten luckier than she had any right to be. If both men had gotten out, or if her swing had been wide of the mark, she might very well be dead right now. As it was, that was still very possible.
She made it into the trees just as she heard the exclamation behind her. “You idiot! Get up, she’s getting away!”
The forest was blessedly shady after the glaring afternoon sunshine outside, allowing her eyes to finally get back to normal, more or less. There were still a few spots swimming in her vision, but she could see clearly at least. A quick glace back showed the driver jogging down the embankment, a chubby but still athletic looking man wearing jeans and a black jacket. He was holding a pistol in one hand. She could see the man she had struck staggering to his feet, still unsteady but coming to more quickly than she would have liked.
Laura turned away and began running as fast as she dared, the undergrowth of the forest making the footing uncertain. She had to create a little distance so she could call Rick. If she could find somewhere to hide in the forest, she knew he could find her.
Chapter 10
Rick reached the parking lot at Ernie’s more slowly than he would have liked, but there was no help for it. The wound Dillon had given him had bled enough to make him feel physically weak, even a little faint at times. Still, he had charged through the forest at as fast a pace as he could maintain, his huge paws battering aside dead trees rather than going around them.
He paused before reaching the edge of the parking lot, staying in the shadows a moment longer. His breath wheezed in and out as he shifted, his massive bear bulk shrinking down to a still huge human form. His eyes swept over the parking lot, hoping it was still as empty as it had been before.
He was out of luck, however, as two cars full of twenty-somethings were just emptying, excited conversation drifting his way. They were parked fairly close to his truck, so there was no sneaking by them, and he didn’t dare wait for them to set off on their hike. He just didn’t have enough time.
Ah well.
He jogged out of the trees towards his truck, well aware of what he looked like at the moment. A big, physically imposing man, naked, covered in blood and dirt, running out of the forest. A sight, to be sure.
A girl was the first to notice him, letting out a little shriek as he approached. The rest of her group reacted in about as many ways as were possible, some of them diving back into cars, a couple shouting in shock, and a few just standing there with their mouths hanging open.
“Sorry folks,” he called with as much good natured cheer as he could muster. “Got attacked by wolves. Bit cut up.”
He heard the disbelief in the frenzied murmuring that followed his greeting, but there was no point in stopping to try to smooth things over. He went straight to his truck and bent down by the front drivers side tire. He reached in and pulled out a spare key from a small compartment he had personally cut into the wheel well. An important lesson every shifter learned upon reaching adulthood was to always have spares around, whether it be clothes or keys, since in an emergency situation you may have to shift to get out of a sticky spot. Barring a backpack like Gerald’s, that meant not having keys or clothes on you. Best to be prepared.
He unlocked the door to his truck and reached under the seat, pulling out a duffel bag with a spare set of clothes and shoes. He threw them on as quickly as he was able, a simple outfit of jeans and a button up flannel shirt with hiking boots. A quick swipe of a towel across his face and neck to remove as much of the dirt and blood as he could, then he was in the truck and backing out of the parking lot.
It was a big no-no in the shifter community to do what he had just done, drawing so much attention to himself in a way that might point to their secret. Right now Rick didn’t care, and he barely spared a glance for the flabbergasted group of hikers he had interrupted. Laura came first, and he would deal with any other problems he had to at another time.
He opened the glove box as he set off and pulled out his phone. It hadn’t seemed wise to bring it along when he knew he would be ditching his clothes in the forest. He flicked it on and glanced at the screen, seeing that there had been a missed call. It was from a number he didn’t recognize with an out of state area code.
His stomach sank. Vascenti, or one of his goons? He didn’t want to imagine what reason they could have to call him, but none of the ones that sprang to mind were good. He hit redial anyways, though.
The phone rang for a few seconds before it was picked up, and Laura’s voice flooded through the speaker. “Rick!”
The sound of her voice almost brought tears to his eyes, and he pulled off to the side of the road lest his inattention while driving end with him upside down in a ditch. “Laura? Where are you? How did you get a phone?”
Her voice dropped to a whisper. “I got them to stop the car on the highway, then brained one of them with a tire iron,” she said. “I took his phone and ran into the woods, but they’re both looking for me now.”
“I’m on my way Laura. Just stay hidden until I can get there,” Rick said back, already putting the truck back on the road. The acceleration pushed him back in his seat.
“Gotta go. I love you,” she said back, still whispering. He thought he could hear other voices faintly through the speaker.
“I love you too,” he started to say, but the line clicked. She was gone.
He was rocketing down the street by this point, going much fa
ster than was safe. He still had time. He could still help her. He slowed sharply for a turn, the tires screeching against the pavement in protest. He had been foolish to think they could just hide here as long as they wanted, but he wouldn’t let Laura pay for his mistake.
Before too much longer Rick had turned onto the interstate, his foot to the floor. The speed was making the frame of the old truck shake a bit, but he didn’t let up. His mate needed him.
Laura hung up the phone before Rick could answer. The voices of the two men were drawing nearer little by little. She wasn’t quite sure how they had found her, as she had sprinted straight into the forest for a full minute before finally turning. She debated whether to wait it out and hope that she could continue hiding behind this bush or to take off again. While she fretted over the decision, the two voices drew near enough to make out.
“…telling you, she went this way!” came a voice that she recognized as the one she had struck. He had come to way more quickly than she had expected. The tire iron had clocked him good.
Must have a pretty thick skull.
The other man responded in frustration. “I think you’re full of shit Jim. I don’t see anything. She could be anywhere out here.”
“I know what I’m doing. See this branch here? How it’s broken? Something came through here recently. The way that grass is pushed down over there? She stepped there hard, she was running.” The voice sounded entirely confident in which he was saying, as well he should from the sound of things.
One of them could track. That changed things entirely. She couldn’t just hide unless she could find a way to not leave a trail while doing it, but short of finding a river out here Laura didn’t know how to do that. The voices were close now, she was sure that she would be able to see them through the trees soon enough.
Decision made for her, she stood up and took off through the woods again, angling a little to the left from the way she had been running before. If this guy could follow her through the forest, the best she could do was to make his job harder by changing directions more often. She knew Rick was on the way, so she just had to hold out until he got here.
She heard an exclamation from behind her. Apparently the men had heard her start running, though she couldn’t make out what they were saying over the sound of her footsteps and the thrumming of her heart. She wouldn’t be caught.
After a solid thirty seconds of running she turned a hard left, then angled right after a short distance.
Let’s see just how well you can follow me.
After about five minutes on the highway, Rick had downgraded some shuddering from the trucks frame to a B tier problem. The acrid stench of burnt motor oil now permeated the cabin. While Rick had always tried to make sure his truck was in good shape, it was 30 years old if it was a day and was no longer up to a ninety mile an hour race down the interstate. If it could just hold on a little longer…
His biggest hope was that he could find the blue Toyota before he found a police officer camped out looking for speeders. Trying to bullshit his way through a conversation like that while still mostly covered in blood and dirt would be almost impossible. And seeing how Laura was a fugitive, he couldn’t come clean.
It didn’t matter though. His foot was still on the floor, the truck was still shaking like it was going to fall apart, and there was probably more oil in the air of the cabin than there was left in the motor at this point. This was his last chance to get to her.
Laura had lost the sound of the two men behind her a few minutes before. She had been zigging and zagging to throw off the tracker, but had maintained what she thought was a gradual loop to the left, taking her back toward the highway. That’s the direction Rick would be coming from, so it made sense to not go too deep into the forest.
She pulled up at a tree, leaning on it to catch her breath. Her whole body was covered in sweat, the cool shade of the trees doing little to cool down a body that had been running for what felt like an hour. Felt like, but she was sure that it hadn’t been any more than twenty or thirty minutes. Thus far she had been able to stay well ahead of her pursuers, their need to track her many changes of direction slowing them considerably.
She stood straight again and strained her ears, listening for the sounds of cracking twigs that would announce their approach. The forest was silent, however, other than the odd bird chirp or the sound of the leaves rustling in the wind.
Maybe she had actually lost them at some point. The canopy above made the light here pretty dim, and she had done her best to make her turns in places that wouldn’t give her away, pivoting off a large rock here or turning on a patch of hard-packed dirt there. Maybe she was home free already.
She spent another few minutes resting, still listening intently for any indication of pursuit. There was none, however, so she set off back towards the highway, walking slowly, head swiveling constantly. She may have lost them, but they may also have missed a turn and ended up cutting her off.
Feeling more and more confident, she picked up her pace. Rick should be here soon enough, and as long as she was somewhat close to the highway he would be able to find her without too much trouble. She just needed to find a hidden place to wait for him.
She stepped past a small cluster of trees, then heard it. Footsteps rushing her from behind. Close. She tried to turn to see but something hit her in the side of the head, knocking her to her knees.
Laura tried to stand, but her legs failed her. The force of the blow had made everything spin, and she felt sick to her stomach. The best she could do was place her hands on the ground for balance and look up.
Both of the men were there, the one she had struck showing a nasty lump on the side of his head to match the angry sneer on his face. The other man was thinner and more bookish looking than the first, but he had the same cast to his features, an expression that spoke of violence to come.
A boot struck her in the chest, knocking her to the ground. She wheezed, trying desperately to draw air into her lungs, but they didn’t seem to want to respond.
“I take it back Jim, you’re a veritable bloodhound,” the driver said, sounding at least a bit grudging.
“I told you, she was angling back towards the highway,” the one named Jim answered, his voice gloating. “Way easier to just turn sharper and wait her out.”
“Get her up, let’s get her back to the car,” the first one said, replacing the pistol that had struck her in the waist of his pants.
The other man shook his head. “No way. She almost killed me with that tire iron, she isn’t walking out of these woods.”
“Boss said to bring her back alive, wants to talk to her for some reason.”
“I don’t care what the boss said. We’ll tell them we had to shoot her or let her get away, we can make it work.”
The first man sounded reluctant, but like he was coming around. “I don’t know man, the big guy might not accept that for an answer.”
“What choice will he have? If we get our story straight before we get back nobody will have anything on us.”
“Alright, whatever. If I get shit for this you’re gonna be right in it with me buddy.”
The other man smiled, a murderous glint coming into his eyes. “Don’t you worry about a thing,” he said, drawing a gun and pointing it at her.
Was this it? Her life wasn’t flashing before her eyes, which was something of a disappointment. The only strong emotion she felt was sadness at not getting to see Rick one last time. Not getting to say goodbye, to kiss him just once more.
But then a roar resounded through the forest, a roar she recognized. A smile split her face as both men spun to face the sound. They both shouted in alarm, the combined yells little more than a ripple as compared to the tidal wave that was the roar. Laura thought she could already feel the heavy footsteps, though she knew that was impossible.
“What the hell man, are there bears out here?” shouted the driver, his head swiveling to scan the trees around them. He seemed panic
ked, almost on the verge of flight, though she had no idea which way he would run. The roar had echoed off the trees and hills around them, making it hard to tell which way it had come from.
His partner seemed less visibly scared, though he was shooting glances in all directions, pistol up and pointing. The last few weeks had provided Laura a crash course on guns, and she recognized that the small pistol the man was holding probably wouldn’t be dangerous to a bear.
She heard it then, the steady thump thump of Rick’s paws hurling him through the forest. The two men turned to face the sound, the one named Jim firing his gun in that direction.
What an idiot. If it was a real bear chasing prey and you shot it the bear might just drop its pursuit and chase you instead. If it hadn’t noticed you then you had just alerted it to your presence. Though she was sure that this particular bear would have found them regardless.
She saw him then, a huge brown streak flying across the ground. The gun fired a few more times, though it didn’t look like any of the bullets came anywhere near Rick. The two men were stumbling backwards past Laura, their faces white, inarticulate cries coming from their mouths.
Rick was on them in a flash, barreling past her to shoulder check the armed man at full speed. He flew into a tree, landing in a heap at the bottom. He turned on the other man then, rearing to his full towering height above him. The man tried to back away but tripped. He scrabbled across the ground away from the bestial form, his mouth working but no sounds that she could hear coming out. Rick’s angry growling drowned it all out.
Laura stood up and calmly walked over to the unconscious man, scooping up his gun from the ground next to him. She spoke in a normal conversational voice, knowing that Rick’s growling would stop the scrambling man from hearing any of it. “I’ve got the gun, go wait nearby. I need to ask this guy some questions, and we don’t need him knowing any more about you than he already does.”
Rick’s head cocked towards her when she spoke, though he continued his slow advance on the man. She thought she detected a note of frustration enter his growl as she spoke, a sudden tonal change that conveyed disappointment at not getting to hurt this one. That was unlike him, though she understood the sentiment. She just hoped that Rick didn’t lose some piece of the goodness in his heart because of her fight.
The Bear's Heart: Clanless Book 2 Page 9