She got out!
He hoped he was right.
Thunder reverberated around him.
Maybe she got out!
She must have!
He straightened up and turned around to check the Jeep once more. As he did so, a double-fork of lightning stretched across the sky. He could see no one was in the Jeep. He could also see the puddles of liquid on the ground.
Fuel?
I hope not.
And then he realised he was standing in it. The fuel was running from underneath the Jeep and was pooling in several places, including around his feet, soaking his shoes.
“Shit,” was all he could manage.
Quickly backing away, he dashed into the forest, moving quickly around some of the pines to the other side of the car.
“Sherrie!” he called once more.
It was darker with the pines around him. While the trees gave him extra cover, they also made it harder for him to see.
His eyes slowly began to adjust.
Thunder rolled through the night, louder than before, shaking everything around him.
When the silence returned, he came to a halt to catch his breath and to listen to the night.
The breeze was almost a steady wind now, and it rustled the trees as it blew, making it harder to hear other sounds. The creaks and groans from the cars sounded unnatural and eerie, like some mechanical beast on the prowl, and didn’t help him calm down.
Control yourself. Sherrie needs you now. Keep a level head. Don’t lose it all now!
He tried not to think about the fuel leaking from the cars, or the fact that he had been standing in it.
This side of the road had a slight decline, and he knew if enough fuel pooled around the cars, it would eventually run down in this direction. Straight towards him.
And Sherrie.
“Sherrie!” he called again.
And this time he heard a muffled reply somewhere up ahead of him.
Was that her? he asked himself. It had to be! I’m sure it was!
But what if it’s Zoe?
I have to find out. It must be her!
But what if it isn’t?
John trekked on in the dark with his hands out in front of him, feeling for the pines all around him.
The forest was densely populated with the pines; their trunks standing tall and bare, with most of the foliage starting on branches more than ten or fifteen feet above his head. The ground was covered with a blanket of dead pine needles, softening his steps as he walked.
At least Zoe won’t hear me approach.
He smiled at that idea.
And you won’t hear her either!
His smile disappeared.
After what seemed like an eternity, John made it to the open driver’s door. He took one more look into the crumpled wreck, just in case Sherrie was in there. But the car was empty.
Lightning struck, illuminating the interior of the car. There was no doubt she wasn’t in there, but there was blood on the steering wheel and the door handle.
No!
John turned around to look back into the forest.
She couldn’t have gone far. She’s injured.
But what if she was carried? What if Zoe’s got her!
“Sherrie!” John shouted this time. He had to risk it. He had to find her.
He heard the quiet moan again, just before another wave of thunder erupted in the sky.
To the left. I heard it. I did! She’s off to the left!
Walking as quickly as he dared, he set off to the left, walking a few feet and then stopping, hoping his eyes would catch something that looked out of place.
He didn’t have to walk very far.
Within thirty feet of the car, he found her.
Sherrie was sitting at the base of one of the pines, her back pressed against its trunk and her head in her hands.
A flash of lightning showed the blood running down the side of her head.
John dashed to her, “Sherrie!”
She looked up with a dazed expression on her face.
“John?”
“Yes, it’s me,” he replied as he knelt down next to her.
“I thought you were…” she trailed off, shaking her head.
“Don’t think about that now,” he said as he hugged her. “Are you okay?”
She nodded. “I think so. I’m really not sure. I don’t even know what happened, or how I got here. I don’t remember much.”
“That’s okay, as long as you’re alright.”
“And you?” she looked into his eyes then, a worried expression on her face.
“I’ll live,” he tried to smile.
It didn’t work.
Sherrie looked around and into the night.
“Have you seen her?” she asked.
John shook his head. “No, I haven’t.”
“We’ve got to get out of here,” Sherrie said as she began to stand. “She’s crazy.”
“I know,” he helped her up. “But are you okay? Can you walk?”
Sherrie took a couple of small steps. “Yeah, I think so.”
Then she let out a yelp of pain and doubled over holding her side.
John reached for her and helped her steady.
“You sure?”
She took in some deep breaths and then straightened back up. “Yeah, I think so.” Pain flashed across her face. “We’ll just have to take it slow.”
“Okay,” he helped her walk a few more steps.
“How’s the car?” she asked.
“It’s a write-off.”
Sherrie nodded, “I figured as much.”
“We’ll have to make it on foot.”
“Okay,” she replied.
“You think you can make it?”
“Back to Hepburn Lakes?” she turned and smiled at him. “If I’m with you, yeah.”
Lightning flashed.
“We’re not going back to Hepburn Lakes,” he said in a deep voice.
“Huh?” she pulled away from him.
Thunder rumbled like a deadly beast.
“We’re heading to Redlingford.”
Fifty-six
“What?” Sherrie replied in a shocked voice.
“That’s where Fox has Helen,” John explained.
“I know, you told me that,” she replied. “But you said she was dead.”
“I think she is. But I have to know for sure.” John looked deep into her eyes. “Zoe said she’s dead and Fox killed her. But I have to know. I have to see for myself before I can really believe it.”
“You think Zoe lied to you?”
John hung his head and looked to the ground as lightning lit up the area. Images of the past two days flashed through his mind.
She came back covered in blood.
She was wearing Helen’s half-heart pendant.
Would she lie?
First they screw you, then they screw you!
Was Zoe telling him the truth or was it all lies?
“I don’t know,” he said finally, turning to face Sherrie once more. “But I need to find out. And if Fox is still there, I have to make him pay.”
Thunder rolled long and loud through the night.
Sherrie stepped closer, put an arm around his back and hugged him hard.
“I understand how you feel,” she replied. “I think it’s a bad idea, but I don’t think I have any choice other than to go along with you. I’m not walking back to Hepburn Lakes by myself.”
“I don’t want to get you involved in this, honey,” he replied.
“Too late,” she smiled at him and pointed to the blood on her face. “I already am.”
He nodded and sighed deeply.
“We better get moving,” he said as he reached out and wiped the blood from her temple. “Can you walk?”
Sherrie nodded. “How far is it?”
“Zoe said it was about ten miles from here.”
“Ten?” Sherrie sounded exhausted already.
“It�
��s going to take us some time to get there,” he replied. “Do you think you can make it?”
She nodded. “I’ll have to.”
“You can stay here. We’ll find a good hiding spot if you like.”
Sherrie shook her head vigorously. “No way. Uh-uh. I’m sticking with you this time. Safety in numbers. I’ll be okay.”
The wind blew strongly through the pines and lightning flashed.
At first, he thought it was the sound of the wind. But the noise got stronger and louder after the wind died.
“Jooohhhnnnyyy!”
John turned to Sherrie to ask if she heard it. But she was already looking at him, panic on her face.
She heard it too!
“Jooooohhhhhnnnnnyyyyy!”
The cry started low and built up as it stretched for seconds.
John turned in a circle, trying to pinpoint where the voice was coming from.
Zoe!
Another roll of thunder drowned out Zoe’s voice.
“She’s here,” Sherrie whispered, squeezing John’s hand while her eyes darted around them.
He nodded. “But where? It sounds like she’s all around us.”
The wind blew through the pines again; branches bent and needles rustled, combining with the eerie call.
“Jooohhhnnnyyy!”
“Let’s get out of here,” Sherrie pulled his arm. “This is starting to freak me out.”
John backed away towards Sherrie, his eyes wide and searching through the darkness.
Lightning split the night sky.
For a second, John could see clearly around him. His eyes danced, trying to spot Zoe somewhere.
But he couldn’t see her.
“Jooohhhnnnyyy!”
She sounded closer now as her voice floated on the wind. Closer, but still issuing from all around them. Almost as if the wind itself was calling his name.
Where the fuck is she?
Sherrie pulled him further into the forest.
“I hope this is the right way,” she said over her shoulder.
“Don’t worry,” John replied, his head still darting back and forth in the darkness. “Let’s just put some distance between us and her. We’ll work out where we are later.”
He squeezed her hand and they set off blindly through the pines, moving deeper into the forest and hoping they were leaving Zoe far behind.
Thunder growled around them.
“Jooohhhnnnyyy! Don’t goooooo!”
Zoe’s voice sounded just as loud.
Just as close.
Can she see us?
Does she know what we’re doing?
The hairs on the back of John’s neck stood on end as fear skittered up his spine.
They soon came to a halt and looked at each other.
Both John and Sherrie were thinking the same thoughts.
“Did that sound closer?” Sherrie asked.
“I don’t know.”
“I don’t want to run straight into her.”
“I know.”
“I just don’t know where it’s coming from!”
“We have to take our chances,” John replied.
“Jooohhhnnnyyy! Doooon’t leeeeeeave meeeeee!”
John shook his head. If he were out in the forest alone, he would probably think he was going crazy; the stress of the last few days, the dehydration and hunger, the pain. But Sherrie heard the voice too. Sherrie proved it was real.
We have to get out!
“Can you run?” he asked her.
“Yes, I can try,” Sherrie nodded.
“Okay,” John replied. “Well, just keep running. No matter what.”
She nodded.
The wind blew stronger through the trees.
“Jooohhhnnnyyy! Come baaaaaaack!”
Zoe’s voice crept through the night and cut through John’s soul.
Go back for her.
What?
Go back for her!
You can’t!
She can help me get to Fox.
You know where he is.
She can bargain with him.
It didn’t work last time.
She can help me!
Yeah, like she already has!
John thought about his wounds. The scratches on his chest bit at him in the cold night air. His arm was still dull with pain, but he could feel the stitches were still holding. He could still feel the lump on his head and the tight wrappings around his cock, and the dull pulling of the cock ring.
She did all that to you.
Yeah, you’re right.
She almost killed you.
Yeah, she did.
I owe her nothing! Not after all that has happened.
John turned to Sherrie and kissed her hard on the lips. He could smell her now. The sweet scent of her perfume enveloped him. He knew the scent; he’d given her the bottle the day after Christmas last year. Her long curly locks brushed against the side of his face and forehead as the wind blew around them.
Her hot full lips kissed him back with passion.
They embraced as lightning flashed in the sky.
“I love you,” she whispered as they pulled apart.
“And I love you.”
“Nothing’s changed,” she said.
John’s head tilted to the side. “And nothing’s changed with me either,” he replied.
She smiled at him then. It was the first time she had done that in a long while.
Thunder deafened them.
“Come on,” he said, grabbing Sherrie’s hand. “Let’s get out of here.”
And as they dashed through the pines and into the heart of the forest, Zoe’s voice followed them.
“Jooohhhnnnyyy! Coooome baaaack! Youuuu dooooon’t understaaaand!”
They ducked around trunks of trees, stepping carefully where they could.
As they ran, John was sure Zoe’s voice was fading into the distance.
But that could’ve been because of the wind. Or his heavy breathing.
Either way, he didn’t care.
Gotta get out of here.
He kept that thought rolling over and over in his mind.
Gotta get out of here. Gotta get out of here. Gottagetoutofhere!
“Jooohhhnnnyyy! Pleeeeeasssse!”
They ran into the night.
And Zoe’s voice began to waver; lost in the wind and in the thunder.
And when the sky opened up, Zoe’s pleading was swallowed in the rain that followed.
It fell hard and heavy.
John welcomed the rain.
Maybe it could wash away all the events of the last few days and give them the cover they needed to get out of here.
Maybe it could help him get to Fox and teach the bastard a lesson he wouldn’t forget.
Maybe…
Fifty-seven
He didn’t know how long they ran or how much distance they covered. But it was slow going just the same.
They had to be careful where they ran and they stopped constantly to try and listen to the night, trying to convince themselves that Zoe wasn’t following them.
The rain cut down their vision and that slowed them down more. They couldn’t risk running into a tree trunk or heading blindly into danger.
They had run deep into the forest for quite a while, heading further down the descending slope, and would have continued in that direction except for the wide river that cut off their escape.
The river was at least twenty feet across and was flowing rapidly in the rain. In the heavy downpour it was hard to see the bank on the other side.
John could make out some rocks in the middle of the river, and there were pines at the water’s edge, some of their branches stretching out into the water. A few dead pines poked out of the river, their ghostly white trunks looking like skeletal hands in the darkness.
“What do you think?” he asked Sherrie as they stopped by the river bank.
“I don’t…know,” she said, as she caught her breath. “Do we
really…want to risk it?”
John shook his head as lightning flashed.
“I don’t think so. No telling how deep it is.”
“We can’t go back,” Sherrie said, looking over her shoulder.
“I know.”
“And we can’t stay here. We’ll freeze to death!”
John placed his arm around Sherrie and rubbed her shoulder. She was shivering.
He realised he was cold too. The wind was colder than before, or at least it felt that way. Their rain-soaked clothes and bodies didn’t help matters either.
We’ve got to get out of this rain!
“Come on,” he said, smiling and taking her hand.
“Where to?”
John pointed up the river. “We’ll follow it. See if we can cross somewhere. If not, we’ll work our way back to the main road and head for Redlingford.”
“Do you think that’s a good idea?” she asked.
“No.”
“Then why do it?”
“Because I have to find out for sure. Plus, I think Zoe said there’s a couple of farmhouses up there. Maybe we can get help. At the very least we can find shelter for the night and get away from this storm.”
Thunder rumbled and the rain came down harder, hitting them with force and stinging them like a thousand bees.
“Can we walk for a while?” Sherrie asked.
John nodded, “I think we should anyway. It’ll be safer. I haven’t heard Zoe for some time now.”
He was right. Zoe’s voice had disappeared with the storm. She wasn’t haunting them now.
And since she’d stopped calling, John had been able to think clearly once more. And he knew what he had to do.
He looked towards the river and watched the water rush by. Usually it would be a tranquil image for John, but right at this moment, all he saw was the turmoil and violence of the current, and all he could think about was making Fox pay.
I have to see this thing through to the end. Now!
They followed the river as it snaked through the darkness. Occasional flashes of lightning lit their path, giving them a chance to see further ahead. The pines along the bank gave them some shelter from the wind, but the rain still made it through, falling hard and heavy about them.
They walked in silence for quite a long time.
John hoped they were heading in the right direction.
We have to be.
You gonna kill him?
If I can find him, yeah.
How?
I don’t know.
He’s a strong guy. He’d have to be. Can you do it?
Love Lies Dying Page 46