Scottie had been so sure he’d see her. That he’d find her and drag her away to her death. She’d nearly cried out with terror knowing he was going to find and, ultimately, kill her.
After all, that was her abductor’s end game.
In his eyes, her death would be his retribution for her stalker’s murder. So-called justice for a man whose delusions about the two of them had nearly destroyed her sense of safety.
But since she had no plans of dying today, Scottie had done the only thing she could. When she heard the man hunting her growing closer to the cluster of trees where she’d been hiding, she’d picked up a nearby rock and thrown it in the opposite direction.
The redirection worked exactly as it had been designed. The kidnapper had assumed the noise had come from her, and he’d immediately turned and headed that way. Once he’d put several yards between them, Scottie had forced herself to move, once again going on the run.
And she was still running. Still terrified. Lost in a sea of seemingly endless trees as she desperately searched for a way out.
According to her watch, nearly an hour had passed since she’d last heard him in the distance. But still, she didn’t stop. She couldn’t stop.
Scottie did, however, allow herself to slow down. If she cramped up or lost all her steam, she risked having to stop altogether. Stopping would only put her at greater risk.
Her feet crossed over the forest’s carpet of dead leaves, roots, and dirt. She hadn’t noticed it before, but now that she wasn’t huffing and puffing quite so much, Scottie realized the air had grown a bit cooler. Thicker and damp.
She paused mid-step when she heard something different than before. A steady, rushing noise she hadn’t heard before now. Something that sounded a lot like…
Water!
Hope flourished, and Scottie did stop. But only so she could try to get her bearings and find the direction of the source.
There!
To her right, Scottie noticed several chunks of daylight shining through the trees. There had to be a clearing there. A river or creek or…something to give her some sense of direction.
If she could get there and follow it downstream, she’d eventually make her way back to civilization. At least she prayed that was the case.
With no other choice but to follow that plan, she renewed her previous pace and took off running. Scottie watched her step as best she could while also focusing on her current path. In addition, she did her best to keep an eye out for the man who was after her.
He didn’t strike her as the type to simply give up and walk away.
Stepping through the last of the foliage, she made it out onto the grassy bank of a small creek. It looked to be about fifteen feet wide, but there was no way to know its depth. Scottie was a decent swimmer, but decided to stick to her original plan of following the creek’s southern path.
She turned and started to walk that way, praying it wouldn’t take long to find someone who could help. For the first time in a while, Scottie let her mind wander back to Chase.
God, she hoped he was okay. Hehadto be. For her, there was no other choice.
The image of his still and bleeding form filled her mind’s eye, and her chest grew tight with worry. Then she reminded herself of how strong Chase really was and the fact that he’d been a Navy freaking SEAL.
If anyone could be knocked down and get right back up again, it was him.
A sort of peace began to trickle its way in, and for a moment, Scottie truly believed she was going to be okay. But just as she was confident everything was going to work out in the end, something hard and strong slammed into her from behind.
The air was painfully forced from her lungs as the man she’d been running from tackled her to the ground. Their bodies twisted and turned, rolling together down the slope of a steeper section of the creek’s soft bank.
Scottie screamed with all she had while trying to fight her way free. Her terror-stricken voice echoed loudly throughout the nearby trees.
Locked together, a literal battle to the death ensued. She continued screaming at the top of her lungs in hopes that someone somewhere would hear.
The man flipped her over onto her back. Scottie’s legs shot out in several hard, vicious kicks. She dug her fingernails into any exposed skin she could find.
His hands. Neck. She even reached out and clawed at his face.
At one point, Scottie knew she’d at least caused him some pain, because he jerked his head back with a hiss. A twisted satisfaction filled her racing veins, and she couldn’t help but inwardly grin.
“You stupid bitch!” The man punched the invisible smile from her face.