“Oh, she was,” he says. “Now she’s somewhere else.”
“Where?”
“Somewhere secure until we are ready to move her,” he says, stepping away from the door and approaching me, forcing me back a step. “Girls like your friend make good money when they’re untouched. Pretty, innocent, gullible.” I take another step and another until there is a table between us. “And you are an unexpected treat. Maybe I’ll have my fun with you first.”
I’m prepared when he lunges at me, taking my pepper spray out of my bag and spraying the mist right into his eyes. He bellows, hands swiping blindly toward me, missing my face by a hair’s breadth. I scramble around the table when he tries to catch me, swinging my bag hard into his shoulder as I run past him and toward the door.
He’s yelling as he grapples blindly for me, his face a twisted mask of pain and fury. I manage to unlock the door just as he lunges for me. I cry out when he grabs my bag, and I let go before he can pull me back, yanking the door open.
Then I run.
The desert heat slams into me as I veer away from the house, my feet pounding over the dry, uneven ground. I hear his voice, bellowing behind me, and that only pushes me to runfaster, stumbling past the neighboring houses and toward the open stretch of desert beyond the street. Tall cacti and scrub brush blur around me, the silence broken only by my ragged breaths and the distant yelling at my back.
A sob chokes my throat as I realize I’m running away from the only houses close enough for anyone to hear me. For one wild second, I think about screaming for help, but fear keeps my voice trapped in my throat. If I stop, he’ll catch me.
“I’ll fucking kill you, bitch!”
I risk a glance back, and God, he’s close. He’s gaining on me, still half-blinded and furious, but getting closer, and something tells me I won’t make it out of this desert if he catches me.
But I can’t move any faster. My lungs burn and my legs are beginning to feel like lead. Heck, even the ground seems to conspire against me, tripping me at every turn.I’m getting tired.
My eyes lock on a dense cluster of brush ahead, and for one desperate second, I consider hiding. But it’s too close. If he sees where I leave the path, he’ll find me in seconds.
I force my aching legs to keep moving. Branches snag at my clothes as I push deeper into the desert, stumbling over rocks and uneven ground. Every breath burns. Every step sends pain shooting up my legs. Still, I run.
I don’t stop when the houses disappear behind me. I don’t stop when the yelling fades. I don’t stop until the desert has swallowed me whole.
Sweat drips down my brow and I pray, as I rarely do, that I’ve made it far enough.
Please. Please. Please.
I stumble behind a cluster of brush and press myself low to the ground, trying to make myself as small as possible. My lungsburn, my legs tremble, and every instinct screams at me to keep running, but I can’t. Not anymore.
His footsteps slow somewhere nearby, and my heart threatens to give out. I bite down on a whimper, waiting for him to find me before whatever is growling in the distance gets the chance.
My head snaps up at the loud, menacing growl, and I realize that he didn’t stop for me. The man curses, his breathing heavy as he takes a step back. “What the fuck is that?” he shouts, stumbling as four large shapes emerge from the brush.
Wolves?
Since when are there wolves in South Tucson?Aren’t they found in the mountains or something? The sun is behind them so I can’t make out more than their silhouettes. Whatever they are, they’re massive.
I whimper, considering my choices, but I have nowhere to go. I’m hiding in a bush between a man who has threatened to kill me and four large animals. No matter what I direction I choose, I’ll be running toward danger.
Maybe if I keep hiding...
“Shoo!” I glance up, alarmed when Leopold picks up a stick and waves it at the growling animals. Instead of retreating, they spread out with their backs arched, low growls rumbling through desert brush.
“Go away. Shoo!”
He swings the stick. They pounce.
Someone screams. Maybe it’s me, or maybe it’s the man as two of the dogs drive him backward. Dogs. They are dogs, I realize through the fear choking me. Not wolves, but large, terrifying shepherds.
One has its teeth buried in his leg, making him howl in pain, while another keeps snapping at him whenever he tries to move closer.
And the other two dogs...
I swallow hard when I find two massive beasts flanking me, positioned on each side as they watch the other two attack the man. Almost like they’re...guarding me.