Page 3 of The Hunt

Kaliah wanted nothing more than to separate from these three. Now more than ever, it was clear she had to find another way home. She only needed to convince them to drop her off at the next exit so that she could find the closest bus or train station home. It would be so much better than spending a week with these three vipers she no longer felt safe with.

It was now more evident than ever, if this trip were to continue, they’d use Kaliah for whatever they could get out of her and ignore her the rest of the time. She deserved better thanthat. She wished she would have realized that before she agreed to come on this vacation with them in the first place.

A lump formed in her throat and her chest tightened, making it difficult to breath. Tears stung her eyes but she refused to let them fall. At least not in front of these women who would mock her for them. Besides, crying never got her anywhere in life. They never moved her parents or siblings who treated her as an afterthought.

And they didn’t work on the one and only boyfriend she’d had who used her to get closer to her older sister. Maybe she clung to these women because she wanted to feel like someone actually cared about her even though deep down, she knew they didn’t. At least before this trip, she could pretend someone in her life gave a damn about Kaliah Williams. Since that was longer the case, she never felt more alone.

So deep in her misery, she didn’t realize, Brianna and Sasha were still arguing while Nicole seemed to be enjoying the show. Each one of these women, managed to tap dance on her last nerve and finally she snapped.

“Would the two of you cut this bullshit out? We just got into an accident and it’ll be dark in an hour or so. We should see if the car is in driving condition and find someplace to spend the night,” Kaliah reasoned.

“Who do you think you’re talking to?” Brianna turned her narrowed gaze in Kaliah’s direction. Her short bright red curls now stood straight up, giving her the appearance of being electrocuted. There was a bruise on her light brown cheek and her makeup was smeared. She appeared to be all out of fucks.

But Kaliah was beyond caring. Before this incident, she would have apologized in the name of preserving the friendship. But there was no friendship to hold on to.

“All of you. You two can beat each other’s asses later. Right now, we’re in the middle of nowhere with no cell phonereception. We haven’t seen a sign for miles and we’re not sure if we’re on the right road to our destination. Wouldn’t it be better to focus on getting somewhere we can get help?”

Nicole sighed. “She’s right. I don’t want to stick around here. This place is creepy. It could be a sundown town for all we know and my black ass doesn’t want to be around when some hick in a pick-up truck comes after us.”

Brianna flared her nostrils and glared at Kaliah for a few more seconds before turning back around.

Kaliah didn’t realize she’d been holding her breath until that moment. She only had to make it through the night and she could get away from these ex friends of hers.

Brianna cranked up the car but it wouldn’t start. It made a whirring sound whenever she attempted to turn the key. “Fuck!” She banged on the steering wheel several times. “What are we going to do?”

Kaliah groaned in disappointment. “Did you try your phone again? Maybe one of us can get a signal.”

Everyone in their car, looked at their phones. There were zero bars on Kaliah’s and from the twisted lines of frustrations etched in the other women’s faces, it was the same for them.

“Well, one of us is obviously going to have to walk to get help and it’s not going to be me. And the two of you look like a couple of hot messes.” Nicole folded her arms and pursed her lips.

Three pairs of eyes landed on Kaliah.

“Fine, I’ll go.” Of course they’d pick the girl with the bum leg. She grabbed her purse and phone and got out of the car without argument. It should have bothered her that once again, they expected her to be the one who was put out. But this time it didn’t matter. The less time she had to spend with them the better.

The only downside was her aching leg, which was starting to hurt a bit from the being slammed against the car door. Whenshe was younger, she had been in a car accident that had left her right leg badly scarred and slightly shorter than the left one. It caused her to walk with an awkward gait. She couldn’t run very well, and walking long distances irritated it but dealing with her aching leg was better than being stuck in the car with people who clearly hated her.

She kept checking her phone to see if she could get a signal, but no such luck. A half hour passed when the little bit of hope she’d been clinging to slowly dwindled.

As it got darker, the woods seemed to thicken, and the sounds of wild animals in the distance, cried out, sending a shiver of fear down her spine. To make matters worse, not a single car had been sighted since her hike began. She found that odd and scary.

With no street lights lining the road to guide her, soon it would be too dark for her to see and she didn’t know what she’d do. Would she be mauled by a bear or would some hillbillies pop out of nowhere to torment her. Neither scenario was appealing.

“Just keep going, Kaliah,” she spoke into the impending darkness.

The farther she went, the louder the animal sounds became. She hummed to drown out the noise but it did no good.

She wondered if anything happened to her, would anyone miss her? Maybe her parents might pretend to care at her funeral but beyond that would she be quickly forgotten? It wasn’t that her family was horrible but her parents seemed to be much more engaged in her older sister and younger brother.

Kaliah and her siblings weren’t particularly close either. Growing up, they were athletic, popular and belonged to several clubs. Though she loved her family and wished they had a better relationship, it was like living among a bunch of strangers.

Since moving out on her on, she got an occasional call from her mom but she’d often go months at a time without hearingfrom any of her immediate family if she wasn’t the one to initiate the communication.

“How sad is my life,” Kaliah said to no one in particular.

She pulled the sweater she’d brought with her, closer around her body and shivered as the night wind blew around her. Her teeth chattered and the ache in her leg deepened as the cold hit her.

On the brink of giving up, a pair of bright lights shinned from a distance. Kaliah shielded her eyes as they got closer.

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