Page 203 of Deliverance

The front door of the cabin is wide open and looks like a mouth agape in surprise.

I halt on the threshold and drink in the flipped chair, the mess on the kitchen counter, the crumpled rug, the small drops of blood on the floorboards.

Someone put up a fight here.

I bring my hand to my lips and bite my knuckle to suppress a scream wanting to come out, my eyes following the traces of blood across the cabin and to the door and, finally when I lift up my foot and stare at the bottom of my sole, I realize the red splotches lead out of the house.

Without giving it much thought, I rush in and start checking all the rooms to be sure. When my search confirms that whoever was here is gone, I turn on the flashlight on my phone and track the blood.

Outside, into the darkness, across the yard, past the van, and into the forest.

Cold bites at my skin, sharp and ruthless, and each breath is a struggle.

The snow is now falling in large fluffy flakes, lashing over my face, getting stuck in my hair, melting against my shoulders and neck, obstructing my view.

There are two sets of footsteps. Large—booted, and small—shoeless.

She ran from him barefoot. She’s somewhere in the woods and she’s not wearing anything warm.

The thought pushes my rage to the surface. I quicken my pace, nearly running, the phone in my hand trembling, the light streaking across gleaming heaps of silvery-white and jumping around.

“Drew!” I call, my desperation solid and heavy in my chest. “Drew!”

I continue my sprint until the ground begins to incline and finally just stops. I don’t know how far into the forest I am, probably a couple of miles.

My phone shows no bars whatsoever and my battery is at ten percent. The flashlight is draining the power.

Following the tracks, I near the edge of the drop and my heart stops beating.

There are two bodies splayed out on the side of the hill. One is him, on top of her with his head face down in the snow, and the second one is Drew, her frame so small and broken. A pool of darkness haloes their forms.

Blood.

Please, do not be hers, I think in panic and bring my foot over the edge to find some purchase. The slope is steep and I can see the ribbon of disturbed ground and tarnished snow leading toward them.

It looks like they fell over the side, but I don’t really care to inspect the tracks further. I tap the ground with the front of my boot and secure myself, then swing the other leg over, my ass connecting with the cold snow, my arms reaching out for balance as I begin to slide.

The phone slips from my hand and plunges into the snow when I get to them.

“Drew?” I call, kneeling beside her.

There’s a knife protruding from his jacket that slips out when I shove him away. He rolls to the side, flipping onto his back, eyes wide open and mouth twisted in a grimace.

I don’t want to waste precious moments on this piece of shit, but something pushes me to check his vitals to ensure that he’s dead and can’t be saved. And if he’s not dead, then I’ll finish him here and now. Once and for all.

Fortunately, he has no pulse.

And perhaps it makes me a shitty person, but I’m glad to know that he won’t be pursuing her any longer. In the end, fucker got what he deserved.

“Drew? Can you hear me?” I cup her cheek while inspecting her face and clothes, my gaze landing on two thin lines running from the corners of her eyes down to her ears and into the mess of her hair.Tear stains.Her fingers are stiff, frozen. Her dress—the same one she wore during our whale watching yacht trip—is soaked in blood.

I press my hand to her neck, searching for an artery, and detect a slow thrum beneath her skin.

“I’m going to get you out of here, Drew,” I say, carefully lifting the upper part of her body and resting it against my arm. Then I pluck my dying phone from the snow and shut off the flashlight to conserve the battery so that I can make a 911 call once we reach the coverage area.

I don’t know if she can hear me or feel pain when I scoop her up and rest her head to my chest as my own body struggles against the freezing cold, but I’m not giving up now that I found her.

So I take a step and pull myself up the hill, and I walk.

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