Page 10 of Unnatural
A moan rose around her as her eyelids slowly opened.Groggy. Hazy.The groan had come from her own lips. She blinked,trying desperately to bring the world into focus.The dream. I’m in the dream.Despite the jolt of excitement, her limbs felt so heavy, and she didn’t want to move. But she heard rustling in the trees around her, and her skin prickled, her heart picking up speed.Run. Hide.
She cried out softly as she pulled herself to her knees, head swimming, world tilting.Oh God,she hated this feeling. She felt sick again as the drugs swirled in her system, weighing her down, making her feel bleary and foggy andweak.
You wanted to be here, didn’t you?
Yes. No. Not like this.
In only a short time, she’d become used to feeling in control of her body, and suddenly she was not. She felt scared and frustrated, completely and utterly out of sorts. And she was sitting in a bed of pine needles in the middle of the woods.I want to be back in my bed.
She had a flash of memory, or what she thought was memory. Movement. The squeak of wheels.Was I in awheelchair?
She reached behind her back, feeling the lump of her soft-covered journal. She’d put on a tight pair of shorts beneath her nightgown and stuck it in the waistband before bed. If she had been moved by wheelchair, whoever had done the moving hadn’t felt it. It remained where she’d hidden it just before she’d slipped under. She could hardly remember why she’d done it now.To sketch your surroundings. To write things down you might not remember when you wake. Yes, right.It’d seemed a good idea at the time. She squinted, trying to focus her foggy mind, but before she could attempt to dredge up anything else about possibly being dumped out here in these woods, she heard something large coming through the foliage. Something that was making no effort to disguise the noise of its arrival.
The sudden gallop of her heart spurred Autumn to her feet, and then she leaned on the trunk of a tree for a moment as the world stopped spinning and she got her bearings.
This is the part where you run. Where you hide.
She pulled in a breath and turned her head as she searched her surroundings. She was still groggy, and it took her a minute to take stock. A few skinny trees, a small rock.Nothing.Adrenaline pumped through her veins and brought her more clearly into the present. She was still drugged, but she didn’t feel like she’d always felt in this dream before.
This dream that is no dream.
The sound of movement drew closer, a branch snapping, feet hitting the ground.
With a small huff of breath, Autumn sank back to her knees, picking up a nearby stick and using it to dig in the soft, damp earth. Her breath came harshly, sweat breaking out on her skin as she dug as long as she dared before comingto her knees and pulling a pile of leaves and pine needles into her hole.
Thethingapproaching drew closer, louder. That was no animal.
Was ithim?
Who else could it possibly be?
With a quick sweep of her arm to make the ground look as undisturbed as possible, Autumn came to her feet. Her breath sawed in and out of her chest as she waited…waited, until the person appeared through the trees.Tall. Muscular. Moonlight hair.
Both fear and excitement tumbled through her, and with a small squeal born of the intoxicating mix of emotions, Autumn turned and ran, sprinting like she never had before.
There was a moment’s pause, and then she heard him give chase.
She dipped behind a tree and swerved around another, finding her coordination, her legs pumping with her newfound strength, muscles burning, but deliciously this time. Miraculously.
She raced through the forest as she’d done so many times before, the moon full and bright above.Before, she’d only had the energy to hide, barely crawling into a log or behind a tree, curling into the fetal position, and waiting to die.
But she was strong now. She could run! And even after she’d taken a small amount of medication just hours before. She laughed with delight, rounding a rock and doubling back. She plastered her back to the large expanse of stone, waiting for a beat, two, until she could hear that he was almost upon her where she “hid,” and then with a cry of triumph, she sprang out.
Her moonlight boy let out a raspy sound of surprise and skidded, flailing his arms to right himself and coming to a jerky stop. His expression was half shock, half rage, solid white teeth bared, one brow raised, and one brow lowered in a way that was almost comical.
Almost.
They stood mere feet apart, his bare, scarred chest rising and falling in tandem with hers. The bolt in his head was gone, but in its place was a shaved patch of hair, the skin there red and raw. Their gazes locked, and Autumn suddenly felt angry too. All this time, he’d been chasing her to terrify her. Her, in a drugged, half-awake state! Howdarehe? Wasn’t her life hard enough as it was?
Her gaze narrowed, lip curling. The boy cocked his head, a wary light entering his dark eyes as he watched her. She lunged at him and then away. Startled, he stepped back, a surprised bark of laughter coming from his throat. A low growl that she had to admit sounded less fierce than she’d gone for emanated from her chest. Despite the lack of menace in the sound, his laughter fizzled, and then she lunged for real as he stumbled backward, an expression that was purely incredulous on his face before he turned and ran.
She chased him this time, and she swore she heard his laughter floating back to her on the wind. She was still a little groggy, but she also felt fearless, becausewhy not? What on earth did she really have to lose? Her life? Ha! That would be gone soon enough. She leaped over a rock, skidding on a patch of soggy leaves, grabbing hold of a tree trunk, and coming to a sudden though slippery stop as he turned this time, amusement dancing over his features as he lunged at her and then away as she’d done to him. Indignation exploded within her. He wanted to toy with her? Okaythen. She bounced once on the balls of her heavy, sock-clad feet before pushing off the tree, turning and running again. He gave chase, and even though she was pushing her body to its limits, sweat dripping down her forehead and stinging her eyes, her lips curved in a satisfied smile before a puff of breath disturbed it.
She tried to orient herself, worked to remember where she’d started, and led him back that way.
Her lungs were burning, musclesscreaming.She was infinitely stronger than she’d been just a month ago, but she was still weak by most standards. And certainly much weaker than the boy hot on her heels.There.She spotted it ahead. The formation of the trees she’d woken to, the ones that had been right in front of her as she’d sat up, rubbing her head groggily, feeling for the journal she’d hidden in the back of her shorts.My journal!She started to reach for it, but she could feel it wasn’t there.No!She didn’t have time to worry about that right now though. Her gaze shot to the ground.Is that the spot? I think so. Yes.He’d sped up, and she felt the warmth of his body directly behind her, heard his exhale, the brush of his fingers…
With her final burst of effort, she leaped over the hole she’d dug and covered, crying out as she hit the ground but twisting around and watching as he stepped right into it, his ankle twisting as he pitched forward. She squealed, falling backward, raising her hands defensively as he fell. He let out a monstrous grunt and caught himself with his arms just before his full weight slammed on top of her.
