Page 104 of Scribe

My gut was screaming at me to find her. “I’m telling you, that fucker has her. She’s running from him. I know it.”

“Makes sense, Priest,” Pyro said, backing me up. “Henley has lived in Rosewood her whole life. She knows this mountain like the back of her hand. She wouldn’t just leave the safety of the truck for nothing. She’s smarter than that.”

“You can wait here, but I’m going,” I declared, just as we all heard the recoil of a gun echo over the howling winds.

Without thinking, I reached for my knife and ran.

Chapter Thirty-Three

Henley

The second he had me out of the truck, I didn’t think, I just kneed whoever it was in the balls. I didn’t give a shit if he was friend or foe. All I knew was my fight or flight instinct kicked into high gear and flight won.

Hearing him grunt, I went to move around him and tripped over him, falling into the cold snow. Scrambling to get away, my hand gripped something hard. Not thinking, I picked it up and scurried off, praying I was going in the right direction.

Unable to see anything, I relied on my other senses to propel myself forward. While my mind was screaming at me to run, I couldn’t run without knowing where to run to.

Knowing my luck, I’d run right into a damn tree.

So instead, I made my way carefully, hands spread out, trying to feel my way in the blizzard. When my hand connected with a tree, I moved around it and kept going as a gust of wind blew around me, removing the scarf around my neck.

“Fucking great,” I muttered to myself, refusing to stop.

“You won’t get far, Henley!” I heard the fucker shout from somewhere behind me. “When I get my hands on you, you’ll never ignore me again, you bitch!”

That’s what he thought.

One step at a time, I kept going as the blizzard swirled snow around me. I tried not to think about the cold as I continued on in the dark.

All I knew was Scribe was coming and I needed to hang on until he arrived. I could do that.

I had no idea how long I’d been stumbling around in the storm when I heard a branch snap behind me. Holding tight to the object I’d picked up, I didn’t think as I pointed at whatever was coming when I realized what it was.

A gun.

“Don’t make me hurt you!”

Laughter echoed all around me.

“You can’t even see me, bitch. What makes you think you can hurt me?”

“I’ve got your gun!”

“There are no bullets in it. I just brought it to scare you.”

Raising it above my head, I fired off a shot.

The loud bang was whisked away by the howling winds.

“Seems loaded enough for me!” I firmly said, carefully walking backwards as I moved the gun back and forth in my hand.

I wasn’t taking any chances with this fucker.

I didn’t give a damn who it was.

Taking another step back, that’s when I heard the first crack.

Stopping dead in my tracks, I pleaded with every deity I knew as I heard his laughter again. “Go ahead, Henley, take another step. I dare you.”

---