Page 6 of No One But You
Was he talking to me?
I couldn’t tell for sure, since the other person was out of view.I didn’t even know if they were a man or a woman.
“She’s seen us now,” he continued, glancing sideways.“We can’t let anyone stop us from finding it.If we’re arrested…”
“I’ll be on my way.”I checked that I’d picked up everything I’d dropped and slowly backed away.I had an awful feeling about this.“You guys keep doing your thing.No need for anyone to be arrested.”
“Stop!”the man cried, and, to my horror, my feet obeyed him, and I halted in my tracks.“Why don’t you come over here?”
I jabbed my thumb over my shoulder.“Uh, no thank you.I’m going to head off now.”
“Grab her,” the guy ordered whoever he was with.
I jolted into motion, my anxiety spiking.Unfortunately, I hadn’t made it more than a meter when the guy with the shovel cursed his companion for a coward and charged at me.
Oh fuck.
I was in trouble.
This man was easily several inches taller than me and fifty pounds heavier.I couldn’t gauge his age, but he was clearly young enough to move quickly and whether intentional or not, he was wielding the shovel like a weapon.
I spun and sprinted down the track.My selfie stick bumped into a tree, and I instinctively released it, more concerned with getting away from him than I was reluctant to leave my phone behind.
Adrenaline pumped through me, powering my heart, making my pulse race faster as I shoved myself between the trees, ignoring the stings up my arms as branches caught at my skin.
Footsteps thumped behind me, and I glanced over my shoulder.
“Hold on!”he shouted.“I just want to talk.”
Yeah, I didn’t believe that.Men who “only wanted to talk” didn’t chase people with shovels.
I launched myself sideways off the trail and squeezed between two trees, hoping he’d be too big to follow.My backpack got stuck between trunks, and I yanked roughly, but it wouldn’t dislodge.
My heart in my throat, I struggled to shrug it off, letting it drop as I broke free and bolted into the forest.
My feet were moving so quickly that I didn’t have time to check the ground before I put them down, and if I tried to stop, I’d probably tumble over myself and roll down the hill.
I ducked around a huge tree, but the top of my foot hit something, and I flew forward, skidding across the earth and throwing my hands up to protect my head as I barreled toward another tree.
The bark bit into my palms, and my head smashed into my fingers, sandwiching them between me and the tree.I cried out, a sting indicating that the skin had broken—if not the bones themselves.
A firm grip encircled my ankles and dragged me backward.My shirt caught on the ground and rucked up, exposing my sensitive belly to the leaf litter.
“What do you want?”I shouted.
This seemed like an overreaction.Yes, I’d caught them vandalizing an old hut, but the charges for assault were much, much worse.They’d have been better just to let me go.It wasn’t as if I knew their names or anything.
“Just fucking listen to me for a minute,” he panted, his grip on me painfully tight.“Come back up to the hut and we’ll work it out.”
Fear roiled in my gut and turned my blood cold.Every instinct I possessed warned me not to believe him.If I went with him willingly, would I end up like one of those idiots in horror movies who wanders straight into a psychopath’s den?
I grabbed at a tree trunk, trying to wrap my arms around it and hold on so he couldn’t continue to drag me.My palms burned like hell, and tears filled my eyes, but I clung as hard as I possibly could.
The man grunted and let go of my ankles.I kicked at him, driving the sole of my shoe into his kneecap.
He stumbled but quickly righted himself.“You little bitch!”
I started to scramble forward, but then something smacked the back of my head.My forehead whacked into the tree, and pinpricks of light appeared in my vision.The world shook dizzyingly in front of my eyes, and when he kicked my head a second time, my stomach seized, and I gagged.
