Page 66 of Winter’s Teeth

Fox didn’t waste another second. He wrenched the door open, holding my hand as he jumped down and turning in a half-second to pull me down after him. We got off the road as quick as we could, clearing the way for Harold to back out.

“Thanks again,” I said through clattering teeth, arms wrapped snugly around myself as a biting breeze whipped through me and robbed me of all my body heat.

“No problem. You kids stay safe.” Harold smiled, but he didn’t back out. He didn’t even reach for the clutch.

Fox slammed the truck door shut and grabbed my hand. “Come on. Let’s get out of here.”

We started trekking off into the brush immediately, not sticking around to see if Harold got back to the highway alright. Fox pulled me off into the tree line with thigh-high weeds that snagged on my snow pants and tripped up my already weak ankle. The sound of the truck’s idling engine faded the further away we got, and the light of the high beams faded to nothing. I stumbled all the more blindly then, panting heavily with adrenaline and fear.

“Fox. Who was he?” I rasped.

“I don’t know. I don’t want to—”

Hands shot out of the dark, grabbing Fox and me by our arms.

I screamed, but the sound cut off when a burly hand clamped around my mouth. Another tough arm wound around my middle, squeezing the air out of me.

At least six men were upon us, laughing and crowing about their luck, their voices swirling around me as my mind reeled to keep up like spun out tires.

“Look what we found here! A little fox and his girlfriend.”

“Gavin dropped you right where we wanted you.”

“Good on Gavin.”

“Wonder what happened to the other driver.”

“Who cares! Keep a tight grip on him now. Don’t let him shift!”

Furious and frightened animal growls emanated from Fox’s muffled mouth. It took three of his cousins to keep him restrained as he tried to pull away. As he tried to pull toward me.

I couldn’t tell who had a hold on me, but he shoved me along, preventing me from getting anywhere close to Fox.

Where are they taking us?

Reading my thoughts, the man leaned down to whisper, “We heard you like rescuing drowning pups from the creek. Let’s see if you can save him again.”

His voice.

It sent a shockwave through me, chilling me from my head down to my toes colder than any creek water I’d ever swam through.

I couldn’t see him.

But I knew the voice.

I knew the sound of my sister’s fiancé.

Ex-fiancé.

Chapter 29

Every inch of me chilled and congealed. My limbs refused to work properly, every movement stilted and animatronic as my captor took me deeper into the woods, away from the cabin with my friends.

Not that long ago, I had willingly driven around with him in the night to search for my sister, and all the while, he’d known where she was. He’d known what would happen to her. He’d been leading me in circles, just like he led Everly to her doom.

Distantly, I worried for my friends who didn’t have a clue what was going on. I didn't know if they were even alive.

The forest suddenly opened its jaws, revealing teeth of jagged stones and a rushing creek under white moonlight. With only the stars as our witness, they shoved Fox to his knees at the water’s edge, grabbing him by the back of his hair so hard that he bared his teeth and reached up to try to loosen the grip on him. They boxed him around, pushing, kicking, and shoving. Keeping him down. Not letting him so much as lift his head.