The dull thud and muffled cry woke the big man from his nap. He sat up on the couch and listened for the girl. He heard nothing. He clambered to his feet, stumbled to the back room.
She was gone.
He ran to the window and looked out. He couldn’t see her, but he heard branches snapping in the woods.
He turned and ran out the front door.
On the coffee table, next to the deck of cards, his cell phone began to ring.
—
KAREN CRASHED blindly through the bush. She bumped into a tree, knocked herself down. She struggled to her feet and plunged ahead, taking no more care than before. She had no idea where she was going, she just kept running. She had to get away from something.
The cabin!
She had to get away from the cabin.
The thought jolted her memory, spurred her on.
She tripped over a log, rolled once, and came up running. Her feet were torn and bleeding from running barefoot, but she never noticed, just as she barely noticed the pain when she fell. Which she did again, a nosedive onto rocky ground. She got up slowly, rested a minute.
From off to the right came the sound of snapping branches.
She turned and ran full-tilt through the woods. She barely saw where she was going. She just wanted to get away. The sound of snapping branches was the big man closing in on her, and she couldn’t bear the thought. She was never going back.
She tripped and rolled down a hill, and hit the bottom with a thud.
—
THE NOISES the big man was following faded before going silent. That she’d been able to get this far was unimaginable. She was injured, she was sick, she was delirious. And where could she even go? He hadn’t seen another cabin in the area. If he had, he might have broken in to steal some food. All he had was bread that was beginning to collect mold.
If he couldn’t find her, she was as good as dead in these woods. He’d be better off just leaving, the hell with getting paid. Except there was nowhere to go, and he had no way to leave. Abdul-Hakim had taken their only vehicle.
There was a crunching noise in the distance. The girl?
The big man’s head snapped up.
It wasn’t the girl, but a car coming up the driveway. If the girl got to the car and secured help, he’d lose her for good.
The big man turned and began to run.
—
KAREN HEARD the car engine. It confused her. A car? The only car she associated with the cabin in the woods was the Arab’s. If it was his, she should run away. If it wasn’t, she should run toward it. A life-or-death choice. How could she possibly tell?
If she stayed out here, though, she would die for sure. She had no idea how far they were from another cabin, or from any form of civilization. It wasn’t in her nature to do nothing. She had to make a choice.
Karen climbed to her feet and limped in the direction in which she believed the car to be.