Jada wiped angry tears from her eyes as she drove away from the Ranch. None of the Crew ever took her side against Lee. Never appreciated what she brought to the table.
No, it was always about Lee. About why everyone should be nice to her because of one stupid accident. An accident that was probably Lee’s fault. No one wanted to admit that Sean’s precious baby girl might have screwed up the stunt. That maybe Jada was a better choice for all the work that had been Lee’s. That she was more qualified for the jobs that came her way, just because Lee had been injured.
Instead, everyone made fun of her, of the movie she was working on. Acted like it was crap. Even Seth. Especially Seth. And Lee pretending to be all nice about it, trying to look good in front of everyone else. It just made her want to puke.
No, Jada was done with the Katz Stunt Crew. She didn’t need them anymore. She—
Something ran in front of the car, a flash in the Xterra’s headlights.
Jada slammed on the brakes. The vehicle skidded, fishtailing wildly before coming to sudden halt on the road’s shoulder. The jolt slammed Jada forward and back again, body brought to a halt by her seatbelt, air driven out of her lungs by the impact. Her heart pounded, adrenaline pumping through her veins. It wasn’t a happy combination and her stomach rebelled. Shoving the door open, she barely managed to unclick her belt before tumbling out and vomiting up cake, pizza, and beer.
Head spinning, a bright glare in her eyes, Jada squatted, hands resting on her thighs, waiting to see if anything else was going to come back up. After a few minutes her vision returned to normal and her stomach stopped lurching. She stayed in that position for a few more minutes, though. God, she hated throwing up.
As she crouched there, Jada tried to figure out what had dashed in front of her vehicle. It hadn’t moved like any human, animal, or supe she’d seen. All herky-jerky and disjointed. It…
It had skittered.
The memory of it made Jada feel suddenly vulnerable. Ignoring the tightness of her stomach, she got to her feet. Her gorge rose again, but she willed it down. Hell, she didn’t care if she painted the interior of her car in vomit. She just didn’t want to stay out on the side of the road any longer.
She was reaching for the door when something encircled her wrist, yanking her hand away from the handle. Her scream was cut off by something… something not quite a hand slapped over her mouth. What felt like steel bands wrapped around her body and jerked her backwards into the embrace of… of what?
“Lee…” something whispered in her ear. “We are going to have some fun.”
Something stabbed into the back of her neck, and she lost consciousness.
* * *
When she woke up, Jada’s head felt stuffed with cotton and poison. It hurt between her eyes, like nails were being driven into her forehead. Yet she couldn’t feel the rest of her body. No sensation in any of her extremities. She remembered slamming on the brakes, but she thought… she hadn’t hit her head or gone through the windshield. Or had she? Opening her eyes, she saw only blackness. Even so, her head spun.
Jada groaned as nausea coursed through her and hot liquid bubbled up like lava. She automatically reached for her hair—or tried to. She couldn’t move. Vomit dribbled out of her mouth and down her chin. She choked, then coughed, turning her head to the side to expel it from her throat.
After she was sure she wouldn’t choke to death on her own puke, Jada tried to get a sense of where she was. Her sinuses were clogged from throwing up, but a thick feral stench still made its way through.
Something shuffled in the dark and she whimpered. How far away from her, she couldn’t tell. Maybe a few feet. Maybe more.
Maybe less.
Something touched her on the face. She whimpered again.
“You’re not Lee,” something whispered. Impossible to tell the gender.
“No, I’m… I’m not…”
“Too bad.”
“So you can let me go… right?”
“Let you go…”
“Because I’m not Lee. You said—”
A rasping chuckle. “She’s not here. But you are.”
Jada tried not to scream because she knew if she started, she wouldn’t be able to stop.