“
I didn’t get far. Parrish rolled and grabbed my ankle, pulling me down, hard. I kicked and clawed, but he scrambled up on top of me, shoving my face deep into the mud, holding me there until my lungs were screaming for air. I struggled, tried to buck him off, tried to push up, but he was stronger. For a moment I wondered if this was where it would end, if I would simply be suffocated on this muddy bank, if Parrish’s plans for me were not so elaborate after all.
He yanked my head up by the hair. I gasped for air. He shoved my face down again.
By the fourth time, all I wanted was air. That’s all. Air. Just air. Just to be let up again. I was half out of my mind, panicked.
By the tenth, he could have taken anything he wanted.
He knew that, of course.
He went for twelve.
I think it was twelve. I had lost track. The world, all life, everything of importance had come down to taking the next breath.
“Wipe your face off!” he said angrily, dragging me up. He pushed me forward, seated me clumsily against the stump of the felled tree. He crouched in front of me and said it again. It took me a while to understand him. I was gasping. There still wasn’t enough air. The sky didn’t hold enough of the stuff.
“Wipe your face off or I’ll shove it back down into that muck,” he said. “Only I’ll piss in it first!”
I reached up with shaking hands and wiped my face. The slime wouldn’t all come off, of course. He reached over with one finger, drew something on each of my cheeks.
“There. Now I’ve branded you. You bear my initials.”
I felt a sudden dampness on my cheeks. I was crying.
They awakened something, those tears. A little spark of anger. At myself. But it was enough.
He was pleased by the tears, I could see. I wiped them away. His initials, too.
“Oh, you are going to be such a delight to conquer, Irene.”
I didn’t answer.
He didn’t say anything, and suddenly I realized he was listening to something. There was, I thought, a faint, rhythmic rumbling in the distance. A helicopter?
We waited, each with a different sense of anticipation. I knew he had other weapons. Would he shoot whoever landed in the meadow? Would they see the destruction, be cautious about approaching? Could I warn them not to land less than a SWAT team here?
But the sound stayed distant, then stopped altogether.
He smiled.
Be angry, I told myself. But it was so hard to find anger, buried so far beneath my fear.
“You suggested a hunt for the dog. You’re something of a bitch yourself, you know. Did you have sex with the dog last night? Is that why you tried to save his life?”
He treated me to a long series of not very inventive questions about Bingle’s sexual prowess. I said nothing to him, but the fear receded a little, replaced by disgust.
“Well, it doesn’t matter now. You’re going to be the hunted, and I’m going to track you. No matter how fast you run, or how far you go, I’ll find you. I have a marvelous sense of smell, you know.”
He reached into one of his pockets, smiling as he removed something white from them.
My underwear.
He took a deep breath, and his expression was that of a man intoxicated by a heady perfume.
“Look!” he said, pointing to his crotch. “You’ve given me a hard-on.”
Without dropping my eyes, I said, “Even Bingle can’t find something that small.”
He slapped me. It made my lip bleed. He laughed and pressed the crotch of my underwear to it.
“There!” he said, holding it to his nose again. “Now it will be even easier to find you. Get to your feet.”
I stood up.
“Start running, Irene. I’ll give you a head start. But just remember, no matter how far you go, no matter how safe you feel you are, no matter how well you believe you are hidden or protected — I will find you. I want you to understand what you’ve only begun to learn — I’m your master. You should be pleased — you will learn to be pleased. I will touch you as no one has ever touched you before.”
He tucked the panties back into his pocket and patted it. “I have your scent now. I’m a very quiet hunter, Irene. Do you think you can evade me? I’ll come upon you when you least expect it.”
He stood. “Come along, let’s get started.”
I didn’t move.
“Stand up!”
I stood.
“Let me make something clear,” he said in exasperated tones. “I will either begin with you now, and in a way
