“Am I dead?” Her voice was barely a whisper.
No answer came from the stranger. His dark eyes only seemed to harbor more questions. Her fear faded as she embraced the dark oblivion before her. If it had to end, at least she went down fighting. A deep, dreamless void consumed her mind as she slept.
Her eyes fluttered open, and she realized she wasn’t quite dead yet. Streams of sunlight filtered in through the window, and she breathed deeply as her senses returned. The throbbing in her head reminded her that everything that had happened was real. But this time, when she reached for her wound, she found a soft bandage. Sitting up, she looked at the room around her. It was simple and rustic, like something you’d expect to see on one of those vegan yoga retreats her friend Elaina was always talking about.
“I think you’re reading too much into this.” A young man’s voice came from the other room. “Sure, it’s a weird coincidence that you both saved the same chick, but that doesn’t mean she’s the one from the prophecy. It just means she had awful taste in men, and she’s clumsy.”
“I didn’t get this far, believing in coincidence,” a deeper voice responded. “There’s something special about her. I can feel it.”
Oh God. Jillian frowned. I’ve stumbled onto some backwoods cult.
She lifted the sheet to find that she was only wearing her bra and panties, both of which were still a little damp from her swim in the river. The bottom of one of her feet stung from all the cuts and gouges sustained the night before. She squinted at the scratches adorning her hands and wrists, which had been the only exposed skin besides her face. She didn’t even want to look in a mirror at that point.
Where are my clothes?
She glanced around the room, but the designer jeans, shirt, and hoodie she’d been wearing were nowhere in sight. As the panic welled up in her chest, she took a deep breath.
Let’s solve one problem at a time. I can push the screen out of that window and be out of here before they even realize I’m awake.
Biting her lip as she looked down at the old floorboards, placing the ball of her foot down. She grimaced as the wood creaked under her weight.
CHAPTER TWO
“You’re both out of your minds,” the younger voice continued. “I say we dump her at the nearest road and let her ass hitch-hike back to civilization.”
“Out of the question.” The man with the deep voice was the one calling the shots. “The last thing we need is for her to give the cops a description of three squatters living out in the middle of Hemlock Park.”
Are these guys escaped convicts or something?
“He’s right.” A third voice piped in. “There’s going to be police involvement because her boyfriend tried to kill her. If we dump her at the nearest road, there’s no guarantee that he won’t be the first one to find her.”
How do they know about Ted? There was no one else around; unless they were watching from the bushes, which is a whole other level of creepy. Whatever, I’m not waiting around here for these guys to argue over what to do with me. For all I know, they’ll decide that the most logical solution is to put a bullet in my head and bury me in the woods somewhere.
Tiptoeing toward the window, she wrapped the sheet around herself like a bath towel.
Finally, some luck!
The view from the window revealed that she was on the ground floor. She pressed against the metal frame, expecting it to pop out easily, but it was wedged securely into the track. Pushing a little harder, she rocked her weight against it until the frame snapped free, clattering to the ground outside. She froze as the arguing in the next room ceased.
“Sounds like our house guest is awake.” Heavy footsteps accompanied the deepest voice as he advanced toward the door.
Jillian hopped up onto the windowsill, swung her legs out, and slid off. As soon as her feet touched the cold earth, she dashed for the tree line. A bearded face appeared in the screenless window behind her, the same man that had picked her up when she fell the previous night.
She had been almost positive that his face had been part of a concussed dream, those dark eyes peering out from beneath intense angular brows, one of which bore a sharp scar at the arch. His shoulder-length, brown, wavy hair fell carelessly around his face as he leaned out with an almost-amused smile concealed beneath his facial hair.
Focusing on the rocky path in front of her, she clutched the sheet to her chest and kept running. The dried-out foliage was thicker out here. Tiny branches clawed at her face and bare shoulders, pulling the bandage off her head as she pushed her way through the brush.
I need to make it back to the river. Sooner or later I’ll run into a group of hikers or a park ranger or something.
After several minutes, the absence of footsteps behind her eased her mind enough to slow down. Leaning over and bracing one hand on her knee, she panted, struggling to catch her breath as she scanned the surrounding landscape. There was no sign or sound of the river anywhere. The bushes snagged the sheet as she pulled away. She spotted a deer trail that promised gentler terrain and let out a sigh of relief.
They didn’t follow me. She looked back, reassuring herself. Maybe they were just afraid of someone stumbling onto their little squatter
