The girl ran.205Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡU9Qce68YvM
205Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡqWiQwPr3wQ
She ran with everything she had in her, her thin arms pumping and her bare feet slapping the dirt. The long grass sliced at her skin, each piece a tiny razor blade. It hurt. Everything hurt. But if she was caught again, it would be so much worse.205Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡGIZKwuiX1r
205Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ6pGaDeHPGJ
Get to the road. Get to the road. Just get to the road.205Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡVbgSO3IpV9
205Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡR09YpkhTla
Already her strength was flagging, her body failing her despite the desperation driving her on. She couldn’t stop. She couldn’t rest. She couldn’t do anything but run.205Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ1u92pi6Glh
205Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡYYgyKCOKlV
The ground changed beneath her feet, and it took her three full strides before she realized it. She turned a full circle, trying to get her bearings. It was so hard to think past the blood pounding in her head and the dozen sharp pains that screamed to make themselves known now that she’d stopped moving. Maybe I could just . . .205Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ9KeXRE0bUC
205Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡmBuBeEyXos
No.205Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡZlgYIto8nc
205Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡNISj6qS9an
She had to get to Clear Springs.205Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ49xLBCpOfh
205Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡsLqO4MU0nn
The irony there wasn’t lost on her, even in her current state. All she’d ever wanted was to get out of that little hellhole of a town, and here she was, putting everything she had into doing the exact opposite. She frowned, trying to see farther down the road. It shouldn’t be so difficult to figure out which way to go. She’d spent years on these little two-lane roads that crisscrossed their way through this part of Montana.205Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡnwWSmLZyDG
205Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ8MXi9BFjU7
If it were day . . .205Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡtqmH6Hs5LP
205Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡMEbFgrNqiO
If she weren’t so tired . . .205Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡS67AV6DgrV
205Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡHPZMtErwcq
If, if, if.205Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡE5lMfZrFfC
205Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡSFRxDs18Ng
Just move. She took a deep breath and put one foot in front of the other, picking a direction at random. The words became a mantra, a promise. Just get back to town. Just get back to town, and this will all be over.205Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡIy9YIqa2zS
205Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡsJEN3d8u4l
She wasn’t sure how long she’d walked before headlights cut through the darkness, blinding her. The girl went to her knees without having any intention of doing so. She lifted a shaking hand to shield her eyes. “Please.”205Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡxo028ZSiSw
205Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡqBjEXYAQAW
The driver’s side door opened, and footsteps padded over the asphalt. She squinted against the light, her heart skipping a beat at the familiar profile. “No . . .” I got away. I was so sure I got away. Behind the figure, she could make out the faint, familiar lights of Clear Springs. So close. It might as well have been the moon. She had the same likelihood of reaching it.205Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡVusB69JzgP
205Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡGdaTml6iv3
She tried to get to her feet, but her body failed her once again, her legs giving out. She barely caught herself before she face-planted. “Please. I’ll do whatever you want. Just please don’t hurt me anymore.”205Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡPvifcdU0wG
205Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡIAtqZfKk9W
A hand touched her head, all the more horrifying because of its gentleness. “You know I can’t make that promise.”205Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡmCUPO6XMDp
205Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡwpZLxgb2ZU
The girl had thought herself beyond tears, but that moment proved her wrong. She stared at her scraped and bloodied knuckles, a horrible knowledge settling in her chest. There would be no college, no life beyond the little town that had felt like a prison for most of her life, no future family where she could learn from the mistakes her parents had made.205Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡOYrAAI2e26
205Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ9FQQ7SxUv0
Nothing.205Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡheEEjosU4a
205Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡRM2orlSRdh
There was nothing but the hand on her head and the pain lying in wait for her.205Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡBfpEqWtA4q
205Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡUHRMfsEEO6
205Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ7tV0FCM373
205Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡpDOq3VI7py
“You have to do something.”205Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡDM3bgfYbcf
205Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡNJLRvGHQqw
Zach Owens had heard variations of that same demand ever since he moved back to Clear Springs and took a job as a deputy nine years ago. Now, as sheriff, he heard them a whole hell of a lot more often.205Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡMA4C20tnGa
205Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ7R8m9lSZTC
This one was different.205Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡiNMvOo9F8n
205Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡPMWu8Yb06H
He sat forward and pinned both Robert and Julie Smith with a look. “You know I’ve been doing everything I can.” For three days he’d been working his ass off to figure out where the hell their daughter had wandered off to. They didn’t get missing persons a whole lot around here—if someone went missing, it was because they didn’t want to be found. He still wasn’t convinced Neveah Smith wasn’t in that category.205Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡUHtdVgac3Q
205Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ6kkfbc5Zw6
“This isn’t like the other times.” Tears welled in Julie’s eyes. “It’s that Martha Collins. She’s got her hooks into my girl, and she’s lured her out to that damned cesspool of sin.”205Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡPmAVkeBBNv
205Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡUySvNi7Z0S
“Julie, language.”205Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡgL0GSeT6H5
205Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡdc0m4tTDvM
Zach sighed. It was just like Robert Smith to call his wife out on her language when their daughter might or might not be missing. The Smiths were good people. They made a point to get to church every Sunday and do all sorts of community outreach, even if they were a little zealous about some of that shit. Julie Smith had made it her personal mission to see the cult up on that hill brought down in flames.205Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡKjLFQkAnws
205Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡC1ndHFaIaT
But it wasn’t Zach’s job to tell her that Martha Collins was too smart to start snatching teenagers off the street.205Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡrppdK6PbkW
205Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡge3ZXFSViJ
“The folks up at Elysia aren’t responsible for everything that goes sideways in Clear Springs.” In all the time he’d been back in town, he couldn’t remember a single thing they’d done that would shine the light of the law on themselves. Groups like that didn’t make it far if they weren’t able to keep their noses clean.205Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡVlejd5miP4
205Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡeEOa8m85ne
“Maybe not before. This is different.”205Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡedvCdWtG4Q
205Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡlhANz4gB3t
She kept saying that. Zach knew her well enough to know she wasn’t going to let this go. The woman might be sweet as pie, but she was like a terrier with a bone when she got her back up. Having her only daughter up and disappear was more than enough to do that.205Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡdxzKKCyulM
205Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡtAmzNRGTbz
The problem was that Neveah was a little troublemaker. She liked to worry her parents, and she loved getting herself into questionable situations. It would be just like her to disappear for a few days and then waltz back into town with a shit-eating grin and some boy in tow.
- 205Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡjfTFWIktmM
