The girl ran.228Please respect copyright.PENANAnBSiUxpne0
228Please respect copyright.PENANAsp0lDllo2W
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.228Please respect copyright.PENANABDVysD9ibC
228Please respect copyright.PENANA8DStmyr1LI
Get to the road. Get to the road. Just get to the road.228Please respect copyright.PENANA9ZoUex43t9
228Please respect copyright.PENANARLU6dVNJsV
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.228Please respect copyright.PENANAw8iKbRaQ1p
228Please respect copyright.PENANA7VDlVVKk5N
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 . . .228Please respect copyright.PENANAz6W5mBynpZ
228Please respect copyright.PENANAFRVky2jEVH
No.228Please respect copyright.PENANAueeylU6g9v
228Please respect copyright.PENANAj9j5mfOzZx
She had to get to Clear Springs.228Please respect copyright.PENANAwltTRbj3mQ
228Please respect copyright.PENANA1uHcJgyV3j
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.228Please respect copyright.PENANACPY7i27DoX
228Please respect copyright.PENANAcrEk0ZbE63
If it were day . . .228Please respect copyright.PENANASs5U3H0x0c
228Please respect copyright.PENANA1GtQe9X4R2
If she weren’t so tired . . .228Please respect copyright.PENANAyEfvXVSfYP
228Please respect copyright.PENANAsapowvkT1J
If, if, if.228Please respect copyright.PENANABY8yT8IQRB
228Please respect copyright.PENANASm7EYxNHbx
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.228Please respect copyright.PENANAZBl7sebpQ6
228Please respect copyright.PENANA9fFp8AQCVN
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.”228Please respect copyright.PENANAHSECg6TVy7
228Please respect copyright.PENANAYVCfhvUIeP
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.228Please respect copyright.PENANAal1d7T4DfT
228Please respect copyright.PENANAujqeD5ivDn
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.”228Please respect copyright.PENANApDNfTOHtR8
228Please respect copyright.PENANAXCDlNGc36U
A hand touched her head, all the more horrifying because of its gentleness. “You know I can’t make that promise.”228Please respect copyright.PENANAZy7UYWOscE
228Please respect copyright.PENANAEBktqQhR9b
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.228Please respect copyright.PENANArc9TpBuZaV
228Please respect copyright.PENANAQ05fpn9wXy
Nothing.228Please respect copyright.PENANAlBACdIeT05
228Please respect copyright.PENANAAcpC61yd8f
There was nothing but the hand on her head and the pain lying in wait for her.228Please respect copyright.PENANAip0VwxXW8Z
228Please respect copyright.PENANA2TkzHn3vm1
228Please respect copyright.PENANAXcvWz7ozkb
228Please respect copyright.PENANAPGVJuTDDuT
“You have to do something.”228Please respect copyright.PENANAfhMIRSfvtH
228Please respect copyright.PENANAOreqT2A8Ry
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.228Please respect copyright.PENANA1BQx0N3XIx
228Please respect copyright.PENANAyihxY8JfiQ
This one was different.228Please respect copyright.PENANA5GtOxpkjEh
228Please respect copyright.PENANAJ2oN3Iv70o
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.228Please respect copyright.PENANAgKKvTGNZBG
228Please respect copyright.PENANAVcq3jQilza
“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.”228Please respect copyright.PENANA8IvCUSOHgf
228Please respect copyright.PENANAfSnsPOwjD9
“Julie, language.”228Please respect copyright.PENANAcRTcflGZlr
228Please respect copyright.PENANAqO8zsIX9Bi
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.228Please respect copyright.PENANAG7hYCoXuMk
228Please respect copyright.PENANARctI5ANS89
But it wasn’t Zach’s job to tell her that Martha Collins was too smart to start snatching teenagers off the street.228Please respect copyright.PENANA96zTEysHlE
228Please respect copyright.PENANAZMunsvYL1T
“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.228Please respect copyright.PENANApBppximUld
228Please respect copyright.PENANAKNG5uMfBMi
“Maybe not before. This is different.”228Please respect copyright.PENANApGcCDHVeZb
228Please respect copyright.PENANAmsl6mrpVX0
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.228Please respect copyright.PENANAMP3tKsb43o
228Please respect copyright.PENANAUKdTLmCCsl
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.
- 228Please respect copyright.PENANAxrmB07IPUS