The door squeaked as she threw it open.
Another low groan came from the backseat. Panic threatened to overtake her. She had to get them both out. She thought about looking for the gun, but if he woke up, he could get it first, and she wouldn’t know what to do with it anyway. She wasn’t sure she could really pull the trigger, but she could definitely run. She could run fast.
If she could get the feeling back in her legs.
She crawled out of the car, her skin protesting when her hands hit the snow. It was deep up here on the mountain. Every instinct told her to stay where it was warm, but she had to ignore them. She forced her way, her knees getting covered in snow. The moon had risen early, shining off the pure white of the snow. She couldn’t tell exactly where she was. A labyrinth of aspens and evergreens surrounded her. Which way should she go? Once she started, she would be easy to track. There would be no way to cover the prints her boots would leave in the snow. She needed to get somewhere safe and fast.
“What the fuck?” A low voice groaned.
She reached back into the car and grabbed Kelly’s hands. They had to go. They had to get out of here. She pulled and Kelly managed to crawl through, her teeth chattering.
Kelly got to her feet, shaking a little. There was a big bulge coming up on her forehead where she seemed to have hit the steering wheel. A trickle of blood was coming from a cut lip, but Kelly seemed to be able to move.
“Which way should we go?” Kelly’s blonde hair hung limply around her brutalized face.
Nell whispered as she adjusted her robe. God, she was so cold. Her boots were supposed to be cruelty-free, but it seemed they were a little cruel on her feet right now. They did next to nothing to keep the cold out. “I don’t know where we are. I think we’re about halfway down the west side. If we head around to the north side, we should find Mel or the Harper ranch. Max has a barbed wire fence up.”
She’d talked to him about it, but now she would use it to find help. If she could get over that fence, all she would have to do was run until she caught sight of the house.
The car shook, the back door rattling as something from the inside started to pound away. Both women jumped back, their hands tangling together.
“Go,” Nell said. “Run that way. It should take you to the Harpers. If Max is there, tell him where we are. If he’s not, find a way into the house and call the sheriff.”
“I shouldn’t leave you.” Kelly clasped her hand. They were running out of time. The back door was starting to open. Kelly kicked out, viciously shoving the door back. There was a thud and a groan, and it seemed like Kelly had also managed to hit Lyle’s skull. “Motherfucker.”
A shot shattered the glass and pinged by Nell’s head.
“Go!” She pushed Kelly the way she should go.
Kelly looked back once more, a frown on her face, and then took off, her boots leaving prints in the snow.
Nell’s whole body shook. She wanted to run, but she had to draw Lyle to follow her.
Another shot fired out of the car, keeping her away. She thought about grabbing a branch and trying to clock him, but he could easily fire again. She inched away, trying to give herself a good head start, but leaving no way to mistake where she’d gone. Tears filled her eyes, nearly freezing to her skin. She had to wait. Just a minute. This was her problem, not Kelly’s. She couldn’t sacrifice the young girl to save herself.
Lyle emerged, his eyes on her. He lifted his gun even as he lay half in and half out of the car.
Nell took off as the shot sounded through the air, booming through the forest. She forced her legs to work, moving mechanically, almost without feeling. Nell ran, the snow up to her ankles, pristine as far as she could see, covering whatever lay beneath it.
“You can run, bitch, but you can’t fucking hide.”
She ran, not looking back. All that mattered was getting as far from him as possible. She had no idea how injured he was. He hadn’t been wearing a seat belt. Apparently a seat belt would have cramped his kidnapping style, and Nell had to hope that it had also broken his legs. An unkind thought, yes, but she was pretty sure it wouldn’t really affect her karma because the man was trying to kill her.
And he would if the cold didn’t get her first.
She tripped, her feet hitting something solid under the snow that sent her whole body careening. She landed face-first, an icy blanket covering her cheek.
Get up. No time to waste. No time to hurt.
She pushed up on her wrists and got to her knees and then her feet. She could hear Lyle. He was getting close.
She ran again, this time through a thicket of trees, pine needles striking her face like tiny knives cutting at her.
A scream strangled out of her throat as she fell again. There was no way to tell what was under the snow and the forest was so thick here that the canopy nearly drowned out the moon’s light. Nell stumbled against a tree, her strength waning. It was too cold. She’d nearly lost all feeling in her arms and legs.
“Got ya, bitch. Now let’s have that talk we were going to have.” Lyle’s silhouette emerged from the trees. She could see the gun glinting from the sparks of moonlight that made it through the evergreens.
She braced herself against the tree. Which seemed to have fur. And which snorted as she held onto it.
A hot breath of air hit her cheek as the massive moose turned.
She was caught between the beast and a gun, and Nell couldn’t see a way out.
“The signal is up ahead,” Seth said, pointing through the glass. “And down. Shit.”
Bishop could easily see what the kid was cursing about. The tire tracks they had been following swerved and left the winding road ahead, dropping off into a white and black nothingness.
How scared had Nell been? Had she called out for him? Was she waiting for him to save her?
“They’re off road.” Mel brought the truck to a stop, tires crunching in the snow. He hadn’t wavered for a moment, his hands steady on the wheel. He glanced back to the two young men in the back of the cab, his voice perfectly even. No panic from the alien hunter. Bishop wouldn’t mind being in the field with him. “You boys arm up or stay here. I taught Logan myself. He’s a damn fine shot. He knows these woods. Seth, do you know how to use a rifle?”
A determined look came across the kid’s face as Bishop hopped out and Seth followed. “I’ve spent every summer here since I was five years old. I stayed from the day after I got out of school right up until Grandad put me on a plane kicking and screaming. I know this place, too. I also know that Nell’s phone is a hundred feet down that way.”
Bishop walked to the side of the road. There was no guardrail, nothing at all to stop a car from falling off. He hopped down, unwilling to wait on the others. Trees surrounded him, but up ahead he could see a glint of metal. Bishop heard the others beginning to follow. It didn’t matter. All that mattered was getting to Nell as quickly as possible.
He followed the path left in the snow by the car rolling down the mountain. He moved quickly, years of practice allowing for grace even with the snow and the grade he was running down. The minute he saw the car, he lifted his weapon, taking a firing stance.
And nothing.
“You said her phone was here.” Bishop ran the last couple of yards to the site of the wreck. Even in the dim light, he could see how the car had rolled and crushed up against a tree. The driver’s side was caved in, and there was blood in the snow, but he couldn’t see bodies in the car. An eerie quiet settled around them.