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Chapter Fourteen
Cora
Cora was standingin the bathroom, one hand under the running shower water, waiting for it to warm up. That was the problem, she thought, with cabins like this: lovely, but the hot water did take a while. They were probably on a well, after all, so the water coming from underground must be really cold—
There was a click.
“Put the shirt back on and let’s go,” a voice said.
Cora froze, and then turned her head very slowly.
It was Neil, standing in front of the open bathroom door, holding a gun up to her. He looked exactly how she remembered him: polo shirt and slacks, though now he was wearing running shoes instead of flip flops.
An icicle of fear stabbed through Cora’s heart.
Where are they?she thought. How did he get in?
“The animals are busy,” he said, his voice sounding surprisingly calm. “Now get dressed and come on!”
He said it like he was inviting her to a picnic, not taking her away at gunpoint.
Cora didn’t think she had a lot of options, so she put Hunter’s shirt on again, and let Neil walk her out the front door of the house, the shower still going.
Where are they, she thought, desperately. Even though Neil had a gun, she had a feeling it wasn’t big enough to mean much to a grizzly bear. It was small, almost dainty.
“What are you doing?” she asked, loudly.
“Don’t talk,” he said.
They walked past the couch, and along the path they were walking, Cora saw her skirt and had an idea.
Grizzlies have better noses than bloodhounds, right?
She grabbed it, and almost instantly, Neil had her by the hair, forcing her to stand up again.
“It’s just my skirt,” she said. “I thought you wanted me to get dressed.”
In response, he shoved her forward.
No sign of Ash or Hunter.
“Get in the car,” he said, once they were outside, gesturing with the gun toward a BMW coupe that sat in the driveway.
How did they not notice this?she wondered.
How did I not notice?
Cora thought for a moment about running, but didn’t want to risk it.
Instead, she got into the car, and while Neil was getting in himself, shut her skirt in the door so it dragged on the ground.
It was the only thing she could think of, but she had no idea if it would work. Could they follow her scent if she dangled a piece of fabric from the car?
Neil got in and started driving, the car surprisingly quiet.
“Where are we going?” Cora asked. She tried to regulate her breathing to make it sound normal, but Neil still had the gun in his hand, the safety off, even as he shifted gears with the same hand.
He looked over at her, and then smiled like he had a surprise.
