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I slammed my locker shut after the end of last period only to find Anna standing there. I jumped slightly, not having seen or heard her approach, but she just gave me a smile.
“Need a ride?”
Somehow, her question wasn’t wholly unexpected which might indicate I was getting used to the weirdness that surrounded me.
I shook my head as we walked down the hall, stares following us.
“They do realize staring is rude?”
“Yes, but you’re special,” Anna answered thoughtfully. I nodded, as she confirmed what I’d already begun to suspect. “You can really blame Caleb for that. He was pretty excited when he ran into the village.”
From the corner of my eye, I glanced at her wondering what else she was going to reveal.
“It’s not often the Hanley’s come into our territory and the fact they were chasing you….” She trailed off to my irritation, but I already knew she wasn’t going to explain.
“You know you don’t make a lot of sense,” I told her.
“To you,” she replied with a grin. “So do you need a ride?”
I was almost tempted to say yes, if only to see what else she would let slip, but the memory of the rooms I had to clean reared its ugly head and I shook my head.
“I have the car today,” I replied, hitching my backpack up as we stepped outside.
“Are you going straight home?”
Her question made me pause as I considered what it meant.
“Those guys – Hanley’s or whatever you called them – are they a threat to me?” I asked her directly and she froze. I pushed harder at her reaction, needing to know the truth. “Anna, are they going to come after me?”
“Probably not,” she whispered, not meeting my eyes.
“Probably or not? You can’t have both.”
“I don’t know,” she cried, looking worried all of a sudden. “We’ve never had this happen.”
“What happen? Random guys chasing a girl through the woods?” I just wanted a clear answer and all she was doing was raising more questions. The sensation of missing a big portion of the picture was settling in and I grew frustrated. “Look, I don’t know what’s going on and if you can’t tell me, then we’re done. I’m going home.” At her questioning glance, I clarified, “Straight home. But if you know something that puts my life at risk and aren’t telling me….”
“They’ll protect you,” she squeaked and I shook my head in frustration.
“Who? Who will protect me?” I demanded but she only shook her head and I stomped off, aggravated. I was so irritated I almost passed up my car and stormed all the way home on foot, but a niggling fear stopped me. The idea of those guys waiting for me down the road seemed ridiculous, but Anna’s questions had brought back my earlier fears.
I tossed my backpack into the passenger seat and started the car. I rolled the windows down to let the breeze in as I exited the parking lot. The normalcy of driving calmed me as I shoved all the weirdness of the day out of my mind.
It wasn’t until I passed a gravel driveway connected to the main highway that I realized Anna might have been right to be concerned. A beat up old truck was sitting in the driveway, idling, as I passed by.
A familiar truck.
I flattened myself against my seat, hoping they hadn’t seen me and then tried to reassure myself that there was no way they could recognize me. I mean, I couldn’t have picked them out of a line up. I’d never really gotten a good look at either of them, only the sound of their taunting voices had stayed with me.
As I got further from the place they’d hidden, I relaxed. They didn’t recognize me. Movement in the rearview mirror made me glance back and fear gripped me as I saw the truck peel out of the driveway and turn in my direction. Within seconds, they’d caught up to me. They came up behind me so fast I was sure they would bump my car.
My fingers tightened reflexively on the steering wheel, knowing I had to maintain control. If I stopped or they ran me off the road, it would be over. They would come after me, and this time there would be no one to save me.
Chapter Six
“You just have to make it to the motel,” I spoke aloud, the sound of my own voice reassuring. I pressed harder on the gas to create a gap, but it did no good. They stayed on my bumper. If intimidation was their goal, they were succeeding. The truck behind me made to dart in the other lane and I jerked my wheel, cutting him off. He swerved back behind me and I prayed I could hold him off. If they got beside or in front of me, they could easily run me off the road.
