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Snow was falling lightly, but the storm hadn’t fully rolled in yet.
If I could just put a few miles between us, I had a chance.
At least, I thought I did until the few snowflakes turned into flurries and the wind picked up to the point that I could barely keep my eyes open. I kept walking, hoping a truck or Good Samaritan would stop and pick me up. But there weren’t many cars on the road, and whenever a vehicle approached from behind me, I had to get off the road and hide in the tree line. Every passing car could have had Bruce in it, and I didn’t risk my life just to let him pick me up on the side of the road.
I kept walking, but as I continued on, the loss of blood and lack of calories started to take their toll on me.
Every footstep became a Herculean effort, and I was sure I’d die from hypothermia before any sort of rescue might come my way.
As I approached an intersection with the highway, I remembered a bus stop to the east. I didn’t have money for a ticket, but the news people had been talking about aRides for Warmthprogram that would allow me to get out of the weather for a couple hours at no cost.
Maybe all I needed was to warm up and then my brain would function a little better. I just needed to be able to think through a plan if I had any hope of saving myself.
It seemed to take a million steps against the harsh wind, but finally, the plexiglass enclosure came into view. Once I was sure it wasn’t a figment of my imagination, that box became my singular focus. I just had to get inside and wait for a bus to come along.
I could do it.
Of course, if Bruce came along first, he would just finish me off right there. And there was always the chance that a bus wouldn’t come at all, and I would die on the bench. No matter what happened, this was it. I couldn’t go any farther on foot, and I had no one to call for help. Even if I had someone to call, I’d tossed my phone into the woods on my way out.
I didn’t know if Bruce had any way of tracking me, but I wasn’t willing to take that chance.
When I finally reached the bus stop, the tiniest thread of hope filled me. It wasn’t any warmer inside the plastic box than outside, but at least I was mostly shielded from the wind. Huddling against the clear wall in the farthest corner, I curled up into a ball. My body had no heat left, but that didn’t stop me from rubbing up and down my arms and legs, urging the blood to start circulating again.
The snow was falling hard, and it was clear that my time was almost up. At least I would die trying. For some sick reason, that gave me comfort. If I had let Bruce take my life, it would’ve been much more painful than how I was going.
As it was, the pain was starting to drift away. My head no longer throbbed. My feet no longer ached, and a general numbness had settled over me as I lowered my head onto my bent knees and closed my eyes.
I hated that somebody would have to find me that way. It wasn’t fair to them to find a human popsicle, and it would be traumatizing. Scaring someone for the rest of their life was certainly not my intention, but I just had no other options left.
3
HARRIS
I glanced into the rearview mirror and smiled. “Are you doing okay back there, girl?”
Luna lifted her head off her front paws and looked up at me before lying back down. She really was a sweetheart. Maybe she wasn’t the brightest dog in the world, but she was already perfect for me. Apparently, as the runt of her litter, she got babied by her siblings. And the family who was training her wasn’t very strict with her rules either. Which meant she needed a Daddy to give her guidance and structure and a purpose.
She gave me a purpose too.
But she definitely had a lot of quirks.
At least that was what the rescue lady told me. She didn’t go into a lot of detail, but she told me not to be surprised if Luna randomly flopped her body on me or fetched a beer from the fridge without being asked. Neither of those seemed like much of a problem, so I wasn’t worried.
What I had been more concerned about was a hyper puppy who needed to constantly run and play. But so far, she was pretty mellow. Even though she was only two, she seemed content to lie around and nap.
She and I were going to get along just fine.
The snow was coming down pretty hard as I crossed yet another state line. I’d been driving or sleeping in my car for the past twenty-four hours and couldn’t wait to get home. If I didn’t have to stop because of ice or a whiteout, the GPS put me in my driveway by 4 AM. If we had to pull over and wait for the sun to rise, we’d be home closer to noon. Either way, we had food and water and blankets in the truck, so we’d be okay.
Speaking of food, I glanced back at Luna again. “Are you ready for a treat? You’re being such a good girl.”
Her ears perked up at the word treat, and she quickly stood on the backseat and dropped her head on my shoulder. But she didn’t nudge me or gently tap my side. No, the full weight of her big head landed square on my shoulder, and she pressed against the side of my face, reminding me she was there.
I chuckled and leaned against her. “Okay, okay. Give me a second to grab one.” I reached into the bag of food and treats the lady gave me and pulled out a small milk bone for her. “Here you go. We’ll be home soon.”
She inhaled the bone in one breath and licked up the side of my cheek before planting herself across the backseat again.
That was the most action I’d gotten in a long time, so I didn’t even wipe away her slobber. If she was a licker, I’d have to get used to it.
