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“I don’t know."
She was on the phone with J when they took her. The team would be on their way. They would come as fast as possible. She grunted with the final tear of the rope, moving quickly to her ankles.
“Do you think they’re killing someone else?”
“I don’t know,” she repeated.
Within moments they were free, rubbing at the tenderized skin at their joints. Teddi pocketed the jagged rock just in case. Her gun and knife were long gone and she held little hope of seeing them before she needed them.
“I’m going to find Vera, are you coming with me or leaving?” She asked but kept her eyes in the direction of the scream. It came from the same direction the unnatural wind disappeared. She hoped she would only find the first of the two things ahead. Her cheek throbbed and felt deep enough to need stitches.
“I want out of this place. I’m done, I’m so done with Sylen.” She was scared and angry. But Teddi didn’t hear the sound of her walking away. Looking back, she watched as Sam stared into the forest ahead.
“You got something better to do?” Teddi might need the backup, even if Sam remained unknown to her. She was better than nothing and while she didn’t rue the idea of taking a teen into a dangerous situation, she recognized the demons in her eyes. They widened in terror as Sam thought of what lay ahead. “I won’t hold it against you if you leave but I could use the help and I think you owe Vera that much. She believed in you, trusted you.”
“I… I can’t. I don’t want to see what I saw in the forest again. This place is wrong, it’s cursed. I can feel it like an infection.” She shook her head as the whites of her eyes glowed in the dark.
Teddi could agree, could tell her she felt the same way, felt the weight of preternatural eyes upon her even now. But it wouldn’t help the girl and it wouldn’t help her get what she needed and that was Vera back, safely.
“Listen to me, Sam.” She looked gaunt, haunted by what happened. She’d found a mutilated dead body, was unhoused, without family, lost and wandering, and had been kidnapped. “I know you’ve been through a lot and believe me when I say that I’m sorry for all of it. There is something wrong with this place and I hope by sunrise all of us are free and clear of it forever.” She grasped her shoulders. “But there is someone who needs our help if not more than one person, and I have a feeling it’s up to you and me for now.” Sam shook, the bones of her shoulders prodding into Teddi’s palms. “Be strong, Sam,” she whispered. “Be there for someone else the way you wish they’d been there for you.”
A runaway teenager with a rap sheet too long for her age but she recognized a lost soul when she saw one. A wanderer with no roots, no threads tethering her to stability. No family, and probably few friends she could count on. Teddi knew that a life spent running meant hiding from everyone else but mostly herself.
“I won’t let you get hurt, I promise. I just need you to watch my back, alright? Can you do that?” The fear didn’t abate in her eyes, the gleam was nearly neon in the light but something else grew beside it. A resolve. Strength. Spite that was tired of running.
Nodding her head vigorously, she spoke with a conviction Teddi hadn’t expected. “Alright. Ok, I’ll come with you but on one condition.”
“Name it.”
“I get to fuck up that deputy that knocked me out.”
“Which deputy?”
“The skinny one, the young one. He was chasing me and next thing I know, boom, I’m out.”
Teddi’s gut turned. “Alright.”
Traveling the dense woods in sporadic moonlight was as hellish as Teddi expected. Her clothes caught on wayward branches and her hair was snagged. Sam moved clumsily behind her, huffing with every near fall on uneven ground. They didn’t speak. Teddi warned her she had no idea who was in the surrounding area and if they planned to come back for them.
They only traveled a few minutes when a light cut through the dark. A flowing orange winked between tree trucks. Jogging as fast and quietly as possible, she kept her eyes locked on it in case it disappeared. The unique heaviness of smoke filled her nose, making it scrunch up. It was weaker but tendrils of what she’d smelled before going unconscious were evident. Weaving through the trees, the light grew. A line of fire revealed itself at last.
A long line of lightning split the sky as if to point a crooked finger at what lay ahead. The glade. They’d been left somewhere far east of town, the opposite end of where she and Vera had snuck in all those times off the trail. Still far from the pasture edge, she stopped behind a bundle of trees.
“Get down,” she commanded quietly.
“What is it?” Sam asked, nearly curling herself against Teddi’s back. She didn’t know if it was to hide or to be able to see but she didn't mind the body heat. Her bones ached from the cold.
“Looks like torches, maybe. They’re too high to be a ground fire and they’re spread out.” She looked over her shoulder at the teen. “I’m going to go check it out, alright? You stay here and don’t move until I get back. Got it?”
“You’re going to leave me alone out here in these fucking woods?”
“You’ll be alright, just stay hidden.” Teddi pushed her gently back behind the tree. “I’ll be right back.” Sam didn’t agree but she was tucked behind the wide trunk well enough.
"Wait!" She hissed.
"What?"
Sam cursed under her breath. "I lied about the guy I saw at the crime scene. I needed the money and Vera was nice to me. I fucked her over and I feel bad about it. Who knows, maybe that's what got her into this nightmare but I just wanted you to know."
