The girl ran.242Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡKg9EPPQHej
242Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ2ByquTFFl9
She ran with everything she had in her, her thin arms pumping and her bare feet slapping the dirt. The long grass sliced at her skin, each piece a tiny razor blade. It hurt. Everything hurt. But if she was caught again, it would be so much worse.242Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡt4ODDu6OFN
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Get to the road. Get to the road. Just get to the road.242Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡkbg2JEVXrM
242Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡNADyM90gxN
Already her strength was flagging, her body failing her despite the desperation driving her on. She couldn’t stop. She couldn’t rest. She couldn’t do anything but run.242Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡI3S3QFsDig
242Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡhMbQm2ZT0R
The ground changed beneath her feet, and it took her three full strides before she realized it. She turned a full circle, trying to get her bearings. It was so hard to think past the blood pounding in her head and the dozen sharp pains that screamed to make themselves known now that she’d stopped moving. Maybe I could just . . .242Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡUn2G40Ie3a
242Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡzoDBlBsIco
No.242Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡeaBTkofzxb
242Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡiC01WtlYZy
She had to get to Clear Springs.242Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡYEYQWvDyF9
242Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡC4TAOKVRMF
The irony there wasn’t lost on her, even in her current state. All she’d ever wanted was to get out of that little hellhole of a town, and here she was, putting everything she had into doing the exact opposite. She frowned, trying to see farther down the road. It shouldn’t be so difficult to figure out which way to go. She’d spent years on these little two-lane roads that crisscrossed their way through this part of Montana.242Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡL8SYT8xIIj
242Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡPZyku4H8lx
If it were day . . .242Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡFg8DLzdLTg
242Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡwxQQYZ3oNK
If she weren’t so tired . . .242Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡbNBkC6BUeH
242Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡrqwFfOxIul
If, if, if.242Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡB3EtVy7HpT
242Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡaneEr8hV1A
Just move. She took a deep breath and put one foot in front of the other, picking a direction at random. The words became a mantra, a promise. Just get back to town. Just get back to town, and this will all be over.242Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡrSdTAVFctt
242Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡLena3fHwkJ
She wasn’t sure how long she’d walked before headlights cut through the darkness, blinding her. The girl went to her knees without having any intention of doing so. She lifted a shaking hand to shield her eyes. “Please.”242Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡIsPjCY3p3k
242Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡpwCqot9NiH
The driver’s side door opened, and footsteps padded over the asphalt. She squinted against the light, her heart skipping a beat at the familiar profile. “No . . .” I got away. I was so sure I got away. Behind the figure, she could make out the faint, familiar lights of Clear Springs. So close. It might as well have been the moon. She had the same likelihood of reaching it.242Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ0QXoVgvUlm
242Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡycrUcsXjHE
She tried to get to her feet, but her body failed her once again, her legs giving out. She barely caught herself before she face-planted. “Please. I’ll do whatever you want. Just please don’t hurt me anymore.”242Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡHaUtqveDQO
242Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡfplCHrilVJ
A hand touched her head, all the more horrifying because of its gentleness. “You know I can’t make that promise.”242Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ1bT0f66GLC
242Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡDJkxI6WzEI
The girl had thought herself beyond tears, but that moment proved her wrong. She stared at her scraped and bloodied knuckles, a horrible knowledge settling in her chest. There would be no college, no life beyond the little town that had felt like a prison for most of her life, no future family where she could learn from the mistakes her parents had made.242Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡcV8HfDRQ2q
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Nothing.242Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡnFsVF4og70
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There was nothing but the hand on her head and the pain lying in wait for her.242Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡr4r8PgbUL3
242Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡRS8O6i5mpb
242Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡkVanMIxLNm
242Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡHNazRJqbCZ
“You have to do something.”242Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡMttrIx1lew
242Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ8Rj0fRlOQp
Zach Owens had heard variations of that same demand ever since he moved back to Clear Springs and took a job as a deputy nine years ago. Now, as sheriff, he heard them a whole hell of a lot more often.242Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡzSuewmDmOu
242Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡKH77CgCHuw
This one was different.242Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡSCAvwI7DdK
242Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡMJdpRCyX7D
He sat forward and pinned both Robert and Julie Smith with a look. “You know I’ve been doing everything I can.” For three days he’d been working his ass off to figure out where the hell their daughter had wandered off to. They didn’t get missing persons a whole lot around here—if someone went missing, it was because they didn’t want to be found. He still wasn’t convinced Neveah Smith wasn’t in that category.242Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡipyFftAt06
242Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡHDqDJA9eoT
“This isn’t like the other times.” Tears welled in Julie’s eyes. “It’s that Martha Collins. She’s got her hooks into my girl, and she’s lured her out to that damned cesspool of sin.”242Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ8XNbmULDsQ
242Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ8BZQX1YOsZ
“Julie, language.”242Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ2Nc8WJhkqF
242Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡetpp6KTQR3
Zach sighed. It was just like Robert Smith to call his wife out on her language when their daughter might or might not be missing. The Smiths were good people. They made a point to get to church every Sunday and do all sorts of community outreach, even if they were a little zealous about some of that shit. Julie Smith had made it her personal mission to see the cult up on that hill brought down in flames.242Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡmvWc4qzck2
242Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ6GMrrGSGPT
But it wasn’t Zach’s job to tell her that Martha Collins was too smart to start snatching teenagers off the street.242Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡBrbUIHtn3F
242Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡUoOh6KfgzX
“The folks up at Elysia aren’t responsible for everything that goes sideways in Clear Springs.” In all the time he’d been back in town, he couldn’t remember a single thing they’d done that would shine the light of the law on themselves. Groups like that didn’t make it far if they weren’t able to keep their noses clean.242Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡwROTI4bDaE
242Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡFVdjoUmppK
“Maybe not before. This is different.”242Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡXgFvep7bnt
242Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡBOS7Gl0Na1
She kept saying that. Zach knew her well enough to know she wasn’t going to let this go. The woman might be sweet as pie, but she was like a terrier with a bone when she got her back up. Having her only daughter up and disappear was more than enough to do that.242Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡOmF2J8dBNQ
242Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ8z9gPGWj9l
The problem was that Neveah was a little troublemaker. She liked to worry her parents, and she loved getting herself into questionable situations. It would be just like her to disappear for a few days and then waltz back into town with a shit-eating grin and some boy in tow.
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