The girl ran.193Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ5J2KaWfAKI
193Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡxHAbftAzVR
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.193Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ0qKTlnCddc
193Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡN5tHfz9I1x
Get to the road. Get to the road. Just get to the road.193Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡmnSjMoLyxW
193Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡHlmTBGxJeS
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.193Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡIZKqcNoIKI
193Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡDGxyRRAPV9
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 . . .193Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡVceYDkHEmL
193Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ3JzJIKTNXR
No.193Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ9sd3AQHp71
193Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡJooftKHnPp
She had to get to Clear Springs.193Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡZ74RQgwKLu
193Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡJG60FC8Uvu
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.193Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡfXXejkyoCG
193Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡEM4kAHGGR6
If it were day . . .193Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡFxhauWFHyO
193Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ6xpUyPMC7r
If she weren’t so tired . . .193Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡQAazPcgUo8
193Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ3xmsJuuBtS
If, if, if.193Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡDFknRTFOZA
193Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡjkxKIcY2Kk
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.193Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡujRc1RybVE
193Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ4MiF07Wq0P
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.”193Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡhavMO6l4OF
193Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡC8AZtB6mzK
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.193Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡJ3ZArCM1V2
193Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡg2CKzAmQbm
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.”193Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡSKChSi2xrc
193Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡJ4vq7oXpwL
A hand touched her head, all the more horrifying because of its gentleness. “You know I can’t make that promise.”193Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡwaz0pgd1aj
193Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡgYxuDLTx5z
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.193Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡOnvzPbIdhR
193Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡoAVtElGFsx
Nothing.193Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡCCrRdVD3wO
193Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡKZBDcgAPe4
There was nothing but the hand on her head and the pain lying in wait for her.193Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡsZryJPjDrO
193Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ7VuDRCvhfT
193Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡvD4NAtavZL
193Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡBs7x5QPqis
“You have to do something.”193Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ4MBtIayG9G
193Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ5Q7ZisW1Sj
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.193Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡZNCuNefCjn
193Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡl4loprnXfV
This one was different.193Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡzvLimp590o
193Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡqwMhnqmNUf
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.193Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ9SXx8wjrck
193Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡF63J0Cl8Cy
“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.”193Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡUQnN2IwrHk
193Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡSqd9L16xcE
“Julie, language.”193Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ1pjsogsW0d
193Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡxw05svBOie
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.193Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡzEhE9Gzdxf
193Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡyVjqGkVgx9
But it wasn’t Zach’s job to tell her that Martha Collins was too smart to start snatching teenagers off the street.193Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡTgIqTYEPYW
193Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡSOuj45g9Xw
“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.193Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ6k6tGvFP7f
193Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡaO881Inxhn
“Maybe not before. This is different.”193Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡcdBLxwcgqi
193Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡfaIkvJEokm
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.193Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡcyjb6ofj2R
193Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡIpTaXilzWt
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.
- 193Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡycsQ8GSNCG
