The girl ran.175Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ51EOiaVX9c
175Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡycm1ddr860
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.175Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡGUw4sWHh3i
175Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡj6ApBXE2Uk
Get to the road. Get to the road. Just get to the road.175Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡCJUXzuiBgZ
175Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡYJVS1t56Xc
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.175Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡnQz3xytWra
175Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡkVQ6gN4QgV
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 . . .175Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡX24VN6o4xI
175Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡA7qA1W1Bar
No.175Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡtFwwhShJ4Q
175Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡagjnzd1GqN
She had to get to Clear Springs.175Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ6wXgXYM1Mf
175Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡoVycMeVgVj
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.175Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡX2SKjMIJyN
175Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡOFfKzv6qPH
If it were day . . .175Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡkrgNybbNAB
175Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ0ltRocSdcX
If she weren’t so tired . . .175Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡkn5xQnzKYd
175Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡyk3p45ZTOp
If, if, if.175Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ2z0yxzvNL0
175Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡv9gn7zduUU
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.175Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡRmz1xAgZoD
175Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡB3oxGMvA3m
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.”175Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡGChdEMWzDv
175Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡNDophoItff
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.175Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡq7mZNzpIj7
175Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡKHF8DqHBXt
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.”175Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡikUe2F7hVx
175Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡchlJTRWv0a
A hand touched her head, all the more horrifying because of its gentleness. “You know I can’t make that promise.”175Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡZv9aUURKBp
175Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡNNrT9s2Q2L
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.175Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ9hf5iwgXjy
175Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡmlLuYlWg32
Nothing.175Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡbwSuDktNxe
175Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ7tkoWCZ7SB
There was nothing but the hand on her head and the pain lying in wait for her.175Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡnrjMKDe23a
175Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡeOzQhbKihb
175Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡKGoublPR9f
175Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡVbUYvortzD
“You have to do something.”175Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ54siedS5yS
175Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ9JgDqEUo1d
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.175Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ6BZq9qoBO4
175Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡrT99vfIjqa
This one was different.175Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡlsFLmAM3Yf
175Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡxXE15VE0wr
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.175Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡaDbwz3ZYKI
175Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ85MRSc0jFU
“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.”175Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡVo9mvXrXqV
175Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡGFB7j6ThiH
“Julie, language.”175Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡliil1aL5HV
175Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡtZVT1RWrkr
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.175Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡn24YQKKBkZ
175Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡJQyymDpj7Z
But it wasn’t Zach’s job to tell her that Martha Collins was too smart to start snatching teenagers off the street.175Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡqVfLqj1zjN
175Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡyElmaVrZ9Z
“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.175Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡLQWHx1nLTx
175Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡFBqoqyD25S
“Maybe not before. This is different.”175Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡjUCWAY4BkO
175Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ0HXI0hfMr4
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.175Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ7JtxhdKIo0
175Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡfPdd8LsMms
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.
- 175Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡM7z5RlFOch
