I backed away, every inch of me shaking, and turned around. My body felt stiff as I stood up and forced myself to run. My feet crunched along the hard frozen ground. I could hear every footstep I took like it was exploding in my ears, and I cried in the open air. They would find me in a matter of minutes. I didn’t know what to do, and I didn’t have time to figure it out. Either they would find me, or I would be running endlessly into the forest, getting more and more lost. It was freezing, and if they weren’t going to kill me, the cold would.

Minutes later, I stopped by a large tree and pressed my back against it. My hands moved up and down my arms, forcing friction against the goose-bumps. I needed warmth. I was in nothing but a t-shirt and jeans.

The sound of a branch snapping behind me forced me to still. I held my breath, pressing my back against the tree. I stood tall and didn’t move, listening intently on the sounds around me. Another snap sounded and I squeezed my eyes shut. My teeth were chattering and I was on the verge of throwing up. The anxiety and fear were too much on my small body. At this rate, I would pass out long before they found me.

Breathe. Breathe. Breathe.

Out of reflex, my hand shot to the top of my shirt. I dug into my bra and searched for my switchblade. I didn’t find it. I fisted my hand, digging my fingers into the flesh, and banged my head against the tree. I didn’t take one in my haste to leave the apartment.

How Emma? HOW could you forget?

I was back to being too scared to move. I felt empty and completely alone. Nobody would help me. After priding myself on never being that damsel in distress, I was now praying for some form of help. Slowly, I pulled my phone out of my pocket. I took a few deep breaths, uncertain of whether to touch the buttons. If the men were around, they might see the glow of my phone, and I’d be done for. I waited for what felt like an eternity. Maybe they wouldn’t search this way. Maybe they passed and the sounds I heard were them moving away. I was so goddamn cold, and all I could think about was warmth and finding help. After a while, I heard nothing but the wind against the leaves and my heart beating inside my ears. There was that feeling of stillness, of aloneness, and it unsettled me. Everything frightened me: the tall trees, the swaying branches, the wind that howled every now and then as it whipped against my face, stinging my eyes and freezing my tears.

Just do it. Do it. Do it. Make the call before you freeze to death.

I pressed the button on my phone and quickly dialled 911. The light of the screen blurred my vision, and I rapidly blinked, adjusting to it as I navigated to the number screen. With shaky fingers, I pressed the phone to my ear and not a ring passed before the operator sounded distantly, “911, what is your emergency?”

A sudden snap sounded, and it a sent a dagger-like feeling to my heart. It was close. Too close. Something darker than the night flashed to my side, and I screamed as a hand darted out to my arm. I wriggled away just in time, and the phone dropped in my panic as I took off again, running hard and fast.

“Here!” screamed a male voice behind me. “She’s over here!”

My body buzzed with adrenaline as I moved in all directions. Branches whipped past my body, stinging my skin as I shoved through heavy bush. I heard footsteps gaining behind me, and I didn’t turn to look. I kept moving, stumbling over fallen wood and rock. A hand wrapped around my arm and my heart leaped to my throat. A scream sounded out again as the man’s other arm closed in around my waist. He picked me up from the ground and I cried out, angrily twisting my body in his grip. I would never stop fighting. I would never let him win. He grunted and shoved my head into a nearby tree. I fell to the ground, my head aching. I felt a hard kick to my side, and I twisted my body into a ball with my arms over my head.

“You’re going to make this difficult?” the man said.

He kicked me again with his steel-capped boot, and it landed against my spine. The most excruciating pain tore through me. I immediately went on my knees to get away when his hand wrapped around my hair. Before I could think, he pounded my head again into the unbearably hard tree. I saw stars and my head spun. My body went sloppy after that, sagging in his grip as he continued to kick me until I was practically lifeless. With a loud grunt, he picked up my limp body and flung me over his shoulder.

I felt like I was going to throw up. I might have even. I didn’t know. I was too out of it. My head pounded, my body hurt, and my vision continued to spin in rapid circles. I was so cold, my flesh had gone numb from head to toe. I lost consciousness, and as I slipped away, I heard the man triumphantly shout, “I got her!”

Sixteen

Emma

This stabbing pain in my head woke me up. I opened my eyes and saw darkness. Blinking, I looked around, staring at the figures moving around me with purposeful strides. I opened my mouth, grunting and licking at my cold, numb lips.

I was still outside, still in the forest somewhere, still freezing my tits off. Only I wasn’t running. I was on my side, against the cold damp earth. The trees overhead wavered with the wind, and for several moments I just stared at the black insipid sky, waiting for it to swallow me whole. Part of me hoped I’d just die already. That the cold would consume me and the last thing I would remember before fading away was the uninspired sky, a blatant reflection of my uninspired life before meeting Borden.

Slowly, my body stirred, and it was a difficult task to do considering every inch of me felt stiff as a board. I realized very shortly that my arms and legs wouldn’t move at all, and I panicked for a fleeting second until I knew what was wrong. My arms were bound behind my back, and my legs were bound by the ankles. The rope was tight, too tight to wriggle out of if I tried – and I fucking tried with everything inside me.

“Mulligan said it’s all going down tonight, which means getting this thing done, which means doing your fucking job and digging that goddamn hole! I don’t want to hear you bitching about it. I don’t want to hear how the ground is hard. You’re not a bunch of pussies. Just fucking do it already so we could get out of this shithole and get paid.”

The voice belonged to the same man that ordered the others to find me on that road. I turned my face to him and watched him carefully. He was large and bald, wearing black clothes like all the others. There were five of them all up, I counted. I couldn’t make out their features. I couldn’t see a damn distinguishable thing – not that it mattered or anything. Anonymity wasn’t important if the person was going to their death.