Page 22 of Bones

For once, I got lucky. He might not have slammed on the brakes like I’d hoped, but he did slow down.

Now!

After half a second of hesitation, I acted like I was going to grab the wheel again. The distraction worked, and he didn’t notice me unbuckling. Not until I threw open the door.

And threw myself from the moving car.

I tried to keep my feet going, but apparently, cartoons weren’t accurate representations of the laws of motion, gravity, or physics. My body crashed to the asphalt, scraping up my palms, knees, and who knew what else. I did my best to maneuver a last-minute tuck-n-roll, but I was too late. I ended up rolling in a painful mess of slammed elbows, shoulders, and knees.

Landing on the side of the road, I wanted to stop to catch the breath that’d been knocked from me, but I couldn’t. I ignored every ache and pain that had instantly set in and forced my body to move. My first few steps were unsteady, but I pushed on because the squeal of tires let me know he’d stopped.

It was time to run.

Finally.

Despite my fear of the woods, I took off into the trees that lined the road, waiting for them to break into a backyard or for a street to come into view. But the longer I ran, the denser the darkness became. The space between the trees grew narrower, and the dim light disappeared until I could barely see my own feet. Every time I thought about slowing, I’d hear a twig snap or brush rustle, and it would push me on.

It wasn’t easy.

I stumbled.

I fell.

I slammed into tree trunks and was scratched by sharp branches.

My memories of waking up cold and alone after my accident flooded me, adding previous traumas to the very current ones.

But I kept going because if Ryan caught me…

Run.

Run in the woods.

At least I finally understood my brain’s demands. It was to get me away from Ryan.

To save me from whoever that mean-looking man was.

I reached a small clearing and hesitated to pick a path. Not that there were marked trails or anything as helpful as a neon sign declaring that way to civilization. But there were multiple breaks in the overgrowth, and I was tempted to take the biggest one.

Not wanting to get turned around and end up running in circles, I decided continuing straight ahead was the smarter choice. I took a few steps.

And then I let out a strangled yelp.

Holy…

A beast moved from the darkness to block my way.

A giant beast.

It took me a long, panicked moment to realize that it wasn’t some magical, mythical creature.

It was a moose.

I read they were bigger than people pictured, but this is unreal.

I stayed rooted to the spot until something sounded in the distance.

Willing to risk a moose attack over a Ryan one, I inched forward. I hoped that my appearance would freak out the moose—because he sure as hell freaked me out—but he just blinked at me.

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