The girl ran.122Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡpP38fGg6xH
122Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡk8WCpGYSyC
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.122Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡeat8VE4Eu0
122Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡbRrCG1hfiR
Get to the road. Get to the road. Just get to the road.122Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ8B8JZLHmnX
122Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡI0NR4wLlQh
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.122Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡHaXXi5dVk0
122Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡiDzgDuVbCY
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 . . .122Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ2J69kMFkti
122Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡrkDtDAuTfl
No.122Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡs9BABpwTJA
122Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡHcYSPUNBOm
She had to get to Clear Springs.122Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ4QhnLuPPbI
122Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡAtooO3CLLr
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.122Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡsCzjynupNd
122Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡQR2vEF97kq
If it were day . . .122Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡkKL2JjG1EO
122Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡVZLAeH3tlV
If she weren’t so tired . . .122Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡNgeUFLKWhJ
122Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡYjEwFS5mmF
If, if, if.122Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡaaRMAFi5Qv
122Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡoxf253dN52
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.122Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡutfNtWR6Ha
122Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡMbajL3UxGl
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.”122Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡgqDddV1QME
122Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡISlpSsZP4Y
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.122Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡLJCsKC1DpG
122Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡFoTcQk1BCr
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.”122Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡvot97hRP6C
122Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡkKtBhWgZBy
A hand touched her head, all the more horrifying because of its gentleness. “You know I can’t make that promise.”122Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡx2KXrwMBUR
122Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡslYXCQhMbR
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.122Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡNQFSmW21GH
122Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡQUYhEpae82
Nothing.122Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡs2aeuUoq7u
122Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡEsl6Ixw6UE
There was nothing but the hand on her head and the pain lying in wait for her.122Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡfTKyt4Hw0w
122Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡe17ZdHngwJ
122Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡyckycvROrL
122Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡSGhvtcve60
“You have to do something.”122Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡkFfmywdk37
122Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ7h7FLV18ko
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.122Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡRV18yemDRY
122Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡzYhhF5Q0Yb
This one was different.122Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡKzTqkaXNQk
122Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡNt2oH4E0VG
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.122Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡLaY13nAfKp
122Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡAd7x9xcDtg
“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.”122Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡBolsxe3tQJ
122Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡd5WR6703VV
“Julie, language.”122Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡKuFPz05tGZ
122Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡLQdwTcpK5N
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.122Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡQncIzfo6OA
122Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡHRwjucSQOq
But it wasn’t Zach’s job to tell her that Martha Collins was too smart to start snatching teenagers off the street.122Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡckQZu00S9P
122Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡR5L0mE0AW1
“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.122Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡTqAHqdFjX1
122Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡSPFH6LF6o1
“Maybe not before. This is different.”122Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡwwgin6iMG8
122Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡVjDw0PM6cc
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.122Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡh7w77yHToH
122Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡVNlQZu2vW7
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.
- 122Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡGLAW9aEpZq
