I didn’t know how long I ran; I just kept going until my lungs burned and my legs gave out. I sat down with a grunt, sucking in the cool air. I was grateful for the full moon, although it made the barrel cactus and yuccas take on menacing shapes. In the distance, a pack of coyotes had something cornered, and I shivered against the cool night.
There were no houses around, but in the distance, every now and then, I’d see headlights. They were a long way away, so there was no hope of yelling for help or flagging them down. But at least it reassured me that if I kept walking in that direction, I’d eventually reach people who could possibly help me.
I had sand in my shoes, and my head was still pounding. However, once I caught my breath, I was determined to keep going. I had no idea whether River knew I had escaped yet or not. I hadn’t heard him yelling for me, but then again, maybe he wouldn’t bother calling out if he were trying to hunt me down.
I was still in shock about the situation I found myself in. While River had obviously disliked me, it had never occurred to me he might try to harm me. I was positive by now Royce would be looking for me. Even if River had successfully lied to him, Royce would know something was wrong. He knew me wellenough to know I wouldn’t just not come home without calling or texting.
I was extremely thirsty. I’d been in such a panic to get out of that room, I wish I’d used my head more. I wished I’d been smart enough to grab the second bottle of water. Fortunately, it was still nighttime, but that wouldn’t last forever. Eventually, the sun would rise. Would that be better or worse? It would be harder to hide from River but easier to be seen by anyone like the police.
I gasped when something dashed away from the sagebrush nearby. Assuming it was a rabbit, I told myself to relax. Hopefully, it wasn’t a rattler. Snakes worried me out here. The moon was bright, but a snake would still blend in with the ground. While the low temperature probably had them tucked away, you could never be sure. It would certainly be a cruel irony to be bitten by a rattlesnake while trying to escape River’s slithery clutches.
As much as I’d have liked to stay seated, once I’d caught my breath, I clambered to my feet. I started walking again in the direction I hoped led to a road. As I stumbled along, my thoughts drifted to River. While I was furious with him, some of the things he’d said had stuck with me.
It was true that I’d been dismissive of him from the moment we’d met. He wasn’t my kind of person, but then again, few people were. He was too loud and flamboyant for my tastes. He struck me as a silly man. I’d written him off as a waste of my time. Now that I knew he was Lucinda’s brother, I couldn’t deny feeling guilt at how I’d belittled him before. His immediate popularity with the people of Rainy Dale had threatened me. Irked me. He’d charmed thecitizens effortlessly while I’d continued to alienate them left and right, also effortlessly.
While I wasn’t ready to forgive River for his treatment of me, it was obvious he’d loved his sister dearly. Witnessing his raw pain firsthand was awful. Uncomfortable. It forced me to look at him as more than just an annoying buffoon. He was a person. A person who’d lost someone very dear to him. So dear, in fact, the loss of her had driven him to violence.
I resented the fact that he thought her death hadn’t affected me. That I’d considered her death unimportant. While I hadn’t known Lucinda well, I’d found her charming during our preop visit. She’d been warm, and she’d laughed easily. Funny, I hadn’t thought about Lucinda as a living, breathing being in a long time. Perhaps because it had been too painful to remember her that way.
Or at all.
If I was honest with myself, I had attempted to forget Lucinda. There had been a period of time where I had tried to pretend she’d never existed. After all, if she hadn’t existed, then I hadn’t failed her. I knew in my heart that I’d done everything possible to save her. But she’d still died, and that was an unbearable fact.
I startled when the coyotes started up again. Shivering, I reminded myself that while the sound of a pack of coyotes on the hunt sounded eerie, attacks on humans were very rare. More people died every year from golf balls gone astray and uncontrolled champagne corks than coyotes.
Once more, my thirst nagged at me. While it was a cold night, the temperature wasn’t low enough to give me hypothermia. It was unpleasant but not life-threatening. Same thing with my growling stomach. Itwas uncomfortable but not anything that would kill me in the immediate future. My need for water concerned me more. I could go weeks without food but only three days without water. Surely I’d be found before it got to that.
I searched the dark horizon, wishing the ground wasn’t so uneven. I was forced to walk very slowly so I didn’t fall. I strained my eyes, hoping to see distant headlights again. While I was certain there was a road out there somewhere, the cars were so few and far between, it was easy to lose track of what direction I’d seen the lights earlier. I lived in fear of getting twisted around and ending up back at that house.
Even if I did head in the right direction, the road could be hundreds of miles away. Who knew how long it would take to reach the road? What if when I reached the road, no cars came? And even if one did come along, would the driver be willing to stop? After being drugged and rolling in the dirt, I probably wasn’t looking terribly respectable.
There were so many unknowns it was giving me a stomachache. I was kicking myself for not being braver. When I’d escaped out of the window, all I’d been able to think about was getting away. I’d panicked and raced into the cover of night. That had definitely been a mistake. River hadn’t walked here with me on his back, so there had to be a road away from the house. Maybe if I hadn’t been such a coward, I could have found a driveway and followed it to a main road. Instead, I’d bolted away from the house like a scared jackrabbit.
I tried not to think about all the horror stories I’d heard over the years of hikers who got lost, dying only a few hundred feet from their cars. I stopped walking abruptly and sucked in some calming breaths. I wasbeing way too emotional. I was letting fear control me and allowing my imagination to run wild. I needed to tap into my more logical side. The side of my brain I used to solve problems as a medical professional was what was needed now.
“It’s going to be fine. Calmdown,” I muttered, pressing my hand to my chest. My heart rate was way too fast, and I felt sick from the drugs River had given me. “Royce isn’t just going to let me die out here. He just won’t.”
The night was eerily quiet, not counting the chirping crickets and rustling fronds of a nearby yucca. Odds were, if I kept my head, I’d survive this ordeal. So long as I didn’t fall down and break a bone or get bitten by a snake, I would probably be fine. I’d been in tough situations before and made it out alive. The Thorntons weren’t quitters. While I’d loathed my parents, the Thornton blooddidpump through my veins. We were nothing if not ornery.
I was about to start walking again when I froze at a sound in the distance. Was someone yelling my name? Panic shot through me. River had probably finally discovered I was free and was hot on my trail. Heart pounding, I ducked down behind the base of a Joshua tree, listening intently. I definitely heard movement in the distance, and my stomach churned. Whoever they were, they seemed to be following my trail. Fear clawed at me as I tried to think what the best course of action was. Perhaps it was safer to hunker down and hope River just ran past me.
But he’d probably have a flashlight, and he’d be able to follow my tracks in the sandy ground. That would lead him straight to me. Legs shaking from the adrenaline pumping through my system, I preparedmyself for hand-to-hand combat. God willing, River wouldn’t shoot me on the spot. I strained my ears, listening to see if he was close to me yet. I heard nothing. Had I hallucinated the sound of a voice, or was River closing in on me?
I kept second-guessing my decision to stop and hide. Maybe it was smarter to keep going. Maybe he hadn’t picked up my trail yet, and he was just randomly searching. Gritting my teeth, I slowly stood. I waited a few seconds and listened. I didn’t hear him coming, so I decided to make a run for it.
Turning, I bolted in the opposite direction. Terror roared through me as I stretched my legs and crashed through the sagebrush and greasewood. I knew I was making too much noise, but panic had a grip on me. I couldn’t stop thinking about the gun River had and how much I wanted to live.
I leapt over a prickly pear blocking my way, and as I landed, I felt the ground give way. My mind seemed to short-circuit as I realized I was falling. I didn’t understand what was happening. In the moonlight, I’d been able to see that it had been flat ground ahead of me. What the hell was happening?
Bewildered, I let out a terrified yelp, flailing at the air, and then I hit down. My right hip and shoulder took the brunt of my weight, and I cried out as pain jolted through me. Spitting dirt from my mouth, I groaned. My body throbbed from the impact of hitting the hard ground. I rolled slowly onto my back, letting out another groan. I was dizzy from the impact, and I blinked a few times until my vision cleared. In the center of the visible sky hung the moon. My view was similar to if I’d fallen down a well. Uneasiness shifted through me as I realized I was at the bottom of some type of hole.
I stayed where I was for a few minutes, mentally trying to check for possible injuries. While my hip and shoulder hurt, I didn’t think anything was actually broken. Sucking in a steadying breath, I forced myself to sit up. It smelled like mud and rotting vegetation, and I realized I was sitting in a few inches of sludge. Gritting my teeth against the pain, I climbed unsteadily to my feet. The back of my pants and suit jacket were soaked, and my shoes were filled with muddy water.
Once I was standing, I could better gauge the depth of the hole I was in. The top seemed to be about six feet above my head. I took a step, and my knee twinged painfully. Hissing, I tried to put the majority of my weight on the other leg. Apparently, I’d twisted my knee when I’d fallen. Swearing under my breath, I rubbed it, trying not to give in to panic. Things had just gone from horrible to un-fucking-believable. If River happened along, I was a sitting duck.
The area I stood in was an uneven circle and, at its widest point, approximately six feet wide. The entire bottom was muddy sludge, but the muck didn’t seem to be getting higher. There was a definite musty scent, probably caused by a bacteria called actinomycete, which tended to thrive in warm, damp soil.
Had I fallen into an abandoned well or something manmade? Without a flashlight, I couldn’t really tell what the walls were made of. I inched my way over and pressed my hands against them. It felt like damp dirt, and my heart jolted when it began to crumble alarmingly at my touch. I stepped back quickly and listened to the dirt and rocks raining down onto the muddy bottom.
