The girl ran.169Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ19tQkUU7z5
169Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡhGtqXTYRA5
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.169Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡFL0KxbhKR6
169Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡBShryRBS4u
Get to the road. Get to the road. Just get to the road.169Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡqKeLOUHRaT
169Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡT0uA1qEN9G
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.169Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ2VuNNy7zfI
169Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡohE29DBR5B
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 . . .169Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡTqFYzvR2iZ
169Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡcbNv1lGKIB
No.169Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡZYpxtZurgg
169Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡEunoocqlEm
She had to get to Clear Springs.169Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡtFjBEubYkK
169Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡzsOjJvc2eW
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.169Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡV9IqL6dYEE
169Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ8GVv525A8b
If it were day . . .169Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡHD1IoWGGp1
169Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡdOOdeNiXhu
If she weren’t so tired . . .169Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡvAE3raMq8Q
169Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡhLARCF1kvo
If, if, if.169Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡC1ZRyWy2KL
169Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡQY1QQwJkU4
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.169Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡTxoS8DCCMl
169Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡsgfDNDvtnu
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.”169Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡoNdTIBVWvP
169Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡzPnsneBowj
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.169Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡyGnjEKXi9C
169Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡPFNL1JLgDb
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.”169Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡqqA0aMUYmm
169Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡHt5I9B2mXu
A hand touched her head, all the more horrifying because of its gentleness. “You know I can’t make that promise.”169Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡWEUvfaUPJy
169Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡfeFjokshZb
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.169Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡaHk5ghN5fi
169Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ1TZfWGEiyW
Nothing.169Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡQJfRbCdBNb
169Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡmT9cvL7JFd
There was nothing but the hand on her head and the pain lying in wait for her.169Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡRx3jfHYN2F
169Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡvj8ikHpgNK
169Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡIHelAJBt1f
169Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡqNWgpPC2vb
“You have to do something.”169Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡevLqnX2iQn
169Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡSXbElC5RYI
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.169Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡsS80E8ZYWT
169Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡC5UjzB0cyW
This one was different.169Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡu1UWTbsXD3
169Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ5XmlAtbMVY
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.169Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡpVoOjlHmFV
169Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡWwYtWCeSTN
“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.”169Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡhWxfbvaR26
169Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡh7jj0s9sE6
“Julie, language.”169Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ8av0X8jLdC
169Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡJtnZiET1qf
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.169Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡTu7MwRT4Vq
169Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡLB12Kqz6Mw
But it wasn’t Zach’s job to tell her that Martha Collins was too smart to start snatching teenagers off the street.169Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡavrfvTF5ic
169Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡiZ5Wt005Nq
“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.169Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡryT8UVZRLx
169Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡuYhPvVFKFU
“Maybe not before. This is different.”169Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡfFj0rRDZAC
169Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡN7xZf2j3Ir
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.169Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡIC26IdbEcC
169Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡE09t3lyltf
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.
- 169Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡhqPSgsaZai
