The girl ran.172Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡxhp2kXzGyw
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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.172Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡMiNjNFhhBM
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Get to the road. Get to the road. Just get to the road.172Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡtg34wJRQFp
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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.172Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ8G91clTfeh
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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 . . .172Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡv7ZzblZUTJ
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No.172Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡVHXu9mNZa8
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She had to get to Clear Springs.172Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡioYyDL8Grp
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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.172Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ3kk9vJhzyy
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If it were day . . .172Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡxMzXFUWS74
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If she weren’t so tired . . .172Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡtnuGf7vxbo
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If, if, if.172Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡuTkcHWjPFd
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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.172Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡXMw1eOk1Ox
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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.”172Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡIH9Wg8RB5D
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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.172Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ1pNjVqovl5
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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.”172Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ4uIIjsxxbB
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A hand touched her head, all the more horrifying because of its gentleness. “You know I can’t make that promise.”172Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡJ7I3crK3Up
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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.172Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡxkTw4v8sdh
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Nothing.172Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ815MrrL5s7
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There was nothing but the hand on her head and the pain lying in wait for her.172Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡl1upDVbnLc
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“You have to do something.”172Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡcLFKdFih8x
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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.172Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡoFthjThQsl
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This one was different.172Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡDJnCTGq87a
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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.172Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡsRlzxfcv2a
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“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.”172Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡqSKyZb4o5Z
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“Julie, language.”172Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡgTF7GmQpZ8
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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.172Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡrMNNAtyG6o
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But it wasn’t Zach’s job to tell her that Martha Collins was too smart to start snatching teenagers off the street.172Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡf90yAAZVuN
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“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.172Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡw8t9FjKASc
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“Maybe not before. This is different.”172Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡXLyZmED7bt
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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.172Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡBCiT5mDmoE
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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.
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