I duck my head and barrel into the tree line, branches slapping my forehead as I charge into the woods. The thuds of Jasmine's and Hunter's boots clomp through the snow behind me. Halfway through the same path that led us to the cabin, I plow ahead, trying to put as much distance between me and them as possible. By the time I reach the end of the spruce and cedar, about to hit the incline in stride, I notice I don't hear their pursuit anymore. I stop on the treeless hillside, out in the open with the moonlight casting me in its eerie light.

I pant for a few restless seconds, waiting, listening.

My hands are freezing, so I dig them into the pockets of my parka and find my gloves. I thrust my hands into them one at a time, my breath fogging in front of me.

The woodsy scent of the forest laces the air, helping me tell the difference between what's real and what's not. My mind drifts back to my father's death, his blood on my hands. I had blamed myself for his accident because I couldn't save him, even though I didn't love him. He had built that man cave behind the house and had a ground wire running from the power box to a metal stake. Of course, that rod stuck up several inches too high, and in one of his drunken episodes, he fell on top of it. I hadn't killed him. It was an accident, but my mother laid the fault on my shoulders because I, a little girl, couldn't keep him from dying.

But now I know it wasn't my fault.

Relief floods my heart as my fingers and palms grow warm. Standing here, I wonder why Hunter and Jasmine aren't chasing me anymore.

Suspicious of a trap, I dash ahead, rushing up to the top, where the rocks stick up like a mini version of the Rocky Mountains. When I draw near the formation, glancing back, I stumble to my knees, my hands driving into the snow to the earth beneath.

My left knee smashes into the rocks, a jolt of pain rocketing through my thigh.

A yelp escapes my throat as the shooting throb pulses and dulls. I rub my knee cap and flex my leg at the joint, grunting and groaning until I work the soreness out enough to continue.

In this surreal moment, I can't help but peer over the top of the incline to see the creek glimmering in the moonlight, a meandering snake between the mountain ranges.

As I push up, a sound cuts through the night.

An engine. A car?

No, the grumble rattles deep and hearty, like a truck.

A beam of light pierces the darkness on the far side of the trees, behind the cabin, close to the mountainside to the south. Looking down at the path I took up the hillside reveals nothing but my footprints in the snow. There must be a road that cuts through a mountain pass leading to the cabin. Of course, it's covered in icy precipitation, which means the truck is a four-wheel-drive with chains on the tires.

I have to hurry while they're distracted. My goal was to draw them out of the woods and then circle back around. I wanted to disappear into the trees again, hoping to lose them along the way. Now, I don't have to worry about that because the vehicle has their attention.

Back at the tree line, I slip into the dark shadows with a slight limp, working my way through the forest.

At the clearing, I see the vehicle heading our way. It hasn't reached the cabin yet. I assume Jasmine and Hunter are walking toward the approaching headlights, which are still a quarter of a mile away.

As I break into the open, I'm startled by two shadowy figures standing side by side. Mere feet away, I try to stop but can't and slam into the middle of them, sending them spinning from me. Jasmine cries out and Hunter grunts as I tumble to the side, rolling in the snow.

As I push to my left knee, a twinge stabs the joint, making me wince. Hunter curses, and I grit my teeth, realizing I've lost my advantage when I crashed into them. Now, he has the edge against me; he just doesn't know it yet.

Quicker to recover from the collision, he rises to his hands and knees, looking down at Jasmine. He helps her stand up and I notice his hand extended toward her waist. She emits a warbled groan, but I don't stick around and wait for them to take up pursuit. I race toward the back of the cabin where a shadow provides cover.

I feel my way along the backside and take a hard left at the corner. Jasmine and Hunter have yet to chase after me as I race toward the porch and round the front.

The headlights have drawn closer, now only hundreds of feet away. Perhaps the owner of the cabin or someone else, but the truck moves slowly as it navigates its way toward the cabin.

As I pass the porch steps, the headlights probe the darkness to my right, bringing me to a skidding stop in the middle of the clearing. When I glance back at the corner of the cabin, I see Hunter and Jasmine have made it to the front side, close enough to cut me off and within range of the approaching truck's headlights, which now are only a hundred feet away.

In the full beams, Hunter steps aside and yanks a knife from Jasmine's abdomen, the blade drenched in her blood; the handle gripped in his ungloved hand.

A look of pure hatred crosses his face as he focuses his rage on me. His narrowed eyes and hardened chin catch a glint of the headlights as the truck rumbles into the clearing toward us.

Jasmine falls to her knees, crimson spilling over her hands as she clutches her stomach, gaze lost in disbelief. She teeters on the edge and then collapses face first into the snow, her blood turning the white to red.

After the truck stops nearby, the driver opens the door. Hunter's gaze wavers, as if he has a decision to make. Let me get away or communicate with the driver? It doesn't take him long to decide.

He sets his eyes on me.

He must know how the situation appears, since he's holding the murder weapon. The advantage swings back in my favor, but only for a moment.

With fury, he storms toward me, knife raised in the glare of the headlights, blood coating the blade. At the last second, his boot slips on the trampled snow, the ice compacted and slick.

In his hand, the knife rises higher in the air, his center of gravity thrown off by his skid. But he regains his balance and lunges toward me.

Shadows hide his twisted grimace as his face leaves the light and enters the surrounding darkness. His shoulder slams into my chest and knocks me backwards onto the ground, blasting the breath from my lungs. Instinctively, my hands shoot up to his wrist to block the knife as it arcs down toward my head.

"You deserve to die!" He holds me down with his free hand, garnering more determination as he draws the knife back for this decisive moment.

Penetrating the darkness, a smaller beam illuminates his figure from behind as the man from the truck rushes toward us with a flashlight in one hand and a gun in the other.

"Freeze!" His command comes out with authority as if it's not the first time he's issued it.

Hunter doesn't reply, but glares back with the knife clutched in his hand, ready to thrust it into me and end my life.

As I observe the man's approach—my heart bursting with adrenaline as if it could force its way from my chest—I glimpse the recognition in his eyes as he sees the blade and me held down, about to die the same way Jasmine, Chloe, and Isaiah did. He must have seen Jasmine on the ground, who lies motionless in the snow. Now, he realizes Hunter is about to kill me, too.

The pistol fires—once, twice—the discharge exploding in the frigid night air, reverberating throughout the clearing.

With the shots, Hunter's torso rocks to the left, the knife slipping from his right hand, falling toward the snow where it sticks in the ground like a dagger, inches from my head.

In the flashlight's glow, Hunter catches himself with his hand, hovering above me over my right side. His cheeks distort into the same disbelief that Jasmine had a few minutes ago. The dark lines of shadow and light mark his face, revealing the intense hatred he feels toward me.

With what must be his last moments, he says, "How did you do it?"

Then he nosedives into the snow, his body weight crashing down on top of me. Unmoving. As dead as everyone else.

—————

Chapter 12 - 1,530 words
Story Total - 21,100 words