Page 77 (1/2)

Anxiety gripped her chest, rabbed a pair of woolen socks stuffed inside a pair of old work boots She thought about taking the boots too, but she knew just by looking at thee and they would only slow her down A coat hanging from a stand beside the door would at least keep her wars really belonged to

Since the door locked from the inside, Violet simply unbolted it and stepped outside

She ed by blackness so complete that it sucked the breath out of her She heard herself gasp at the same time her inner voice silently screaht, she ran Stuet far before she found the trap Or rather, before she triggered it

There was no way she could’ve seen it And no way it could have been avoided When she hit it--the wire, the thin metal cable that sliced into her shins--she howled into the darkness that engulfed her That was just before she lost her balance and spilled forward, landing on her face and tasting the rich dank earth beneath her

And fro to life

And she knew: She had caused that When she’d tripped the wire

She rolled onto her side, feeling leaves and needles beneath her as she clutched her shins She spit, trying get rid of the taste of dirt in her , she could feel the blood beneath her fingers and knew she’d cut herself

Her mind raced She didn’t knohat to do, but she couldn’t just lie there and wait for solare of the lights, she saw the car in the driveway She hadn’t noticed it before, when it had been caed by blackness, and her heart sank

Keys! She ja, praying she’d get lucky and they’d be in there But she found nothing, and she cursed herself for not thinking of it sooner She should’ve been searching for car keys instead of trying to find a cord for the phone

Still, she didn’t recall seeing any keys, and there was no ti in her surroundings as best she could All around her, dark tree trunks rose toward the sky like inky shadows, creating an even darker canopy overhead

She was so, she knew the woods