Chương 2: Chapter 1:

The moon was shining, yet barely any light reached past the canopy of trees above. They stood tall and large. The thick foliage covering up the sky and making the night seem darker than it already was. The rustling of leaves alarmed her and yet she kept going forward, because she knew the moment she stopped or looked behind, she won't move forward anymore.

And she couldn't do that, she had to go on, she had to escape, before, he, found her. So, she clenched her fists and concentrated on putting one foot in front of the other and tried to make as less sound as possible.

The soft grass and her bare feet tiptoeing atop it helped in the 'making less sounds' department tremendously, and she could already feel it, the lessening of the foliage. The dirt road must be close by now, at least marginally, she thought. If she could just move a little bit faster, she might get saved.

She had seen it countless times in the movies, girls running through the maze-like forest. They usually run right in front of a speeding car, headlights blaring and then they get saved. She didn't think herself to be that lucky, but she still had to run till she found the road. Because that's where he kept the jeep, and she had to get to it if she had any hope of escaping this nightmare.

She knew tiptoeing wasn't making her move very fast and running while tiptoeing isn't very easy, she struggled to be as fast as she could be. But her feet kept getting caught every few minutes. She thanked her lucky stars every moment for not falling to her death here. And every moment that she curbed the rising fear of falling and accidentally killing herself tried to cripple her.

But the idea of not being captured again gave her some hope, and power, to go on. She tried to run as quietly as possible. Her bare feet stepping over jagged edges of forgotten logs and stones and what not. But even with her feet getting bloodier by the minute, splinters diving deep into her flesh, she barely felt a thing. She could not stop, she would not stop, and when she heard the footfall of heavy steps behind her, the ice that drenched her veins only gave her courage to run faster.

The circle of light that she could see at end may be bleak, but it grew larger as she ran. Freedom was near, she could almost feel it, touch it, taste it. It was right at her fingertips, she only needed to reach towards it and grasp at it. She could feel the light on her face now, bright, breath-taking in its warm glow, washing over her eyes, her cold cheeks. For a moment, the idea of salvation was so overwhelming that she closed her eyes, allowing the relief to wash over her. And right there she made her colossal mistake.

She knew it in her heart the moment it happened, but just like in movies, it all happened in slow motion, and she was like a deer caught in headlights, not able to change a damn thing about it. Just when she closed her eyes, her foot caught in a log, and she went flying to the ground. The impact jolted her and she could feel a warm liquid trickle down her left brow. In the back of her mind, she recognized that to be her own blood, but that didn't even remotely scare her. No, she could feel something much scarier starting to happen.

The weight of a body crashing onto her was what knocked her breath away, and she cursed herself, for being so very stupid. In her euphoria of the possibility of an escape, she completely disregarded how close behind he really was to her, and now it was too late. The meaty hand she dreaded pressed her face into the soil, the smell of wet earth flaring in her nostrils.

She could not see the warm light any more, she could not even breathe. So close, she thought, she came so close. She was choking, the weight of his body and her own actions heavier than a boulder on her. She could not but blame herself, she almost had it all, almost.

As she was fazing in and out of consciousness, her lungs feeling parched, fingertips numb, some part of her still heard him utter the words.

"Oh little one, you think you can run from me?"

His breath was coming closer and closer to her exposed neck, his fingers digging into her hair, keeping her face lodged into the soil. Some part of her wanted to surrender, what was the point anymore, but the rest of the parts, had some fight left in them. Mustering up enough energy seemed like a herculean task to her, but she did and then she started to struggle.

The thunderclouds opened up and heavy torrential rains drenched the lands, right in sync with her try to struggle free from this monster's hold. She needed to breathe, she needed more oxygen, so she gathered all she had and tried to headbutt up into his face. She struggled free and kicked him in the back of his head.

He groaned and she started to scream, and like clockwork lightning pierced through and white light flashed them for a second, the sonic boom followed right after. It felt destined, she felt powerful, she was always supposed to do this. She was always supposed to get free, not by running away but by fighting her way out, and it was about damn time. She kicked him in the groin as he was trying to steady himself and stand up, she kicked again, maintaining as much force as she could manage for maximum impact. He fell right over, groaning in pain she assumed. She liked it.

The rain was pouring on her, her chestnut hair sticking to her face. The downpour and her sticky hair made it difficult to keep her eyes open, but at least there was air. She stood above him, and then her eyes caught the shiny object lying a few feet away from his holster. Like a lightening flash herself, she dove down and snatched it and stood tall above the writhing man at her feet.

Thoughts jumbled up in her brain, making it foggy and difficult to sort through. Her head was hurting, still she tried to think, gauge all the pros and cons. The logical side warned her, but the reckless part urged her to throw caution to wind. But as she thought and thought in the moments that seemed to drag too long, the gun in her hand seemed heavier to her. It seemed, the logical side that was screaming at her to just run for the road and never look back, now that she had a chance, was winning after all.

Right when she was about to do just that, the meaty hand grabbed her foot and pulled, she toppled over, her fingers losing their grip on the only lifeline she had in this hellhole. Getting the upper hand, he tried his best to flip her over, after a few minutes of struggle, he did.

Hovering above her, his form pinning her to the ground again, she cursed for not listening to her logical side sooner. But she did not have much time to ponder upon anything, because five large fingers closed around her throat, robbing her off of the breath she did not even know, was her last. It felt like a sordid kind of déjà vu, her lungs feeling too parched and pain exploding in her chest and head.

"You little bitch, I wanted to show you mercy, but you proved that whores aren't ever going to deserve mercy."

He spat in a scratchy voice that worsened her pain. His grip was inhuman and no matter how much she thrashed and scratched and struggled, she could not budge him even an inch.

"You could have had a merciful life under me, but you chose to defy me, MEEEE! How dare you!!!"

He was still speaking, threatening her with vile cruel words, calling her out on her audacity to want to escape or to fight. If only she could say or show just how much more she wanted to do.

"Now you have pissed me off too much, you lying bitch, now YOU DIE."

He increased the strength of his grip even more; she didn't know how it was possible. She knew he would break her neck before she died out of severe lack of oxygen. Her desperate thrashing hands were flailing about and when it seemed all hope was lost and the numbing darkness too sweet of a relief to pass up, her fingers brushed passed the shiny metal.

She didn't know how she did it. It was biologically impossible, but survival outran some laws of science. Her fingers found enough strength to secure her grip around the trigger and she pulled the gun to his temples and fired without second thought.

The sound almost deafened her, and the splashes of blood drowned her face as well. The heavy body fell like a thud on top of her, and relief coursed through her like warm sunlight in a cold December day. In the back of her mind she knew, she killed him, the logical side panicking. But she didn't care, she embraced the recklessness with both arms, it got her free, it saved her.

She saved herself.

Overwhelming emotions swamped her, one after the other and she couldn't control or keep note of them. She screamed again, as loud as she could, if not louder. And the ear-piercing scream was what woke Elsa from yet another nightmare.