Chapter 1: Katerina

My hold on the gun did not waver as the blood draining from my thigh caused my vision to. I closed my eyes and leaned against the tree to listen for the men that had followed me. Three of them had managed to follow my car up to the woods, but I was very certain that I had shot, and possibly killed, one of them.

I didn’t hear anything over the sound of my own breathing for two of the longest minutes of my life. Each second caused more of my life to pulse from my bullet wound and I needed to find a place to stop so I could staunch the flow.

The continued silence all around me did little to calm my racing heart because I knew all to well that the wet ground would only fuck me over. The mud held footprints like a vice but could muffle the sound of tromping feet in a way that dry earth never could. ‘Fuck fuck fuckity fuck’ I felt like screaming in frustration at the turn of events but knew it would only hurt my cause.

That being said though, it had not rained enough to soak into the trees and soften the wood. This meant that twigs still snapped when stepped on or passed through. This was every bit a blessing and a curse because both parties would hear if the other approached. Even knowing this though, knowing that staying still was my only way of remaining undetected, I still had to acknowledge that I had to move or I would die as surely from blood loss as I would from a bullet to my head.

I started moving again. I didn’t run, just took slow, deliberate moves through all of the branches and foliage around me. A wrong step and a twisting of my leg almost sent me hurdling to the ground and sent my heart pounding harder. At this rate, I was going to bleed out before I even had a chance to reach the cabin.

My heartbeat was throbbing in my head, trying to make up for the blood that now soaked my pant leg. It made it hard to focus on the sounds of the forest around me. When the clouds cleared away from the moon, I pulled out my compass and rechecked my heading the looked to the skies to gauge my position. By my best estimation, I was still 3 miles away from the cabin. This spurred me into moving faster. I kept my compass within my line sight and took off going east, doing my best not to waver.

Dodging over and around the thick roots and bushes around me felt like trying to dance through razor blades while wearing snow shoes. My pace was too slow and every creak of a branch moving in the wind had me jumping behind the nearest trunk for cover, however none were large enough for what I needed. Then I could see one a couple of yards away. The distance felt near insurmountable with the throbbing, electric pain in my thigh.

I closed my eyes for a moment and the world felt like it was slipping from me. The beginnings of defeat had been creeping up for a while, but now, it was blotting out my will to do anything but lay down. I started hyperventalating purposefully, getting what I hoped would be a fresh burst of adrenaline, then I took off at a hobbling run. Tears were pricking at my eyes by the third step and by my tenth, I couldn’t contain the moans of agony that were escaping me.

‘Just 20 more steps. Come on Lisichka, you can do that in your sleep.’

‘Just 10 more steps Kat, you just gunna let some rookie beat you?’

The first voice was the deep timber of her father, the second was that of Remmingtom. How fitting, seeing as it was her father that got me into this mess and it was Remmington who I was praying to get me out of it. I imagined Remmie in front of me, taking each step as I do. ‘Just 5 more steps, Kat.’ ‘ just 3 more’ ‘2 more, Kat’ ‘and 1!’

I all but fell against the massive tree, gasping for breath and sweating profusely. I let my bag slide from my shoulders and dropped to the ground and the sheer relief of having that weight removed had me crying a bit harder. I sank down next to it and and sucked in a deep breath then let it out slowly, reapeating that until I was a little more in control of myself again. The sounds of the forest rushed back into my consciousness. Birds that had scattered after the gunshots had returned and resumed their song. The air smelled damp and expectant and I closed my eyes to absorb the calm from all around me.