“I do need to make an appearance,” she sighed. “Walk with me tonight?” The weather had been decent, it was in the 20’s tonight with snow expected by morning.
“Sure. Let’s raid the food table, mix long enough to be polite, then slip out the back,” she said. Sticking together, they went back downstairs and each made a plate. Jenny could see why Rea didn’t want to stay, the people were nice and polite in front of her but would talk about her when she left. They ate their fill, grabbed their jackets and went out the back, walking past the smokers huddled on the back deck.
The trail was her escape, and by the time they were a hundred yards away it was like they were in a different place. The woods were empty, a thin coating of light snow over the leaf littler and frozen ground. The trail was easy to follow in the light of the quarter moon, so Rea put her flashlight in her pocket next to the pepper spray she had started carrying after she was chased by the dogs a few days ago. “What is your Mom going to do without your Dad around,” Jenny asked.
“I don’t know. With me graduating early, there’s nothing keeping her in this town anymore.” As if her school couldn’t have been done anywhere. “I haven’t applied to colleges yet, and I know Grandma is going back to Florida. At least she was planning to after this.” She kicked a pine cone as they walked the trail. “You’re the only friend I have, Jenny. I can’t tell you how much I appreciate you being here for me.”
“I wouldn’t be anywhere else. Besides, I needed a place to hang out without being reminded of Mike.” Mike had been her boyfriend for the last two years, a senior quarterback on the football team. She thought it was serious until she caught him in bed with a cheerleader. She had pulled off the promise ring he had given her and whipped it at him before leaving his house. He kept trying to get her back, but she could never trust him again. “Are you going to move?”
She nodded. “I think so. The house is too big for Mom and I, and I heard her talking to Grandma about buying a place in Florida we could all live. She doesn’t want to be in the cold weather with her arthritis,” Rea said. “Mom’s nursing license can transfer pretty much anywhere, and she gets Dad’s life insurance and survivor benefits. We will be all right.”
“I’ll miss you, but I guess it won’t be that much different than the last few years, talking on the phone and on texts. My parents still don’t want me hanging around you, but even they wouldn’t be so heartless as to keep me from being here with you now. I can’t wait until I can graduate, get a soccer scholarship and move away from this frozen wasteland.”
“You’ll have to come visit, I’d love to…” She froze, the low growl ahead of them scaring her. Grabbing Jenny’s arm, she pulled her behind her as her hand reached in her pocket.
“What was that?”
Rea pulled the two cylinders out of her pocket, letting go of Jenny as she moved the flashlight to her left hand. She clicked it on, and the big black wolf stood just ten yards away from them on the trail. It’s eyes glowed yellow, and it shied away from the bright light. Its teeth where large and white as it growled even louder this time and moved around to their left. “Stay behind me,” Rea said as they started to back up. Holding the pepper spray out and never taking her eyes off the threat, they were herded off the trail until she ran into something solid.
A hand wrapped around her neck as she was pushed forward towards the hard ground. She dropped her flashlight as she tried to get away, but the man holding her was strong. Dropping to her knees, she broke loose from his grip long enough to bring the pepper spray up and loose a stream into his face. “BITCH,” he cried as he let go.
She scrambled to her feet and went to help Jenny, who was being held in a chokehold by another man. She shot the pepper spray at him, succeeding only in getting it into both their eyes. Reaching up with her left hand, she moved the flap open on her tracker and pressed the panic button just before something hit her hard from behind. The chain broke, and the tracker flew into the leaves right before she hit the ground.
The wolf was on top of her, it’s big paws on her shoulder as its jaws gripped her right shoulder through her thick coat. She was still struggling against it when her attacker grabbed her by the hair and yanked her face up. “STOP struggling or she’s dead,” he told her.
Rea looked up, the second man had Jenny in a choke hold from behind. She was terrified, her hands were trying to move his arm so she could breathe, and she couldn’t. Jenny could be dead if she didn’t comply, and with the man and the dog above her she had no chance. “You win,” she said. She stilled, and when she dropped the pepper spray he kicked it into the woods.
The wolf moved off her and he pulled her to her feet. “You’ll be coming with us, Charlotte. You belong with us.”
Rea looked back at her friend and started to yell and struggle again at what she saw. Instead of letting her go, the man kept choking her. Rea watched in horror as her eyes rolled back and she went limp before he dropped her to the frozen ground. “NO!”
Her headache came back in full force, and she embraced the blackness that came over her for the first time in years.
The loud chirping noise coming from the bedroom finally registered with Dawn. Rushing up the stairs, she threw her bedroom door open and ran to her phone on the bedside table charger. “PANIC ALARM,” the screen read. Opening up the phone, she pulled up the application her husband had installed on both their phones to allow them to monitor Treasure’s location after her last blackout episode. It showed her a few miles away, along the trail in the woods she said she was taking. She called Treasure’s phone and it went to voice mail after five rings. Hanging up, she went back to the app as she ran back downstairs. “TREASURE IS IN TROUBLE,” she yelled as she ran back down the stairs.
The main floor was packed with people, over half of whom were sworn law enforcement officers, so this got a bit of attention. “What’s going on,” Clarke said. He was the Rochester Chief of Police.
“Treasure and Jenny went for a walk on the trails through the woods. She hit her panic alarm on her tracking device. She’s NEVER hit the panic button before, and now she isn’t answering her phone,” Dawn said as she handed him the phone.