Total pages in book: 168
Estimated words: 159420 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 797(@200wpm)___ 638(@250wpm)___ 531(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 159420 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 797(@200wpm)___ 638(@250wpm)___ 531(@300wpm)
I feel his breath, thick and heavy, at my neck, my ears, just like back at the cabin. “I know runnin’ ain’t your strong suit, so I’ll hold them to give you a couple of minutes’ head start. But after that, even I can’t keep ’em back. Been too long since they had a good hunt, and you’re fresh meat.” Then, “Just know that they’re hunters, yeah? And they’re fast as fuck. The only thing’s faster than them is me. So for your sake, I hope you’re gonna put some heart into it and run like your life depends on it. Unlike back at the cabin. Because in two point five seconds, Princess, you’re gonna have to run for your life.”
The moment he says “life,” my stomach, along with my heart, lurches, and those glittering eyes take shape and become wolves. I don’t know how many there are; my brain is too dizzy to figure it out. My brain is too dizzy to even put things together for a second or two. What does he mean by “run”? Why are there wolves here? What is happening? How did I… I hear a distant snarl, completely and totally wild, as I watch them emerge fully from the woods and stand, baring their glaring white teeth.
At last, it all clicks. I’m going to die. I’m going to be eaten alive by these wolves. That’s why he brought me up here. He brought me up here to throw me to the wolves.
Another snarl and I move. I don’t even tell myself to do it. My legs make the decision on their own, along with my survival instinct, and I start running. My only thought is to get as far away as possible from these beasts, from the hunter who set them on me. I dash in the opposite direction, toward the thick woods on the other side of the clearing. Which is when I realize why he tied my hands in the first place. It’s much harder to run when your hands are bound. Much harder. It throws you off, slows you down. But I don’t have that luxury. As soon as I hit the closest line of trees, I hear an earsplitting howl, several of them, and then they’re moving too. My heart is jackhammering in my chest now. I can hear their paws pounding against the ground in an alarming cadence and my pumping legs are trying to match the rhythm.
But I need to be faster.
Faster, faster, faster than those beasts behind me. I need to outrun them. I need to run for my life, like he told me to. Somehow make it to safety. Where do I go, though? How far do I run? I don’t know. I don’t know. All I know is that I hear a snarl particularly close to me. So close that I can feel something soft, like fur, brush against the backs of my bare thighs and my nausea rears up again. I’m about to throw up. I’ll probably break something the way I’m jumping over fallen twigs and heaps of dead leaves on the ground. I’m about to crash into one of these trees and die on impact. Better than how I pictured dying, though. Somehow, I burst into another clearing, and for a second I think, I’m safe. Only to realize this isn’t just a clearing; it’s the edge.
The edge of the cliff, and there’s nowhere for me to go except to plunge to my death.
Panting and dizzy, I spin around and find the fucking animals I’ve been running from—all of them, I think—lined up in almost a semicircle by the tree line. I notice their bodies heaving as well. Their teeth are bared and their eyes are locked on me. Fear is a brick in my stomach. Fear is a choppy sea, sloshing against my insides. This is it, isn’t it? I’m going to die now. I either jump to my death on my own or be eaten alive by these beasts he set on me. And no, it’s not better than how I pictured meeting my death. Nothing is good or better about dying.
I take a step back, and I swear to God, I hear the rocks rolling off the edge, the ground opening up, the chilly breeze whooshing against my back. Suddenly, a whistle bursts through the air. The same one that brought the wolves forward in the first place, and I know this is really it. This is the moment. I’m not proud of it, but I cover my face with my bound hands. I can’t watch them come toward me. I can’t watch.
Everything happens at once then. My foot slips. A scream erupts from the center of my soul. I’m about to fall to my death when I feel a tug at the rope, sharp and commanding. My hands are yanked away from my face. As my eyes pop open, my vision is filled with him. I go crashing against his body and my bound hands automatically cling to his shirt.