He was trying to get up.
She jumped forward and grabbed Ozzie’s collar, forcefully pulling him away from the man. She had to get away. She had to run.
Gripping the collar, she frantically looked for her bag and her gun, both hidden in the darkness on the ground. She whipped around to check the man again. He was on all fours now, wobbling and moaning. His blood puddled beneath him. He fell back to the ground again, but continued to struggle.
A glint of moonlight reflected off the gun. She snatched it up and took off, abandoning her bag, pulling at Ozzie with all her might. She cut to the side of the field that met the road, hoping to draw the creep away from her father’s house, in case he was able to get up. If she could make it to the other side of the road, they could disappear into those woods and quietly circle back to her dad’s.
Finally, Ozzie stopped resisting and ran with her. He loped easily beside her frantic leaps through the field. Her heart beat rapidly, hammering in her chest. The tweaker was still out there too. He could pop up any minute.
She threw a glance over her shoulder, hoping not to see the bloody man behind her. No sign of him yet. She pushed harder, and felt a stitch in her side. Her blood pumped loudly in her ears; that’s all she could hear. It was as though all other sound ceased.
Digging deeper, she pumped her arms back and forth as she pushed through the discomfort. Finally, the dirt road appeared through a thin stand of trees, just across a ditch.
Not breaking her stride, she ripped through the trees and jumped the ditch, seeing Ozzie slide to a halt out of the corner of her eye as she leapt. Too late to stop, she went airborne and landed on the dirt road, skidding in bits of tiny gravel on her knees… directly in front of a screaming monster hiding behind two blinding beams of light bearing down on her. A cloud of red dirt followed it as it barreled down the road growling toward her.
Her bloodcurdling scream rang through the air as she hunkered down on her knees, holding her arms over her head, just as she heard her father’s voice in her head calling out for her in a scream that matched her own.
Finally, the monster came to an abrupt stop, inches from Graysie as she knelt, head-down between the glaring twin beams. A moment later, the monster was silenced.
She held still a moment, still not daring to believe she was still alive, and then turned her head and tried to peek through her fingers at her newest foe.
“Graysie!”
She whipped her face the other way toward the familiar voice—it wasn’t in her head after all—and nearly fainted with relief to see her dad running down the road, with her Uncle Jake right behind him.
Grayson slid in the dirt, gathering his daughter in his arms. “Graysie, are you okay?” he breathlessly asked, as he hugged her.
“Dad!” She clung to him, her head against his chest, willing it to be true. She was home? This was real? She wasn’t dead? “I’m okay… but there’s a—”
“Grayson!” a voice yelled above them.
The both looked up to the astonished face of Olivia, Emma, Gabby, and an old man, all standing over them, lit up by a tractor’s lights.
Grayson scrambled to his feet and pulled his wife to him with one arm, and dragged Graysie up with the other, pulling them both in and squeezing them to his pounding heart. “You’re home? You’re both home?”
Olivia joyously laughed through her tears and nodded.
“You’re home!” he said again, this time believing his eyes. The cold knot he’d carried in his stomach for days on end finally loosened, and tears pricked at his eyes, and then ran unchecked down his cheeks.
He turned to see Gabby run to Jake as Olivia finally let loose with a stream of chatter, spilling the goriest details of their journey to her husband in such a rush that she couldn’t be understood. He smiled down at her and waited for her to take a breath.
“Jake!” Gabby screamed.
Jake jogged as fast as he could with his bum leg, eating up the space between them. They flew together with enough force to nearly knock them down. Jake threw his arms around his wife and twirled her through the air. “I knew you’d make it!”
Gabby laughed, trying to choke back her cries. “It wasn’t easy. It was a rough trip,” she said, her voice breaking. She pulled him in tighter and held her breath, trying to keep the tears in.
Jake hugged her harder. “You’re okay now. I’ve got you.”
Gabby turned to see Olivia chattering while Grayson looked down at his daughter in confusion, trying to hear what she was saying, as she and his wife both competed for his attention. “Dad, there’s a ma—”
The night erupted in voices all going at once, and Ozzie jumped up on Olivia’s leg to get her attention. She fell backward onto the road and the dog jumped on her chest as she fought to keep his kisses off her face.
Grayson pulled away from Graysie’s grasp. “Just a minute, sweetie.” He reached down to pull Ozzie away from Olivia and held a hand out to his wife, pulling her back up. The dog barked loudly and happily and ran in silly circles around them, ducking and diving with his tail in the air, overjoyed to see his mistress, and seemingly over the moon to have his family all together again.
Olivia cooed and chattered to her dog as he ran around her. “I missed you too…”
Jake squinted his eyes at the light and yelled over the dog barking to Gabby, “Who’s that man at the tractor with Emma?”
Grayson fought back tears as he watched Ozzie run circles around their little family, together again, and then he looked around, suddenly remembering what had brought him out here. “Where’s Puck?” he asked out loud, mostly to himself, knowing the dog couldn’t answer him.
Graysie again yelled something, her words lost in the chaos as everyone ignored her.
Elmer pulled his hat off and scratched his head at the chaos around him. It brought a smile to his old mug, until he noticed Emma standing alone, a tear rolling down her face.
He and Edith had enjoyed hearing all about Emma’s husband, Dusty, and her son, Rickey.
So, where were they?
He stepped over and pulled Emma to him, giving her a one-armed hug, sheltering her beneath his strong arm as she sadly looked around in confusion. “Where’s Dusty and Rickey?” she finally yelled over the ruckus to Grayson.
That caught Grayson’s attention. He gently pulled away from Graysie, ignoring her chatter, and swiped a hand over his face, feeling terrible for ignoring his little brother’s bride. He didn’t want to be the bearer of bad news right here and now, but she deserved an answer as she stood sad and alone. “Dusty and Rickey are—”
Graysie stuck two fingers in her mouth and whistled, piercing the air just the way her dad had taught her to do if she ever needed him. She had their attention now.
“Hey! Listen to me,” she shouted.
The crowd silenced and Graysie erupted in a flurry of words. “There was a man… in a barn, not far from here. He attacked me and chased me. I hurt him. Maybe broke his arm—no, wait. He wasn’t the one chasing me. There was another man. He came after me.” She paused and took a breath, then shook her head in frustration.
She looked around in confusion and saw Ozzie. “There were two men. I lost one at the barn. The other one came at Ozzie. Or maybe Ozzie attacked him. I don’t know.”
Grayson grabbed her shoulders and looked down at his daughter’s, examining her from head to toe. “Where are they now? Did they… hurt you, Graysie?”
She shook her head. “No. I fought him. Just like you taught me.” Her voice broke, and her teeth chattered. Shock was setting in. “I g-g-got away.”