Chapter 5

Five

Skyler

Somehow, I find clothes and throw them on. The shirt isn’t mine, but I do find my jeans, thankfully. I don’t even bother looking for my shoes, instead taking my chances, not wanting to waste more time. Probably not my best idea, but I’m not exactly thinking straight right now. My only goal is to find Val and anyone else and get the fuck out.

I run through the forest damn near blind, my arms stretched out in front of me to stop me from slamming into a fucking tree and knocking myself out. I won’t be any help to anyone like that, not to mention I’d be an easy target.

“Val!” I shout, cringing at the feeling in my throat. My earlier screams have left it raw, and throwing up didn’t do me any favors.

“Val!” I yell again, stopping to listen, but I hear nothing, not even crickets. It’s as if even the forest can sense the danger.

“Fuck, Val, where are you?” I murmur to myself, turning on the spot as I try to figure out which way to go.

As if in answer to my question, her scream rings out once again, this time much closer. I spin around and take off toward her as an idea occurs to me.

Without slowing, I pull out my phone. I’d felt it still in my pocket when I’d pulled my jeans on, but I’d been too distracted to really think about what that meant.

I curse under my breath as I fumble with it, almost dropping it, but by some miracle, I manage to keep it in my grasp. The screen lights up so brightly that it blinds me, and I scramble to keep moving as spots dot my vision.

Val’s scream cuts off abruptly and I turn the phone to the ground, using it as a flashlight as my panic continues to climb. There’s no way I can manage to use the actual flashlight, but even this is better than it was before.

The trees begin to thin, and I almost slam into Val as I break through the last of them. She screams at the sight of me, backing away and tripping over something that sends her to the ground on her ass.

“Shit, Val, shhh, it’s me!” I hiss, unsure if she can even hear me.

How the fuck can she still scream like that?

I hold my hands up, hoping to show her I’m not a threat, but it’s pointless. She just keeps screaming. With no other option, I move toward her, slapping my hand over her mouth to shut her up.

Slowly, she peels her eyes open to look up at me. No wonder she just kept screaming. She didn’t even see who I was.

“Sky?” I just barely make out the muffled sound of my name from her lips that are still pressed against my hand.

My shoulders slump and some of the tension bleeds out of me as she looks up at me with tears tracking down her face.

“Fuck, Val,” I whisper, dropping to my knees and wrapping my arms around her. I didn’t know how badly I needed to see her until right now. The way she was screaming, I’d only been able to think the worst. I’d been so worried I would be too late. But I wasn’t. She’s here with me, and now we can get the fuck out of here, together.

She takes a while to calm down, but I hold her the whole time. Val has always been emotional, and I know if I don’t let her get it out now, she’ll be a mess for longer. Right now, I need her at least good enough to function while we get the fuck out of here.

Her sobs turn to sniffles, and I finally pull back. It’s too dark to see her face but I still reach out, blindly and carefully wipe at the tears I’m sure are covering her face.

“Sorry.”

“Don’t be sorry. It’s okay, I’m here now, and we're going to get out of here,” I tell her, reaching out and grabbing her hand, giving it a squeeze to try to reassure her. “Can you tell me what happened, though?” I ask, and while I’m dreading the answer, I know I need it.

Honestly, I should be a mess after what happened to me, but somehow, I’m still hanging on. Be it by a fucking thread, but regardless, I’m handling it, at least until we get out of here.

Something doesn’t sit right with me about what’s happened tonight and as much as I might hate it, I have a feeling we’re not out of the woods just yet.

Literally or metaphorically.

Val’s breath catches, and I almost expect her to break down in tears again, but she reels it in, mostly.

“Price and I were walking back to camp. I—I was tired and wanted to lay down, and… and he was curious what everyone else was up to.” Her voice is unsteady, and she trips over her words a bit, but she’s talking, so I stay quiet and listen.

“Everything was fine one second and then… and then…” she sniffles and hiccups. With every word, my anxiety grows. What the fuck could have happened to have her like this?

“He attacked me!” she sobs, burying her face in her hands as she breaks down all over again.

What?!

No, no way. Price attacked her?

I can’t even make sense of what she’s just said because the Price I know, would never put his hands on Val. Price can have a bit of a temper, but never with us, only when he’s been pushed or feels he has to stand up for someone.

Hell, he’s punched a few guys over the years for both me and Val.

So for him to just attack her for no reason…

“He attacked you?” I ask, needing her to confirm I’ve heard her correctly.

“Yes!” she wails through her tears, leaning her head into my shoulder. I wrap my arm around her on instinct, but even with her admission, I need more.

Clearly, whatever happened has her really upset, and I hate to pry and make her talk about it, but again, something about this feels wrong—just like so much else tonight.

“Val.” I rub my hand down her back, trying to soothe her. “I know this is hard, but I need you to tell me what happened.”

Her body tenses, but after a second, she nods and pulls away.

“I really don’t know,” she hiccups again, her breathing still rough. “One second, everything was fine, and the next, he turned to me and wrapped his hands around my neck. At first, I thought he was just playing, but after a few seconds, it was harder to breathe.”

For once I’m thankful for the dark, so she can’t see the shock I’m sure is clear on my face.

“I tried to pull away, but he wouldn’t let go. Instead, his grip got tighter. I tried to fight him off, but he’s so much bigger than I am, and I couldn’t make him budge.”

She pauses and I don’t want to rush her but I know it won’t help so I remain quiet, despite the damn near desperate need to know what happened next.

“I—I kicked him in the balls, and he finally let go. He dropped…” She chokes on a sob and I can see her shake her head, almost as if in denial herself about what happened. I can’t blame her, though, none of this sounds like the Price we know. “He was down on his knees, and I knew I hurt him, but he hurt me too. I didn’t know what to do! I didn’t want to hurt him!” She wails, and I know it’s the truth. Val wouldn’t hurt a fly.

“I know, Val. I know,” I assure her, but it doesn’t seem to be helping, and she continues on as if trapped in the memory.

“I was in shock, I think. Even after he’d hurt me, I couldn’t make my body listen. I knew I needed to get away while I had the chance, but I was trapped, sitting on the forest floor watching him, trying to make sense of what had happened. How had our fun night taken such a turn?” she wonders aloud, but I don’t have any answers for her. I’ve asked myself the same question a few times now, and still, I have nothing.

“He told me to run,” she says, shaking her head. “He begged me to go, to get away from him. So I did. I ran and ran, and then you found me. Now we’re here, and he’s out there, somewhere.”