Chapter One

Just keep running. Just keep running.

This is the mantra I keep repeating to myself as I push my legs as hard as they will go. Ignoring the burning in my lungs and the blood pouring down from the apex of my legs, I keep going. I can hear shouting behind me and heavy footsteps as they begin gaining on me.

Run, Layla, move your ass! You cant let these monsters catch you again. They will KILL you!! I scream in my head as I try to look behind me as the pine needles and branches from the trees tear into the souls of my naked feet. The loose white shirt that is bloodied and stained catches on a nearby branch as it rips through and digs into my arm. I can feel my skin stretching then ripping as the branch breaks free. I barely register the pain as my adrenaline courses through me. I barely feel anything. I stopped feeling a while ago. 

I look forward once more as I hear the howls of wolves from behind me. Shit!! Now I have one more thing to try and outrun. They can probably smell my blood from a mile away with all of my injuries. I would make an easy meal for them. Honestly, I would rather the wolves take me out instead of those vile men I left behind at that makeshift camp they created. Being shredded and my muscles ripped off of my bones as wolves devour me would be a merciful death compared to what those savages will do.

My legs are getting tired and I stumble head first. Dirt coats my already dry mouth and splashes in my eyes making it even harder to see in the darkness of this moonless night. I stand again as I ignore the small pebbles embedded into the palms of my hands and skin of my knees. I try to run again but my ankle gives out and I fall again. I can hear water running ahead, possibly a river. I need to get there and pray the current is strong enough to carry me away from here and give my body a rest. 

"THERE SHE IS! GET HER!" One of the men yell and I take off with a new found energy.

Just keep running, Layla. You can do it! You're almost there!

"GET BACK HERE, WHORE! WHERE DO YOU THINK YOU ARE GOING?!" 

I glance behind me one more time only to feel my feet gliding through the air as I snap my head forward again only to see no trees. Just air. I look down and realize I have run right off the edge of what is easily a 50 foot drop. There is no way I will make it through this fall! The sound of the river is roaring even louder now and I know it must be below me. Plugging my nose with my hand and closing my eyes, I brace for impact just as my feet hit the ice cold water and I plunge down, down, down. Utter darkness.

The current is strong as it spins me around under the surface, making it impossible to know which way is up. Letting go of my nose, I relax my arms and legs and stop fighting. I am so tired of fighting. The water is silent underneath, the cold brings much needed relief to my entire body. I open my eyes  and everything is dark. Just as I start to feel the burn in my chest from holding my breath, my head pops up above the surface as I gulp in much needed air. My long hair is suctioned to my face and I scrub it away quickly. I am trying to tread the water but the current is relentless as it throws me against several rocks. I bounce my head off of one but barely register the pain as the numbing waters cloud my nerve endings. 

Riding the waters would be extremely hard for someone who hadn't endured the horrors I have for the last 12 hours. So, for me, it's an impossible dilemma. I decide to just look up at the stars one last time. They are so beautiful and so much more prominant without the bright moon competing. I close my eyes, anticipating this to be the last time as I let the current wash me away into oblivion as I recall the last 12 hours of my life...

(FLASHBACK)

I snapped the book I was reading closed as I shuffle it into my shoulder bag and stand up to stretch. I have been reading on this park bench for the last hour and my bum is sore. I stand up and attempt to walk back towards the road when I notice a man staring at me from the roadway. He isn't doing anything other than just staring at me. He's got a black leather jacket on, dark wash denim pants, and black combat boots. He may have been attractive if it wasn't for the blind white of one of his eyes with a huge scare moving down his face from the top of his hair line all the way down his neck and disappearing into his shirt. He was snearing at me now that I noticed his appearance and he begins walking towards me. I wondered, briefly, how long he had been watching me. I look around but there is no one at the park this time of day. I turn behind me and notice some woods. There is a walking path a few yards inside the tree line that will lead me to the road about a mile away. It isn't reallly in my best interest to go to the woods but this man is making me uncomfortable. I am not much of a fighter, but I am a runner and can run surprisingly fast. I look at my feet and thank the skies above that I had put on my running shoes this morning.

I turn and walk at a brisk pace towards the forest and pop through the trees as I navigate around the down timber and debris. Locating the walking path I begin my journey only to realize, the creepy guy is gone. Breathing a sigh of relief I decide to carry on this course just to be on the safe side. I reach into my bag and grab my phone but to my utter disbelief, I have no signal haulting my idea to call for help as a precaution. Just as I look back to the path after placing my phone back in my bag I stop mid stride. I feel the hairs on the nape of my neck stand at attention as the alarm churning in my guts tells me I need to turn around and run.

In front of me is another man in a brown leather jacket, black denim jeans, and black combat boots. This guys aura is giving me extremely bad vibes. He's an average looking man with shaggy blonde hair, green eyes, and a sadistic smile. It's not charming and the way he keeps rolling the wooden pick in his mouth with his tongue is making me super uncomfortable.

"Hello, Layla, it's so good to see you again." He says as he slowly takes a step in my direction. "You know, you were a hard one to track down. My boss has been searching all over the world for the last 17 years for you. And yet, here you are, right in our very own backyard."

"Who are you?" I manage to speak around the giant lump in my throat as my hands grip my bag tightly across my chest.

"That's not important right now. What is important is that you come with us willingly. You do that, and you won't get hurt...much" He says as he spits his mouth pick into some bushes to his side.

I turn and run right into a chest with a thud! Big leather clad arms wrap around my arms and secure themselves to my back as they begin to squeeze. I did the only thing I could think to do as my face is smashed into someones chest, and that is to bite down on their peck muscle with everything I have.

"AHHHHH!" The guy wails as blood starts to seap through his shirt and his arms loosen just enough for me to slip through. And then I run like hell. Laughter fills the air around me as I take off through the trees and off the path. I dont know where I am going but anywhere is better then with those two.

"The hard way it is then, Layla!" The blonde guy shouts with excitement, as if he wanted me to run. "We will give you a ten second head start, and then the chase will be on. You better hurry Layla because when we catch you, and we will, there will be no saving you! Our boss said he needs you alive, he never said anything about being alive and well." I vaguely hear the remainder of his statement as I put distance between us. The last thing I hear is the starting of the count down to my demise.

"TEN..." Shit! These guys are serious! Who are they? What do they want with me? Where can I hide?

"NINE..." and that is the last that I hear as something huge and and powerful hits me from my right side and I go flying and hit my head off a tree and the bright sunshine turns dark...