Rogue Rider: Across (Book 2)

Chapter One: Nightmares & New Faces

"Damn, she's pretty." He said.
"And alone," Another one chimed in with a sickening grin on his face.
"S-stay away!" She tried sounding threatening but it came out as a hushed plea. Laughing, one of the strangers moved closer grabbing a piece of her hair and twirling it around his finger.
"Weak, and untouched, just perfect."
Closing her eyes, she jerked away from him. This is not how she wanted to go, raped and disposed of.
"No worries, doll face," he started then looked to his buddies "It won't hurt for long," he made a move to grab her, when she let out an ear piercing scream. Suddenly one of the guys hissed under his breath, then reached out and slapped her across the cheek. It stung with a force so great she found her eyes watering and the feel of the ground beneath her. Pushing herself up, she reached up and touched the raw skin on her cheek. The girl flinched at the pain that shot across the side of her face.
"Just had to scream, didn't you?" He asks angrily. Standing up she stares at the assumed leader.
"Should've stayed quiet and he wouldn't have done that," he scolds her. Suddenly, she felt angry. Angry because he's talking to her like she's the one who is in the wrong. Acting on impulse, she spits in the man's face. Her eyes go wide as she realizes what she's done. Backing away she feels her palms touch the brick wall. She inches to her side, hoping to reach the door before they close in on her. Turning around she pounded on the door and screamed for help, when in a rush, she felt her knees give out underneath her and her hands gathered splinters as they slid down the wooden door. Tears now streamed down her cheeks when suddenly the door opened. Out stepped a man with a gun. Her horse was neighing and whinnying from her left. Just as she went to stand up he pulled the trigger and-

With a gasp for breath Avie shot up from her little pallet of blankets under the tree. She'd had another nightmare again. She looked towards the horizon, the sun had just begun to set. Almost time to leave. She and Azalea had a system, sleep during the day, ride in the night. Made her less obvious to people, ecspecially authouritive figures. Standing up, she looked around for her water bottle from the other day. Finding it she sat down and gulped it down. After sighing inwardly, she climbed ungracefully to her feet and began to fold up the blankets she'd been using. Two months into her leave, she was almost there. Calfornia was her ultimate goal she'd stay there until she regained enough money to move up to Washington. Hopefully, she would be able to stick to her one way plan. Stacking the last blanket up, Avie went and released Azalea from the little make-shift post. She and Azalea had worked so hard for so long. This was everything to them. They started again along their enduring journey.

It was almost sunrise before Avie reached California's border. Her eyelids became heavy, and began to droop. Finding a well tucked away spot in the corner of some field, she sat down and leaned against a tree. Closing her eyes she was almost asleep when she heard a voice.