Running through an open field gave us the ability to take in a pretty view and absolutely nothing else. It was the most deceptive kind of trap – one that made us think we could go anywhere. The reality was that it left us constantly in the open with no places to hide or gain defense.
Far off to our left, I could see the open road with a sparse few cars on it. Beyond that, more fields. The same was to our right, but with a fence rather than a road breaking up the snow-covered land. Our only hope lay ahead of us.
A little over a mile away was another line of trees. There was no telling how deep the trees went or what stood on the other side, but we needed to reach it. We needed to gain some sort of upper hand. There were no other options.
I'm getting less cold.
I was steadily becoming warmer despite the freezing temperature. I knew it couldn't have been a good sign. My heart squeezed in panic, but it was already beating so hard that I could feel it in my throat.
To keep myself going, I thought of nothing else but my single next step. My own movements consumed me. I watched the way my feet would disappear into the snow and drag their way back up to freedom with every stride. It helped me not think of the group of people trailing behind us.
We can't even cover our tracks.
It hardly mattered in a field. But, if we ever did find a building to hideaway in, our tracks would lead them right to us.
That's why they are staying back.
Since I'd shot their companions, they were no longer trying to gain on us. They were playing it safe and keeping a distance. The few times I looked behind us, I could see that they were huddled together and walking at a steady pace. It was only us that were forced to run. They believed they'd catch us eventually.
I pushed myself harder, wanting to go faster, but I was burning out. Exhaustion was creeping up on me and I could feel that my back was becoming sleek with sweat.
Only twenty more feet.
We were so close to the tree line. Ray was already there. I was trying to urge him to keep going when Paula stumbled. Hard.
She went to one knee, catching herself with her hands in the snow. "I'm good," she said as Carlos reached down to help her up. "I'm good. Go!"
She wasn't good. Even with Carlos's help, it took her three tries to stand again. I watched as she tried to keep herself steady, but she was leaning heavily on her husband.
"I'm fine," she told me. Her nearly-blue lips said otherwise.
She's not shivering anymore.
Warning bells were blaring in my head, but I was helpless to do anything about them. I knew her pants and boots were still wet and that even her backpack was damp. I knew she didn't have a shirt on under Carlos's coat. I knew she was running out of time.
The voices of the group following us echoed through the wind.
We had to keep going.
"Give me your backpack." My words sounded clipped and harsh even to my own ears, but the frustration was aimed at myself. I hated feeling helpless.
Paula didn't argue with me. Her hands fumbled with the straps, but she got it off and passed it to me. I was right. It was damp.
Holding Carlos's rifle with one hand, I put a strap of the backpack over one shoulder. The weight wasn't crushing, but it was heavy for a single shoulder to take. It was made worse by how awkward and uncomfortable the bag was squeezed in next to the backpack that already occupied my back. I tried to rebalance myself, but I knew I was going to have to struggle through it.
"Want me to take it?" Ian asked. He had been trailing a few feet behind us, keeping an eye on the distance between us and the group following.
As much as I wanted to take him up on his offer, I had a terrible sinking feeling that he might need the energy. "It's fine. I've got it."
Ian's face became pinched as he looked between me and Paula, but as Carlos began to help Paula along, he fell back to stay slightly behind us. We did the only thing we could - we marched on. Our pace had become more of a brisk walk than a run and my gut twisted at the wasted time, but I didn't push it.
I was filled with a turmoil of emotions by the time we caught up to the others at the edge of the tree line. Looking in between the trunks, I could see the woods had a fair number of trees, making the snow on the ground much thinner and spottier mixed amongst the fallen leaves. I couldn't see an end to it, however, and I wasn't sure if that was a good thing or a bad thing.
"The faster we get through it, the more likely we'll lose them," Ray said as I caught my breath. His face was red as a cherry and his upper lip shined from his dripping nose.
He's still shivering.
Most of the group was shivering to various degrees. It was only Paula who had completely stopped. Her eyes were glued to the ground in front of her as she kept pulling at the sleeves of her coat. She didn't acknowledge anyone as they spoke. Even Carlos couldn't seem to break her from the spell she was under.
"We need to find shelter," Prisha piped up.
No shit.
I had to stop myself from lashing out at her and had to physically bite my tongue, especially as Misty nodded along in agreement.
What do they think I'm trying to do? Go for a leisurely stroll?
"Then let's get to it, yeah?" Ian cut off my train of thought. Before I knew what he was doing, he started to tug Paula's backpack off my shoulder. It shocked me how much relief I felt to have the weight removed. My shoulder throbbed as the blood began to flow freely through it again. "Ray? Take this, okay?"
Ray didn't have much of a chance to respond as Ian was already shoving the bag into his arms. Ray swiftly put it on, not bothering to ask any questions. Evidently, he was determined to keep steering us ahead. As soon as the group seemed to have gathered themselves together, he took the lead to guide us through the woods.
Keeping up with the pace Ray set was punishing as best. At what had to have been a ten-minute mark of running through and around branches, stumps, and slippery patches of earth, I knew I was at my limit. I slowed down.
I watched as Prisha helped Misty and Jamie keep up their run, taking their hands and elbows as needed. They were doing their best but were still unable to match Ray's long strides.
Looking back, I could see that Carlos was practically dragging Paula forward. Her hands kept fretting at the zipper of her coat and Carlos had to keep lowering them. Ian was right behind them, ready to intervene.
Needing to rest, I waited for them to catch up. Carlos and Paula passed me without even looking at me, but Ian gave me a strained smile as I began to walk again and matched my pace with his.
"Any sign of the other group?" I asked him.
"Not yet."
A hard shiver ran up my spine. "Think they've given up yet?"
Ian scoffed. "What do you think?"
"I think they are too determined. They're deranged." I'd shot them. I had literally shot two of their people and they were still coming.
"Deranged?" he asked, his voice taking on a soft tone. "Or desperate?"
I pictured myself back in the movie theater and it made me flinch. Feeling rested enough, I picked up my pace again. To my surprise, Ian kept up with me.
"Maybe they want revenge?" he added. "You know, after shooting-"
"Shut up. Just shut up." I took in his words like a sucker punch.
But what else was I supposed to do?
The words repeated over and over in my head until they seemed to be torn out of my chest. "What else was I supposed to do?"
I nearly stopped my run when Ian gave me a small smile.
"Exactly." His voice was calm even though he was also panting from the run. He wiped at his brow and looked ahead at the couple in front of us.
I didn't know what to make of his words. It felt as though, once again, he was letting me off the hook. He reminded me of my own motives and, like the backpack he'd taken off me earlier, he'd stripped me of another weight.
With a newfound sense of determination, I picked up my pace again. I ran and ran until the light grew brighter. It was like I was reliving the day all over again. The woods abruptly ended just as they had before and once again, we were met with a long stretch of field.
It was a nightmare with no escape to be met with a near-perfect repeat of what we had just escaped. A road to our left. A fence to our right. And our only hope ahead.
However, it was in the small difference in what lay ahead that we found our miracle – buildings instead of trees. All we had left to do was make it there.
Two miles. Two miles at most.
I knew we could do it. We were so close. It didn't matter that I was drinking buckets of my own snot as I sniveled it down. There was hope to cling to.
"Keep it up!" I urged my group, forgetting for a moment that there might have been people not far behind.
My run was sloppy and painful as each breath of cold air in my lungs stung like needles piercing me, but I was near drunk on hope. I focused on the buildings ahead, excitedly trying to pick the best one as we slowly got closer.
They were stunningly picturesque to me, looking like silhouettes against the sun as it had begun to dip towards the horizon. I imagined it being a picture on a Christmas card, but it held nothing to the beauty of possibility.
For the first time in hours, I felt as though our survival was possible.
Then Prisha tripped. Then Jamie. Then me. It wasn't all at once. One by one, the stretch of the last mile became one too many. Our feet, our hands, our ears, our legs – all the different parts of us were becoming frozen and we had nothing to protect ourselves with.
We had to stop running. We couldn't even speedwalk. Ian was carrying Jamie on his back, but even his legs were wobbly. I stayed in the back to watch it all.
I also watched behind us.
In the twenty minutes since we'd emerged from the woods, no one else had followed. We were alone in the field, but I never lost the feeling of eyes following our every move. If hope wasn't enough of a motivation to keep me moving, fear was. I had to believe that the loss of daylight had turned them around.
"Kate?"
I hadn't even noticed Prisha slow down. She'd waited for me, hugging herself tightly as she tried to block out the wind.
"What is-" I started to ask her but the words died in my throat as I look ahead again.
Paula was shoving Carlos away. Her words carried on the wind were almost impossible to make out, but from the little I heard, they were gibberish. For one second she looked back and her glossy eyes were filled with confusion. I watched, hardly able to breathe, as she turned straight again, stumbled forward two steps, and then collapsed into the snow.
She didn't lift a single finger to protect herself from her fall. Her face smacked into the snow with enough force that her head seemed to bounce. The sight was sickening but the lack of movement afterwards sent me sprinting to her side.
"What happened?" I asked dropping to my knees beside Carlos. He was already turning her onto her side, lightly tapping her face and calling her name.
"Carlos," I snapped. "What happened?"
He couldn't even work his jaw as he normally did because of his chattering teeth. "She was worried about being hypothermic."
It felt as though the air had been sucked out of my lungs. "Then let's get her warm!"
Ian had already put down Jamie when I waved him and Ray over. "Get her up," I told them. "We are running to the nearest house. Got that?"
I took Ray's crowbar so he could help get Paula up on Ian's back. I handed it back once they were situated. "If you need to switch with Ray or someone else, just speak up. We don't have time to stop," I warned Ian.
"I got this. Go, get ahead and see if you can find us a house or something." Ian's whole frame shook, but his gaze was steely and unwavering. I trusted him.
"Prisha!" I yelled. "Come on."
For the first time, I noticed that it was her who held my gun and ice pick. Her own wrench, I assumed, had been displaced to her unicorn backpack at some point.
Good.
We had to get ahead, find a place for us to stay, and clear it all before the other made it there. She needed to be ready, and holding my weapons, she at least looked the part.
The two of us ran as fast and as hard as we could for the last three-quarters of a mile. Dusk was greeting us as we made it to the first line of buildings.
Not good enough.
They were all shops and businesses. We needed blankets and ways to get warm. I cut us across the street and through a back parking lot, ignoring the many footprints in the snow. Beyond the parking lot was a neighborhood full of mid-sized houses. I picked a colonial that sat at the very end of the street.
"I'll go around back," I told Prisha as I ran.
No windows were broken, and I took that as a good enough sign. I sprinted back to the front to meet Prisha again. "See anything? Any signs of life?"
"No." She shook her head as she caught her breath. "Nothing."
"Then go back and make sure the others get here. I'll get it open and checked over."
She nodded and took off, struggling to keep her own balance as she went. I turned away from her and returned to the back of the house.
Taking my backpack off, I knelt on the icy back steps, and pulled out the hanger, using it to unlock the door.
Thank you, Abby.
I entered the home and locked the door behind me. It looked relatively untouched. Some drawers and cabinets were left open, likely picked through, but I didn't see, hear, or smell anything that indicated any recent activity. I moved to the front of the house and unlocked the front door and left it open as I checked the house room by room.
I had just finished checking the last of the three bedrooms upstairs when the thunderous sounds of panicking people entering the home had me ripping a duvet off a bed and dashing down the stairs.
"She's not breathing!" Ray yelled as Ian, Carlos, and Misty got Paula situated on the living room floor.
My mind raced, looking about the room at everyone's chaotic movements. Carlos began CPR on Paula as Ian backed away from her, putting his hands on the back of his head as he looked down at the couple in dismay.
I needed to take control.
"Ray," I said, dragging his attention away from the scene. "Get Jamie out of here."
I moved deeper into the room. "Misty, help me get Paula out of her wet clothes."
Dropping hard to my knees, I began to unlace Paula's boots. "Ian, go upstairs and get as many blankets as you can find. Dry clothing, too. Towels. Anything."
He took off as Misty worked to unbutton Paula's pants. My eyes drifted up to the bricks on the far side of the room. "And Prisha? Light your goddamn fire."