I have to be fearless.
Noah finds a tree with some lowlying branches and decides we’re going to use it to climb. Once we’re up, we’re going to move through the treetops as far as we can go; then we’ll try to get some rest and just wait. Wait for our lives to be taken into the hands of a man who’s capable of anything. We have to trust each other. Pray that we make it out. Pray for a miracle.
“You go up first. Take it easy, feel out the branches.”
I look up at the tall tree. I’m terrified of heights, but I’m even more terrified of staying on the ground. I reach for the first branch and use it to pull myself up. That wasn’t so hard. I continue on, listening for Noah below me. He calls out, “Don’t look down.” I wasn’t planning to. Branch by branch, we move higher and higher into the tree. I don’t know how high the cameras go, but I’d guess not high enough that he couldn’t reach them easily.
“That should be enough,” Noah calls when I get three-quarters of the way up the tree.
Then I make the mistake of looking down.
It’s a lot higher than it felt climbing up. I can’t see the ground, just the smaller trees below and their tops. My breath gets trapped in my lungs and all the blood drains from my face. “Look up, Lara,” Noah demands.
I can’t move.
Oh God. I can’t move.
“Lara!”
My legs start shaking, my hands tremble, and I don’t think I can hold on anymore. “Noah,” I cry out frantically. “Noah!”
“Hang on,” he says, climbing faster to reach me. “Don’t let go of that branch.”
I can’t hang on. My hands are losing their grip.
“Noah!” I scream.
He reaches me and wraps himself around me, putting his arms on either side of me and hanging on to the branch. “I’ve got you. I’m not going to let you fall.”
I’m shaking all over, my legs still threatening to collapse beneath me.
“You’re okay,” he says, his voice shaky, too. “You’re okay.”
“I d-d-d-don’t think I can do this.”
“You can.”
“I’m scared,” I whimper. “I am so tired of being scared.”
“Look up at me, baby.”
I look up at him.
“You’re okay. Say it.”
“I’m o-o-o-okay.”
“Again.”
“I’m okay.”
“Again, Lara.”
“I’m okay.”
“Good girl. I know it’s high, but the trees are big and they’re sturdy. Hang on and you’ll be fine, okay?”
“Okay.”
“Do not look down again. Keep your head high.”
I nod.
“We have to keep moving, baby.”
And we do just that.
They do not get to fuck with my game.
They do not get to kiss.
They do not get to plot against me. Together.
Anger rises in my chest as I run my fingers over the blade of my knife. I need to focus. I’ve got it all planned. They can’t escape. They can work together, but they can’t escape.
I imagine this blade driving deep into their bodies, sinking, ripping open their flesh.
I smile as I imagine the sound it’ll make. That squelching, bloody sound that makes my skin prickle with anticipation.
Maybe I’ll cut their tongues out, or their eyes.
I wonder how well they’ll do kissing and giving each other loving glances if they’re fucking blind and mute.
Yes.
Imagine that.
ELEVEN
I don’t look down again. I follow Noah through the treetops. I don’t know how many trees we move across, but for two solid hours we do just that: climb and move. When the sun starts falling, Noah finds a secure tree with a big, thick branch for us to stop on. It’s thick enough that I can sit comfortably on it. Fall asleep, though? I doubt it. We can’t move through the dark, so now we spend the rest of our night sitting here, wondering what tomorrow is going to bring.
“You okay?” Noah asks, sitting in front of me, legs dangling off either side of the branch.
“Not really, but I don’t think I get much choice in that.”
He reaches out and takes my hand, running his thumbs over my palms. “I don’t know how, but we’re going to get out of here, and when we do I’m never letting you go again.”
“You’re not?”
“Not for a second.”
I smile at that thought. Does this mean we’re back together? I shake my head. Right now I need to focus on getting out of here, with both of us alive. The rest can wait.
“How do you think he’s going to hunt us?” I ask, my voice growing tight with anxiety.
“I don’t know. I’ve thought about it and figure he’d need some sort of transport, maybe something to make him move quicker. He won’t do it on foot—at least I don’t think he will. I think that’s why he’s cleared areas and created a rough path. He’d never be able to move through those trees without it.”
“So there is a chance we’ll hear him coming?”
“I hope so. It’ll give us time.”
I swallow. There goes that fear again.
“I know it’s hard. Trust me, I’m scared as fuck, too, but the reality is that we can’t get out of this. It doesn’t matter what we do. We have to fight. You have to be prepared for that.”
“I am, but it doesn’t mean I like it, Noah.”
“I get that, baby.”
“I’m not going to sleep tonight.”
“Me neither,” he admits.
“Can we just pretend for the next however many hours that we’re not in a tree in a forest being tracked by a killer and that we’re just Noah and Lara, hanging out?”
“Yeah, baby,” he says. “We can do that.”
He shifts around until he’s sitting behind me, back to the trunk, arms around me, both our legs hanging. He makes me feel secure like this. He makes me feel safe.
“If you could be eating anything on our tree date, what would it be?” I ask.
He chuckles. “Tree date?”
“That’s what we’re doing, isn’t it?”
“Yeah,” he agrees. “I’d be eating pizza.”
“Do you still have it with just cheese?”
He laughs and I feel the rumble through my back. It feels good. “Is there any other way to have it?”
“Um, yes. With toppings, like pepperoni and mushrooms and onion…”
“Fuck no. That shit ruins it. I don’t know who came up with the idea to put all that crap on it, but it should be the way it’s intended. Cheese only.”
“How boring.” I scrunch up my nose.
He snorts. “What about you, little one?” he murmurs into my ear. “What would you eat?”
“You can’t guess?”
His fingers find my belly and slip beneath my tee to stroke over my skin. “If nothing has changed then it would be your nanna’s apple pie.”
My heart aches at the memory of my beautiful nanna. God, I miss her. I miss her so much. Is this my punishment for what happened to her? My heart aches at the thought.
“Stop it,” Noah says softly. “Don’t let that get into your mind. What happened to your nanna was not your fault, Lara.”
“It was and we both know it. I mouthed off and was overconfident. I got myself into trouble and she paid the price.”