Claire didn’t stop moving even though every part of her thrummed with exhaustion. Her lungs ached and the breath escaping her was sharp. The sun was now low in the sky. So low she couldn’t see it anymore. There was a suggestion of fading light through the screen of trees. Above her, a dark blue sky spattered with the early stars of the evening meant the the night was arriving and Claire didn’t know where she was or where to go. Getting away from the men had been the priority and after she accomplished that, the goal had changed to getting out of these damn woods. The forest appeared to go on endlessly and what scared her the most was the possibility that instead of creeping closer to some form of civilization, what if she was heading deeper and deeper into the woods? She had no idea how to survive out here. Were there bears out here? She didn’t know. She was a city woman. A thirsty city woman. Her saliva was like glue in her mouth. Her stomach had not had any food in some time and it protested the fasting with angry growls. Panic wormed in her guts and she closed her eyes and slowed her breathing in an attempt to keep the panic from boiling over.

Barking echoed in the valley. Were they behind her? In front of her? She heard men shouting encouragement. Claire’s eyes popped open. She knew it would be too easy to get turned around out here. For all she knew, she could have circled back towards the men and all that distance she thought she made running away was an illusion. Damnit. Panic might win after all. She wiped sweat from her eyes and ran away (she hoped) from the sounds.

Claire’s legs were heavy. Her arms and face were bleeding. Her sweat stung the small cuts decorating her exposed skin. All the branches she couldn’t see in the darkness scraped against her. Behind her, flashes of light cut a swathe through the darkness. The dog was close. The men were close. She could hear them talking. Hear them offering each other some water. Claire was done in. She had given it her best shot and knew if she were in the city instead of the woods she would be safe right now. She would have outrun those middle age sadistic fucks with ease and would be sitting on her couch in her shitty, tiny apartment, watching Netflix and eating a greasy bag of microwave popcorn and sipping on a can of Coke so cold from the fridge there’d be a layer of slush in her first sip. Goddamn, that sounded good. A regular slice of heaven.

They weren’t far behind her now and Claire had nothing left in her tank and even if she did, she could see nowhere to go. Darkness followed by more darkness. Wait. Was that a light through the trees? Was that a house? She squinted and ran a dry tongue over cracked lips. It could be. She gathered the last vestiges of energy and picked up her feet, doing a mix of fast-walking and jogging. Light from a window shone on a mown lawn. And she heard, what was that? A car idling. She followed the sound with her eyes and yes, right on the driveway sat an SUV. Claire attempted a smile but if anyone had seen it they would have said it was a baring of fangs with her lips sticking to dry teeth. She moved faster now as the land dipped down. The men and the dog faded from her concentration. She was aware of them but they diminished into the background like turning down a car radio when you get close to your destination. A branch ripped the skin on the top of her hand. It didn’t matter. She stumbled when she broke through the screen of trees not expecting them to disappear so suddenly. The ground was also level compared to the terrain she had been running through and she wasn’t used to that. Her knees wobbled.

The SUV idled. She saw movement inside. The SUV rocked on its shocks. Claire crying now, the tears coating her face in a wet sheen, used what little strength was left in her legs and ran towards the SUV. There was no plan. No thought of what the men would do once they saw her and where she was going. There were people in the SUV, someone to help her and that’s all she wanted: help.

She staggered to the SUV, slapped a hand against the window and screamed, “Please help me!”

Behind her, she heard, “Hank! Attack!”

Claire turned and put her back against the SUV. She heard the jingle of a collar and a growl. Out of the dark sprang a black, bullet-headed animal speeding along the ground. She raised her right arm, screamed as she braced herself and the dog leaped into the air. Its teeth crunched into her forearm and its body slammed into her midsection knocking her back into the metal of the SUV. The abrupt violence stole the wind from her cutting off the scream. Claire dropped to the ground and the dog yanked on her arm with its teeth buried in her flesh. She felt a pop in her shoulder and a snap in her forearm. The dog dugs its feet into the earth and jerked her arm from side to side. Able to breathe again, she inhaled the hot night air and yelled, “Get em’ off me! It hurts, it hurts, it hur-“ the dog jerked again cutting off her yell as a fresh mountain of pain ripped through her.

She smacked at the dog’s head with her other hand. Hot liquid ran down her legs and she realized in a dim way she was peeing on herself. A man snatched her hand, the free hand she had been hitting the dog with and he pinned her wrist to the ground with his knee. The dog remained still with its teeth clamped tight on her arm. The dog moaned. She could feel its tongue darting to taste her blood. She turned to the man. A dark outline against a dark night sky. He was catching his breath. He said, “You’ve been a lot of fucking work, haven’t ya?”

He raised his arm, dim moonlight reflected off the knife in his hand. The knife stabbed down and punched through her neck. He ripped it to the side. Her blood fed the ground as the man stood. The dog growled with her arm in its teeth. She noticed the pain leaving her, like a heavy weight rolling off. She smiled in relief. She closed her eyes. She was so tired.