My feet burn, and the last bit of adrenaline in my system pulls through.
I don’t know how I’m able to walk, let alone run, after two days with little to no water or food.
I’m running over snow, rocks, and branches, cutting myself as I try to flee.
I don’t know where I’m going. All I know is Danny told me to run, so I’m running until I feel safe again.
I ran for the woods. It’s the first thing I saw when I opened those doors. I feel weak, but I have to keep going.
It’s dark, cold and freezing. It’s a few days after Christmas, and the winter snow hasn’t let up. That’s rare in North Carolina. If it snows, it’s very little, but for some reason, this winter, it snowed the most in years.
I hear footsteps thunder after me, leaves and rocks crunching underneath someone’s boots.
“You’re going to die now, bitch!” Ms. Salem screams after me.
I look around frantically through the dark and hear a river flowing. I stop running and try to listen closely to it. Maybe I can cross the river, and they won’t follow me. It has to be freezing, but I’m a good swimmer.
“When we get our hands on you, we’re going to gut you!” her father roars from behind me.
I take off running when I get a good idea of where the river is. My feet ache, and the cold air burns every time I inhale. I can’t feel my toes or fingers, but I must keep going.
Then I hear a gunshot ring loud. It hits the tree next to me, and I turn around to find them all after me… just a few feet away.
I whip around again and hide behind a tree. I watch the river; it looks peaceful, but the current is strong, and I hesitate to jump in.
They keep shooting at me from behind, and I’m shaking, trembling, and I silence my own whimpers with my hands. My fight-or-flight response kicks in, but I can’t jump in the water. Instead, I try to curl up against myself, hoping I’ll vanish into thin air.
I palm my mouth, biting down hard. I can’t let them know where I am.
Then, another shot rings out, but it sounds different, like it came from a different weapon at a different angle.
I put my hands to my ears as more gunshots ring out, and I scream as if it’s the last one I’ll make. I feel like they’re right behind the tree. I’m hiding behind it as more fire keeps going. It sounds like fireworks on steroids. Like small bombs going off, over and over again.
I’m going to die.
I’m going to die.
I’m going to die.
If the cold weather doesn’t kill me, I’m going to get hit by the crossfire, or worse, they’ll find me now that I’ve gone into shock, and I can’t stop screaming.
Then it goes silent. No more gunshots…just the river. Keeping my hands on my ears, I’m praying to God I’ll somehow walk out of this, unscarred.
Then a body drops next to me by the tree. It’s the man who’s been chasing me. A pistol drops from his lifeless hand, covering him in blood. Blood drops from his nose and into the snow.
The crimson coloration stands out against the white ice under the moonlight. The snow glimmers like glitter as I blink.
This is my chance to run again, but I need to take the gun from his hands. Danny taught me to use these weapons for self-defense.
I lean over, still crying and quivering with shock. I grab the metal gun. I’m hovering over the dead body and sneak a peek to my left.
I hear someone’s voice, but my breathing over shadows their words but. I swear I hear Omar and Danny.
Immediately, I’m taken aback by what’s unfolding in the middle of the woods. Danny towers over Omar and has the man restrained by his arms. Then he slits my captor’s throat.
My eyes widen. I just watched him kill someone.
He’s wearing his mask. But I’d know those ocean eyes anywhere.
Blood splatters all over Omar and onto the Snow White floor. Danny notices me watching, and he stiffens completely, letting Omar fall to the floor and choke on his own blood.
I whimper when I see him, biting my lip, and I’m tempted to start running toward him, but I can’t move.
I feel intense pain in my chest, like my heart will stop from all the mayhem. No matter how much I breathe or cry, I’m devoured by terror, and it makes me lose any sense of movement.
Danny strides over the snow and dead bodies, and all I want to do is run, but my legs don’t respond.
Then I see a shadowy figure pop up behind him, raising a gun to his back, and… I act.
I hold up my pistol like I learned from my safety training and pull the trigger.
It sends Ms. Salem to the floor, and my hand riddles from the power of the gun.
She falls to the floor, and I don’t know where I shot her. But it worked because Danny looks behind him.
“Oh, my God. I killed her!” I drop the gun from my hand, and another anxiety attack ensues.
She was going to kill Danny if I hadn’t pulled the trigger.
“Oh my God…she’s dead, isn’t she? What have I done?” I start stuttering over my words as Danny grabs my face with both of his hands as a panic attack holds me captive. I’m a murderer. I took someone’s life.
“Baby, look at me!” He attempts to snap me out of my disarray. He plants a kiss on my forehead through his mask.
“Danny! I killed her! I shot her!”
I had to, right?
But still, I can’t help but feel immediate and immense guilt. She’s not facing me, she’s on her side, but I can see her back.
“Ari, look at me!” he begs again in a deep, husky voice.
I finally look away from Ms. Salem, and through the blurry vision, I search for him.
“You’re okay, Ari. It’s okay.” He holds my face tighter in his hand, and then he embraces me into a hold. “Are you hurt?”
I hug him back, crying into his chest.
“I’m freezing,” I shiver through crying whispers, and he holds me tighter. “I’m thirsty…so thirsty.”
I’m still in my red dress from the ball. It doesn’t cover anything. I haven’t had any type of warmth or coat since the dance. I’m getting hypothermic.
“I’ll get you warmed up right now, baby.”
“Danny, I killed her!”
Then he lets me go tactically fast, and I hear a loud grunt from a woman’s voice behind him.
It’s Ms. Salem.
She isn’t dead even though I shot her.
She charges at him, screaming as if she has nothing to lose. Blood drips down her mouth, and she’s stumbling while she runs at him. She is holding a knife over her shoulder with bulging dark eyes of revenge.
Everything happens in a split second.
Danny turns around, and he grabs a pistol from his belt. He shoots her in the forehead, and she goes down again.
“No, I killed her.” He watches Ms. Salem for a few seconds longer. He reaches over and feels for a pulse. He bends down and then retracts his hand. I watch him nervously, looking around to see five dead bodies around us. Then he makes his way back to me.
He removes his top, leaving him only in a vest and camouflage top.
He throws it over my shoulder, and I slip my cold, frozen arms into the sleeves.
My teeth chatter, my feet burn, and I feel like I might become a human icicle.
I look into his light blue iris. The way he wears his disguise; he looks like the actual Grim Reaper with his mask on. A scythe symbol covers his mouth, and my wide-eyed man stares into my soul, so intimidatingly gorgeous.
“Danny, you’re alive…you found me,” I sob through chattering teeth. My shaky palm reaches to touch his face. I’m covered in blood and so is he. The blood is splattered all over his disguise and eyelids.
“You were never lost…” he breathes. “I told you, there’s nowhere you could go where I couldn’t find you.” He lets me go, and I stumble back into a tree.
Tears fall down my face, and my heart pounds harder.
Even through his mask, I know he’s smiling at me.
“Are you okay? Did they hurt you? Did they…” he clears his throat, “touch you?”
I shake my head.
“Now that you’re here, I’m okay.”
His hands reach underneath his shirt, by his collar bones, and he takes off his dog tags from his neck as my back is still pressed hard against the tree.
He places them over me, so I’m wearing them as another necklace on top of my cross one. The cold metal kisses my skin, and everything changes to slow motion.
“Marry me.” He brushes my lips with his fingers, rigid with purpose.
A low whimper falls from my lips, but not from pain…from serenity.
“Baby, marry me.” My mouth opens ever so slightly, not believing the words coming out of his mouth.
I stare at him, trying to figure out if this is a dream.
When I watch his stone-cold eyes search mine vehemently. I know it’s real.
“Danny…I’m scared,” I admit. “I’m scared the longer you’re in the military—” I weep through heavy breaths, shaking my head.
I can’t find the words. It’s scary to think shit like this will continue for us. Maybe I’m ruining the moment, but I’m in a chokehold, unsure of what to do or say.
“I’m scared.” I shrug, sobbing, and he watches me so intensely. I feel like I’ll disappear into nothing the longer he stares at me like that. I can’t handle it when he does this. I melt every single time. Even more so through his mask. Because even though I can’t see his face, his eyes tell me everything.
They tell me what his soul needs and what he’s feeling.
“It’s okay to be scared. Fear isn’t a weakness, angel. It means you’re still alive.”
I exhale through trembling lips and chattering teeth, and puffs of white follow, and I narrow my eyes at him with admiration. He’s my haven.
“I promise you; I’ll always find you. I will always protect you. You are mine forever, Ari Natalia. I will save you from the darkness that lives in this world and the darkness that troubles your soul. I love you, Ari. I’m so in love with you.”
He said it.
And he’s proposing.
Butterflies swarm and sparks fly into my throat. I sniffle and hold his dog tags tighter in my hands.
I look down at them. My fingertips trail blood, and I accidentally leave crimson traces with my fingers.
“This isn’t a ring, but I can’t wait any longer.” He grabs the dog tags over my icy hand and holds it tight. “I’m proposing to you, Ari. Be my bride.” He picks me up, and my feet no longer touch the ground. I’m straddling him as he pushes my back against the tree, and I hold on to him tighter.
A small bubble of laughter escapes me through the tears.
“Now you say it? We’re covered in blood, and there are dead bodies right next to us. Now you say it?”
“I don’t see the problem.” He grabs my hair gently, pulling my head up so that I’m facing the night sky and twinkling stars.
“I’ll get on my fucking knees and crawl to you if I have to, baby. I’ll burn this whole world for you to be mine forever. Say it.”
I exhale, biting my lips. It’s like he’s surrendering to me, unveiling every vulnerable factor about himself.
He kisses my neck through his mask. He lets go of my hair, sliding his hand underneath my dress and squeezing my breasts.
“Marry me.” He moves my dress upward so that I’m exposed. My eyes close right when I know what’s coming.
He unzips his pants, unbuckling his belt, and I’m growing more impatient to feel him.
We’re both covered in blood from our chests up. Dead bodies surround us both, yet the feelings below my stomach crave him dangerously. I want him right here and right now.
Then he gets close, closing the distance, and I can feel his body heat. My gosh, he feels so warm. I want to smother myself against his massive body. All his muscles tense up against me when he positions himself at my entrance. He enters me, and I moan out loud.
“Yes, infinity times, yes,” I breathe out.
Thrusting, he groans into my ear.
“I love you, Danny…”
His hard cock goes into me deeper. Over and over again, with desperation, everything I went through this past year disappears in this moment. I treasure Danny making love to me in this fucked up moment, because now that these people are dead, I feel like this is our new beginning. I know it.
He’s fucking me passionately against the tree in the dark.
“I thought I lost you,” I cry out as my back shifts with every pound he gives me.
“You’re not going anywhere anymore. If I can make it happen, you’ll have my last name first thing tomorrow.”
He stretches me open and I hold on to his shoulders. His eyebrows narrow down at me, looking straight into my eyes. His face is covered in blood, and I’m clawing his shoulders from the pleasure I feel.
I’m going to come already. He knows how to hit that spot that drives me wild. I’m close, and he knows it.
He grunts, and I can’t stop moaning.
With one hand, he squeezes my left thigh tight, pulling me closer so he can go deeper. He’s devouring me like he always does. Fucking me roughly.
Then I climax all over his cock. My pussy grips down on his massive length, and I moan into his shoulders, clawing his shoulders harder.
I’m in complete bliss as relief washes over me like a hurricane.
“I can’t control myself around you, fuck,” he growls as he continues to thrust inside me.
‘Danny, I haven’t been on—’ I croak as my breasts bounce faster each time he draws deeper and closer inside me, my whole body jolts against the tree.
I haven’t been able to take my birth control pills since I was taken. A mini panic attack ensues, but Danny doesn’t flinch, doesn’t hesitate when I confess. Instead, he keeps moving like nothing can stop him from taking me completely. The thought of trying to have another baby sends swishes of hope through my heart.
I want to try again, but I don’t know how he feels.
“I know,” he growls. He picks up his speed fast, squeezing my thighs tight. I know there will be bruises to reflect what he’s done. I whimper with pain and pleasure, and before I know it, he comes inside of me…answering my concerns with his actions.
He takes off his mask and pockets it.
It should be illegal for him to look this good. His dark blond hair ruffles out, and his cheeks reflect a reddish hue from the freezing night, and his beard hugs his sharp jawline.
“I need to kiss you.”
He looks down at me like I’m the prettiest thing he’s ever seen.
He looks forever tethered as he intertwines my hands in one of his hands, lifting them above my head as his lips crash against me. He’s devouring me, deeper and deeper. Our lips brush against each other, his tongue finding mine, clashing together like two worlds finally becoming one.
He carries my drained body in his arms. I cuddle deeper into his chest, crying and holding onto him for dear life. His vest and weapons make it uncomfortable, but his hands and scent compensate for it. He smells like home, and I never want to leave his side ever again.
I never want to let Danny go. I feel at complete peace knowing that the people responsible for killing my brother are dead and long gone. That chapter has finally closed because of him. He saved me again and avenged my brother at the same time.
As I drift in and out of sleep, as he carries me out of the woods, I dream of my brother. I can see flashes of Paul playing his guitar. It’s a foggy, hazy dream, but I can see him. He looks up from his guitar and places his palms on the strings…this time, he stops playing.
He looks up at me with a huge, warm grin. I know he wants to say something. I know it. His dimples appear on each cheek, and a tear falls down my big brother’s face.
I know he’s at peace. And it’s because Danny put an end to our misery.
Standing from his chair, throwing his guitar over his shoulder, he walks away deeper into black shadows, disappearing.
I smile against Danny’s chest, and he holds me tighter as my dream fades out.
The last thing I hear before I’m overtaken by sleep is, “I’m done with this team. I’m taking her home.”
