Fifty-six

“What?” Sherrie replied in a shocked voice.

“That’s where Fox has Helen,” John explained.

“I know, you told me that,” she replied. “But you said she was dead.”

“I think she is. But I have to know for sure.” John looked deep into her eyes. “Zoe said she’s dead and Fox killed her. But I have to know. I have to see for myself before I can really believe it.”

“You think Zoe lied to you?”

John hung his head and looked to the ground as lightning lit up the area. Images of the past two days flashed through his mind.

She came back covered in blood.

She was wearing Helen’s half-heart pendant.

Would she lie?

First they screw you, then they screw you!

Was Zoe telling him the truth or was it all lies?

“I don’t know,” he said finally, turning to face Sherrie once more. “But I need to find out. And if Fox is still there, I have to make him pay.”

Thunder rolled long and loud through the night.

Sherrie stepped closer, put an arm around his back and hugged him hard.

“I understand how you feel,” she replied. “I think it’s a bad idea, but I don’t think I have any choice other than to go along with you. I’m not walking back to Hepburn Lakes by myself.”

“I don’t want to get you involved in this, honey,” he replied.

“Too late,” she smiled at him and pointed to the blood on her face. “I already am.”

He nodded and sighed deeply.

“We better get moving,” he said as he reached out and wiped the blood from her temple. “Can you walk?”

Sherrie nodded. “How far is it?”

“Zoe said it was about ten miles from here.”

“Ten?” Sherrie sounded exhausted already.

“It’s going to take us some time to get there,” he replied. “Do you think you can make it?”

She nodded. “I’ll have to.”

“You can stay here. We’ll find a good hiding spot if you like.”

Sherrie shook her head vigorously. “No way. Uh-uh. I’m sticking with you this time. Safety in numbers. I’ll be okay.”

The wind blew strongly through the pines and lightning flashed.

At first, he thought it was the sound of the wind. But the noise got stronger and louder after the wind died.

“Jooohhhnnnyyy!”

John turned to Sherrie to ask if she heard it. But she was already looking at him, panic on her face.

She heard it too!

“Jooooohhhhhnnnnnyyyyy!”

The cry started low and built up as it stretched for seconds.

John turned in a circle, trying to pinpoint where the voice was coming from.

Zoe!

Another roll of thunder drowned out Zoe’s voice.

“She’s here,” Sherrie whispered, squeezing John’s hand while her eyes darted around them.

He nodded. “But where? It sounds like she’s all around us.”

The wind blew through the pines again; branches bent and needles rustled, combining with the eerie call.

“Jooohhhnnnyyy!”

“Let’s get out of here,” Sherrie pulled his arm. “This is starting to freak me out.”

John backed away towards Sherrie, his eyes wide and searching through the darkness.

Lightning split the night sky.

For a second, John could see clearly around him. His eyes danced, trying to spot Zoe somewhere.

But he couldn’t see her.

“Jooohhhnnnyyy!”

She sounded closer now as her voice floated on the wind. Closer, but still issuing from all around them. Almost as if the wind itself was calling his name.

Where the fuck is she?

Sherrie pulled him further into the forest.

“I hope this is the right way,” she said over her shoulder.

“Don’t worry,” John replied, his head still darting back and forth in the darkness. “Let’s just put some distance between us and her. We’ll work out where we are later.”

He squeezed her hand and they set off blindly through the pines, moving deeper into the forest and hoping they were leaving Zoe far behind.

Thunder growled around them.

“Jooohhhnnnyyy! Don’t goooooo!”

Zoe’s voice sounded just as loud.

Just as close.

Can she see us?

Does she know what we’re doing?

The hairs on the back of John’s neck stood on end as fear skittered up his spine.

They soon came to a halt and looked at each other.

Both John and Sherrie were thinking the same thoughts.

“Did that sound closer?” Sherrie asked.

“I don’t know.”

“I don’t want to run straight into her.”

“I know.”

“I just don’t know where it’s coming from!”

“We have to take our chances,” John replied.

“Jooohhhnnnyyy! Doooon’t leeeeeeave meeeeee!”

John shook his head. If he were out in the forest alone, he would probably think he was going crazy; the stress of the last few days, the dehydration and hunger, the pain. But Sherrie heard the voice too. Sherrie proved it was real.

We have to get out!

“Can you run?” he asked her.

“Yes, I can try,” Sherrie nodded.

“Okay,” John replied. “Well, just keep running. No matter what.”

She nodded.

The wind blew stronger through the trees.

“Jooohhhnnnyyy! Come baaaaaaack!”

Zoe’s voice crept through the night and cut through John’s soul.

Go back for her.

What?

Go back for her!

You can’t!

She can help me get to Fox.

You know where he is.

She can bargain with him.

It didn’t work last time.

She can help me!

Yeah, like she already has!

John thought about his wounds. The scratches on his chest bit at him in the cold night air. His arm was still dull with pain, but he could feel the stitches were still holding. He could still feel the lump on his head and the tight wrappings around his cock, and the dull pulling of the cock ring.

She did all that to you.

Yeah, you’re right.

She almost killed you.

Yeah, she did.

I owe her nothing! Not after all that has happened.

John turned to Sherrie and kissed her hard on the lips. He could smell her now. The sweet scent of her perfume enveloped him. He knew the scent; he’d given her the bottle the day after Christmas last year. Her long curly locks brushed against the side of his face and forehead as the wind blew around them.

Her hot full lips kissed him back with passion.

They embraced as lightning flashed in the sky.

“I love you,” she whispered as they pulled apart.

“And I love you.”

“Nothing’s changed,” she said.

John’s head tilted to the side. “And nothing’s changed with me either,” he replied.

She smiled at him then. It was the first time she had done that in a long while.

Thunder deafened them.

“Come on,” he said, grabbing Sherrie’s hand. “Let’s get out of here.”

And as they dashed through the pines and into the heart of the forest, Zoe’s voice followed them.

“Jooohhhnnnyyy! Coooome baaaack! Youuuu dooooon’t understaaaand!”

They ducked around trunks of trees, stepping carefully where they could.

As they ran, John was sure Zoe’s voice was fading into the distance.

But that could’ve been because of the wind. Or his heavy breathing.

Either way, he didn’t care.

Gotta get out of here.

He kept that thought rolling over and over in his mind.

Gotta get out of here. Gotta get out of here. Gottagetoutofhere!

“Jooohhhnnnyyy! Pleeeeeasssse!”

They ran into the night.

And Zoe’s voice began to waver; lost in the wind and in the thunder.

And when the sky opened up, Zoe’s pleading was swallowed in the rain that followed.

It fell hard and heavy.

John welcomed the rain.

Maybe it could wash away all the events of the last few days and give them the cover they needed to get out of here.

Maybe it could help him get to Fox and teach the bastard a lesson he wouldn’t forget.

Maybe…