Chapter 8 - The Hunt in the Dark
The alley behind the motel was pitch black and smelled of rotting garbage.
Maria pushed Leo forward.
"Stay close to the wall," she whispered.
Clara struggled to keep up.
The mud in the alley was thick, sucking at the rubber tips of her crutches.
Every step sent a sharp bolt of pain up her spine.
"I can't go any faster," Clara gasped, leaning heavily against a brick wall.
"You have to," Maria said, looking back nervously.
"If the police catch us, Evelyn gets custody of you."
That thought terrified Clara more than the darkness.
They reached the end of the alley, which opened up into a dense, overgrown patch of woods.
"Through here," Maria directed.
"There's an old train station about a mile away."
They pushed into the wet trees.
Branches whipped against Clara’s face.
Her arms were burning with exhaustion.
Suddenly, her left crutch snapped on a hidden tree root.
Clara pitched forward, falling face-first into the freezing mud.
"Clara!" Leo cried, rushing to help her up.
"Leave the crutch," Maria ordered.
"Lean on me."
But as Maria reached down, they heard the distinct crunch of boots on leaves behind them.
Someone was following them into the woods.
It wasn't the police.
These footsteps were slow, deliberate, and heavy.
"Keep moving," Maria hissed, hauling Clara up by her arm.
Clara tried to hop on one foot, leaning her entire weight on Maria.
But her legs were cramping violently.
The pain from two years of atrophy was unbearable.
"I can't," Clara sobbed, sinking back down.
"You have to try," Leo begged, grabbing her other hand.
Clara remembered the water in the tub.
She remembered the tiny movement of her toes.
She squeezed her eyes shut and forced a signal down to her paralyzed legs.
A spark of hot agony shot through her knees.
She pushed against the mud, her right leg actually bearing weight for a single, miraculous second.
She stood.
But just as she took her first real step, a blinding flashlight beam hit them square in the face.
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A dark figure stepped out from behind a tree.
"Going somewhere?" a familiar, cruel voice echoed in the night.
