}{ Saving Grace }{

Prologue

The rain beat heavily against the ground of the forest. Thunder clapped overhead while lightning streaked across the dark sky.

Gracelyn couldn't stop. She had to keep going. They were behind her, closing in on her now. She could hear the engine roaring beneath the thunder. She could hear the wheels screech as they turned left and right in pursuit of her. She had to keep going.

The ground of the forest was muddy, slippery. Gracelyn's left leg slides out from under her and she collapses onto the ground. Mud splashes against her face, but is quickly washed away by the unyielding rain.

She can hear voices now. Someone calling out, "Get her!" in the distance. Gracelyn scrambled to her feet and pushed on, weaving in and out of the trees. She made it to a field, open and vast. A sharp, piercing crack echoes through the darkness and sent Gracelyn twirling to the ground clutching her left shoulder.

She was shot. But the shot hadn't come from behind her where they were tracking her from.

Gracelyn pulled herself to a nearby tree and pressed her back firmly against it. Shots rang out, mixing with the thunder and the roar of an engine. Lights suddenly ignite before her, washing her in white. She stood up and raised a hand to her eyes to shield them from the brightness.

The car, a black hummer, sat idle and rumbling. The passengers stare out at her from behind dark glass. Gracelyn picked herself up from the wet ground and tried to see them, but they were shadows to her. She heard the sound of a car door open and froze in her place. The man who stepped out from the driver's seat wore a bandana with a skull over the bottom of his face. Another door opened, the passenger door, and another man stepped out with the same bandana over his mouth and chin. The men moved closer, not bothering to close their doors.

"Gracelyn." One man spoke her name muffled by the bandana. Gracelyn ignored it and looked the two over. Strapped to them were automatic weapons of a large caliber. On their hips were holsters and handguns, knives and pouches full of unknown articles. She instinctively pushed herself back as tightly to the trunk of the tree as she could. Her hands found the rough bark and braced her against the tree.

This was it. This was how she was going to die. Here, in this field by these two unfamiliar men.

A third car door opened, the door behind the passenger's, and was shut with a creak. Feet shuffled and splashed in the puddles. Thunder rumbled lowly overhead.

"Can't you see that she's terrified?" A voice spoke up from the darkness, the person hidden behind the open passenger door. Another man stepped out from behind the door. Gracelyn tried to make out his face, but couldn't with the headlights blaring in her eyes. He stopped behind the other man on his side of the hummer and stared at her for a long while. "Grace?"

"Who are you?!" Gracelyn screamed over the thunder, shoulder searing with pain. She slapped a hand on the wound and squeezed her eyes shut, teeth grinding together.

"You're hurt." The man moved from the darkness and into the light, heading straight for her. Gracelyn opened her eyes, intent on seeing her end coming, but she froze when she caught sight of his face.

"No..." She breathed out, making the man halt in his pursuit. Gracelyn's eyes grew wide as her heart hammered in her chest. She shook her head several times and continued to repeat 'no' like some kind of mantra.

"Gracelyn, it's me." The man moved closer with a hand outstretched towards her. His glasses held rain droplets upon them, every now and again congregating and falling from the rims. Gracelyn's eyes stung with tears that, when they fell, mixed with the rain that trailed down her cheeks. She let out a small cry and pushed herself from the tree.

"Philip said you were dead...!" She stumbled towards him, hurried and clumsily. She began to fall, but he caught her in his arms and fell to his knees with her. Her hands wove themselves in his wet hair and she hid her face in the crook of his neck, sobbing. He wrapped his arms around her tightly, one around her waist and the other angled so that his hand covered her shoulder. He could feel her warm breath on his neck, her fingers in his hair, and sighed, tightening his hold on her.

"He said a lot of things that weren't true, Grace." He breathed out onto her shoulder and then turned his head to her cheek, kissing her cold, damp flesh. "I would never leave you. Not there. Not with him."

Gracelyn pulled back from him, keeping her hands in his hair and smiled a sad, warm smile. One hand came to his cheek, caressing it. Her fingers were rough and cold, but to him they were the greatest thing he had felt in his life. He closed his eyes and relished her caress. Gracelyn sniffled, tears welling up in her eyes again and then captured his lips with her own in a kiss filled with passion and pain.

"We have to go." A voice rang out from behind the pair. One of the men, whose face was covered by a bandana, was getting antsy. "Now."

Gracelyn broke away and stared at the man cradling her in his arms. He looked sure, confident... strong. So unlike how he had the first time she had met him. He helped her to her feet and led her to the hummer, helping her inside. He sat beside her in the backseat while the other two climbed in and took off.

Gracelyn was about to curl up beside the man in the seat next to hers, not wanting to wait for an invitation, but he beat her. He wrapped an arm around her shoulders and pulled her to him, kissing the top of her head.

"We're going someplace safe; someplace far away from here where he will never be able to touch you again. I'll get you fix up and then we can do or go wherever you want." He spoke into her ear, his warm breath tickling her flesh. Gracelyn didn't care where this magical place was. She didn't care if it were truly safe or far away. She only cared about being with him, the awkward, boyish scientist that had given her hope in this Hell.

"I'll follow wherever you lead, Grace." He breathed out and kissed her head again, tightening his hold on her. "Forever."

Gracelyn wrapped an arm around him and pulled herself as close to him as she could. Her face was flush with his damp chest. She only cared about one thing in this world and his name was Milton Mamet.