She was crouched down, willing herself to not breathe too loudly. She could feel his eyes searching for her; determined. She pressed her back in to the hard, splintery wood on the old barn and closed her eyes, concentrating on his soft footsteps; she knew it was only a matter of time until he found her, she had nowhere to go; she'd gotten herself stuck.
"I'm coming for you, girl" his raspy voice cooed to her. She opened her eyes and focused on the ground, trying to come up with a plan.
Fuck fuck fuck. She could hear his feet crunching down on the hay spread all over the ground-they were only growing closer; her breath quickened and her eyes grew wide, panicked. If she moved at all it would shrink whatever time she still had down even more; but sitting there waiting to be his victim was definitely not a choice either.
She drew in a deep breath to steady her heartbeat-afraid that he could hear it pounding against her ribs. She moved her body slightly, just enough to crane her head to look around the giant sacks of corn she was pressed behind; she couldn't see him, maybe she had a chance.
She stood up as slowly as possible, making sure not to touch or grab on to anything that could make a sound. She got to a standing position but stayed hunched over to minimize the risk of him seeing her.
Her eyes darted around in the darkness, searching for him; nothing. She found the crack in the barn door by the small amount of moonlight poking through, she could just run, run and not stop until she found a better spot to hide; he had to give up eventually right?
She took a few tentative steps, fearing that he would reach out of nowhere to grab her. There was still nothing-he was just…gone.
Tricky fuck.
She thought of the freedom that waited just beyond the barn doors, she had a much better chance out there.
Come on, Leyna, don't be a chicken shit! She scolded herself.
Still finding nothing after another glance around, she readied herself for a run. She placed her feet in the soft hay and filled her body with adrenaline.
*SNAP*
Someone was off to her side, just out of sight. She took off with all of the force she could muster, running for the door without looking back.
"HEY!" She heard him roar after her.
Her hands hit the door and it flew open and then bounced back to hit her shoulder as she ran out; the corn field was right there, maybe 60 feet away.
You just have to make it to the corn, just make it to the corn! She was collecting every ounce of courage and hope she could find. She reached the corn, bursting through the edge of it, still running at full speed.
The stalks were hitting her in the face, making her eyes tear, but she could hear him charging after her, not far off. She couldn't stop now. She made a sudden turn to the right and ran a few feet then stopped and crouched down, listening as he hit the corn out of his way. His feet were hitting the ground hard; she could almost hear the rage in his steps.
She needed air, her heart pounding inside of her chest, but she made herself breathe slow and even. If he passed her, she could double back and make it out to the forest back behind the barn. She listened had as he ran past where she was crouching, he had missed her.
She readied herself to stand up and sprint back toward the barn so she could get to the forest behind it, but he suddenly stopped; taking note that he couldn't hear her anymore.
"Hiding again, are we?" he hissed.
He wasn't very far from her. She looked around on the ground and found several dirt clods sitting near her. She grabbed a couple of them and launched one out into the field, as far away as she could. She heard it hit the corn with a light crash, and then she heard him start walking away from her.
She launched another chunk of dirt in the same direction, only harder, and listened as it bounced off the corn. She heard him laugh to himself, probably thinking she'd given away her position by accident.
She waited a moment as she heard him stepping toward the sound, waiting to start running again. After she determined that his steps were far enough away to give her a chance, she took off again, back toward her original plan; she had always wanted to get to the forest but he was gaining on her and she couldn't run anymore so she was forced in to the barn. Now she had rested a bit and was ready to fight her way to through the forest where she could climb a tree or hide down by the river.
She was running before she had fully prepared herself, so she stumbled slightly, tripping over her feet. She straightened herself out and ran, full speed toward the forest. Behind her she could hear him laughing again.
"Are we going back to the barn?" he teased
She ignored the comment and kept running, all she had to do was get around the barn, he might stop to look, thinking she went inside it again; that would give her enough time to get out in the thick trees and get to a place she could hunker down and wait.
She crashed through the end of the field, and thanked the moon for giving her a little light to run by. The ground was uneven, due to the hard rains in the area lately.
She made it to the edge of the barn and stopped for a moment to peak around the corner to see if she could see him-he burst out of the corn a few seconds later; she whipped her body back behind the corner, took a breath, and started sprinting again.
If he stopped she would have extra time, but if he kept after her, choosing to round the barn, she would be back to where she was before; he was so fast.
She hit the edge of the forest and found the clearest path she could to run on, she just had to get some distance if she could; he had to be tiring as well. In front of her was a giant tree that she would be able to hide her body behind, but instead of hiding, she chose to turn veer off to the left and run off the path she'd been following.
There were fallen logs she had to jump over, and sharp bushes were lashing out, pulling at her legs. She was far in to the forest now, there was very little moonlight shining anymore; nothing to guide her or light her path.
Finally she could make out the sound of the river; she was almost there. She pulled the rest of her strength and followed the sound.
She reached the edge of the river, a small bank that was muddy and obviously torn up from the storms. She sat down and scooted herself down the small ledge and in to the water. It was chilly, but not unpleasant, it was soothing the new wounds on her legs at least. She waded out to the center of the water where a small current was pulling at her shoes. She tucked her legs up and let the water carry her down a little bit; where she found a small space she could climb in, hide, and wait.
She placed her feet on the rocky river floor again and began to pull herself over to bank where the small opening waited.
She had made it out of the current, but something had caught her shoe, she was stuck. She could hear branches breaking off to her right, but they didn't seem too close but it was hard to tell. She pulled on her leg, wiggling her foot around to try to get free; it felt like an old tree or something because it was scratching her ankle up as she struggled.
Oh god, SHIT! The panicked feeling was coming back
She made herself stop to listen for him but there was nothing. Maybe he had passed?
She pulled on her leg again and twisted her ankle around more. She was getting nowhere. She looked up and saw there part of her planned hiding spot was a fallen tree-that led directly to her in the water.
Figures
She reached out to find the rest of the tree under the water, searching for branches to pull herself along with; the branches were slimy and slick, but she found a few that she could get a good hold on. She wrestled against the hold on her foot while she tried to pull her body along the rotting tree.
Come on, COME ON! She begged herself. She could feel the branches poking her stomach roughly, but she ignored the pain.
Finally her foot came free of her shoe and she shot forward toward the small incline of the shore. It was shallow here. She reached up to grab the bank to look in to the small opening; it turned out to be a small cave, much bigger than she would have thought.
Then she felt a hand grab her wrist. She screamed and looked up into his eyes, those piercing blue orbs that had been following her.
"NO!" she screamed and pulled away from the man. He didn't let go of his hold on her wrist; so strong. She stuck her legs on the edge of the shore and pulled back; she managed to pull him off his stance and he came flying into the water after her. He landed on her, gravel scraping up her back as she fought to get out from under him. She pushed him off of her while he adjusted to being in the water. She drudged over to the side again and started to pull herself up with what was left of her strength. She could hear him coming over to her as she tried desperately to get up the small cliff. She felt his hands close around her waist tightly; he pulled her away from the dirt she was clinging to, and in to his body.
"It's over" He purred in her ear. "That was sure fun though"
She relaxed her body, it was over. She had given it her best effort, but she simply had nothing more to give; her body was beat up and exhausted.
…
He felt her relax in his arms and he smiled to himself.
He loosened his grip a bit and turned her panting, soaking wet body to face him. Her green eyes were fierce, he could tell, even with the lack of light. He laughed again and slammed his mouth on to hers, tasting what he had been chasing all evening.
…
She felt him part her lips with his tongue; for an instant she had the inclination to bite it and keep on running. He pulled away and looked in her eyes smiling again. She brought her arms up on his shoulders, resting, clasped behind his head.
"Ya, ya, you got me" She said with a small smile.
She pulled him back toward her, taking his mouth with hers, feeling his eager lips rolling over hers.
She held him close for several minutes, enjoying the taste of him. Finally she pulled back to look at his handsome, now clean, face.
"I got you to wash your face though" she teased
"Cheater" He whispered back
"Next time, I'm hiding, and YOU are findin' ME" he insisted.
She raised her eyebrows at his demanding tone.
"That so?" she asked
"Mm Hmm" he mumbled as he took her mouth again.
When he finally parted the kiss he looked around.
"We should get back" he groaned.
"You out past curfew, Daryl?" She smirked
He smacked her ass as he helped her up the incline; they walked slowly back toward the camp, relishing in their time together.