Hi guys.

Since your all asking for more, I thought I'd better give you a lil more (just a lil bit, a lil smudge, a lil tidbit) of the story for the week. The chapter was going to be longer, but it just wasn't going anywhere and I decided to cut it short, merge in the first part of the next chapter and get onto the more interesting part of the story. I'm still not happy with it, there was supposed to be a conversation with the police, social worker and Jessie but it wasn't what I wanted and so I left that out and brought forward part of the next chapter. As I have said before, I have no idea about police procedure ect, so I'm just making it up as it goes.. Hope this is okay, and would sort of be realistic.

Another thing I want to say is, if I was a nice writer to my characters, I'd be a bit kinder to them and give Jessie a break after all she's been through but- I'm not *laughes evily* its going to be quite sometime before she gets a break and not only does she get into a dangerous situation with the person from her past Lisa and Jack get dragged into the mess with her... (cant give out too many spoilers) You'd think after that Jessie would be able to stay with Jack and Lisa and live happily ever after *coughs loudly* but that aint going to be as easy as that. (of course not, why would I make it easy? what point is there in that?) I've probably given out a little too much spoilers in saying this but oh well, it'll keep you all wondering and in suspense.

Anyway, enjoy!

Lisa looked at Jack soberly as she turned off the voice recorder and they continued walking down the hallway of the hospital. He looked at her and placed his arm around her waist and she leaned against his shoulder. 'That poor girl Jack, going through what she has.'

'She's had a pretty rough life, that's for sure.' He was about to say more to Lisa when a doctor walked up to them. 'Hello.'

'Hi.' The doctor looked at them, then check her clipboard. 'You must be Jack Bartlett and Lisa Stillman right?'

'That's right.'

'Constable Doyle told me you would be dropping by.' She extended her hand forward. 'I'm Doctor Barbra Douglas. I've been looking after the girl since she got here.' She glanced to the door of the girls room. 'Did you have any luck talking to my very difficult patient?'

Lisa nodded as she shook her hand. 'Well, she didn't want to at first but we did manage to get some information out of her. For starters you can put her name down as Jessica Hawkins but she prefers to be called Jessie.'

Barbara raised her eyebrows as she wrote the name down on the patient file. 'You must have the magic words or something. I've been trying to get that much out of her since she woke up and I couldn't even force that out of her. Do you have the name of her parents or Guardians?'

'Judith Hawkins was her mother. She's deceased. She doesn't know who her father is.'

'Alright.' She wrote that down on the file too. 'Any relatives?'

'Not that she knows of.'

'That's fine. I can try looking her up in the system and see I anything comes up.' Barbara looked at Lisa. 'How did she seem to you?'

'Troubled. There's a lot more to her then meets the eye.'

'She's got a man coming after her too, he's the one who shot her.' Jack added. 'We're going to inform the Sargent about what she said, but we're telling you so that you can keep an eye on her too. She's really worried that he's still going to come after her.'

'Don't worry, I will keep an eye out.'

'Other then not talking to you guys here, how is she?'

'Distant. Uncooperative.' She checked through her files for notes about her care. 'We're keeping her sedated because of the injuries she sustained but we're cutting back on that as much as possible since its a strong drug. Not only she won't talk to us but she won't let us feed her either. Other then that, she's doing as well as can be expected. The bullets haven't left any major damage, but she was very lucky. One was wedged in close to her spine, if it had been a fraction of an inch closer it would have paralyzed her. She also lost a lot of blood, so we did a transfusion and that seemed to have worked well. She is severely underweight and malnourished and she had a nasty gash on her arm that was infected when she got her. In my opinion, she hasn't been cared for. Even without the bullet wounds, she's in rough shape.'

Jack nodded. 'She's been living out in the wilderness for nearly a year, hunting and scavenging whatever she can but I'm surprised she lasted this long on her own. It's a dangerous world out there.'

'I couldn't agree more.' Her phone began ringing in her pocket and she pulled it out. 'I'm sorry, I've got to take this call. I'll see you later.'

Lisa looked up at Jack as the lady hurried off, then looked at her watch. 'We better get this recorder back to the Sergeant then I've got to get on home.'

'Alright, then let's get moving.' His hand holding hers, they walked out of the hospital then drove around to the police station in silence. Both of them sobered by what the girl had revealed, they were mortified by what had taken place in her life. 'That poor kid. No wonder she wouldn't talk to anyone.'

'She's a lot like her stallion. Hurt, scared.' Lisa glanced over at him. 'She's scared of men. I could see it in her eyes when she looked at you.'

'No wonder too, watching that guy kill her mother. She's terrified that he's coming after her.'

'I think she has reason to be scared. She was very lucky this time, she mightn't be so lucky the next.'

'Well hopefully there won't be a next time.' The truck pulled to a stop in front of the police station and he turned the engine off. Looking over at Lisa, he could tell she was a bit shaken up and rubbed her hand gently. 'Lis, what is it?'

'Oh, nothing.' She assured him, quickly putting on a brave face so he wouldn't push the issue. 'It's fine.'

'Alright.' He patted her hand, then opened the door and hopped out. Lisa got out, then they walked into the police station and over to the desk.

Maggie was sorting out papers as they came in and she looked up when she heard them. 'So, how did it go?'

'Well, we did manage to get her to talk.' Lisa grabbed out the recorder and placed it on the desk. 'She told us what's going on and what happened but you can hear all of it on the tape.'

'Alright, well that's a very good start. Thank you.'

'Lisa and I are going to go visit her again tomorrow in the morning.' Jack added in. 'It might be a good idea if you came too. She might speak to you if we're there. She seemed comfortable enough talking to Lisa, she might come around with you too.'

'Okay, I'll see if the Sergeant is able to come too.'

'That might not be such a good idea.' Lisa saw the look on the woman's face and quickly continued. 'It's nothing against him it's just Jessica is frightened of men. She seemed to tolerate Jack, but he's already tried talking to her and she wouldn't have a word of it.'

'Well that explains a few things then.' Nick joined in on the conversation as he entered the room. 'She did look quite upset and scared when I tried talking to her, it was like she thought I was going to hurt her. I guess it's no surprise though, after all it was a man who shot her.'

'Yes, apparently he's been after her a long time. His name is Matt Durelle, she told Lisa about it.' Jack shook his hand as the Sergeant came over to them. 'It's all on the tape. She knows it was him that shot her.'

'Matt Durelle. Well well well. It is a small world after all. The police have been after him for a long time. He's got quite the record of drug smuggling and dealing, not to mention escaping from jail and other things.'

'You can add murder and attempted murder to the list too.' Lisa added. 'He killed Jessie's mother when she was five and she saw him do it.'

This was where I was going to put in a conversation with the police, social worker ect but I left that out. I was also just going to leave the chapter there, but I decided I'd leave you all on a cliff hanger (evil, yes, I know) and so have put this in instead. This is a day after the previous half of the chapter, so time has passed, blah blah blah ect ect. Anyway, I'll shut up and give you the rest lol

Something, something was wrong. She could feel it. Could feel something there that shouldn't be. Something that shouldn't be there in the room. Something that sent a chill through her spine as the sound of footsteps came closer.

Jesse's eyes flew open as she heard a man's heavy footsteps walking into the room. Looking at the door, her eyes widened as she saw the man standing there. The man smirked at her and she shivered. He winked at her as he walked closer and closer, smiling as he saw her shuddering.

'Looks like I didn't kill you.'

'Looks like you didn't.' She snarled, her eyes glistening with anger as she suppressed her fear. He was there, standing right in front of her. Flashbacks ran through her mind, Screaming. Yelling. Fighting. Hitting. Punching. Throwing. The gun. The suppressed shot. Her mother's body hitting the ground. Her mother's open glazed eyes as she gasped for one last breath. Running. Running as far away as she could. 'What do you want?'

'You know what I want.' He smirked, pulling a pistol out of a hidden holster in his jacket then stroking it as his cold eyes gleamed. He pointed it at her, then laughed softly as he saw her shrink back. 'Ah, I won't do it now. It's too easy. There's no thrill.' He grabbed her by her shirt and pulled her into his face. 'The thrill of the chase. Next time Jessie. Next time.'

Jessie was flung back down onto the bed as the man walked out of the room. Her whole body was shaking, shaking from fear as she tried to calm her breathing. She was terrified, terrified out of her wits. He had been there. He had been there in the flesh.

Her hands went to her throat, rubbing her sore neck from when he had yanked her off the bed. She knew it would bruise, but that was the last thing on her mind. He knew she was alive. She had to get away. He could come back, he could come back and kill her at anytime. She had to get away. Had to get away before he returned.

Sitting up, she winced as pain shot through her back from her wounds but she pushed it aside. She looked at the clock on the bedside table. It was nearly two in the morning. She had an hour before the night nurse would do her rounds. An hour to make her escape.

Looking around the dark room, she began to conjure a plan. There was no way she could slip out the door without anyone noticing. She would be caught in an instant. There was no point telling anyone, Matt would have long disappeared by the time the police arrived. He would be back. They couldn't keep her safe. She had to get out.

Her eyes landed on the window. Bingo. Her escape route. It would be the best way to get out. No one would see her slip off into the night. She would disappear without a trace, like a ghost she needed to be.

Looking down at the IV line in her wrist, she knew she needed to get it out. Quickly she began to unwrap the bandage, then got ready to pull the needle out. Gently, gently, she began to remove the needle. Blood oozed out as the needle was removed and she held the bandage to her wrist tightly. Waiting until the bleeding had stopped, she wound the bandage around where the needle had been so it wouldn't get infected. The line out, there was nothing left connected to her.

Swinging her feet over the side of the bed, she sat catching her breath for a moment then got to her feet. Holding onto the bed, she stood unsteadily for a moment while she got her bearings then knelt down and pulled out the clothes left under the bed. Lisa had dropped off some clothes for her that day, and her boots were there too. Thanks Lisa, you've helped more than you know. She smirked as she put the clothing on. At least she would be dressed and in proper clothes and not the stupid hospital gown she had been wearing.

Throwing it under the bed, she pulled on her boots and grabbed her belt and knife then headed over to the window. Slipping the knife into the latch, she lifted it up then opened the window. A gust of cold wind blew into the room and she shivered. It was freezing. Winter definitely was coming early this year.

Lifting up her leg onto the windowsill, she winced as she stood on her injured leg for a moment then quickly pulled herself up and out the window. Her eyes widened as she saw the drop down to the ground, then she grabbed onto the drainpipe running down to the ground and began to lower herself to the ground. Her back and leg screamed in pain from the gunshot wounds but she couldn't stop now. She was halfway between the third floor and the ground, it was a long way to fall.

Her fingers were going white from how tightly she was holding on, but she still slowly lowered herself inch by inch. Finally she was close enough to the ground and she turned and let go. Landing on her feet, she almost collapsed from the pain that shot up her leg and she fell back onto her bottom. Sitting still for a moment, she looked up at the open window she had escaped from and shook her head. She was crazy, but then again being crazy was the only thing that had kept her alive this long.

Jessie took another minute to rest, then got to her feet and looked around. She hadn't been in this part of town, but she had a fair idea of where she was. A good thirty miles from Heartland, and her ticket to disappearing, Warrior.

She had to get there, get Warrior and get out of there before dawn but there was no way she would ever get there before the sun rose. She was about to sigh in defeat when she heard a vehicle approaching and smiled. That was her ticket. It was headed towards the road to Heartland.

Hearing the pick up slow, she hid in the bushes near the road and waited as it slowed to a stop. Hurrying over, she softly jumped onto the tray and held on as it pulled away down the road. She couldn't believe her luck. She had gotten out and was headed towards Heartland and no one had seen her. Now, as long as her luck lasted she would be just fine.

The wind in her hair, she held on tighter as the truck sped up. Glancing around, she recognized the countryside from when she had ridden Warrior into town and also from when she had gone down into the ranch yard. There was an intersection where the truck had to stop not far from the ranch. That's where she would jump off.

The truck slowed to a stop at the intersection and Jessie jumped out, landing on her feet as the truck continued on its way. She took a glance around, then headed towards the ranch. It wasn't far now, then she could grab Warrior and be out of there. She would go deeper into the mountains, far away from any civilization for the winter then once spring came she would cross the border into Montana. Hopefully he wouldn't follow her.

Her breath coming in short gasps, she jogged as fast as her injured leg would allow to Heartland. She had been very lucky, the doctor had told her not to have lasting repercussions from when she had been shot and that in time she would heal completely. She knew she had been lucky, but that luck has long run out. She could only keep running from him but one day it would come to an end. That's what she was trying to avoid. Getting killed. He had been at the hospital, where she had been told she would be safe but that wasn't the case. She wasn't safe anywhere.

Stopping for a moment to catch her breath, she looked down the ridge to the ranch. It wasn't far to go now, not long till she would be reunited with her stallion. The thought of seeing Warrior brought life back into her tired legs and she hurried on despite the dull ache from the healing wound.

Quietly, she jogged down the drive towards the ranch then headed over to the corral. Warrior was in there, his back leg cocked and his head down as he slept. Carefully she grabbed the latch, then opened the gate and walked in. 'Warri.' The stallion woke with a start, turning his head at her voice. He looked at her for a moment in the pale moonlight, then shook his head and trotted over to her. She laughed softly as he rubbed against her. 'Did you miss me boy? I missed you so much.' She scratched under his chin as he nibbled on her hair with his lips, then looked at the house. She had to get a move on, or someone might wake and see her. 'Come on boy, let's go.'

Making the stallion bow, she slipped her leg over his back and slid on as she let him rise. Holding on tightly to his mane, she nudged him forward into a walk through the gate then moved her hips and he jumped into a canter. A glance back over her shoulder as Warrior cantered down the drive, she was satisfied to see that no one had stirred. Looking forward again as the stallion veered off into the trees, she disappeared like a ghost into the night….

OK, that's enough for this chapter. As I said, I'm not too happy with the first half of it but I can't think of anything else so that's all for now folks! *laughs evily at the cliff hanger ending* Adios!