In spite of the fact that the inky darkness of night spilled out all around her, Emily drove with the headlights on the lowest setting, for fear of being spotted and ruining the element of surprise which may in fact, have been the only thing she had on her side at the moment...
The dirt road ahead of her could barely have been considered a road at all, as it appeared to have been roughly and hastily hewn through the forest. Her car shuddered and bounced along the road, spitting out a cloud of dust behind her.
Until a few hours ago, she hadn't even known this road existed, let alone the hunting cabin that sat at the end of it. She'd been married to Ian for over ten years and somehow he'd managed to keep his little bolthole a secret. (She supposed she shouldn't have been all that surprised that he kept secrets, considering the efforts he'd gone to to keep her from remembering her true identity...)
If Derek wasn't here, though, she had no other leads to where Ian had taken him and, truthfully, very little remaining hope...
In the not-too-far distance, she could see the faint glow of lights that she had to assume came from the cabin she sought. She pulled the car to a stop and cut the headlights, lest she alert Ian to her approach and give him the chance to escape. Turning off the engine, she sat in silence for a few moments, panic suddenly surging through her.
She had no idea what she was doing: no plan, no back-up, no help... She wasn't sure what she was thinking, only that she had to do something.
With a few fortifying breaths, she grabbed the gun she'd stolen from Ian's gun safe off the passenger seat and eased herself out of the car. Her footsteps crunched on the gravel of the road and she winced, praying to a God she wasn't sure she believed in that Ian hadn't heard.
She stashed the gun in the back of her jeans and eased off her shoes in the hope of making a quieter approach. As she got closer to the cabin, the sound of voices could be heard spilling out into the night, Ian's distinctive angry tone leaving no doubt that she was in the right place.
She flattened herself against the wall next to the window to eavesdrop for a few moments, awaiting the opportune moment to burst through the door in her haphazard rescue attempt.
Ian wasn't making much sense, rambling on about how Derek had ruined things...and, if it hadn't been for the new memories hovering just under the surface of her mind, she might have thought that he was well and truly unhinged. As it was, though, she knew he knew exactly what he was talking about...
"I didn't want it to come to this..." Ian said, surprisingly calm, "I wanted you to watch from afar, to suffer, to live with the knowledge that I had the one thing you wanted most in the world. Unfortunately, though, you had to go and wake her. I'm afraid you leave me no choice, but to..."
She didn't wait to find out what the end of that sentence was, though. Slamming her shoulder into the door, she burst into the little cabin, gun at the ready. "Ian, let him go!" she demanded.
"Emily, Love, what a lovely surprise..." Ian said, deadpan. In the split second it took her to gain her bearings, he had Derek up off the floor, one arm wrapped around his neck, the other aiming his gun at Derek's temple.
"I'm not going to ask you again, Ian," she insisted, aiming the gun as best she could. "Let Derek go."
"I'm afraid I can't do that," he replied. "Someone has to be to blame..."
She risked taking a few steps closer, gun trembling slightly in her hands. "Let him go and we won't tell anyone what you've done," she promised.
"It's too late for that," he said, "It's too late for him – now that your memory is returning, I have no choice."
"Yes, you do! No one has to die!"
He turned slightly, levelled the gun at her chest. "I'm not going to let the two of you ruin everything we've worked for!" he shouted, "There are no happy endings here! Not for you!"
Emily's gaze met Derek's briefly, the panic shining in his eyes clear as day. Silently, she tried to convey reassurance, but wasn't entirely sure it was believable, given the situation. "You're not making any sense, Ian... Let Derek go and we can talk about this. Just you and me. Together. Like we used to be... That's what you want, right? Me?"
"I'm done talking," he snapped, "I came here to end this and now that you're here, you're going to watch and you will learn what happens when you stray from your narrative..."
"What narrative, Ian?" she asked, trying to keep him talking while she struggled to find a way to gain control of the quickly spiralling situation. "What are you talking about?"
He levelled his glare on her. "Don't pretend you don't know, Emily," he scolded. "Don't pretend you haven't filed for divorce, don't act like you weren't planning to move on with him the second it was finalized..."
"Ian," she said firmly, "I you held me prisoner, for God's sake! And you expect me to just sit idly by and let you abuse me?" She scoffed, shook her head. "This has nothing to do with Derek and everything to do with you."
"If this has nothing to do with him, then I suppose I no longer have any use for him..." Ian declared. He moved to aim the gun at Derek once again and, in the split seconds before he fired, Emily managed to loose a single shot, catching Ian in the gut, sending his aim wide, just enough that the bullet caught Derek in the shoulder, rather than the temple...