Serena's head rolled from side to side. Before her eyes were even open, she was very aware of the cold water chilling her bones, freezing her ears and soaking her clothes. The sound of the water rushing was deafening in her ears. Her eyes opened. The first thing she saw was the blinking stars high above the trees. After the initial moment passed, Serena remembered where she was. She remembered her house being blown up and she remembered being injured in the explosion. She remembered seeing Dean try to stop her tormentor, only to be left lying in a heap on the grass. Serena remembered that she had run into the woods, and he had followed her. She scrambled to her feet, slipping and falling back into the water. She was pretty sure she had bruised a rib in the fall.
She managed to get back to her feet, moving as fast as she could upstream. Falling into the water was a blessing in disguise; it would hide her footprints. It was still relatively dark, with daylight a few hours away. She was chilled to the bone, but Serena was trying to keep her thoughts on making it out of the woods alive. She slipped and scrambled through the water, but moved surprisingly fast considering her injuries. Serena supposed fear could make her do incredible things. It was the only explanation she had.
He called out to her. He was getting closer. Serena spotted a big thorny bush on the edge of the water. Pulling it back, she saw a hole in the ground, covered by a giant tree root. It was just big enough to fit her if she compacted herself like an accordion. Not even thinking about bugs or other creepy crawlies she moved the bush and got in. The thorns on the bush scratched and scraped her hands, but she didn't care, stopping only to utter a small curse word at the initial contact it made with her skin. Reaching into the back pocket of her jeans before she crouched down, Serena looked at her cell phone. It was dead, ruined when she hit the water. She was definitely on her own. "Shit," she whispered. Her hand came out of the hole, searching blindly for a weapon she could use. She found a thick stick, but it was stuck to the tree. She planted her feet against the wall and yanked as hard as she could. She got a sliver or two, but Serena was thankful when the piece snapped, leaving a knife-sharp edge from where the stick had torn.
"Serena!"
She jumped. Out of instinct, Serena cupped her hand over her mouth and tried to steady herself. A panic attack had been imminent for minutes, but she was doing her best to stave it off, stopping to take calm, slow deep breaths. He was maybe about twenty feet away from her, his voice carrying over the water. He was shouting the vulgar, most offensive threats she had ever heard. She kept her hand clamped over her mouth. Tears streamed down her face, mixing with the dirt and blood that had accumulated during her run through the woods. She was freezing cold, thankful that the rushing water was hiding the sound of her teeth chattering.
For the first time in a long time, Serena put her hands together and prayed. She prayed that Wade, Dean, Seth and Roman were all right. She prayed that somebody stopped to save Dean. She didn't care if her house was still standing. She just wanted to know that her friends were safe.
There was silence. Serena felt her eyes becoming heavy but she forced herself to stay awake. She clutched the stick to her like it was a security blanket. She wondered if she could actually do it; kill another human being. Serena knew she was no monster, but she also knew her life was in danger. He wasn't going to stop until he killed her, so she knew she needed to adopt the "kill or be killed" mentality, but she was having a hard time. She looked at the stick. I'm not an executioner, she thought to herself bitterly.
The silence was thick. She was pretty sure she could hear an owl hooting in the trees. As the time passed, Serena found herself becoming calmer. Had he run past her? No, she realized. She didn't hear him. She knew it was hard to hear anything over the sound of the water. The exhaustion was setting in. All she wanted to do was sleep, but she knew she couldn't. She had to stay awake until this was all over.
She kept thinking back to the guys. Roman, Wade and Seth were back at her house, but what kind of condition was it in? If they were in danger, she hoped the police made it in to rescue them. She thought about Dean, and prayed that he wasn't lying dead on the roadside. He had tried to save her. She owed him her life; he had given her a chance to survive that she had barely taken.
"I got you, you little bitch."
He had a tight grip on her hair. He stood, pulling her out of the hole like she weighed nothing. The thorny bushes scraped her face and her body, but she was busy holding onto her hair. She screamed. He slugged her. She felt herself go out on her feet. The stick ended up out of her hands, but close by as she hit the ground. "There's no one to help you now; I've seen to that," he told her. He straddled her, parking himself over her stomach. He leaned close. "I'm going to kill you slow." His smile was sinister, chilling Serena to the bone.
He put a hand around her throat and squeezed. Serena started to sputter and cough as she felt her airways constrict. His other hand was busy exploring her body. She felt sick to her stomach. One hand was clamped around his wrist as the other searched blindly for the stick. She saw the blade in the waistband of his pants. She thought about making a grab for it, but she knew he would be expecting her to do that. It would mean certain death if she couldn't catch him by surprise. The sun was starting to come up, the darkness fading into light morning.
Her hand found the stick and she felt a thick, flooding wave of relief. Keeping the one hand around her throat, his attention and his free hand were focusing on getting her jeans undone, then getting his jeans undone. With all the force she could muster, Serena brought the piece of wood up. It punctured his throat enough to make him let go of her. She sat up, pushing, forcing the stick through his throat. The entire time, she was screaming. She turned her head away to avoid getting the arterial spray in her mouth and eyes. He gurgled, his eyes widening the way that Shaun's had. He backed away from her and she kicked the piece of wood further into his neck, making him fall into the hole she had just been dragged out of. Serena couldn't stop screaming; her wails cut off by sobs and hiccups. She looked at the blood on her hands, mixed with dirt and leaves and she kept screaming.
She had done it. She had killed him. He would never come back for her. No jury would ever convict her. It was the most clear-cut case of self-defence a lawyer would see. Her scream was cut off by a torrent of nausea. Serena started to cough, the coughing turning into full on wretches until she threw up. "Oh, God," she cried out. "Oh, God!"
She let her body drop to the dirt. Her breath was ragged, her body heaving with unused sobs. She wept. She cried for Dean, Seth, Roman and Wade, four nice guys who had been trapped in the complicated web of her life. She bawled for Shaun, who would never again know the feeling of the dirt under his body or air in his lungs. She cried until there weren't any more tears for her to cry and then she crawled over to the hole. His eyes were closed, he was unmoving. The piece of wood was still lodged in his throat. Her eyes narrowed. He was dead and she couldn't be happier. She spit on his body. Normally, she was more respectful, but the man in the hole did not deserve her respect. He wanted to kill her for whatever twisted reason he had. But she had survived.
Serena started to laugh. She had survived twice. She laughed until her body quaked. Struggling to her feet, Serena fixed the zipper and button on her jeans. She would forever wear his scars, but he would never come back for her. The feeling of finality, of the darkest chapter of her life closing, made her feel like the weight of the world had been taken off her shoulders. Adrenaline coursed through her veins. She looked across the water and decided to try and make her way out of the woods. Serena left him in the hole and slipped, landing back into the water. She took a moment to lay there, dazed, and then she began to wash the blood off her arms and her face. She wondered if it was normal to still see it on her hands and on her face. She threw up again.
Her legs felt like spaghetti. She practically crawled back up the hill, back onto the flat land that would take her back to the main road. She stopped to try and catch her breath. She was dirty. Leaves clung to her hair, to her wet skin. Her teeth still chattered. She grabbed the nearest tree and used it to stand. In the short distance, she could hear sirens. She knew that the road wasn't far. Her head was feeling light, her eyelids feeling heavy. She tripped over a loose branch and hit the ground. She was out when she hit the ground.