The Immortal Hunter(6)

The moment the words left her lips, she wished she could take them back. The question brought cruelly amused smiles and low chuckles from the men as they exchanged glances. Even worse, one of them then stood and started across the clearing. Dani watched warily as he paused beside the fire and bent to grab one of the logs. He lifted the burning wood into the air, holding it aloft as he continued toward them, and for one terrified moment she feared he would swing it at them. It was almost a relief when, instead, he reached out with his free hand and caught her by the upper arm.

Dani immediately released Stephanie so that she could try to pry the hand off her, but before she could he was pulling her to her feet.

"No! Leave her alone!" Stephanie shrieked and clawed at Dani's other hand, trying to keep her from being taken away, but neither her efforts nor Dani's own prevented the man from dragging her away. She continued to struggle to no avail as he tugged her across the clearing, but paused to glance around when he stopped. At first she couldn't see anything but darkness before her, and then her captor held out the makeshift torch, and she saw that they stood on the edge of a shallow ravine.

Dani instinctively struggled to back away, afraid he intended to throw her off, but it was the log he threw, tossing it out so that it tumbled through the darkness, rotating end over end before coming to a landing with a soft thud of sound. She saw then that while the dropoff was steep, it wasn't very deep. No more than ten feet, Dani guessed, and then gave up that worry as she realized that there was something lying in the bottom of the ravine amid the grass and trees.

Unable to help herself, she stopped struggling and even leaned forward, pulling against the hand holding her to try to make sense of what her eyes were seeing. Dani was immediately sorry she had. In her capacity as a doctor, she'd seen a lot of horrible things, but never in her life had she even imagined seeing anything as gruesome as the twisted and bloody bodies in the bottom of that natural ditch. The sight itself was terrible, but not half as terrifying as her sudden realization that she and Stephanie were doomed. There was no hope for them at all. They were meant to join the two women who lay rotting in that ravine... and judging by the state of the bodies below, it would be a long and painful journey getting there.

This isn't happening, Dani thought faintly, her mind unable to accept the turn her life had taken. She was a doctor who spent most of her time working. This weekend had been an uncommon bright spot in her life, a rare bit of time off filled with sun and sand in the bosom of her family. The McGill family reunion had been four days and three nights of laughing, swimming, fishing, and just enjoying one another's company. Dani had soaked it all in and had been happy and relaxed for the first time in years as they'd started the long drive home. Then they'd stopped for snacks for the eight-hour journey and...

It wasn't supposed to end like this, her mind howled. This was Canada, for God's sake; boring, safe Canada where nothing as monstrous as this happened. But it was happening, she acknowledged as Stephanie began to shriek hysterically, interrupting her dazed thoughts. She turned her head to see that the younger girl had been dragged over by one of the other men to bear witness to the contents of the ravine. Now she too knew how hopeless their situation was, Dani thought unhappily.

As Stephanie's screams rose in pitch and hysteria, Dani began to struggle again, frantic to get to her, but the hand holding her was hard and strong, and all her kicks, hits, and attempts to bite her captor merely made him laugh harder... much as the man holding her sister was doing. These animals seemed to find their horror and panic amusing. That brought fury bubbling up inside Dani, and she redoubled her frenzied attempt to break free and get to the girl.

"She's a screamer," the one holding Stephi proclaimed with a laugh, shaking her so that her shrieks vibrated somewhat. It only made him laugh even harder.

Dani was just wishing she had a gun and could shoot the bastard when he suddenly stiffened, surprise crossing his face. He released his hold on Stephanie, letting her collapse to the ground as he reached toward his back where an arrow now protruded from between his shoulder blades. The sight so surprised Dani that she briefly stopped fighting her own captor and simply watched the man turn in a slow circle, like a dog chasing its tail, as he tried to reach the arrow. Everyone else had frozen too, except for Stephanie. Sobbing and whimpering, her sister was crawling away across the dirt. The sight drew Dani out of her shocked stillness and she was about to kick back at her captor and try to break free when a hissing sound made her freeze. Suddenly an arrow was protruding from her captor's arm, the fletching quivering next to her cheek.

Dani found herself not only released, but flung away as the man roared in pain. She careened toward the edge overlooking the ravine, but-recalling what lay below-wasn't eager to land there. Dani grabbed frantically for something to save herself. Her fingers closed over what felt to be several thin branches of a bush. However, the hold swung her around so that she slid over the edge feetfirst and began to slide down the sharp incline. Dani ignored the sting as the branches ran through her fingers, stripping the leaves along the way. Desperate to stop herself, she tightened her grasp, but the branches immediately snapped under the full brunt of her weight. She released them, reaching for something else to save her, but there was nothing, and Dani was left clawing at the dirt she was now sliding down.

Fortunately, the combination of that and her brief hold on the bush slowed her enough that Dani came to a halt halfway down the small ravine. She closed her eyes and sent up a silent prayer of thanks before peering up toward the ledge.