Bitten (Once Bitten, Twice Shy #1)(18)

Despite her fears that it was some sort of trick, she knew she’d have to pull over somewhere soon. Every time she looked at the gas gage, the pointer got closer and closer to E.

Empty.

She was almost out of gas and she’d have to stop whether she thought she’d truly lost the black SUV or not.

Katherine had thought she’d be relieved when she finally lost the fanatical man chasing her, but the truth was, as the adrenaline she’d been running on for the past few hours began to fade, so did whatever was keeping her together. She felt more and more nauseous as the true horror of the situation she had found herself in sunk its claws into her.

All she could think about was her dad bleeding out onto the dining room floor, blood gushing from his side. Her mom, scared and hurting somewhere. Brad, unconscious and suffocating under a heavy pile of rubble.

And the man who had so fearlessly come to her rescue. The howl of pain she had heard before getting away. Were they all going to be okay?

Dead. That’s what the cruel man had told her in his cold, emotionless voice. They were dead.

But Katherine couldn’t bring herself to believe it. She knew that if she did, she’d completely lose whatever strength she had left. She’d surrender to the terrible pounding of her head and give up. But if that happened, those evil men would win. And Katherine couldn’t allow that. She would get help for her parents, for Brad, and for the man who had saved her.

So many emotions filled her as she thought of them – especially her mom and dad. She’d been so defiant and disrespectful to them lately. Now the frustration that usually enveloped her when she thought of her parents was replaced with burning regret. All she wanted was to be able to apologize for every hurtful thing she had ever said to them.

And then there was Brad, who had been so kind to her despite the rudeness she had shown him just last week.

Cold, hard guilt nearly consumed her as she thought of how Brad wouldn’t have even been at her house if she hadn’t asked him to come over. It was all her fault that he was hurt – or worse, dead. She had dragged him into this, whatever this was.

That thought triggered something within her and the words that the malicious men had spewed at her returned at full force.

"Too bad ya dragged them into this."

Like it was somehow her fault that they had attacked her family. Like she was responsible. Katherine’s grip on the steering wheel tightened as more of the men’s words resonated in her head.

"This ain’t no little girl."

"This is here is just a dirty, rotten creature that needs to be put down."

"We’re here because monsters like you don’t deserve to live."

Monster? She wasn’t a monster. There were no such things… were there?

For a moment, the evidence nearly overwhelmed her. The wolf attack. Her increased physical ability. Her improved sense of smell. Her sudden cravings for red meat. The notes. The dreams of nothing but blue eyes.

But… but that was preposterous! It couldn’t possibly be true!

Katherine quickly regained control of her thoughts and shoved the ludicrous theory as far back into a dark corner of her mind as possible. No. None of that had anything to do with what was happening. Those men were just crazy. Plain and simple. They had to have been. Monsters like that weren’t real. They didn’t exist!

And Katherine refused to believe even for a moment that they did.

Because if they did… that would make what was happening completely her fault. And she couldn’t deal with that. So if she felt a painful twinge in her chest as she denied their existence, well, she’d just have to chalk it up to her imagination.

Forcing herself to concentrate on more pressing matters, Katherine glanced down once more at the gas gage. She couldn’t suppress the panic that rose when she saw that the indicator was now pointing firmly at the E. If she didn’t reach a town soon, her car would break down and she’d be a sitting duck. She couldn’t let that happen. She needed to get help – not only for herself, but for Brad and her parents. They’re still alive, she told herself firmly. They had to be.

The problem, however, was that Katherine had no idea where she was.

She’d never taken most of the back roads she’d forced herself to brave and didn’t recognize the section of Highway 67 she had ended up on. To be honest, she wasn’t even completely certain in what direction she was going.

Was it really just a few hours ago that she’d been worried about hurting Mallory’s feelings? It seemed like a lifetime had passed since then.

All of her earlier concerns – like her parents’ reactions to the true nature of the note they had found, or how to best avoid Mallory’s wrath – seemed so trivial. So insignificant. Especially when she couldn’t get the image of her dad choking on his own blood out of her head. Or the grotesque picture Brad’s leg had made sticking awkwardly out of that pile of debris.

It took all of Katherine’s will power to push those memories aside. She needed to focus solely on driving and looking for any residences or farm houses that she might be able to spot from the highway. She needed help and would take it from anyone at this point. Unfortunately, she had yet to spot a house.

She was losing hope of finding help before her car ran out of gas when she saw it. About half a mile up the road was a gas station. The shabby-looking building stood alone and for one horrible second, Katherine thought it had been abandoned. As she drove closer, however, she could see that the lights were on, and that a glowing, neon sign – though only three of the letters lit up properly – proudly proclaimed the place as Gary’s Rest Stop.