A Justified Kill (8 page)

She frowned, but nodded her head in agreement.

“I have some clothes in my car, let’s go.”
Running through the trees, Amber navigated the
m through the
brush
with ease
and kept the girl from tripping
and falling
. When they reached the jeep, she quickly grabbed the
backpack
from the small toolbox mounted on the
back
. She closed her eyes a moment when
the familiar scent
wafted through her senses
and she felt the nudging on her
mind.
A flashback of Blake at the shelter flitted through her mind.
T
he memories
assaulted her
of
how she had left him b
ehind, how she missed talking to him and the
heart stopping
kiss they had shared
the
last day
she
had seen
him
.
Shaking her head slightly
to clear her thoughts, she didn’t have time to dwell on the distant past
,
she
began digging through the pack and pulled
out a pair of old faded blue jeans and a
t-shirt
that had seen better days. With a
doubtful
look on her face, she held up the clothes,
and
the
n
pushed them towards the girl.
“I know these will
probably
swallow you, but they
will have to
work for now.”

She accepted the clothes, reaching out with a timid hand to take them. With quick jerking
movements
, she slipped them on, covering her naked body. She kept looking over her shoulder nervously, worried that the sick son of a bitch was going to come after her any second. .

Amber kept watch towards the direction of the campsite
and urged the girl to hurry. She was a good
five
or
six inches shorter than she was, l
ike Amber feared they would, the clothing swallowed her.
Glancing back at the girl she felt sorry for her. She could hear her heart pounding and the quick intakes of breaths from the pain of her movements. To get her mind off of Gerald she started asking her questions. 

“What’s your name?” Amber’s brows drew together in a frown.
She had no idea what she was going to do.

“
Hanna
Barton.” The girl mu
mb
led without meeting her eyes.

The whisper of clothing rustling caught her attention and
Amber whipped her head in the direction of the campsite.
She not so gently
pushed Hanna towards the door of the
jeep, encouraging her to hurry
and
get in
. She was
surprised she
’d
heard the sounds of Gerald stirring at the campsite
since
it
was
so far away from the road.
The distant sounds filtered through her senses and her entire body became alert. Runni
ng around the front of the jeep
to the driver’s side door, she yanked it open and jumped in
. Then she
heard
his loud cursing and thrashing
sounds
echo
ing
through the trees
.

Hanna glan
ced over her shoulder,
a
horrified
look on her face
at the thought
of him fighting
his way through
the woods and getting her again.

Gerald crashed noisily
through the brush and
they
could hear him yell
ing
.

The look on Hann
a
’s
face told Amber
that she w
as terrified. The
open
jeep offered no protection at all.
Amber wished she had thought to put the top
up
, but
the material an
d plastic would offer little shelter
if he were to reach them
. She should have grabbed the knife she had used to cut the duct tape and brought it with her instead of tossing it back onto the table
.
The thought crossed her mind of telling
Hanna
to
stay put
so she could go kill
him and just get it over with.

I
t tore at her
heart
.
I
t was the
innocent children
who
always seemed to pay for adult’s stupidity. Refraining from reacting like she really wanted to, she frow
ned
and
glared at the mirror
. Pushing
in the clutch
, the jeep began rolling, turning the key, the engine fired right up. Pulling off the shoulder, t
he tires crunched
in the loose gravel and dirt, and
then hit packed dirt. His battered form came into view of her rearview mirror once he stumbled free of the woods.

“I will hunt you down and kill you both!”
The jeep fled down the highway,
Gerald screamed in frustration
when
it left him in a cloud of dust.

Amber couldn’t help but think, join the club. After all, being on the run was her way of life, being chased and
hunted was nothing new to her.
She knew he
couldn’t
see much
in the dark
ness
and the cloud of dust her tires had kicked up when she
’d
spun them
tearing away from the side of the road
. There was no way for him to see
her license plate and hoped
he was still
intoxicated
enough that he wouldn’t recognize her
vehicle
from the bar’s parking lot
.
There were plenty of people who drove jeeps around in the mountains
, so it
was not a
major
concern. But what did concern her was Hanna, who was
staring
, terrified,
out the back window
at
the dark road behind them
. T
ears were sliding down her bruised and dirty cheeks.

She
knew
she
was becoming
way too
involved.
Taking a deep breath and releasing
it
slowly,
Amber knew it was time for her to get out of town.
But she couldn’t leave Gerald to go after other young girls
or possibly find Hanna again
.
From the conversation in the bar, Gerald had lived in the area all his
life
. S
he couldn’t help but wonder how many other girls he had abused
this way. A thought struck her
and she quickly glanced at
Hanna
again
. More than likely
,
she had saved the girl
’
s life. A man
with a sick mind like
Gerald
’s
would not ju
st abuse and release his victims
. I
f there were others, there would be bodies.
A chill ran down Ambe
r’s spine. She
felt a strange nudging at her mi
nd, and couldn’t push the brutal thoughts away.

“Buckle up
,
Hanna
.
I’m
taking
you to the hospital. Y
ou can call your parent
s from there
.”
Amber tried to sound calm, but felt far from it.

Hanna
shook her head.  “I
, I, I
can’t call my parents
.
”
Her
voice was strained with tears
and s
he stared
at her filthy, bloody
hands
clenched together
in her lap.

Realizi
ng she was still driving with her lights off
, Amber
switched them on.
She didn’t want the girl questioning
how she could see to drive and
t
hey were far enough away so
Gerald would no
t be able to catch up to them. Out of the corner of her eye she could see that
Ha
n
na was sc
runched down in the seat and
got the impression she was trying to make herself disappear and frowned.
“Why can’t you call them?”

Hanna
didn’t appear
to notice
the lights come on
.
On top of everything else, s
he was obviously stressed about calling her parents.
Her hand lifted and swiped her hair out of her face, and kept it there,
her voice was muffled.
“I r
an away from home a month
or so
ago because t
hey don’t want me anymore
.”

That
one
small statement made Amber’s heart leap into her throat
and her hands gripped the steering wheel tightly.
T
he vivid mem
ory of
hearing
she was not wanted either came flooding back.
The horrible
night flashed through her mind, hearing her mother’s screams while her pack attacked and forced her mother to re
turn to their territory. The words
Tommy, the Councils hit man,
had spoken were burned into her memory. “
By Council’s orders, I am here to return you, Winona Gray Hamilton, runaway pack member, back to the den. Council leader Isaac Whiting has ordered that your daughter be brought before the Council. You are a disgrace to your bloodline and your mutt will be dealt with by the Council.”
Amber knew if she were to ever be caught or return to the territory she would be dealt with severely.
H
er entire body tense
d
.
If the pack found
her
, they
would kill her.
So yeah, s
he knew exactly
how it felt to not be
wanted
.