Runner Series (Book 1): Runner 3 (18 page)

He hissed at her and she crossed her arms over her stomach, “I’m sorry I don’t have any more this time. I promise I’ll bring more when I come back.”

He walked towards her again, growling and gnashing his teeth, stopping only when he had to pull at the belt around his ankle.

She stared at him wistfully and took a step toward him.

Suddenly, he lunged forward. Audrey heard a snap and he fell onto the ground in front of her. He started scrambling toward her and stood up, stumbling on his broken ankle that had slipped through the belt loop. He hissed at her again angrily.

“Dad!” She shrieked backing away from him, tripping on the door jam. “Lincoln!”

Lincoln saw Audrey fall and then a greyed face appeared in the door way over her. He leapt out of the cab and grabbed his ax out of the truck bed.

“I’m coming!” he yelled when she shrieked.

He hobbled up the flight of stairs and saw Audrey struggling to stand up, the dreg behind her was limping on an obviously broken foot.

Lincoln went to swing at it with the ax but Audrey’s squeal stopped him.

“No! That’s my daddy!” she cried. “Please don’t hurt my daddy!

“What?” he screamed at her with only a split second to push the creature back onto the walkway instead of hacking at its body.

“Don’t kill him! That’s my dad!” she said again, sobbing on the floor. “That’s my daddy.”

Lincoln looked at the dreg that was trying to stand up again, “You come here to actually see your dad? He’s not
dead
?”

“No,” she said watching Lincoln push him back with the end of the ax. “I could never do it. Not to my dad. My mom and brothers were already gone because other people killed them at the Caverns, but I couldn’t do it to him.”

“This is insane,” Lincoln muttered. He pushed the dreg into the room he’d seen it come out of. “Why shouldn’t I kill it right now?”

“What do I have to do to convince you to leave him alone?” Audrey pleaded, grabbing onto the railing so she could stand up steadily.

Her dad fell back onto the floor in the room and howled in pain when his foot bent back at the ankle, she took a step to help him, but Lincoln stopped her.

“Never come here again,” he said, watching the injured dreg squirming on the floor

“Lincoln, I—” she started to beg.

“No Audrey, never again,” He shook his head and used the head of the ax to push the creature back into the room. “Promise me.”

She nodded her head and tears spilled freely down her cheeks, “I promise. I promise, just don’t kill him.”

Lincoln shoved the dreg as hard as he could into the room and pulled the door closed while it was scrambling to stand back up.

Audrey limped to the door and sank to her knees in front of it. Her father was clawing at the other side of the door and she could easily hear his growls and hisses when she pressed her ear against the cool surface.

She rested her forehead on the cool surface of the door and cried, “Good bye, Daddy.”

Lincoln let her cry for a few minutes before he put his hand on her shoulder and guided her down the stairs to the waiting truck.

Lincoln opened the door to the passenger seat and helped Audrey into the cab before walking around to the driver’s seat. She looked out her window while he slowly backed the truck out of the motel parking lot.

Audrey didn’t make a sound on their way out of Carlsbad, but though tears continued to flow down her cheeks. She watched the small town disappear behind her in the mirror on the door as they drove back to Roswell.

I love you, Daddy.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Nikita Eden was born in Colorado and grew up in Vernal, Utah where she met her childhood sweetheart, Brenden. They married in southern Utah in 2010 and have four children. She currently resides in Northern Utah where she spends her days playing with her kids, writing, and crocheting.