Midnight Toxicity

36.

There's a lot to be said about dirt. Many people ingest it without even realizing, nearly five pounds by the time they draw their last breath. Everyone on Earth also sits close to spiders, but the world is a crazy place. I'd know, since a contracted hatchet man drugged me and absconded with my unwilling body.

When my eyes fluttered open and my senses returned, all I could smell was the earthy scent of the woods and the telltale scratching of bugs scurrying near my head—because I was lying on the ground in a hole meant for a corpse.

"What in the ever-loving fuck!" I screamed, climbing to my feet. I was completely naked. Even my wig was missing, leaving my long, dark hair to ripple down my backside.

A bright light lit up the night sky, but the edge of the grave Colton had tossed me into blocked my view. I moved my fingers and toes, surprised that I wasn't feeling much of a hangover from the drugs he'd used. My mouth was a little dry, but aside from that, I felt fine.

I wrapped my hair in a bun as I took stock of my options. He obviously meant for me to climb out, but I would have to work for it. Get a little dirty. I guess he wasn't kidding about the grave comment in the car, but this level of depraved workmanship left me baffled. Those other poor girls probably woke up near here, knowing, as I did, that he planned to bury us in the woods.

Placing a hand against my racing heart, I decided to call out before doing anything. What if he was standing nearby? When I imagined the missing girls, this type of exposure was not what I pictured. I chewed my lip, my mind racing at the endless possibilities. I was supposed to have a backup! Where was Chace?

"Colton!" I screamed like a woman on the brink of an epic ass-whooping. "You have five seconds to explain!"

Minutes passed; the incessant noise of nature was the only thing I heard as I formed an escape plan. After all, there was only one way out. I took one last look at my shaped nails before digging them into the black soil on the left side of the hole. It took me a few tries. There was a lot of awkward bending action where dirt fell into every crevice I had before I managed to scramble over the lip. When I stood on wobbly feet, I quickly surveyed what I could before heading straight for the light source.

I didn't make a single peep, sprinting across the forest floor on bare feet. Crisp leaves and pokey twigs began shredding my tender flesh, but I ignored it. I cleared my mind of anything other than finding Colt and thrashing the living shit out of anyone hiding in these woods.

An eight-foot-tall standing work lamp cast illumination over my gravesite. I knocked it over with a snarl. The sudden darkness made everything harder to recognize, but I quickly grabbed the pole and unscrewed the metal legs. It was cordless, and I glanced at the sky to check if any other light shone through the forest. Thankfully, there was none.

"Alright, Colt!" I held up the makeshift weapon, cringing over the fact I wore nothing. "You didn't seem like the hunting type, but this is Alabama. Let's see who the prey by dawn is."

I ran.

Colton owned over twenty acres of heavily forested land. He built a house a mile from the main road, but Chace speculated he constructed a cabin further north, near Dolly Pond. It lay beyond the property line on unused land. We hadn't had time to examine the county assessor maps closely, but people built all kinds of things in these woods. Unless they were looking to eat a bullet, everyone minded their own business.

My journey to the lake wasn't far—by car. It took half an hour on foot, and it hurt every second. My feet felt like hamburger by the time I smelled the reedy air of the pond. I tensed the whole way, expecting someone to leap out at me, but the night remained undisturbed except for my clumsy running.