Hunted

Strange Beginnings

*Lacey's POV*

I awoke with a start at the sound of sirens blaring behind us. Turning around, I saw a cop tailing us and just knew we were screwed. "Shit man, what are we gonna do?" screamed Rose who has been one of my closest friends since second grade. Her bright green eyes were so wide they appeared to take up her entire face. I started throwing all the remaining pot underneath the seat and told Rose to start spraying any and every kind of perfume we had. Why did Aura have to bring drugs? This was supposed to be a vacation celebrating the end of our high school years and we were about to spend it in jail. Just great, I thought, as I shoved the last remaining bag out of sight. Samantha popped a mint in her mouth and said "Just act natural and we'll be fine." I never understood how she could be so calm no matter what was happening. Dimitri, who has been dating Rose since the eighth grade, pulled over to the side of the road and ran his hands through his long black hair. I had no idea how we were going to get away with this.

A tall and rather cute looking officer got out of the car and slowly walked towards us. "License and registration please." he said while glancing in the backseat where us girls were sitting. With shaking hands Dimitri handed him the papers then tried to grab Roses' hand, but she was too busy twisting her long red hair around her finger."Son did you know you were going 15 miles over the speed limit?" the officer asked in a rather bored tone. Dimitri's eyes widened as he replied, "No I'm sorry sir. I didn't realize how fast I was going." The officer glanced once more into the back seat and I struggled to put on my best innocent face. "Since this is your first time being pulled over I'm just going to let you off with a warning, but keep in mind if I ever stop you again I won't be so lenient." he said. Dimitri smiled and thanked the officer and we all breathed a sigh of relief until the officer starting walking back towards our car. Oh crap, I thought, he must have noticed something. "I also wanted to warn you guys that there have been reports of something or someone killing local dogs around here. It's probably just a wild animal but I would be on guard if I were you and don't wander off alone while you're out here." the officer said and then walked to his car and never looked back.

"Wild animal? What kind of wild animal could be killing the dogs around here?" Aura whispered as we drove off. I thought for a while and couldn't really think of anything that could be up this far in the country. We were headed to a three story log cabin that my grandpa built more than 40 years ago for my grandma who passed away last year. When she died, he packed his things, bought an RV, and started driving around the country. My mom said it was because he couldn't fill the void grandma left when she died so he could never settle down in any other place. I personally thought he was just finally following his dream of visiting every state in the US, which was something grandma would never let him do, but what did I know? I've been coming up here every summer since I was 3 and I've never seen even signs of wild animals living in the woods surrounding our cabin, unless of course you count the squirrels. He must have just been trying to scare us, I thought, as I drifted back into sleep.

*Aura's POV*

Words couldn't even begin to describe how happy I was to finally be out of the car and enjoying the fresh air. Eight hours cramped up in the back of Dimitri's tiny Volvo isn't exactly my idea of fun. I didn't even want to go on this trip to begin with but then I found out that Chester was coming and I figured, what the hell. I've had a crush on him for a few months now but I've never actually gotten the courage to talk to him. With his spiked sandy-blond hair, green eyes, and bulging biceps he looked every bit the star of the football team he was. He had been dating some slutty cheerleader named Mandy off and on for a few months, but they broke up a while back. Now that school's over I figured I'd lost my chance of maybe hooking up with Chester but then Samantha said she had invited a few of the football jocks, including Chester, to come along with us. Samantha always knew how to talk to guys and exactly what to say to make them do whatever she wanted. Sometimes I envied her.