Falling For My Captor

Chapter Five

-Alice-

Alice made it to the end of the driveway and turned onto a dirty road, choosing a direction at random. From what she could see, there was nothing around. No other houses. No other farms. Only trees. Hundreds and thousands of trees. The reality of her position diminished her hope.

Though she didn't stop running, difficult as the action was, her thoughts changed from escaping to being caught. What would Kyle do to her for running away? Would he have the heart to punish heart? He hadn't punished her before when she'd yelled at him. But this was way worse than that. Kyle wouldn't trust her anymore. What if he locked her up? Or, worse, if he tried to physically punish her? Death wasn't completely off the table, but she hoped he cared too much for her to end her life.

The roar of a car engine sounded behind Alice. When she dared to look, Kyle's white pickup was rapidly closing the distance between them. Alice swerved right, charging off the road and over a drainage ditch, into a field. Although grass was up to her hips, she didn't give fear time to plot against her. She kept moving. Even when Kyle's pursuit by foot could be heard. She kept moving.

A burst of heat exploded from her ankle and Alice went sprawling through the tall grass. Her pained cry intruded the peaceful fall day. The wound on her ankle was an oval-shaped puncture. Fang marks, she realized.

"What the—"

"Alice!" Kyle shouted for the thousandth time. His body broke through the grass when he reached her.

She didn't know whether to be more scared of him or her snake bite.

"This a rat field!" he told her, still yelling.

Her eyes widened from his tone. "What does that mean?"

Kyle scooped her up and began running back towards the truck. "It means," he began, growing more annoyed than worried, "there are rat snakes hiding everywhere."

Alice hated snakes. They terrified her. And to think one had just latched its mouth onto her foot...? She wrapped her arms around Kyle's neck and squeezed her eyes shut.

They didn't talk until they were both sitting in the cab of his truck. Alice had to ask the question she'd been trying to ignore, but was afraid of the answer. Thankfully, Kyle did her the honor of answering before she asked.

"They aren't venomous."

"Oh." Her shoulders relaxed. "That would've been nice to know like five minutes ago. Why were you freaking out then?"

He gave her a pointed look. "The bites can still contract an infection or give you a disease."

"A disease?"

"It's not common, but yeah. Rat snakes eat rodents, which sometimes carry diseases."

Alice pressed her hand against her mouth as nausea upturned her stomach.

"Before I take you back to the house and treat the bite," he said, "we need to get one thing straight."

She raised her eyebrows curiously, though she had a fairly good idea what he was going to say.

"No more running away. You'll just get hurt or lost, and I may not find you next time."

"Okay, okay." Alice dragged her fingers through her hair. "I get it."

Kyle nodded, turning the key in the ignition. "Good." He almost put the truck into gear, but hesitated, turning his face to look at her again. "Why'd you run anyway?"

"You know why," she murmured, staring down at the bloody bite.

"I want to hear you say it."

Lifting her head, Alice stared directly into his eyes, trying her hardest not to get deterred. "Because I need to go home. My real home. I need to be with my family and my friends."