Moonrise

Prologue is dedicated to summergirl21 for making the cover.  As uua her work is AMAZING =D  Thanks again!

And this story is over a year old, I started it when I first got into writing, so yes, it is quite poorly written.  I made a half hearted attempt at editing - which didn't go well at all!  But I figure I'll just keep writing it and see where it takes me =D

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PROLOGUE

“This is kidnapping!  And what comes next is something that rhymes with herder!” I exclaimed shirlly for about the thousandth time.  I spat out a stray leaf and some dirt that had somehow made its way into my mouth.

“You’re hardly a child,” he muttered, wrestling me back up the slope.  “At least that’s not what your weight suggests.”  He grunted for emphasis as he hauled me another foot towards the top of the bank I’d fallen off in my bid for escape.  Despite the situation I was in I found myself inexplicably offended by his snide comment.

“Maybe you’re just a bit on the weak side,” I snarled back.  After all, I was several inches shorter than his mammoth height and on the lean side at that.

“And as I’ve informed you many times now, I’m not going to murder you,” he finished, ignoring my jab.

Yeah, right I thought bitterly.  That’s what all good killers said just before they snuffed you.  I looked around, desperate for something to help turn things in my favour. No such luck.  Being the dead of night, I could barely make out his vice like grip around my middle, let alone the surrounding woods.  

Mental note to self: next time you get kidnapped, try escaping when you can see more than three feet in any direction.  That way you won’t fall off the bank you had no idea was there until you were halfway down it.  

Ha!  Like there was going to be a next time.  The thought penetrated my mind before I could stop it.  The harsh truth.  Nothing I did now could help me.  My mind went into overdrive imagining all the possible outcomes of my predicament.  Sadly, none of them ended well.  

The worst part was I couldn‘t even scream.  There was nobody around to hear me.  We were utterly alone in the wilderness.  In a minute, he was going to drag me back to that tiny crumbling house in the middle of nowhere - in the middle of the woods in the middle of nowhere - and kill me.  Slowly and painfully.  I was sure of it.  But that didn’t mean I had to make it easy for him.  No, I’d be damned if I was just going to lay down and take it.

With renewed vigour, I started to struggle, sweat coating my body from the physical exertion.  If I could just get him to loosen his grip, I’d have a chance.  Twisting every which way, I prayed for a miracle.  

“Stop struggling or I will eat you,” he growled into my ear.  Again with that abnormal threat.  Psycho serial killer didn’t even begin to cover it.  The guy was certifiably insane.  And I did not want to become his dinner.  Being eaten by a cannibalistic freak was not on the list of things I wanted to experience in my lifetime.

Becoming increasingly exhausted and running out of breath, I tried another tactic.  I immediately went limp, causing him to almost drop me.  He staggered sideways a few steps, trying to compensate for me abruptly becoming deadweight.

“Okay.  What are you up to?” he asked suspiciously when he caught his balance.  “Why are you so compliant all of a sudden?”

“You just said you’d eat me if I didn’t stop struggling,” I pointed out, only a hint of annoyance in my voice.