“Chill out, Vinnie,” Hoodie warned his man. “He’s got no power here.” Even though he’d ordered the guy to stand down, Hoodie’s dark eyes threatened retribution for the punch I’d unleashed on his buddy.

I dropped my arm just as Hoodie nodded to one of his men. Something sharp pricked the back of my neck and the world wavered. I slumped toward the ground, the enclosing wall of trees sliding horizontal, and Alex’s scream echoed through what was left of my sanity.

3. Alex in Wonderland - Alex

3. ALEX IN WONDERLAND - ALEX

My piercing cries for help obliterated the air, but Rafe lay unresponsive on the ground, his crumpled body unmoving no matter how much I begged him to wake up. The two brothers of the group had me by the arms, their fingers banding around my biceps in bruising grips. They dragged me away from him, and I dug my toes into the ground.

“Rafe!”

“Screaming isn’t gonna do anything. In case you hadn’t noticed, there isn’t a whole lot around these parts.”

My gaze shifted through the darkness. Trees surrounded us in all directions, some tall and skinny, some with trunks wider than these two men put together. Ferns and other brush interspersed the isolated landscape. They pushed me further away from Rafe, from the road we’d come in on that was little more than a wide trail.

The guy Rafe had punched started down a steep path between two massive tree trunks covered in moss, while his brother—Vinnie, they’d called him—took up the end of our trek into the middle of nowhere, the barrel of his gun pressed to my spine. The quiet babble of a creek teased from somewhere nearby. Most would equate that sound with ambience, but I found it unsettling, a reminder of suffocation and terror.

“Where are we going?” I asked, hating how my voice wobbled. “Why are you doing this?”

“So many questions,” Vinnie’s brother said as we reached the bottom of the incline.

I skidded to a stop, letting out a squeaky cry as they pulled me toward a creek. “Please, no!”

“The fuck? It’s just a little water. What? You scared of getting your pretty toes wet?”

Oh God. I swallowed the hysteria about to choke me, determined to cross the creek without having a total meltdown. It was a ridiculous reaction, as the water would barely reach past my ankles. I swallowed hard, preparing myself. They couldn’t find out about my phobia—it would only give them more ammunition against me.

Upon the first contact with the icy stream, my feet ached clear to my bones. I wore nothing but a tank top and panties, and water splashed my calves like pin-pricks as we trekked to the other side. A hill rose on my right, trapping me between the creek and hillside as they propelled me downward, deeper into the woods.