For a moment, she lay stunned, feeling the shock of the impact and the sudden pain shooting up her leg. The tires screeched as the driver hit the brakes, the engine revved as the Jeep was shifted into reverse. Then Annie heard it backing up. She had no idea what the driver was going to do and she had no intention on waiting around to find out. She struggled to her feet, wincing with pain. Her leg would barely support her. She saw the Jeep approaching quickly and she turned and limped off into the woods, trying to get out of sight. As she hobbled into the shelter of the trees, she heard the Jeep stop and the door slam. Fear sent adrenaline rushing through her and she half ran, half stumbled though the bushes, ignoring the branches that had struck her face, not knowing where she was going, just fleeing in directionless panic, trying to put as much distance between herself and her pursuer as possible. She whimpered as she staggered ahead, both from fear and pain and imagined she had heard a crashing through the brush behind her. She tried to speed up and fell, her leg buckling beneath her. She sobbed for breath, biting her lip to keep from crying out. She glanced quickly all around her. Everything was quiet. She was afraid to move, afraid to make the slightest sound. She strained to listen.

There, a footstep. Where? Where was it coming from?

She had lost all sense of direction. She turned and saw a pair of legs right in front of her. She looked up slowly and saw a knife.

"No…" she whimpered, shaking her head. Her eyes wide with fear.

"Please… no…" she backed away, scuttling in the leaves, unable to take her hands off the keen blade.

She came up against a tree.

'Get up,' her mind screamed, 'get up and run! Run!'

She struggled to her feet, using the tree for support. Her breath coming in quick gasps.

"No… please… no"

All she could see was the knife, shining brightly, coming closer. She screamed and felt a searing white-hot pain as the blade slashed across her throat, opening a deep gash that spouted blood as the knife sliced through her trachea, severing her jugular vein. Then she couldn't scream anymore as blood filled her lungs and her vision was blurred by a red mist.

Chapter 2

Chapter 2