Zoe jumped backward and pain streaked up her leg. Her pulse pounded like crazy.

Hoisting the rock into the air, she spied two shiny objects in the scant moonlight. A pair of eyes, small and beady, poised only a few inches from the ground. The creature glared at her.

Hiissss.

A jagged smile of white teeth glistened.

Her heart nearly stopped.

She raised her hand. Aimed.

The creature uttered another sibilant hiss just as Zoe recognized it as a possum.

Letting out her breath, she watched as the shaggy marsupial bared its needle-sharp teeth again, then waddled away into the darkness, leaving Zoe, arm still raised to hurl the rock, gasping and inwardly calling herself a fool.

A possum?

All that panic for a possum?

“Grow some balls,” she whispered to herself. Rather than take the encounter as a warning, she decided instead to think of the meeting with the possum as impetus to find her way to the nearest farmhouse or cabin.

If the damned possum could wander safely around in the dark, she decided, her chances weren’t as bad as she’d imagined.

You could take to the water again, float downstream, save your ankle from bearing weight.

But she was too exhausted to consider swimming right now. Too easily she could get caught in the current and drown. Besides, she’d rather take her chances with the creatures on land than find herself wrestling with an alligator or water snake.

There are plenty of snakes in the wetlands. Alligators, too. Maybe even a bear or boar as well.

“Awesome,” she said under her breath. Still, she was determined to get as far from the river as possible. It would be easy for her hunter to spot her on the open water. She was certain of it.

Time to move on.

Regardless of how excruciating the pain.

“How’s she doing?” Jase notched his chin toward the street where Selma’s car was rounding the corner. He’d obviously guessed that the fragile woman Brianna had walked to her car was the mother of the Denning twins.

“I’d like to say ‘hanging in there,’ but it would be a lie.” Brianna only hoped that her friend would get some rest and take the time to make that list. It might provide crucial information to track the girls down. Keys in hand, she hit the button on her remote. The car made a sharp noise and the locks clicked in response. “But I can’t blame Selma for being frantic. How would any mom hold up under these circumstances?”

“Point taken.”

“I assume you’re waiting for me.”

“See? You do have detective skills.” A hint of a smile slashed across his beard-shadowed jaw.