His Reluctant Luna

Ch 23 - The Edge

ATTENTION RADISH READERS! Please don't leave any spoilers in here or you'll be getting a spanking from Iona. Or Kole. Or Konnor. Whoever you'd prefer. 😘

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I drove until morning before the truck finally sputtered and died. I sighed. I'd been running on empty for the last hour but I'd hoped I'd find civilisation before the old rust bucket gave out. No such luck. In all the time I'd been driving I'd seen nothing. No wolves, were or otherwise, but also no people. Not even a road sign.

I searched the glove compartments, finding two more chocolate bars but no water, not even a map. Not even a damned gun. Frustrated, I climbed out and searched the truck bed. I found a spare gas canister, empty. That was it. I kicked the wheel of the truck, cursing Oatis.

Calm down, Iona. You've come too far to lose your shit now.

I took a breath, reminding myself I needed to stay quiet. I'd put a lot of miles between myself and the pack lands. If I was lucky, they wouldn't pick up my scent.

I clenched my hands and shook them out, trying to rid myself of the anxiety. I was going to need a lot of luck to get through the next part of my journey. With a dead vehicle I had no choice but to continue on foot.

I'd been lost in the wild before but the difference was I wasn't being chased then. I could take my time hunting, finding a safe place to rest, searching for water. I could take time to rest so I didn't deplete my energy. I couldn't do that now. I had to be quick, quiet using only my wits and what was in my pack to survive.

I could do this.

Grabbing my pack I climbed up into the bed of the truck. I needed to take stock of everything I had. I opened it up and immediately found the matches I stole from the hen party. They glared up at me, igniting a tiny flicker of guilt in my gut.

For a moment, I allowed myself to think of the females - had Kole figured out how I'd escaped? Had he punished them for it? I shook the thought away, reminding myself how pleased they had been at what was being done to me. They weren't my friends.

I put them to the side and emptied the rest of my pack. I had spare underwear, socks and a shirt, a sleeping bag, sunscreen, a small torch. I smiled at the water filter and purification tablets, those things were going to save my life out here. I could go weeks without food but water? Water I needed. I had a fishing line and hooks too, not that I would have time for fishing, I had to stay moving, but being able to fish if I was starving was an option I wasn't going to complain about.

I had two water bottles, one empty, the other two thirds full. I could make that last days if I needed to. I also had the cake knife, the swiss army knife from Oatis's keys as well as his skinning knife sheathed on my hip. Two chocolate bars I'd found in the glove compartment were my only food. These items were now all that stood between me and dying out here.

I tried not to let the thought overwhelm me but for once, I was afraid of the wild. I'd been in some tight spots before, been more lost with less but then, the only cost was death, now, the idea of being caught by Kole and dragged back to his pack was worse. I would rather die than go back to that.

Which was ironic because if I sat here and waited, eventually they would find me and I would be saved. They would take me back, feed me and I wouldn't have to worry about slow starvation or grizzly bears anymore. But visions of me in that white silk dress, forced down and bitten in front of the entire pack, in front of the elders smug faces...it sickened me. I packed up, tightened my boot laces and set off.

I could do this.

I kept to the treeline, following the road but keeping myself hidden, I set a jogging pace, one I intended to keep up for the whole day. It was dangerous, burning calories with little food to replenish it, but a slow pace meant a greater chance of being caught so it was an easy decision to make.