I Said Run: A Psychological Thriller (Ebook)

Prologue

Eve’s pounding heart sounds like a war drum as she dashes through the shadowy forest, weaving between skeletal trees and vaulting over fallen logs slick with moss. Malevolent shadows seem to grasp at her from all sides as enraged bellows ring out behind her, driving her forward on raw and blistered feet. 

In her mind’s eye, Eve pictures Scott’s warm smile, a shard of hope guiding her home. She has no choice but to survive this nightmare, if only to get back to him. Scott needs to know that none of this horror is his fault. He is the reason she can’t give up hope. God knows there have been times during her endless captivity in Jenkins’s remote cabin that she nearly has. With each passing day trapped in that windowless prison, Jenkins has sadistically chipped away at her soul, twisting her into someone unrecognizable, even to herself.

Eve knows this is her last chance to break free. This morning, she had feigned sleep as Jenkins unlocked her handcuffs to take her to the bathroom. Before he could react, Eve had grabbed the vase by her bed —a cruel gift from Jenkins after his last violation— and smashed it over his head. This time, she will not be going back to that cabin, at least not alive.

Not that Jenkins is making escape easy. He knows the secrets of these woods far better than she does. He has been searching for her since dawn, using every twisted tactic to hunt her in this isolated wilderness. Eve feels as if she is running in circles, each mile through the shadowy woods only leading her back to that cabin and its unspeakable horrors.

Eve gasps. She can finally see a break in the oppressive trees. If she can just make it into the open, she might find help. Behind her, Jenkins’s enraged shouting draws closer, like the icy breath of some lurking evil. Fear alone seems to propel her leaden legs faster, despite the pain. Her lungs burn like wildfire, but the path behind promises terrors far worse than any agony that might lie ahead. Freedom is within reach if she can just summon the strength.

With a final desperate burst, Eve breaks through the tree line and stumbles into the clearing, each breath she takes akin to inhaling fire. Her lungs are searing, but she can’t stop. The open field ahead shines like a flare beneath the pale moonlight, beckoning her away from the menacing shadows of the woods. But as Eve runs, she can feel those same shadows watching, waiting to swallow her whole.

Jenkins’s demented voice rings out an instant before he explodes from the woods behind her, his face twisted in fury. “There you are!”

Eve’s legs course with mindless panic, each step a frantic plea for life as his taunting words echo in her ringing ears.

Rivulets of sweat pour down Eve’s face, despite the icy winter air lashing her skin. Behind her, Jenkins’s thundering footsteps only grow louder. 

But ahead, about a hundred yards away, the safety of a country road waits—Eve’s only hope. Calling on the last dregs of strength left in her broken body, Eve forces herself onward toward that thin chance of salvation.

Freedom is suddenly within her reach. She can see headlights slicing through the darkness. With a final burst, she sprints the last distance and collapses on the blessed asphalt, lungs heaving violently. But it isn’t enough.

As the headlights fade into the distance, Eve watches her fleeting hope disappear with them. Still, she can’t let Jenkins drag her back to that hellish cabin. Forcing herself up, Eve stumbles on just as the roar of another engine meets her ears. A car is coming.

Every muscle screaming, Eve lurches toward the approaching car like a woman possessed. She staggers out of the shadows, waving her arms and screaming for help. But the truck doesn’t slow, its driver staring resolutely ahead, as if there is no desperate woman flailing by the roadside.

“Help me!” Eve cries again, but the taillights only shrink further into the distance as her chance at rescue accelerates down the road. Turning, Eve sees Jenkins, and knows her fate is sealed.

He stands mere feet away, chest heaving but grinning with sinister delight. Eve turns to run again, but her legs buckle beneath her. She can only watch helplessly as Jenkins closes the distance between them.

“Please…” Eve croaks, her throat ragged. “Don’t do this…”

But her pleas go unheard. Jenkins’s hulking shadow engulfs her as he leers. “No more running, sweetheart. Let’s go home.”

His powerful hands clamp around her arms like iron chains, wrenching her to her feet. In her mind’s eye, Eve can already see the cruel games that await back at that godforsaken cabin, the twisted punishments Jenkins will gleefully devise for this escape attempt. 

As he drags her weakened body toward the leering forest, Eve sobs, the reality of her grim future now agonizingly clear. She has seen it too many times before—in a few short hours, the others will feast on her insides, and whatever is left will join the rows of markers in Jenkins’s immaculate garden.

Unless… 

Eve’s frantic gaze fixes on the worn hunting knife at Jenkins’s hip, its handle smoothed by use. The polished steel glints in the moonlight like a beacon.

Letting her legs go limp, she forces Jenkins to take her dead weight as he hauls her along. His focus stays locked ahead. The knife waits just out of reach at his side, but if Eve moves fast enough…

Her heart slamming against her ribs, she makes her desperate play. With a burst of adrenaline, her hand shoots out and closes around the knife’s grip. In one smooth motion, she rips it from the sheath. 

Jenkins turns, his eyes widening with shock and rage. “You little—”

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