Dark Realms Read Online Free PDF Page A

Marie!” I prodded.
    “Wait!” she gasped, as she was lagging
farther behind.
    I glanced back.
    She held her side. “I should have never
started smoking!”
    “Just keep running and don’t look back,” I
hollered, as we headed deeper into the woods.
    “Yeah… sure… where are we going?” she gasped
out.
    “I’m not sure,” I yelled back, leaping over
a large branch. “But we have to keep moving!”
    “Wait!” cried Marie.
    Groaning, I stopped and turned around.
    She was bent over with her hands on her
knees, panting. “Yeah… I just have to… catch my breath.”
    I stared past her towards the direction of
the road, expecting Darnell to come barreling through the
trees.
    “Do you think he saw us?” she asked.
    “Probably. We really need to keep
moving.”
    She straightened up. “Okay.”
    We started running again, going even deeper
into the woods. Once I thought we were fairly safe, I stopped to
rest.
    “Where are we?” she asked, leaning her palm
against a birch tree.
    “I don’t know,” I replied, looking around.
It was hard to see anything with so many tall trees. I couldn’t
even tell if we were headed towards the mountains.
    She frowned. “Great, we’re lost.”
    “Well, it’s certainly better than being a
prisoner.”
    She closed her eyes and touched the bridge
of her nose. “God, my dad is going to flip out.”
    “Would you quit worrying about him?” I said.
“He’s the least of your worries right now.”
    “Oh, if you knew him, you’d say differently.
He can be a real monster.”
    “Come on. Let’s just get moving.”
    “What if we’re heading farther into the
wilderness? We could get really lost.”
    I bit my lower lip.
    She was right. The deeper we went, the
higher our risk of bumping into something a lot scarier than our
captors – bears, mountain lion, even moose. There was no way we’d
be able to defend ourselves against them.
    “Maybe we should wait here for a while and
then head back the way we came before sunset. When it’s dark, we
can follow the dirt road to the nearest town,” said Marie.
    “Wherever that may be. Something tells me
I’m a long way from home.”
    “Where are you from?” she asked.
    “Missoula.”
    “I’m from Polson.”
    “I wonder where we are?”
    “I’m not sure,” she replied with a smirk. “I
left my map at home.”
    I grunted.
    “You okay?” she asked.
    “I’m just so thirsty. What about you?”
    “Me too,” she replied.
    I wiped the sweat from my forehead. “We need
to find water.”
    “Even if we do, it’s probably not safe to
drink anything not bottled or out of a tap.”
    She was probably right. “Maybe, but we need
to stay hydrated.”
    It was warm, in the eighties, we hadn’t
drunk anything for hours, and we’d just run what felt like a
marathon. I needed to find something to drink – and soon.
    I wiped more sweat from my face and noticed
that I was feeling dizzy. “I don’t feel well.”
    Marie stepped closer. Her forehead wrinkled.
“You’re very pale. You should sit down.”
    I swallowed. “Yeah, you’re right. Just for a
little while… it won’t hurt, I suppose.” I staggered over to a
large tree and slid down until I was leaning against the base of
the tree.
    She walked over to me and knelt down. “Don’t
worry. Rest. I’ll keep watch.”
    My eyes felt heavy. “Okay. Thanks.”
    Marie touched my shoulder and squeezed it.
“Just rest,” she repeated, staring into my eyes. “Sleep.”
    “Yeah. Okay,” I whispered, falling
asleep.

Chapter Five
     
    I opened my eyes. It was dark and all I
could hear were crickets chirping in the shadows and leaves blowing
in the trees.
    As I blinked and stared in confusion,
everything came rushing back. Martin, the barn, Gloria’s body in
the loft, escaping from the rooftop with Marie.
    “Marie,” I croaked, my throat sore.
    She didn’t answer.
    I stood up and shivered. The temperature had
to have fallen by at least twenty degrees.
    “Marie?” I