A Beautiful New Life (27 page)

“Go south to the river and follow it west for a short distance then turn around and follow it east.
Y
ou’ll
eventually come to a town. Don’t talk to or trust anyone
.” She finished cutting out the chips, throwing hers on the ground beside Jordan.

“I went into this knowing if this is what would happen I would accept it. My job is done.” He pulled her closer caressing her. “I love you Louise, I love you…more than you will…you will ever know. I wish…oh god how I wish…it could be different but it…it
can’t
. You go now… go be a mom to those boys again.” He lost consciousness and she sobbed for the man she would never be able to hold again, the man who gave it all for her.

She leaned in closer to him. “This is not goodbye
Jordan;
I’ll carry you in my heart forever. I love you…I love you. Thank you, I
won’t
let this be in vain I’ll be worthy of the sacrifice you’ve given. 

As she turned to run
away,
she caught a glimpse of a black ribbon flying in an unseen breeze. She knew what that ribbon
was tied
to and now knew the last name that she was unable to read those many months ago. This memorial, prematurely placed would now be fitting. She only wished when she had seen that memorial
the first time
she had turned and went home. She now understood the pull it had on her that day. As Jordan would say, it was fate.

Louise tumbled down the hill blinded by the tears that continued to fall. She picked herself up and ran toward the river. She could no longer see the truck and stopped, wanting to go back. She did not want to leave him. She stood there in the damp grass her kids pulling her one way and the memory of her lover pulling her another. She turned in the direction of the truck as the ground shook and the sound of thunder filled the air. Dark grey smoke billowed toward the sky.

She fell to her knees. “NO! NO!
No…no…no.
Jordan.” She got up and r
an back to the direction of the truck. The melting snow left the hill she had tumbled down slick and she was not able to climb
the hill
. She slid down what little part of the hill she had been able to climb. Lying in the mud, she cried. She heard a second explosion and knew someone would be along soon. She pulled herself up. She would not have Jordan’s death be in vain. She ran as hard as she could to the river.

Thank you for reading my first novel.
I hope that
you enjoyed it and
I hope I left you
wanting more. The next section gives you a preview to The Long Journey Home, the sequel
to A Beautiful New Life.

As an indie author, I appreciate your feedback and review, so I would love if you would please go back to Amazon and leave
an
honest review.

The Long Journey Home

Chapter One

She could hear them on the road above. Would they check on their own people first or go to the truck? She did not want to stick around and find out. She had to put distance between them and herself and fast. She ran as fast as she could. Her survival depended on it and it kicked her adrenaline into overdrive. She has heard of people completing impossible feats when reacting to a dangerous situation because of adrenaline and she had to be experiencing it now. She did not understand how she could go on
like
she was. Her body ached from the injuries it sustained in the accident. Her head was bleeding. That thought made her take pause as she turned around and saw the blood trail she was leaving along with the footprints in the snow. She bent down, grabbed a handful of snow, and held it against the cut on her head. She took off running again. She could not do
much
about the footprints, but she could at least stop the loss of blood that would drain her of much needed energy. She reached the river and stopped. She knew what Jordan wanted her to do but she did not have time. They will soon be on her trail. She turned to head east and saw the river appeared to be frozen. Did she dare try cross? She climbed down the embankment and stepped on the edge. It held. She jumped up anticipating it breaking and when it did not, she made a split decision and made a run for it across the river.  As she got halfway, the ice started cracking. She prayed she would make it and then had an idea.  She stopped and stomped on the ice breaking it through, praying the side she was standing on held until she could take a step back and break it some more. She continued this until there was a hole big enough that it appeared she had fallen in and then she turned and ran.

She reached the other side of the frozen river where the shoreline was a bit wider. She wanted to stay lower than the bank of the river and needed a way to hide her trail. She noticed the variety of animal foot traffic that matted the snow to the ground. Frozen she wondered if it would show any trace of her if she followed the same path. She took a few careful steps and found no trace of it behind. She stepped harder and still nothing so she took off running hard and far. With the shoreline narrowing
,
and the embankment steepening, she had to climb now or risk
being caught
in the river. She climbed and reached the top, exhausted from her efforts. She lay motionless, her head resting against the cold snow, numbing it from the pain. That was when she heard them. She carefully turned her head in the direction of the sound and saw them on the other side of the river in the area where she had crossed. She held her breath. What should she do? Should she make a run for it or just stay motionless. She could only make out one person in the group. Even in the fading light and from this distance she could see his red, over inflated muscles and hear his heavy breathing. She choked back the vomit that threatened. She watched as Vince made a step across the ice. He jumped back to the edge as she suspected the ice did not hold up against his weight. He pushed the next person forward. He was a slighter build and something about the way he moved reminded her of Henry.

She had not seen him since her first days of captivity. It angered her now how she
had been drawn in
by his act. She had sincerely thought he was there to help her but he only baited her. She watched now as he walked across the river and she wished he would just fall in and drawn like the rat he was. She immediately apologized for the horrible thought. She did not believe much in karma but needed everything on her side
at the moment
if she was going to survive. She watched as he approached the hole she had made. Would they believe she had fallen in? She now wondered what would have happened if she had. Would she have stayed there by
the hole or would her body have floated downstream. There was not much of a flow, she had noticed. The river itself, hibernating, waiting for the onset of water from the melting mountain, washing away the old, stale waters of winter and bring fresh water to nourish the new life that spring always brings. Henry turned around at the hole and rushed back to Vince. She could see they were having a heated discussion but could not make out about what exactly. She watched Vince pick up Henry by the neck and screamed at him. She could almost make out the bulging of the veins in his neck. It was from another one of those earlier memories. A memory of when he attempted to rape her, burned into her mind, never allowing her to forget, but not as a punishment but as a reminder, that she will find help and hunt that bastard down and make him pay for not just what he had done to her but all the other
innocent
lives back at Genesee. Vince set Henry down and he headed back across the river. When he did not stop at the hole, Louise prayed she had not left any tracks to indicate she had crossed. He made it to the edge
and walked up and down the river,
then walked back across to Vince.

Vince was angry as he waved his arms in the air. The group
,
that was with him
,
backed away to avoid being hit by his flailing limbs. She wished she could hear what they were saying but grateful for the distance she had been able to put between them. As sad as it made her feel, she was also grateful that Jordan had died in the explosion. She was sure Vince would have torn him to shreds and if he had thought, that she was in the area he would have displayed it just to try to get a reaction out of her and force her to come out of hiding. That is probably the worst thing about love. The power it has to make people do the most incredible things but that power
can also be used
against you. When you have two people who love each other as much as she and Jordan loved each other, even in the short time they were together, that love is as much of a strength as it is a weapon. She was thankful for the strength it gave her now as she watched them walk away back toward the scene of the accident. She now looked around where she lay. She was so close to the tree line and wondered if she should risk making a run for it. She feared, even though they had headed back, that they were still watching. She crawled instead and once she made it to the trees, she picked herself up and ran.