Savaged

Prologue

         Daniella had always been notorious for not planning things carefully but this time she had taken it too far. It had barely taken twenty-four hours to plan her just take the babies and run approach to escape the strong hold of her sadistic husband and his even more psychotic business partner. She’d tried to think of at least a decent plan but in the panic of the situation, she could only grab her two baby boys and run as fast as her legs could carry her. There was a fresh coat of snow on the ground, the thick two inches made it next to impossible and within five minutes of running she had to slow down and rethink her plan. It was freezing. All she was wearing was a small, frilly coat and a pair of thin bedroom slippers, neither of which was good for wintry weather.
She did not stop though. She could not stop, even though her muscles ached and cried out for even a brief reprieve. She could kick herself as she thought, not for the first time, that she should have planned this better. She’d had months to plan. Why hadn’t she taken it. She hadn’t even packed any food let alone diapers, bottles or anything to keep the babies taken care of. She was a horrible mother. She ought to go back but feared it was too late. Soon HE would be up and he would see that she was gone and come find her only yards away from their, or rather his, lavish manor. He would lock her away and take her sweet, darling sons. She knew it was technically kidnapping, but was it a crime to want to protect them from his horrible plans.

         A few days ago, she had heard his plans to sell them to the greedy, wicked Mr. Macron. Mr. Macron was the source of all her pains and all her sorrows. It didn’t make any sense to her. Who could buy babies? But then, Mr. Macron was a sick bastard. He hadn’t even referred to them as babies or children but as alpha-sires and he was in the market for two. She couldn’t believe that her husband Ben could do such a horrid thing.
Couldn't he have even discussed it with her. He was their father. How could he sell his own children. She couldn’t let him do it. She had to take them and run away. Where or how made no difference. There was nothing else she could do.
Her legs didn’t want to go any further, they wanted to stop, to rest. Her calves and thighs were burning with the intensity of the movements. They hurt so bad. But she could not stop. She had to reach Maggie who live on the other side of the mountain. Maggie said that she could help her. "I am running out of time,"she thought. It was hard not to think about what he would do, if he would come after her, though she knew he surely would. She just hoped for her children's sake he slept in. She didn’t want look back at the clear tracks she was making in the soft powdery snow. Her only hope was to keep pressing forward no matter how her body ached. Her children’s lives depended on it.

         Her mind wandered as she fought to keep moving. How had she gotten into this mess? A quiet, farm girl from the Blue-Grass State, she had foolishly run away from home. She had made the innocent mistake of hitchhiking with strange man who had picked her up off the highway. He managed to draw out her story. She had wanted to get away from her stepmother for no other reason that she was 16 years old and thought she knew everything. The man promised her many things on that trip, promised her her very dreams. However, they would soon become nightmares.

         Before she knew it, she was in a dark, dank room surrounded by a dozen girls around her age. They were removed one by one and returned. Daniella knew it had to be some sort of sex trafficking. She had heard stories but like everyone else had believed it could never happen to her. Now it had. She soon learned that the girls were not allowed to talk to each other but Daniella also learned that the ones who did not come back had likely become pregnant. This was where she had met the sleazy, gangly Mr. Macron in his brown wool trench coat and matching fedora and wrinkly skin that smelled of onions.
He had looked her up and down, examining her from head to toe before whispering to the guard. She was taken into another room and met Benjamin, Ben. He had such a gentle smile, his very eyes seemed to smile and Daniella was sure that she had met her fairy-tale prince as he declared his everlasting love for her, whisking her away from this horrible place. They were married and her dear husband treated her like a princess. She could not imagine how wrong she would be.
Everything was going wonderfully, perfectly. She was living the life she had always dreamed. Then she got pregnant. She noticed her husband and Mr. Macron’s private meetings but thought nothing of them. They weren’t her business. Until she met Maggie. Maggie was a midwife and she was given the task of looking after Daniella during her pregnancy. She was a good midwife and a dear friend. Maggie took good care of her and she was well respected by the family. Daniella had wondered why she couldn’t just go to a hospital but Maggie had just told her it was tradition. She accepted that, some people preferred the old-fashioned way of doing things.
One night, while Maggie was taking care of her, she seemed strangely different. Her bronze skin was disturbingly pale, as though she’d seen a ghost. Maggie tried to warn her about Benjamin, urging her to run away and even to get an abortion. She had even tried to offer her the use of her secret cabin on the other side of the mountain if she truly wanted this child. But Daniella did not believe her and felt horribly betrayed. She would hear no more and told Ben. Maggie was subsequently fired and Daniella was now all alone in her escape. She wondered if she could even protect her precious younglings all alone.

         She marched on. It was still dark but still breaking dawn when she heard a russling sound. She tried to ignore it. Thinking it was just a childish imagination getting to her. She continued to mark until it had gotten louder but she ignored it; until it turned into a growling rumble. She thought it might have been just her stomache; since it was almost sun up and she or her babies had not eaten since dinner last night. She was surprised that they had been so quiet; she assumed that they were nuzzled asleep.
The sky was twilight gray, the dawn near breaking when she heard a rustling sound in the trees. She tried to ignore it, telling herself that this was the woods after all and was likely just an animal looking for nuts or berries or something in the snow to eat. The sound only got louder, still she ignored until she heard a low, growl rumbling in the bushes. She thought it might have been her stomach as she nor her children had eaten in hours. She was surprised at how quiet they had been, assuming they had fallen asleep.
As she pushed on, the growling only grew louder and she suddenly realized that the sound was not coming from her but rather behind her. She knew it was dumb but she had to see. She turned and froze for a brief second at the sight. A four-legged, snarling beast staring down at her with blood-shot, angry eyes. Shaking herself from her fright, she turned and ran, surprising herself as the adrenaline began pumping through her. She shook off the creature for a moment and was able to hide one small baby inside the hollow of a tree, buried beneath a thin layer of snow before it was upon her again. She clutched the other child to her chest, running faster, faster but the beast was faster still and quickly overtook, swiping at her with terrible force, flinging her and her baby up against a thick tree trunk. The baby howled in pain and her first instinct was to rock him and soothe away the pain but she hadn’t the time as she got up and kept running despite the pain she herself was in. She looked into the distance and felt a small ray of hope at the sight of a red truck and a man with a rifle getting out of it.

         The hustle toward him and stretched her arm in the air. She hoped against hope that he would see her. He did and he also spotted the beast that was behind after. He raised his gu as she ran and took a shot. Daniella ducked. The beast pushed her out of the way and her body was flung hard onto the snow covered ground. She came down with a crash but never let go of the baby.

         She ran harder towards him, raising an arm to try and get his attention. Ever vigilant, the hunter saw the woman racing towards him with a bundle in her arms. Quickly the hunter raised his gun and fired but not in time to stop the beast from attacking the woman, pushing her out of the ward hard. He heard the crash and the sound of bone breaking.
He fired again and a third time. Blood went everywhere and it seemed that the monster had been obliterated. Cautiously, the man approached the young woman. She was soaked with blood and by the way her neck was turned, and the fact that she wasn’t breathing that she was dead. He knelt down and pulled back the blankets she had held so preciously to her. He could do nothing for the mother but he could do plenty for the boy. He thought about keeping the boy himself, having always thought about what it might be like to be a father but knew the kid needed a proper family. He took the baby instead to the fire station and placed a call about the woman. Satisfied he had done everything he could, he drove into the sunrise with his trusty hound dog, Samson, never even looking into the rear-view mirror.{/pre}