Free Lost Highway by Bijou Hunter

he’d do that for
me. I’d rather just kill him and do whatever I wanted.
    Ana realizes I’ve been around
longer than she has for one very specific reason. She survives by scavenging
while I make my way by killing other killers.
    “Seven will do,” she says,
opening the bag.
    Her eyes light up, and she
shows Pedro. As they scurry to the backroom with my bag, Odessa peeks around a
corner where a dog growls. She looks back at me and sighs.
    “You wouldn’t want that dog,”
she whispers, returning to my side.
    I don’t mention how I wouldn’t
trade her for even the best dog.
    Odessa looks over our stash
before I add them to my supply bag. “What exactly did you give them?” she asks,
though I sense she already knows.
    “They like heads. I don’t ask
questions, and you shouldn’t either. Just don’t look in the standalone freezer
in the basement.”
    Odessa studies my face for a
long time, and I know she’ll touch me soon. I prepare myself for the shock of
heat she causes when her warm fingers graze my skin.
    Odessa doesn’t disappoint.
Though I endure her touch better now, the hot ache in my gut followed by the
erection leaves me edgy and vulnerable. These are two dangerous qualities when
still facing a three-hour walk to reach the cabin before dark.

Chapter Twenty
    Odessa
     
     
    R elief washes over me once we
leave the outpost and gain enough distance from the pungent meat scent clinging
to the air. Ahead of me, Quill moves unflinchingly through the thick brush,
shoving aside low hanging tree branches. I struggle to keep up with his pace.
    The crunching of our footsteps
on dried leaves echoes through the woods, making me think people walk all
around us. Before I can adjust to all of the noise, the day goes silent. I
can’t even hear myself breathing in the cooling day.
    “Keep up,” Quill mouths to me.
    I speed up my pace, even as my
right leg throbs. Around me, the woods wake up. The crunching noise returns
along with what I think is growling. I stop more than once, feeling certain
something is directly behind me. Every time, I find nothing, even as the growling
circles me.
    “Odessa!” Quill calls out from
yards ahead of me. “Keep up!”
    Nodding, I walk again and
ignore the growling. Even when I hear what sounds like animals running nearby,
I don’t stop.
    The wind picks up around me,
throwing leaves and dirt in my eyes. I don’t think I hesitate. I’m certain I’m
still walking. Except at some point, I find myself standing alone in the woods.
    The dancing leaves distract me
from worrying about where Quill went. The wind’s power remains silent, though
the voices return. They tell me how I was born with fanfare and welcoming
faces, but I’ll die alone and unloved.
    I feel someone holding my hand
and turn to find Athena staring up at me. Her face is just as I remember her
from the day she died. Her hair is in short pigtails. Her clothes are covered
in blood.
    “I didn’t want to die,” she
says in a singsong voice.
    My mind struggles against the
power of the Lost Highway’s tricks. I think I take a step forward, but I’m
unsure if I do. The woods’ fury switches back on, and the intensity deafens me.
The voices laugh. The animals growl. Athena squeezes my hand. Through it all,
I’m powerless to flee.
    Suddenly in front of me, Quill
shakes me hard enough to break the fog. His angry face is a relief, and I reach
for him.
    “Eat this,” he says, shoving
something into my mouth.
    “I’m not hungry.”
    Chewing the little bite, I
struggle to understand what I taste. The flavor rushes back a long dead memory
of enjoying Skittles with Athena. We ate them until the sugar gave us a
giggling high.
    Focusing on Quill, I smile. He
nods at my reaction and then leans down until our gazes are level.
    “Night is coming. We need to
run if we want to reach the cabin before the darkness reaches us.”
    “My leg is…”
    “No, it’s not. The Lost Highway
doesn’t work that way. You aren’t