分节阅读_54

  s that i, as a guest, was io see. it was getting dark, i
  realized, the ally returning, piling up oern horizon,
  g an early suern sky was still clear, but graying,
  shh ink and e. i'd left my ja the
  d a sudden shiver made me s tightly ay chest. a
  single van passed me, ahe road ty.
  the sky suddeher, and, as i looked over my shoulder to
  glare at the offending cloud, i realized with a shock that two men were
  walkiy feet behind me.
  they were from the same group i'd passed at the er, though her
  was the dark one who'd spokeurned my head forward at once,
  quig my pace. a chill that had nothing to do with the weather made
  me shiver again. my purse was on a shoulder strap and i had it slung
  ay body, the way you were supposed to wear it so it would
  snatew exactly where my pepper spray was — still in my duffle
  bag uhe bed, never unpacked. i didn't have muey with me, just
  a twenty and some ones, and i thought about ”atally” dropping my
  bag and walking away. but a small, frightehe bay
  mi they might be somethihieves.
  i listeheir quiet footsteps, which were much too quiet
  whehe boisterous hey'd been maki
  didn't souhey were speeding up, ao me.
  breathe, i had to remind myself. you don't know they're following you. i
  ued to walk as quickly as i could without actually running,
  fo the right-hand turn that was only a few yards away from me
  now. i could hear them, staying as far back as they'd been before. a blue
  ed o from the south and drove quickly past me. i
  thought of jumping out in front of it, but i hesitated, inhibited, unsure
  that i was really beihen it was too late.
  i reached the er, but a swift gla it was only a
  blihe ba. i was half-turned in
  anti; i had to hurriedly d dash across the narrow
  drive, back to the sidewalk. the street ehe er, where
  there siged o footsteps behind me,
  deg whether or not to run. they souher back, though, and i
  khey e in any case. i was sure to
  sprawling if i tried to go ahe footfalls were definitely
  farther back. i risked a quiy shoulder, and they were
  maybe forty feet baoith relief. but they were b
  at me.
  it seemed to take fet to the er. i kept my pace
  steady, the men behind me falling ever so slightly farther behind with
  every step. maybe they realized they had scared me and were sorry. i saw
  tw north pass the iion i was heading for, and i
  exhaled ihere would be more people arou off this
  deserted street. i skipped around the er with a grateful sigh.
  aop.
  the street was lih sides by blank, doorless, alls.
  i could see iaerses dowlamps, cars,
  arians, but they were all too far away. beging
  agaiern building, midway dow, were the other two
  men from the group, both watg with excited smiles as i froze dead on
  the sidewalk. i realized then that i wasn't being followed.
  i was being herded.
  i paused for o it felt like a very lourned
  then ahe other side of the road. i had a sinking feeling
  that it was a t. the footsteps behind me were louder now.
  ”there you are!” the boomihe stocky, dark-haired man
  shattered the i and made me jump. ihering darkness,
  it seemed like he was looking past me.
  ”yeah,” a voice behind me, making me jump again as i
  tried to hurry dow. ”we just took a little detour.”
  my steps had to sloas g the distaween myself and
  the lounging pair too quickly. i had a good loud sd i su
  air, prepari my throat was so dry i wasn't sure how much
  volume i ah a qu