CHAPTER THREE

It was raining again. The rhythmic swoosh of the wipers and the driving beat of the rain were the only sounds within Alec’s truck.  Tori glanced sideways at Alec. He kept his eyes on the road ahead as he drove, his mouth set in a grim line. He was handsome. She never noticed that before about him. It was an odd thought to be struck with considering everything that was going on but there it was. His hair was coal black and wavy, he had dark eye lashes and under his t-shirt you had a sense that his muscles were toned. He was tall too...Another detail that had just come to her attention. In fact, now that she was thinking about it he was probably the tallest man she had seen in The Cove since her return.

She herself was tall for a woman at five foot ten but next to Alec who stood at six foot five, she felt tiny...Her hair was a reddish brown and whip straight, her eyes which she thought of as her best feature were a clear grey...a former lover once told her they looked silver in a fit of poetic passion, and framed by thick lashes. Where Alec was darker in skin tone she was fair...At one time her figure would been called waif like but since the attack she put on weight and now looked plumper...She sighed.

“Did you forget something? I can turn around if you want” said Alec his attention immediately turning to her.

“No. No; I didn’t forget anything...At least I don’t think I did” she answered and thought silently to herself that she didn’t care if she had forgotten her tooth brush. At the moment the last thing she wanted was to go back to the house where the body of Hattie Bedo had lain.

She glanced over at Alec again and saw that he was looking at her. “What?” she asked pushing a stray hair behind her ear.

Before Alec could say anything a tree branch landed upon the hood of the truck startling them both and causing Alec to jerk the wheel as the remainder of the tree fell across the road; sending the truck into a fishtail. As it swerved more trees fell across the road.

Gripping the dash, Tori wondered if this was her last moments. And threw the blurring of the trees she thought she saw a black figure moving amongst the shadows..... Alec mean while was cursing as he fought to keep control of the truck. It spun several times then came to a screeching halt slamming them into the dash then back into their seats.

For a moment the silence reigns, like someone put the volume on mute. Then it all came thundering down on them. The rain and the wind clawed at the vehicle, the fallen trees shook and the others bowed almost to the ground.  Leaves stuck to the windows in such numbers it blocked out what little light there was.  “Alec?” she asked turning to look at him.

Alec was slumped over the wheel. Blood trickled from his forehead and pooled onto his pant leg. With a shaking hand Tori reached out to touch him, “Alec? Alec, are you ok?” For a second he said nothing then he groaned.

“What...what happened?” he asked groggily as he sat up and looked over at her with unfocused eyes.

“We, ah we spun...a tree hit us” she answered looking out the windshield.

“You’re bleeding” he said with a frown as the disorientation receded. 

“What?” she said in confusion and lifted her hand to her head. When she brought it back down it was smeared with blood. “Shit” was all she could think to say. A shadow passed above them and then something heavy landed on top of the truck, denting the roof inwards. Both of them looked up and then at each other. “What the fuck was that?” she asked allowed to no one in particular as she peered out the window fearfully.

“It was probably another tree branch...” said Alec unconvincingly. “We should get out of here before another tree decides to keel over....”

“Yeah, good idea” agreed Tori who was still looking around nervously.

Throwing the truck into reverse, Alec backed it up and swung it around narrowly missing another felled tree. Muttering under his breath he peeled out of there and sped towards another back road only to have another tree fall in their way.  Icy fear took hold of Tori as again and again their path was blocked...It was as if Mother Nature herself was conspiring against them...

“Hang on!” instructed Alec as he put the gas pedal to the floor and jerked the wheel sharply to the right. Bouncing on what was a rough road meant for quads or ski doo’s in the winter they just missed being hit as a large pine collapsed behind them. Glancing behind them Alec gave a joyful whoop and hit the steering wheel in victory.

The elation only briefly lasted for Tori. “How far in does this go?” she shouted over the noise of the engine and the howling wind.

“All the way to my house; the trail starts just beside my place. We’re all right Tori!” he said with a crooked grin.

She badly wanted to believe him but the icy feeling of uneasiness had seeped into her bones and she couldn’t help but think that there was something worse around the next bend......