“Are you ok? Aaron!” Calvin shouted before he could no longer hear Aaron.

Calvin slammed down the phone and ran to the bottom of the stairs.

“Sam! Sam! Sam! Sam! Sam!” Calvin shouted with all his might.

The door opened and Sam rushed down.

“What in the world is wrong with you?” he asked.

“I need your keys.”

“Why? You’re not going to go out.”

“I need to get Jiro. Aaron…something’s wrong.”

***

The wind slashed across her skin. Was she going to die tonight? Was he finally going to kill her tonight?

Cries seeped out from as she ran on and on with no clue to where she'd end up. Clumsily letting her legs tangle up Selina slipped onto her knees. She finally noticed how loud she was breathing and covered desperately holding her breath. She looked around in the dark for anywhere to hide. An abandoned cabin or house would have been fine, but she only had thin and thick trees.

Selina quickly crawled behind a log which sat behind a fat tree. She hoped it would hide her from sight. As she heard her own whimpers she placed her other hand above the hand that was already over . What if he heard her? Had he come after her? Was he watching her right now? What was he going to do to her? Even the sound of her own breathing scared her. She felt more scared waiting for morning to come.

Suddenly she felt something go through her hair. It felt like spiders were weaving themselves through the strands. Selina frowned to herself then felt someone pull her hair.

***

Calvin opened his car door leaving it open. Sam who had gone after him ran back to close the door and chased Calvin into the police station. Calvin looked around wildly. The whole place was occupied. Officers ran back and forth, and customers shouted. Calvin’s heart felt as if it would fly out of him from distorted panic.

He ran forward and grabbed an officer.

“Do you know where Jiro is?”

“No.”

“Do you know where Jiro is?’

“I’m sorry, I can’t help you.”

“Sorry to bother you, but where’s Jiro?”

“I’m a little busy right now. Come back later, ok?”

Calvin frowned as his breaths became more rushed.

“Where in the world is Jiro?! Isn’t this a police station?! For God’s sake’s, someone just help me! My friend is dying!”

***

Jiro grabbed papers out of a folder that had been buried in a box under magazines. It had been typed up into small columns by someone. Jiro quickly skimmed through it and landed across a name.

“A family member who does not wish to be named stated that the last person her brother was with was manager of the small corp., Guo Yi.” Jiro read aloud.

Jiro thought to himself, “Guo Yi, Guo Yi.”

Jiro felt as if he was hit across the head by a bat. Guo Yi was the name that belonged to Selina’s step father. Was it the same person? Jiro thought back. When he first married Selina’s mother he did work in a corporation. It had to be him, Jiro was sure of it.

“Ella!” Jiro shouted. “Ella!”

Jiro began to look around for Ella, but didn’t find her anywhere. Going down the hall he heard loud shouting. Frowning, he hurried passed his office to see Calvin and Sam standing amongst a crowd yelling furiously.

“My friend is dying!” Calvin shouted.

“What’s going on?” Jiro interrupted.

Spotting Jiro, Calvin pulled himself out of the officer’s hands and hurried over. His hands landed on Jiro’s arms.

“Aaron called…he said someone’s going to kill Selina. I think they’re both dying…you have to save them. Please save them!” Calvin shouted with tears in his eyes.

Jiro frowned then turned around to see Ella hurrying toward him at just the right moment.

“Gather up the men. We have to move out quickly,” Jiro ordered. “I’ll notify you two when we run across Aaron.”

***

Selina screamed as she was pulled onto her back. She could feel herself being dragged as well as her head ache. He was really using her hair to drag her along.

A bunch of hair lay in his hands as he stared down at Selina. Because of her, he’d lost his job. Because she had hurt him, he had to go get medication from the hospital which caused him to be late to work and he was fired. Selina was the only one to be blamed.

“You stupid witch! You’re as cursed as your father!” he screamed and put his feet over her hair sprawled across the ground.

Selina lay there helplessly with her quiet sobs. Her head ached and her arms hurt from the many scratches she’d received.

“I’ll torture you some more before your death!” he shouted and grabbed her arm as he continued dragging her across the dirt, rocks, and sharp sticks.

Selina screamed feeling as if her arm would pop out from its socket. She could already imagine her dead body in her mind. They finally came to a stop somewhere.

“I hate you! I hate you! I hate you!” he screamed loudly and let a few gun shots into the air which caused Selina to jump from where she was on the ground.

She immediately covered her ears with her hands.

“Your father ruined my life! Stole your mother from me! Married her! Slept with her! But now that she’s finally mine it doesn’t make me feel any better. She doesn’t treat me the same! Why are you women all the same! Why?!” he screamed.

Selina kept her hands over her ears hoping she wouldn’t hear him scream anymore. Tears helplessly ran out from her eyes.

***

Jiro and squad cars came to a stop in the camping lot. Jiro took one look at the worn out van and the car which he believed belonged to Aaron. Turning away from them he hurried to the camp ground to find it empty of life. Was this where Guo Yi had attacked them? Jiro glanced around feeling his heart beat hard for the first time. He had been trained for these kind of situations but he’d never imagined that someone close to him would be put in danger. He had to admit he was beginning to feel afraid.

“Where do you think they went?” asked Ella coming next to him.

“Sir! There’s a bullet over here!”

Ella and Jiro rushed over to the officers.

“Put that in a bag. We’ll keep it for evidence,” Ella ordered.

“They must have gone down that way.” Jiro pointed toward the hiking trail.

“Lets keep on moving!” Ella shouted.

Jiro found himself staring ahead at the dark woods. An officer handed him a flashlight.

“Would they have really gone through here?” Jiro asked himself. “I’m afraid it might take longer than expected to find them.”

“Lets just keep moving. In these situations we shouldn’t think too much. Even if we’re too late, we’ll get to their bodies eventually…and eventually track down the killer,” Ella said.

Jiro felt his heart sink. Selina couldn’t die and he wouldn’t let her or Aaron die. He hurried ahead.

“They wouldn’t have gone on the trail. It doesn’t make sense for them to follow a hiking trail,” Ella turned to look around, “they would have gone down this way.”

They traveled through the dark gloomy woods. Jiro felt more anxious and scared the more the woods got thicker and thicker. He could feel branches brush against his arms painfully. None of it mattered. Selina and Aaron must have run down this way and must have suffered more then what he was going through right now. How scared they must have been. Had their killer chased them down like animals? Were they even alive right now?

“Sir!” someone shouted.

Jiro frowned as he stepped out from beyond the forest after what seemed like an hour. Only 50 minutes since they’ve arrived at the camp site have passed by. Jiro glanced around at the empty buildings around.

“Should we spread out?” someone asked.

“No. Keep together. When we get something we can wait for another squat team to search around,” Jiro declared.

“Lets go up ahead then,” Ella suggested.

They half jogged and half ran. The group paused momentarily when they exited the woods. Jiro’s eyes opened in surprised when he spotted someone lying up ahead. Jiro ran ahead after glancing shining his flashlight at the figure. He first felt Aaron’s pulse discovering that it was weak.

“What are you doing?!” shouted Jiro feeling angry. “Call an ambulance!”

Calvin’s scared words chased themselves around in his head, “My friend is dying!”

Jiro spotted the cell phone that had been left open the ground. Aaron must have been too weak to carry on with the phone call. Jiro closed the phone and was about to get up when Aaron snatched his wrist.

“Selina…save her…he’s hurt her too much already…” Aaron muttered. “He’s treated her like an animal…don’t let her die…”

“I won’t,” Jiro assured. “The ambulance will come for you soon and they’ll notify Calvin and Sam.”

Jiro got up. He glanced all around him. Selina wouldn’t have gone back the way she had come and she wouldn’t have gone into any of the abandoned buildings. She would have gone beyond the woods behind the buildings…

“He…he dragged her down that way…” Aaron muttered.

Jiro turned back to look at him, “Keep him alive. The rest of you, come with me.”

***

He ran against the tree and kicked it angrily.

“Why do you have to do this to me?” Selina cried.

“Why?” he asked. “You’re asking me why?”

He laughed a loud with his face tilted up to the sky then turned back to Selina.

“Your father adored you most because you’re the oldest daughter. How can I not treasure his beloved?” he asked.

He squatted down and pulled Selina’s hair making her scream.

***

Jiro paused in his steps. He and Ella both looked around.

“He’s hurting her,” Jiro gripped his fist.

“It means they’re not too far away,” Ella pointed out.

Jiro sped up his pace. Ella and the others followed him.

***

He let go of Selina and hit her head with the of his gun.

“I want to torture you to the point where you’ll ask for death.” He bit his lip. “Then you can die with your new boyfriend.”

“Just kill me then,” Selina told him weakly.

“I wish I could,” he spat. “But I’ll let you suffer a bit more, then get rid of you.”

“Dad…dad…dad…” Selina cried.

“Don’t you call your father! You both are the same! I can never get rid of you both!” he screamed. “But don’t worry, I’ll kill you exactly the same way I killed him! I’ll treat you a gun shot, how does that sound?”

Selina closed her eyes as she clenched the dirt.

“After you die, I’m going to run away and ditch your mother. She’ll have to live in poverty for the rest of her life and raise your sisters alone,” he laughed, “your body will be left behind just like your father’s pathetic cop friend who didn’t even survive a minute of his beating.”

Her step-father let out another sickening laugh, “You look the same way your father did when he died, except he was surprised and you’re not. You two are pitiful sinners.”

He stepped on Selina’s hair again, “Now get ready to see your father in hell.”

He pointed the gun toward her head and Selina heard a gun shot. Selina jumped and covered her ears as she heard more than a dozen footsteps come running toward her. Someone picked her up and Selina opened her scared eyes.

“I’m so sorry! Selina, I’m so sorry!” Jiro had tears in his eyes.

Selina let out a loud sob as she put her hand over his arm.