She had lost all feeling, all thought, other than the fear and desperation that even now spurred her to move faster then she ever thought possible. She raced through the trees, rain making her progress difficult, night making it deadly. But she ran heedless, without direction. All she knew was that she had to move, had to get away, as quickly and as far as she could. She didn’t know how long she’d been running, it seemed forever but she couldn’t stop, not yet, they were still too close. Her lungs burned, her breathing came in gasps, but she didn’t stop and she didn’t slow. What terror she found in these woods was nothing compared to the terror that lay behind her, that even now drew closer as exhaustion inevitably slowed her down. But she wouldn’t let them catch her.

She put on another burst of speed, down to her last reserves. A dark shadow loomed before her; she couldn’t help the strangled cry that escaped her lips. Rough bark tore at her clothing, a stray twig drawing blood as she dodged the tree that had suddenly appeared in her path. Her whole body trembled with exhaustion and pain, the cuts and abrasions were nothing compared to the deep agony that contorted her stomach. It would be enough in normal circumstances to have even her writhing in pain, but it didn’t matter now. She felt like she was dying, and she probably was, but that didn’t matter either. All that mattered was getting away, getting them safe. Her arms tightened reflexively around the bundle in her arms, her body instinctively bent over to protect it.

She didn’t even see what it was that brought her inevitable downfall. In mid-stride her foot caught on a hidden obstacle, bringing her to the ground violently. As her last desperate act she twisted her body as she fell taking the full impact of the fall. She made no sound as she fell; only the small sound of her head hitting a barely buried rock upset the still silence of the woods.

Pain exploded in her head and bright sparks flashed before her eyes. She couldn’t draw air into her lungs and her vision began to blur. Only then did tears begin to trickle down her face, mingling with the rain. The despair she had been holding back with all her might began flooding her body. It overtook and overwhelmed her as she felt her vision dim and her consciousness retreat. She fought the darkness that was reaching for her with all her remaining strength. But ultimately, it proved too little and the darkness smothered her in its embrace. Her last thought was to the fate of the precious bundle still tucked in her embrace.

Only when the woman’s body began to cool and the rain strengthened its assault did the cloth covered bundle begin to move.

Only as stillness permeated the dark woods did it start to cry.

The wail echoed through a forest that didn’t seem to care, through rain that didn’t seem to notice and through darkness that was both its friend and its greatest foe.

Maybe it was capricious luck or maybe it was divine fate. But the hunters couldn’t find either of their prey. Though they searched throughout the night and as far into the dawn as they dared, neither could be found. And soon, they left; though their hunger was unsated, their greed was equally undeterred. They had not lost all that night. They contented themselves with the prey they had caught not dwelling too long on the prey that had escaped.

It seemed Fate may have been lending her a hand after all, as it was not the hunters that heard the child’s mournful wailing but a Trucker passing by. His hands trembled as he held the radio, fighting to keep his voice steady as he talked. He might be a Trucker and a bigger man than most ought to be, but he wasn’t stupid. When you heard strange sounds coming from the side of a highway in remote woodland, you called someone else to go into its shadowy depths to investigate, preferably someone with a gun.

The local Sheriff didn’t take long to arrive. Normally reports of unusual noises coming from the woods would require a leisurely, take your time, approach. Most other Sheriffs after all had much better things to do. But this was a remote area and there just weren’t any ‘better things to do’. So he’d grabbed his holster and left quickly.

As he drew up he saw the Trucker waiting nervously by his truck. There was something unnerving about seeing a guy as big and as tough as he was appear to be trying desperately not to cross himself.

“So what’s this all about?” The Sheriff called.

“It’s coming from over there.” The Trucker pointed off to his right. The Sheriff squinted into the shadows formed by the towering trees that came right up against the side of the road. He couldn’t hear anything so he walked closer, stopping just short of the edge of the trees, listening intently. That’s when he heard it. A faint noise was carried by the wind, it sounded like a soft cry. It was like nothing he had ever heard before; eerie. He started toward the trees cautiously, loosening his gun in his holster. The trucker fell into step behind him as they followed the noise into the woods.

“It was a bathroom stop; almost zipped up the family jewels when I heard it. Eerie ain’t it? You ever heard anything like it?” The Trucker whispered from his place behind the Sheriff.

“Ah… sure.” The Sheriff murmured. He was listening as hard as he could, trying to follow the sound. As they got closer, the sound become louder and he corrected his path to take him closer.

“Hey that sounds like a-” The Trucker began. That’s when they saw her. She lay on the ground pale as a ghost, dark hair completely obscuring her features. But it wasn’t the woman that caught their attention it was the cloth-covered bundle that was moving on her chest transfixing them.

“Baby.” The Sheriff replied finishing the Trucker’s sentence. He crouched down and tentatively reached for the cloth, pulling it gently aside. The crying stopped suddenly as the baby seemed to take in its new surroundings. The two men stared at the baby, speechless.

“What’s a woman and her baby doing all the way out here?” The Trucker asked finally finding his voice. “Hey… you don’t think she’d dead do you?” The Sheriff sighed and reached down to check the woman’s pulse, his expression grim.

His head jerked up a moment later and he looked to the Trucker. “Go back, call the deputy Sheriff and get him to get an ambulance here ASAP.” The Trucker nodded and turned around only to turn back again before he’d taken a step.

“That means she’s alive right?”

The Sheriff stared at him for a moment, his silence drew long and even the woods seemed to be waiting for the answer.

“Barely.” The Sheriff confirmed, “Now go.” With a quick nod the big man pivoted once again and made his way back to the road and his truck.

The Sheriff bent over the woman to pick up the small baby who had begun to cry again. It was tiny in his arms and so very light. The Sheriff shrugged out of his jacket and transferred the child to its warmth.

“Well aren’t you a brave boy.” The Sheriff murmured. He crouched down next to the woman again, brushing the hair from her face. She was no one he recognised and he knew practically every one within a hundred miles in any direction. He was sure if she’s visited town recently he would have recognised her; she was a pretty thing, even with the deathly paler.

There wasn’t much he could do for her so he let her be, she had lasted this long.

“-about ten hours old.”

“She gave birth in the woods?”

“No, she and the baby have both been cleaned up. The umbilical cord was cut and tied with medical precision. There was nothing primitive about the circumstances surrounding the baby’s birth.”

“Then how did she end up in the woods? There aren’t any hospitals in there that I know of.”

“No need to get snippy Sheriff, you’re the one who should know how she got there, not me.” There was a brief pause in the conversation.

“Can you tell me anything that may hint how she got there?”

“I think the more pertinent question Sheriff is how she survived there. In all likelihood she gave birth last night, presumably only hours before she went racing through the woods.”

“Racing?”

“She has cuts and lacerations covering her entire body, I can only assume she ran with speed, if you care to correct my choice of words…”

“I was only questioning whether she ran at all. It seems inconceivable she could even walk that soon after giving birth let alone run.”

“Mothers can do amazing things when their child is in peril.”

“Peril from what?”

“…You don’t expect me to answer that do you?” There was again another pause.

“How either of them managed to survive seems a miracle.”

“Well it is the time of year for those sorts of things, Sheriff.”

“Do you always have to be so…”

The men’s voices faded as unconsciousness again took her.

The next time she woke she had the unfortunate experience of staying that way. Everything hurt; she hadn’t thought it possible but even her eyebrows ached. She heard someone moving beside her bed and she opened her eyes, blinking at the sudden brightness. Watching almost unseeingly as a nurse went about her business, fiddling with tubes and dials and other things that bleeped. She waited for understanding to return, but she found nothing, her mind was blank.

Except for one niggling thing…

The Nurse bent over her to adjust her drip and gave a strangled scream as the hand of the previously unconscious patient wrapped itself around her neck.

“My baby. Tell me where my baby is.” The Nurse struggled for a moment before managing to break out of the iron grip at her throat and step away from the bed.

The Nurse paused for only a moment, “He’s in the neo-natal ward. Its just three doors down, we don’t have very much hospital out here.” The Nurse replied while still attempting to get her breath back.

“Left or right?”

“Huh?”

“Three doors down, left or right?” The Nurse watched warily as the woman sat up and attempted to pull the blankets covering her aside before finally realising what the woman was trying doing.

“Oh no you don’t! You lay right back down, I’ll get the Doctor and then I’ll bring your baby in here so you can see him.”

“I see him now.” The woman said gritting her teeth as she pulled the drip from her arm. The Nurse took a hesitant step forward but remembering the previous attack stopped mid-stride. Instead she settled back to her previous position and only watched as the woman stood up. Poised ready to jump in if the woman looked as if she was going to fall the Nurse waited to see what would happen.

“Want me to get a wheelchair?”

“No.”

“Right…” The Nurse shifted her weight back and forth, watching as the woman finally freed herself from the bed.

“Is that turn right or just right?”

“Huh? Oh no that was just right as in… oh heaven help me… You turn left at the door. You’ll know when you find the ward; it has a sign on it saying-”

“’Neo-Natal Ward’ got it.”

“Ah no, actually it says ‘Burns Ward’. Everyone knows where the Neo-Natal ward is so we never really bothered to change the sign.” The Nurse shrugged, it was a fact that always seemed to put the city slickers out but this woman didn’t bother to reply. Instead she just turned left once she got to the door. The nurse hurried to walk behind her watching the woman with hawk eyes, ready to steady her if she faltered.

“I told you he was just fine.” The Nurse said to the woman as she stood looking down at her precious baby.

“No, you didn’t.”

“I didn’t?” The Nurse rubbed her throat, “You must have really put me off, with the strangling and all…”

“I’m sorry.”

“Don’t worry about it.” The Nurse replied with a quirk of a smile. “You were just worried about your bub.” The woman bent to pick her baby up.

“Is he really O.K?”

“Yeah, Doctor says he’s fine, surprising considering all that’s happened. He’s one tough little fellow.” The woman stood rocking her child gently, completely taken with him. Finally she looked up at the Nurse.

“Exactly what did happen?”

“That’s something we were waiting for you to tell us. What is the last thing you remember?”

The woman shook her head. “I’m coming up blank.”

“That’s O.K, what with the trauma you suffered, it’s not unexpected to forget some things about last night.”

“I mean everything is coming up blank.”

“You mean…”

“I can’t remember anything. The only thing I know is this child is mine and anybody who wants to get in the way has a better chance of playing golf on the moon.”

The Doctor cleared the woman and her baby to go home after a few days. The only problem of course being that she didn’t have a home to go to, or at least one that she remembered. The Sheriff, being one of those people who couldn’t let go of a puzzle, offered his home for her to stay in. The Sheriff’s wife, a little preoccupied keeping up with the numerous brood she had already, was nonetheless just as accepting of the strange little family. A family; who were strangers as much to themselves, as they were to the inhabitants of the small town.

The man mused that the second half of his life was shaping up to look like an encore to his first. Fate seemed to be serving him a second helping of the same life story and he wasn’t finding the walk down memory lane nostalgic. This time around patience was not his friend. Nor did it seem to be on friendly terms with the man pacing in front of him. In fact, ignition seemed only seconds away.

A fist slammed down onto the desk in front of him, making it vibrate on its legs. “Cooperate!”

Twelve seconds. The irritated man’s tolerance did appear to be shortening, which was really the only satisfaction the man had. When one was handcuffed to a chair you had to find it where you could… though his wife could definitely put this whole captured prisoner scenario in a different light, sadly, she was… well he didn’t know where she was and that uncertainty was driving him slowly insane. He could only take comfort in the fact that they were bursting his ear drum with only one question… Where is she?

An answer he didn’t know nor was he just right at this minute capable of finding out. But he knew without a doubt, wherever she was, that’s where he was going to be – just as soon as he got out of these cuffs, and above the tons of concrete over his head and away from these men who had no concept of what a soul’s used for. In the mean time all he could do was amuse himself by counting the seconds of the steeply declining patience of his interrogator.

Three weeks ticked by, one day following its parent with much the same pattern.

With her memory still one big blank sheet and her identity no closer to being solved, her life stayed stuck in limbo. Her days were filled with the needs of her little boy, and though those times were a joy, in between there were many breaks of silence. Her mind inevitably went to the blank gaps in her memory, like a loose tooth she couldn’t help jiggling. The Doctors had told her she couldn’t force it, had even warned her that she may never know. But she couldn’t accept that. She couldn’t ignore the pulse of urgency that flooded her veins. She needed her memory and she needed it now.

Gritting his teeth the man forced the blackness back. Deep breaths see sawed through his open mouth.

Another electroshock came. He clamped down on the scream that was clawing its way up his throat.

The pain finally subsided into a throbbing ache and he went back to trying to breathe without passing out.

Vague sounds echoed around him, people talking. At one point he thought they might be addressing him but he didn’t bother to lift his head.

Closing his eyes he brought into the centre of his mind the image that had sustained his thus far.

He only had to hold out a little while longer, just a few days more and he would be with them again.

He had a plan; it was all worked out to the finest detail. He only had to survive this latest inducement and he would be with them again.

He had to believe that.

The dreams were the worse part. Yet she prayed for them every evening before she went to bed.

Men in dark suits raced through her dreams, chasing her, trying to catch her and her son. They got so close she could feel their breath on her neck, their fingers grabbing onto her clothes. Those dreams had her waking with such fear she would spend the rest of the night beside her son’s basinet, her eyes watching the windows and doors, ready to pick him and flee at the slightest flicker of movement in the night outside.

After each night filled with those dreams she hoped for her memory to return and with each dream she wondered whether she really wanted to know.

Then, there were the other dreams. Dreams she found harder to hold on to, they were like wisps of smoke shifting constantly out of her grasp. Details were lost upon waking as if they were mist, burnt off by the rise of the sun. These dreams also had a common theme; one man. Dark haired, with equally dark eyes, she could never quite see his face – it remained indistinct like she was viewing it through deep water.

All she knew was, one dream made her tremor in fear and the other in longing.

Watching her son one day as he lay in his basinet, she thought she could see a resemblance between him and the dark haired man from her dreams, vague though those images were. His father perhaps? It would make sense. But then, where was he? Was he dead? There was no denying the ache that pierced her chest at the thought. A feeling mixed with more than just sadness at her son being without a father.

The pain was like a living thing inside him, trying to rip his body apart, but he moved on anyway. He knew what waited for him if he faltered. And he knew what waited for him if he could just keep going. His wife, his son… they were worth everything to him and the only reason he kept putting one foot in front of the other.

Soon the sound of dogs barking filled the air and he pushed on faster, attempting a jerking run. His head turned every few steps but the sound of dogs remained distant. He should have enough time to get far enough away to escape. He had planned it all so well.

And so far, his plan was working.

She had had no plan to begin with, and then adapted her plan to seeing what turned up. Neither gave her relief from the heavy blankness of her memory. The Sheriff had exhausted all avenues, though discrete in his enquiries due to the likelihood she had met with foul play. No missing person’s reports matching her description, no abandoned vehicles located in the area. She seemed to have just appeared in the woods with a child and no history. The town had taken to calling her Eve and her son Adam. She thought the townspeople enjoyed their own cleverness a little too much but tolerated the name as it came along with warm welcomes and open houses. Her shock at the ease with which these people interacted with each other; walking in and out of each others homes, businesses and lives with equal aplomb made her suspect she hadn’t grown up in a small town.

Every evening after supper had been cleared off the dinner table she would sit with her son on her lap and the Sheriff would bring something out of his box of tricks.

Tonight it was a map of America. He recited every town, district, region or state in the United States of America. After every pause she had the same answer ‘No’, no it didn’t mean anything to her, no it didn’t ring any bells and no she didn’t know if she’d ever been there. The Sheriff, a man used to things taking a long time, only persevered.

Smothering a yawn beneath her palm she looked out the kitchen window at the rain falling in the stormy night, the Sheriff’s voice fading to a background hum. A flash of lightening lit the sky. Her breath stalled and her heart jerked in her chest as she saw a figure illuminated in that instance. Her son started to cry on her lap, either sensing the fear that was now clogging his mother’s veins or from the noise of the thunder that reverberated off the kitchen tiles.

Another flash of lightening hit, only a minute or so after the first, this one was stronger and the night was lit even brighter. She saw the figure again, only this time she saw the protruding limbs – it was only a tree. The relief was heady but short lived. There was a reason she examined the face of everyone she met, a reason she avoided any tourists or strangers in town; she wasn’t just any amnesia patient. She was an amnesia patient who knew someone was after her. She just didn’t know who or why.

Rain had long ago soaked right through his clothes. Now it ran in rivulets down his hair and into his face but he still couldn’t stop looking. He had hoped she would have moved further, hidden herself and their son more carefully. But at the same time he was relieved to find them so quickly - in practically the same place he had last seen them. The urge to go to her was so strong he could barely contain it. He could see them so clearly through the window. His son snuggled in her lap, her dark hair shining in the overhead light. A slightly older man sat across from her looking intensely at something on the table. His family was so close and yet it seemed like they occupied another world. He had pictured them so clearly in his mind the last few weeks he doubted whether they were even real. His escape, finding them, it could so easily be another pain induced fantasy his mind indulged.

An idea he would put more weight in if it wasn’t for the pain that made his body throb in insistent beats. His fantasies were the one place where the pain receded, where he had a few moments of relief. Here and now the pain was no background hum.

Thunder boomed around him and the reality of the storm finally began to seep into his foggy mind. He was looking down at himself at the moment of the next lightening flash; he saw dark clothes and pale skin and water tracking down his skin. Rivulets of red were mixed in with the water that trailed down his arm and he knew he couldn’t face his family in this state. Trembling from cold and shock, wracked with pain and bleeding; he couldn’t let them see him like this.

In the morning, in the light of day, cleaned up and having swallowed a few pain tablets to dull the worst of the pain.

Then he would be ready.

The sheets tangled around her as she twisted on the bed. Her body trying in vain to force her mind free of the web of dreams intertwined with memory that held her trapped it their grip. This dream was more disturbing than all the others, in this she was one of the dark suits. She was the one who chased, who felt the thrill of the hunt, and liked the scent of fear.

In her hand she carried a gun, one that felt like an extension of her arm, so natural, so soothing.

In her mind she saw herself aim it, saw the dark haired man she was convinced was her son’s father stare at her in horror, at the other end of the muzzle.

She felt the recoil as it fired, heard the bang that sounded so loud in her ears.

Saw him fall… saw the blood.

He didn’t move, she felt like she’d stood there a century, but he didn’t move.

White gauze peaked out from beneath his sleeve. He tugged the sleeve of his jacket back over it, shifting gingerly in his seat. He wouldn’t be able to hide the extent of his pain from her forever but he didn’t want her first impression of him to be he’d just walked out of emergency.

From his car he watched the residence of the local Sheriff. He knew the Sheriff had taken her in, knew it had been him last night sitting at the table. Doubts deluged him about how to approach her. It would be better to get her alone but he’d already gathered there was always someone with her. To attempt to manipulate a clandestine meeting would probably do more harm than good.

In the end, he’d decided on a simple but effective way to reunite with his family.

He got out of his car, walked up the steps and rang the door bell.

The party, while only entertaining a bit over a dozen of the Sheriff’s friends and family, still managed to create the energy of a gathering twice its size.

She rocked her son in her arms, as people chattered around her. It was the Sheriff’s thirtieth wedding anniversary and people were celebrating. She had never felt quite connected to any of the people, though everyone had been nothing but generous to her. She suspected that the feeling would remain as long as she was disconnected from herself. Now more than ever she wished for the memories that made her who she was. Yet she equally feared it, because after last night’s dream she wasn’t sure she would like the person she really was.

Thoughts darted through her mind like she had a thousand pinball machines jammed in her head with an unlimited supply of coins. The more she tried to make sense of it all the more confusion pulled her under.

A hand touched her elbow and she realised the Sheriff’s teenage daughter had been trying to get her attention.

“There’s someone here for you?”

“For me?”

The red headed girl nodded and pointed back toward the house.

She blinked, maybe it was not so much that she had lost her memory as her mind, as she thought she was seeing the dark haired man from her dreams walk out the back door and onto the porch. She blinked but his image stayed, in fact it only got closer as he traversed the backyard.

She shook her head, no, it couldn’t be him.

She’d seen him die in her dreams, dreams too detailed to be anything but memory.

Died… by her hand.

He tried to breathe through the lump in his throat but found it almost impossible. There they were, just feet away, finally after he thought he may never see them again. Euphoria burned a course through his body, pushing aside the lingering pain. He’d found them.

“Parker?” His voice came out a little hoarse.

He watched her closely, indeed at that moment he saw nothing else. He knew her eyes, had seen them in every shade of blue; lit with anger, darkened with sadness or glowing with affection… yet he’d never seen them like this – blank. She looked at him as if she was looking at a stranger.

“Is that my name?” She asked her voice soft. He blinked not quite able to comprehend the question. While his brain tried to catch up the rest of him was revelling in just hearing her voice again. It felt like so long since they’d been together.

“What do you mean?” He finally asked staring into her eyes as if they would provide all the answers. They always had, yet he saw no signals from her to say this was a cover and he should play along.

“Lassie here has amnesia.” The voice almost made him jump. He turned to the side and saw the Sheriff himself had joined them “I’m assuming you know her, which is handy, because then you can tell the rest of us. Eve’s been a bit of a mystery - not the least of which it seems - to herself.”

“Eve?”

“Well we had to call her something.” The Sheriff stood at ease, his hands resting on his waist, as if he saw these cases once a month.

“Amnesia?” He looked back at her. In her eyes he saw no recognition, no immediate and unspoken understanding. He didn’t think he’d forgotten what his wife looked like so amnesia would make some sense. “I thought the name commonly used was Jane.”

The Sheriff appeared to be giving the question serious consideration and looked as if he was about to enter into what would probably be a lengthy discussed on how the townspeople had named her Eve. As if it wasn’t quite obvious enough.

“Who am I?” He turned back as she spoke, “Who am I to you?”

He looked at her closely, for the first time getting some idea of what it would be like to meet her for the first time as an adult instead of having known her almost all his life. Emotion stirred in his chest, either way she moved him like no one else. “You’re my wife.”

She smiled at him, a quick flash of white teeth. A smile less about joy at being his wife than it was an acknowledgment of receiving a piece of her identity he suspected. “I dreamt of you, but I don’t know your name.”

“My name is Jarod.” She appeared to study him intently and despite the protest in his ribs he attempted to stand upright and with as much ease as he could manage. It appeared he would be answering enough questions as it was, questions about possible injuries could be left to another time.

The baby squirmed in her arms and she startled suddenly as if she had forgotten she was holding him. Jarod’s body trembled with the force it took to stay still and non-threatening instead of taking both of them in his arms. He tried his best to see through the blankets his son was wrapped in but only got the barest glimpse of pink skin. A pale pink compared to the angry red he’d been when he had first seen him as a newly born child disturbed from his private playground.

She stared down at the son in her arms for a long time, as if in thought. “He is…?” She looked up to look at him with a question in her eyes.

“Our son.” He replied, as she looked back at the child he continued, “His name is Jeremy.”

“Jeremy.” She stretched out his name as if testing it on her tongue. A small smile softened her features. “I hadn’t given him a name. He was just mine, my boy. But I like it, it suits him.”

“It should, you chose it.”

She brushed the blankets back from Jeremy’s face, and Jarod got his first real look at his son. Jeremy squirmed in his mother’s arms before his lips pursed and his eyes opened. They were the most stunning blue and Jarod felt his breath stick in his throat.

“Can I hold him? I missed him.” His voice had become hoarse again. She seemed to hesitate, but in the next instance was moving forward. As she neared he could smell her perfume, Jeremy’s little arms waved in the air as if protesting his disturbance.

Jarod brought him close to his chest and it was as if he was holding him for the first time all over again. The first time had been all too short and rushed. Now he looked his fill. Already he seemed bigger, how he could have grown so fast in just a few weeks seemed beyond his comprehension.

“I need answers.” Jarod looked up at her question with no concept of how long he’d been staring at his son. He attempted to smile at Parker but her eyes were cold and sombre. “I dreamt of you.” She continued her gaze almost uncomfortably direct, “I dreamt I killed you.”

“Well obviously that was just a nightmare, as you can see your husband is here safe and sound.” The Sheriff tried to reassure her, but she didn’t give any indication she heard him, her eyes never shifting from Jarod.

“It wasn’t my imagination.” She insisted.

“No.” Jarod agreed. “You did kill me.” He rocked Jeremy in his arms but didn’t drop his eyes from Parker’s steady gaze.

“Somehow I don’t think I’ll be able to make a murder charge stick in court, Evie.” The Sheriff said, as if to lighten the challenge that seemed to be playing back and forth between the husband and wife.

“How? Why?” Parker’s voice was soft but clear.

The Sheriff shifted his stance. He wasn’t used to being ignored in quite such an obvious way but was too interested in the conversation to stand back and pretend not to listen like the rest of his guests. This was one puzzle he was determined to unravel. Then he could go back to trying to find out who kept stealing the ‘Welcome to Langdon Town’ sign every time it was replaced.

“We needed to disappear. If I was dead, they wouldn’t be looking for me; if you did the killing they wouldn’t look so hard for you.”

“These people… who are they?”

“They’re dangerous, that’s all you need to know right now.”

“And the police can’t help because?”

“Because they are higher than the police.”

“Hey, no one is higher than justice.” For once complete seriousness radiated from the Sheriff and the utter belief was obvious.

Both Parker and Jarod looked to him for the first time, and the Sheriff straightened further. A long moment passed before finally the Sheriff interrupted the silence.

“Well, how about you two sit down and have something to eat?” The Sheriff directed them toward the tables that had been set up in the middle of the lawn, and they let themselves be reluctantly shepherded toward them.

A protest was on the tip of Jarod’s tongue; he had no idea if he’d been followed or how safe they were. But one sideways look at Parker and the words crumbled in his throat. Though she stood tall with her head up, he could see the fear in her, the uncertainty. He couldn’t drag her away so soon from the only place she had any memory of, especially while she was still deciding whether she could trust him.

“So the killing… was faked?” Jarod was surprised by the murmured question.

“Yes.” She sagged slightly and he realised she was relieved. Something else occurred to her though as she tensed only moments later.

“I’m one of them aren’t I?” Jarod pulled out one of the plastic chairs with one hand, the other still holding Jeremy close to his chest. Parker settled into the chair and Jarod pulled out a neighbouring seat.

“No.” Even he was surprised at the firmest of his voice. “You were never one of them.”

“But I did work for them.” She searched his eyes as if she would be able to read all her answers from them.

Jarod dropped his head with the excuse of looking at his son, wishing he could avoid the question. But he knew that though she may have lost her memories, she hadn’t lost her personality and stubborn was her middle name.

“Yes.” He finally answered reluctantly.

Others joined them at the table and platters of food began appearing.

“You look like such a handsome family.” An older woman sat across from them said, smiling warmly. Parker returned her smile briefly but he could tell she wasn’t particularly happy. He could relate.

Finding his wife suffering amnesia had never figured in his plans.

Her mind buzzed with so many thoughts she could barely catch one in ten. He said her name was Parker but it didn’t trigger any kind of feeling or recognition in her. He could have said her name was Santa Claus and she would feel just as much connection with it.

It was all so odd. The man was a stranger and yet a known one. Which wasn’t possible, but was how she felt; as if she didn’t recognise any of the outer coverings but knew the man underneath better than she knew herself. Which considering her current predicament was ironic.

Though her mind swarmed in circles the fact that she was comfortable with him holding her son… Jeremy… proved how much confidence she already held in him. She hadn’t let anyone hold Jeremy since she’d woken up in hospital. But watching Jarod now, even with the shadows under his eyes; the devotion, the love and tenderness was obvious. She knew without a doubt, with a certainty that almost scared her, that this man would never hurt their son. And her she added. Watching him closely she acknowledged that she didn’t fear him, not even a little. It was the answers he brought with him that scared her. Because she knew they wouldn’t be pretty.

He looked up from Jeremy and their eyes caught, his lips turned up at the corners as if trying to reassure her. How could she feel so connected to someone she didn’t know? Or at least, couldn’t remember.

So connected she could almost feel his thoughts. It was how she knew the moment something was wrong. He hadn’t tensed, hadn’t moved an inch, but his eyes darkened and something approaching anger rose in their depths. She reached over to catch one of her sons waving hands in hers, the connection reassuring, as she turned to follow Jarod’s gaze.

Her heart stuttered in her chest as she caught a glimpse of a tall man in a dark suit through the slats of the backyard fence. One of the neighbour’s teenaged sons was speaking to him. The man turned toward the gate as if to enter, the boy tried to get in the way though she could tell he was trying to appear casual. All the townspeople had been counselled by the Sheriff on what to do if any strangers showed up asking for her or acting suspicious; admit nothing, redirect them and get him. The man appeared determined, however, and the boy’s attempts didn’t appear to be enough.

“Hold him.” She started at the sound of Jarod’s voice and found Jeremy being placed in her arms. She automatically adjusted to his weight and fit him to her side. She blinked and found Jarod on his feet talking to the Sheriff. Shaking her head she realised she wasn’t in some nightmare, though it felt like one, she could move, she could react. And right now the situation desperately called for her to act.

She rose with Jeremy in her arms and walked toward the Sheriff. Jarod turned toward her and took her hand.

“We have to go.” She had barely tilted her head in a nod before he had turned toward the house, pulling her with him. She walked beside him, attempting to keep up with his brisk pace without jostling Jeremy too much. Looking back just as they entered the house, she saw all the other guests were on their feet. Though they were all still talking and looking relaxed she could sense the palpable air of tension that had suddenly infused them. As the dark suited man entered through the back gate she realised they were ever so casually shielding their exit from the intruder.

The dark interior of the house swallowed them as they walked through the back door. Jarod headed straight for the front door before stopping so suddenly she had to angle her body to the side so she didn’t squash poor Jeremy between them. Jarod turned toward her, his face grim. His arm went around her body as if instinctively.

“Is there another way out of here?” His words were low and she peered through the stained glass panels that ran along either side of the front door. She must have made a sound of distress because Jarod’s arms tightened around her shoulders.

She looked into his eyes and shook her head, “Only the front and back doors.”

Jarod looked through the glass again and she knew he was weighing all their options. She couldn’t help but follow his gaze. Her eyes unable to move from the man leaning against a black Lincoln town car parked in the Sheriff’s front driveway.

Voices suddenly rose in volume toward the back entrance of the house as if getting closer.

“This is a serious matter. This woman is dangerously unstable.” The voice sounded almost companionable as if trying to garner the Sheriff’s sympathy. The voice didn’t sound rough or cold or anything like she had imagined the monsters in her nightmares to sound like. Instead the voice caused a more complex reaction in her. The voice sounded familiar and she almost felt a sense of comfort at that, yet at the same time fear burned in her gut. Comfort and fear, it was a strange mix.

“And I wish I could help you.” The Sheriff appeared to be trying to stall the man’s entrance into the house without trying to be obvious about it and Jarod used those few seconds to pull Parker behind him and up the nearest flight of stairs. “But I haven’t had any reports about-”

“May I remind you, this woman has stolen a child,” Parker paused half way up the steps. The stairway twisted at a ninety degree angle and though the intruder couldn’t see them without looking straight up, they could hear him quite clearly as he stood directly below them, “She walked right out of the hospital with the boy, his poor parents are frantic. They don’t know what this mentally unstable woman will do to him.” Her eyes widened and her muscles refused to budge. “We have a priority to find her and the child before she can do him harm.”

“And I’d love to help you, like I said if you can send a description to my office-”

“I think you already know who I’m talking about.” Parker felt a pull against her arm and realised Jarod was trying to get her to move away. But she couldn’t, she had to hear more of what they were saying.

“I hope you’re not implying I’m hiding a fugitive from the law in my own house, especially someone who would steal a child.”

Parker couldn’t help it, her eyes turned to search Jarod’s as if they would tell her the truth. As if he understood the thoughts and doubts that were clambering inside her head, trying to claw their way out, his hand rose to hold her chin and he returned her gaze. She wished they could talk, that she could ask at least one of the questions that whirled frantically around her mind. But they were too close to the men below to risk talking.

Instead Jarod leaned forward and her sudden intake of breath was swallowed by his mouth on hers. He pulled back just as suddenly but she felt as if her world had just tipped back into balance. They’d married in the open air. The flash of memory was as surprising as it was brief. She took a moment to look down at the child in her arms and as she looked into his blue eyes she wondered how she could have ever doubted, even for a moment, that he wasn’t hers. She knew it wasn’t a fantasy of her mind. This child had rested and grown inside her for nine months, she had given birth to him with pain and joy. He would always be hers, even when he grew to adulthood and had a family of his own.

This time when Jarod’s hand pulled against hers she followed him up the stairs.

How they had found them he didn’t know. At this point it was irrelevant. He had to get his family safe. Yet again. It was a reoccurring pattern he was beginning to get tired of.

He moved them through the hall on the upper story, further away from the voices downstairs. The house wasn’t entirely gargantuan, indeed it was relatively small and he wondered how the Sheriff, his wife, three children and Parker and the baby had managed all these weeks.

Parker suddenly pulled on his arm and he let her redirect him into one of the rooms off the corridor. As soon as he entered he knew it was the bedroom she had been occupying. Though the quickest glance of the room revealed a basinet that confirmed his suspicion, it was the way the room smelled… and felt. Like her essence had permeated the walls, even in such a short stay. She dropped his hand and placed Jeremy in the middle of the bed before moving to open the wardrobe.

Leaving her to pack whatever belongings she needed he stalked to the window and looked out. It faced out to the side of the house and didn’t give him a view of the man out front. He had to think of a way out, one that avoided both the man downstairs and the man out front. His mind whirled like a card file shifting through one possible scenario after the other, but none ended with any chance of success.

Jeremy let loose a short cry and Jarod whipped around his heart pounding. If Jeremy started crying, they wouldn’t even have time for prayers before the intruder below found them. Parker leaned over Jeremy and though he could tell she held her body tenser than usual nothing was betrayed by her face as she smiled and cooed at Jeremy. He gurgled and wiggled his body in return but didn’t seem as if he would begin crying, which was a small miracle in itself. In fact he hadn’t heard Jeremy cry once since he’d arrived. It didn’t seem possible that Parker and His genes could combine to create a placid, contented baby but it seemed they had. God did indeed work in mysterious ways.

Jarod walked to the door of the room and shut it gently, there was no use testing God’s gift too far. When he turned around his eyes again went to the window, only this time he saw more than the lawn and curved drive in the distance. Walking closer he peered out the window. A smile began to form on his lips.

Images stirred in her brain as she watched Jarod’s smile, it was smug and satisfied and she had a feeling she had seen it many times before. Strangely though, she didn’t find it reassuring.

“I may not remember examples but I know that smile doesn’t bode well.” She commented.

Jarod turned toward her. “Think you’re up for a small bit of climbing?”

She felt her eyes widen in surprise. “We have Jeremy, Jarod, we can’t do anything stupid.”

“We don’t have many options.”

“Can’t we just hide here? The Sheriff will run them off eventually.” Jarod was already shaking his head.

“They’ve probably already begun searching the rooms below; we don’t have more than a few minutes before they come up here. We have to get out now.”

The tension that had dimmed somewhat once they were out of sight of the men below began to bubble in her veins once again. Oh God, what if they did get stuck up here and were caught? Her rational brain tried to intrude, the Sheriff was the law here, these men just couldn’t come into his home and drag off his guests. Yet that assumption felt as thin as tissue paper. Somehow she knew; Jarod was right, these men weren’t that easy to get rid of.

“Parker, I need you to trust me.”

A puff of laughter escaped her lips, “I barely know you!”

Her eyes must have closed briefly because the next time she opened them Jarod stood directly in front of her.

“You do know me. You know me better than anyone.” His gaze was steady and certain and she found herself trying, without success, to disbelieve him. Her palm rose of its own accord to rub against his stubbled cheek. His eyes drifted shut and he leaned forward until their foreheads rested together. Her eyes closed as she breathed in his nearness, in the undeniable connection she felt to him.

Darkness…

Fear…

The pounding of her heart in her chest…

Hot lancing pain in her abdomen…

Her eyes snapped open.

“What is it?” She was just beginning to respond to Jarod’s concern when she heard something far more disturbing than that brief flicker of… something. By the sudden intake of Jarod’s breath she gathered he had heard it to.

Stepping away from her quickly, he picked up the bag she had put together and stepped up to the window. Lifting it as quietly as he could the noise still made her wince.

Footsteps sounded in the hall and she didn’t pause to listen whether they were getting closer, instead she hastened to pick up Jeremy. He had fallen asleep on the bed and didn’t wake when she wrapped him up.

Jarod straddled the window ledge, one leg in and one out. She hurried to him and he helped her manoeuvre one of her legs over the window ledge. She looked down to see the roof of the garage a few feet below the bottom of the window. Once she was almost out of the window she passed Jeremy to Jarod and gently eased herself down onto the garage roof below. She had to fall the last foot or two and she tried to bend her knees and absorb the shock as much as possible. The resulting thump as she hit the roof still sounded like thunder in her ears. Reaching her arms up for their son she felt his comforting weight moments later.

A door opening had her heart racing and she looked up to Jarod. At the slight shake of his head, she realised it must have been one of the bedrooms next to hers. She tried to flatten herself against the house wall to make herself less visible to anyone looking out of the bedroom windows. After her eyes flashed to Jarod in a silent urge to hurry, she saw him lift his leg over the sill. His movements seemed hesitant as if he didn’t quite trust his body to hold up its end of the deal.

“We’ll be gone before you know it; we just have to be certain. Conduct a through investigation, you understand.” The voice was clear, even if it came through the wooden door and she resisted the urge to grab onto Jarod’s leg and pull. Jarod finally slid down off the ledge, closing the window behind him. He hung from his finger tips but didn’t attempt to let go. She could see the faintest tremor run through his body and although she couldn’t see his face something told her it pained him to hold his position. She remembered his tired eyes and wondered if it was caused by more than long travel. She placed her palm against his back, for some reason the thought that he might be in pain made her skin feel two inches too small for her body. She suspected he didn’t dare drop and risk the sound his landing would cause. Not a moment later the bedroom door opened.

“You don’t have a search warrant for these premises. I demand you leave.” The Sheriff sounded less than amiable and she got the impression he had already repeated the sentiment numerous time.

“Well, well. Your wife looked a bit beyond child bearing years and your daughters are a little too young. Do you have a guest staying? One with a child?”

“That basinet is a family heirloom; we keep it in the spare bedroom so it doesn’t get damaged. Do you want a tour of my other antiques? My wife has quite a collection.” The sarcasm fairly dripped from his words.

Her heart beat a frantic tattoo in her chest as she listened to the conversation only a few feet above her. She felt like a rabbit with a pack of hounds behind her.

Between one blink and the next the brilliant daylight was snuffed and darkness surrounded her. Not complete darkness, she could see shapes around her, large shapes. Her breath stuttered in her throat and she held her child closer to her chest. She had to run… but where? All that surrounded her in every direction was shades of darkness.

Thump.

She jumped; her body feeling like an electric pulse had just passed through it.

Her eyes blinked rapidly as light flooded them. With a shake of her head she forcibly brought herself back to the present. She turned to find Jarod standing next to her and she realised the thump had been his landing on the roof. The tightness around his mouth confirmed her theory he was in some pain and by the aggrieved expression in his eyes his release of the sill hadn’t been entirely his choice. She was tempted to demand a list of his possible injuries but now wasn’t quite the time for explanations.

“That window doesn’t open.” The sound of the Sheriff’s voice had them both looking up at the window above their heads.

“I heard something.”

“Probably a bird.”

They saw the shadow of a man appeared at the window and her heart stopped as she figured all was lost. Jarod pressed her to the side of the house as he did the same. There was nowhere on the roof to run that wasn’t completely exposed. Their best chance was to stand right under the window where the angle made it hardest for someone to see them.

The grating of wood on wood could be heard, followed by a curse.

“I’ve been meaning to fix it. I told you it doesn’t open.” Parker tilted her face up to look at the window and saw it was now slightly tilted in its frame. A smile teased the edges of her lips as she remembered the Sheriff trying to tell her not to tilt the window when she raised it or it would stick.

“Let me try.” The intruder demanded. The wood groaned even louder but didn’t budge. “Damn it.”

Footsteps sounded from within the room and a door closed loudly. Parker took it as the Sheriff’s sign that they’d left the room and she breathed a small sigh of relief. Looking up at the window, however, she realised their new dilemma. There was no way they could climb back into the window from where they were.

She felt Jarod’s warm breath against her ear before she heard his murmured, “This way.”

She followed him as he pulled her along the side of the house, toward the back. A quick look over the edge of the garage roof revealed that wasn’t going to be an option either. Maybe Jarod could have managed it but there was no way to get Jeremy down.

“I’ll jump down and get a ladder.”

A second look down the side had her even more concerned. She shook her head. “You’ll injure yourself. More than you probably already are.” She gave him a pointed look which he conveniently appeared to miss.

“We have to get down from here now, there’s no other way. There’s a ladder over there, all I have to do is get to it and I can have us down in a couple of minutes.” Following the incline of his head she saw an old wooden ladder propped up against a shed not thirty yards from the house.

She took a third look at the drop, then at the ladder so temptingly near. Then came a flash of movement, jerking back she heard Jeremy wake in her arms. It only took a second, however, for her brain to catch up and for her to realise the flash of movement had been white not black. Suddenly remembering all the guests that had been crowding the backyard she handed Jeremy to Jarod. Leaning as far as she could over the edge of the garage she attempted to see around the corner of the house and into the backyard.

“Whoa.” Jarod’s frantic murmur along with his sudden grip on the waistband of her pants brought her back to her present precarious situation. A wave of dizziness and disorientation washed through her when she was unfortunate enough to look down.

As she swallowed back her sudden nausea she saw her opportunity and waved as frantically and discreetly as she could manage. The Doctor who had treated her at the hospital came to stand beside the back of the garage wall.

“Hey.” She attempted to smile at him. She hadn’t been a particularly cooperative patient and hoped he was the kind of man who could separate his professional disagreements from his personal interactions.

“Well… you do get into some interesting situations don’t you?”

“Oh you have no idea.” Jarod replied. When he had the temerity to smirk she resisted the urge to kick him in the shins. Maybe after she’d taken Jeremy back from him. The Doctor caught on quickly, however, and after a brief look around spotted the ladder.

In no time at all he had it positioned against the garage and Parker made her way down and back onto level ground. Jarod had a trickier time, but managed with her bag over one shoulder and Jeremy tucked firmly under one arm.

“Do you know where the two men are?” Jarod asked the Doctor, now they’d safely managed to tackle one crisis.

“The blue eyed guy is still in the house. Getting into a real argument with the Sheriff, I haven’t seen him this worked up since the Lafferty kids set off fireworks in the station house.”

“And the other? The one out front?”

The Doctor shook his head. “Haven’t been out front, I wouldn’t know. I can go take a gander if you like?”

“No, thanks. It’s probably best if you left. In fact it’s probably best if everyone goes home.” Jarod looked grim and she got the impression he thought things were going to get worse before they got better.

“Most folks have already taken off. Only a few of us foolhardy ones left.”

“The curious you mean.” Parker sent him a sidelong look. A smile was his only response.

Jarod’s eyes lost focus and she could almost see the gears in his head working.

“Then I need to ask you a favour. I need you to take Parker and Jeremy out the backyard and take them somewhere safe.”

“And you’ll be where exactly?” Parker asked, already knowing she wouldn’t like the answer.

“Just doing a little repair job on their car.”

“I’ll wait.” She replied ready to dig in her heels.

“No, you need to go now.” Jarod shook his head, “Damn it, we shouldn’t even be standing here discussing this. We don’t have time.” A look passed between the Doctor and Jarod and she realised she was out numbered. With a firm hand on her arm the Doctor guided her away. A glance back revealed Jarod already creeping toward the side of the garage.

She wanted to tell him he was an idiot to take such a risk but it was too late now and he was right, they didn’t have time to sit here endlessly debating what to do. Funny, she didn’t remember him beyond the last hour but the worry she felt as he disappeared felt incredibly familiar.

With a hand on her back the Doctor directed her toward the backyard. “Come on, let’s do what he says.”

Navigating the backyard with as little exposure to the house windows they were almost to the back gate when the dark suited man strode out of the back door of the house.

“Stalling won’t help your predicament. This is a small town Sheriff, all we have to do is stick around a few days and she’ll have to come out of hiding. A child needs things, diapers, milk...” He stopped in the middle of the lawn to turn as the Sheriff walked out the house with equally agitated steps.

“Look, I don’t know how many times I have to tell you. They must not teach you Harvard types to see the blatant obvious – she, whoever she is, isn’t here nor some stolen child.”

“I know lying when I see it. Trust me Sheriff; I can make your life very difficult.”

“My trust in you Sir, is limited to trusting you can see yourself out.” With that the Sheriff turned on his heel and headed back into his house, anger radiating from every muscle.

The man only spared the Sheriff a fleeting glance before reaching into his pocket. Obviously intent on making a call he stepped further into the backyard. Parker shrank back against the shed they were hiding behind. If he walked much further he would be able to see them. Worse, to get through the backyard gate they needed to first pass through twenty feet of open space.

Before she knew it the Doctor had stepped away from the safety of the shed and walked up to the stranger.

“You’re looking for a woman?”

The man disconnected his call and looked up. “Yes. Seen one?”

The Doctor laughed, a grating, low sound, “Seen lots, you’ll have to be more specific.”

“This one you wouldn’t forget; tall, blue eyed, brunette.”

“Sounds like one of my fantasies… she pretty?”

“Beautiful.”

“Had one of those at the hospital a few weeks back, even had a child with her.”

“Yeah?”

“Yeah.”

“Know what happened to her?”

The Doctor shrugged. “She was discharged, not sure where she headed then but someone at the hospital may know.”

“This hospital…”

“Fancy word for the single storey on the outskirts of town.”

“Want to show me?”

“No offence but I got better things to do with my day.”

The man stepped forward to clap the Doctor on the shoulder, “It’ll be worth your while.”

With a nonchalant shrug and a smile tugging his lips the Doctor let himself be led back toward the house.

On a quick prayer and even quicker feet Parker ran to the gate. Unlatching it she stepped through and took a deep relieved breath before looking up and having the entire world…

Freeze.

Shift.

Then reform into one of her nightmares.

“Hello Parker.”

Now this man… this man looked exactly like she thought the men from her nightmares would look like.

Cold.

Sinister.

A monster.

The gate clicked behind her and she felt the presence of someone else. Turning only her head, her feet still frozen in place, she met the smiling blue eyes of the man who had barged his way into the Sheriff’s home.

“Long time no see.”

Turning back she swallowed the nausea that rose in her throat. She closed her eyes to shut out the sight of both of them watching her like a pack of wolves over a fallen deer in the dead of winter.

“Beautiful boy you have there.” The rasp came from the man in front. In a rush every drop of fear that was coursing through her veins ignited into burning anger. Her eyes popped open. There was no way while she still breathed that either of these men would get near her child.

“It’s time for you to come home.”

“I am home.” She may not have her memories back yet, but she knew whatever place these people came from wasn’t any sort of home. Unless you carried a pitch fork and liked it hot.

“This one horse town?” The blue eyed man behind her scoffed.

“I think she means her little family.” The monster smirked.

“Jarod and the baby? Damn, when they told me you’d run off with the Labrat I thought they were joking.”

“We married.” Her gaze flickered warily between them, ready to run if they looked like coming closer.

“Yes, we read the marriage certificate.” The man – though he better resembled a ghoul with his sallow complexion and oxygen tank – shook his head, “What did you think you could accomplish Parker? You didn’t actually think you could just walk away did you? That we wouldn’t look for you?” His eyes moved to Jeremy lying in her arms and a shiver went through her. “But then again, maybe we should be thanking you. Jarod’s gifts are exceptional; any child of his must be special, but to have as it’s mother a woman with your talents… He truly has the highest pedigree.”

The gleam of greed in his eyes had her missing the feel of a gun in her hands.

“I don’t work for you anymore.”

“You don’t work for us. You are one of us.” The man’s oily voice behind her spoke with such certainty doubt spread through her.

“I can never leave, Jarod.” She leaned back against his chest.

His hand tangled in her hair. “Yes you can. That they’ve made you believe you’ll never be free of them is what gives them power over you.”

The memory of the intimate conversation with Jarod flashed through her mind with the power of a lightning strike. She shook her head to free herself of the doubts. She could feel other memories pressing down on her, so close she could almost touch them.

She looked down at her son as he began to cry. Her son.

“Oh God, oh God, Oh God.”

“Parker! What does it say?”

She couldn’t talk; she just shoved the stick in his direction. “It’s… the lines…we’re…” God she was stuttering as badly as Broots.

“We’re…” She could see the dawning realization in Jarod’s eyes as he stared at the pregnancy test. His eyes rose to meet hers. “Oh God.”

She remembered the shock, the terror, the utter disbelief. She was too old, they’d always been careful, her cycle had all been wrong and yet… and yet it happened.

Her son’s cries increased in volume and she raised her voice to be heard over the noise.

“I’ll never let you take him.” She’d never been so certain of something in her life. “And I won’t let you take Jarod either.” They would not take her family. Determination infused her and she could feel the power flowing through her. Only snippets of her memory were returning but she felt this sense of certainty was new to her, this sense of rightness, of pure purpose.

“You make us out as monsters.” The man moved from behind her to step slightly to her right, so she no longer had to turn her head to watch both of them. “We’re your family. I’m hardly going to hurt my own nephew.”

A dizziness buzzed through her mind at his words. She didn’t want to believe it. Another memory niggled at the back of her mind and she spoke without thinking.

“You hurt Daddy.”

The blue eyes, she couldn’t help but notice so like hers, widened in a show of shocked offence.

“Father died of a heart attack.”

“Convenient, it left a power vacuum just waiting to be filled.”

The smile teasing at the smug man’s mouth was all the response she needed. She didn’t care if she was related to either of these men, you couldn’t help who you shared blood with; they weren’t her family.

She opened her mouth to say as much, but her brother must have seen it in her eyes. His hand clamped onto her bicep painfully.

Jeremy’s cries became even louder and she knew he was in true distress. Every cell in her body wanted to comfort him yet all she could do was bring him closer to her with the one arm that was free.

“Let me go.” She glared at the man but he only returned her stare with one of his own, filled with steely determination.

“Lyle.” With that she knew the name of her new brother, she couldn’t say she was entirely pleased but at least she had a name to curse. A look passed between the two men, one that had her pulling harder against Lyle’s hold. His grip only tightened and she knew she would have bruises tomorrow. She could only hope to still be alive to appreciate them. The ghoul with the oxygen tank moved forward. When he reached into his pocket she found herself watching the movement with dread.

When his hand came out holding a syringe her worst fears were realised. She doubled her efforts to release herself from Lyle’s grip, twisting and jerking in his grasp, but found herself hampered by trying to protect Jeremy at the same time. In a last ditch attempt she slammed her foot down on Lyle’s instep, he barely flinched as the soft sandals she wore didn’t pack much of a punch, but with the slightest loosening of his grip in that one instance of surprise she jerked her elbow into his ribs. His breath left him in a gush and she had one brief moment of satisfaction before she felt something grab her hair.

She turned her head to find herself face to face with the ghoul, his hand gripping her hair in a strong grip. Jeremy’s cries echoed in her head and she could only add her own though not a sound passed her lips.

“Raines! Let her go!” Jarod’s frantic shout ripped through the air, bringing with it a wave of equal relief and fear.

“Stop where you are Jarod.” Raines hand didn’t let up on her hair and she could only see Jarod out of the corner of her eye. It was enough to see him holding a gun. And left her wondering where the hell he’d managed to find one.

“Let them go. You’re not taking my family a second time.”

“We didn’t take your family the first time.”

“No, you took me. I won’t let history repeat itself. I won’t let you take my son like you took me.”

“I’m afraid, Jarod, you don’t have any say.” The ghoul spoke casually as if the sight of Jarod holding a gun on him was nothing to be concerned about.

“Well what about me? Don’t I have a say.” Parker tried to redirect their attention from Jarod to give him an opening but they only dismissed her.

“You defected. You lost your right to have any say.” Lyle commented.

“And I thought we were family…” Was Parker’s sarcastic reply.

Lyle rolled his eyes and drew a gun from the waistband of his pants. Instead of pointing it at Jarod she felt the nozzle of the gun poke into her temple.

“Lyle!” The anger in Jarod’s voice was obvious.

“Drop the gun Jarod. You know you have no other choice.” Lyle cocked the gun. The sound was like thunder in her ears.

Jarod paused, his stance remaining unaltered. Then the gun’s nozzle curled upward and Jarod raised his hands, the gun loose in his grip. She craned her neck to look at him as much as she could. It was enough to see the tremors wracking Jarod’s body. He wasn’t doing well; all the climbing out of windows, down ladders and running was stretching him to his limits. Nothing showed on his face and she knew neither Raines nor Lyle probably saw any weakness in him. But she could see the pain and exhaustion all too clearly.

“You shouldn’t have come for her Jarod. How do you think we found them?” Lyle taunted.

“You bastard.” Jarod lowered his gun to the ground, his voice low and fervent.

Jarod kicked the gun on the ground toward them, catching her eye in the process, a world of meaning passing between them in the blink of an eye.

“Are you ok?” He asked her.

“Just peachy.” Jarod’s head tilted just the slightest bit forward and she knew a signal when she saw one.

The transition from a tense standoff to frantic chaos happened between one breath and the next.

Jarod dove for his gun as Parker kicked out her leg, connecting with Raines’ oxygen tank. The oxygen tubing ripped from Raines face and his grip on her hair loosened as he was pulled off balanced. A hunk of hair ripped from her scalp as she pulled completely free. The sting barely registered she put all of her weight behind twisting from Lyle’s grip. A shot sounded and Lyle appeared to flinch, she pulled all the way free of him and his gun fell from his hands. He went to grab her again and she stumbled back. A rock stopped her backward momentum and fear lit her insides as she found herself unable to keep her feet beneath her. She locked her gaze with Lyle and could see comprehension flash into his vivid blue eyes. She gasped, as she thought of Jeremy in her arms. She couldn’t fall holding him. He’d already sustained too much trauma in his short life. Lyle leaped forward and she couldn’t help the flinch that left her even more off balance and sealed her fate. When Lyle’s arms went for Jeremy she held on for the smallest fraction of a second, but then her eyes clashed with Lyle and a moment of understanding passed between them. She let go of Jeremy, her body flying backwards as gravity demanded its due, her last sight was of Lyle stumbling upright with Jeremy in his arms. Then the ground hit hard and light exploded behind her eyes.

Then darkness.

The only thought in her mind… not again.

“This baby has your timing for the dramatic.” She groaned as another contraction hit her. The dark haired man held her upright as he guided her into the cabin.

“And he has your sense of the ironic.”

“I see nothing ironic in this.” She cried out as pain tore through her abdomen.

“You can’t push yet, Sweetheart.” He told her as he gently laid her down on the dusty camp bed occupying the one room cabin.

“Don’t tell me what I can and can’t do.” She bit out.

“Yes, Dear.”

“I’m in too much pain to tolerate you patronising -” The rest of what she was going to say was lost as pain again gripped her. “Please tell me I can push soon.” She pleaded her voice softer.

“Don’t worry he wants out as much as you want him out. You don’t have to wait much longer.” He left to get what supplies he could in the remote cabin. In the mean time she panted and groaned, cursing him with every swear word she had ever learnt and making up the rest.

“They have to be getting closer, they almost caught us yesterday. If they find us...”

“They won’t.” He reassured her, “Everything’s going to be fine. I won’t let it happen any other way.”

She wanted to believe him, she truly did. But reality pressed down on her along with a heavy dose of foreboding.

She couldn’t help the scream that tore from her throat as her abdomen tightened around another contraction. As the contraction eased she slumped and attempted to catch her breath. She could see his tension, though he attempting to hide it. Her labour had come on suddenly, catching them both by surprise. If the labour was normal he had enough skills to help her. If something went wrong, however…There were no provisions in the remote cabin for blood transfusions if she had uncontrolled bleeding or incubator if the baby came out needing assistance.

They were relying on hope, it was the only option they had.

As impatient as the baby was to enter the world it was no surprise he was born only a handful of hours after her contractions had first hit.

The baby wailed long and loud and everything but the sound left her mind. It seemed only a moment later the little bundle was placed on her chest. A little red scrunched up face with a tuft of dark hair gracing its head. She pulled back the blankets and went about counting all his appendages. Ten fingers, ten toes. She couldn’t have stopped the smile that split her face if she’d tried.

She raised her head and caught the stare of warm brown eyes.

“A boy, a perfect little boy.” She said.

“Yes.” He said, love and pride lighting his eyes.

The unmistakable sound of tyres crunching over gravel was their only warning company had arrived. Barely recovered from labour she rose, in pain and still bleeding but she did it.

“We have to go out the back. They’ve blocked us from the car. Think you can handle a walk through the woods?” She nodded her head, her body set with determination.

But even that plan was thwarted. The men in dark suits had circled round the cabin. They saw them closing in as they stepped out the back door.

“Run.” He murmured into her ear. She started toward the woods, their darkness promising safety. She turned back as she saw he was not following her. Instead he ran at the nearest man, grabbing his gun in the fall. The sound of bullets and mayhem followed as the dark suited men swarmed around him.

“No.” She cried softly, pausing.

“Run!!” She heard him yell though she could no longer see him. Men broke off from the scuffle and moved toward her, menacingly slow, confident in their ability to catch her. The baby moved in her arms. With one sudden move she turned toward the woods and ran toward their depths. The men broke into a run behind her.

Rain had begun to fall and the ground was damp under her feet, giving with every step she took. With her baby tight to her chest and her husband’s fate on her mind she watched the dark shifting shadows that were the men chasing after her. Her body threatened every step would be her last, her lungs burned but she didn’t slow, dodging and keeping as silent as possible.

After what felt like a century the sounds of running feet behind her faded. Instead the woods themselves claimed her when her step finally faltered and a tree root brought her down - succinctly informing her that agony had yet greater depths.

She fought with all the remaining strength she had but it wasn’t enough and darkness finally smothered her in its numbing embrace.

Her eyes blinked open and light flooded her vision, so bright her eyes watered.

She groaned. “Jesus Christ.” By attempting to lift herself up she discovered what a bad idea that was. Nausea and pain beat at her with relentless demand. She tried to breath through it, blinking rapidly to adjust her eyes to the glare.

She felt a presence behind her; warm hands gently propped her into a sitting position while a solid mass behind her provided support. She didn’t need to turn around to know it was Jarod, instead she lent against his chest while the world continued to spin.

“Where’s Jeremy?” She asked, fear spiking her adrenaline as she realised he wasn’t in her arms.

“He’s just fine, see.” She looked up at the sound of Lyle’s voice to see him holding her son, rocking and jiggling the baby in his arms. He pulled the blanket back for her to see.

“But-” Her mind felt foggy and unclear, her thoughts sluggish and broken. That couldn’t be her son; he was weeks old not hours.

Her fingers rubbed her temple, “I don’t understand.” She murmured.

She felt Jarod’s fingers replace hers, gently massaging her aching head, “What’s the last thing you remember?”

“Running… running into the woods with Jeremy. Being terrified they had you and would soon have us.” She glared at her twin brother, who only raised an eyebrow in response.

“You brought it on yourself.” Lyle finally commented after her glare didn’t abate.

She scoffed and wished he stood a little closer so she could throw up on him. Instead she swallowed the bile in her throat and concentrated on getting her mind working again.

A quick look around only succeeded in confusing her further.

“How did I get here?” There was no way she had run through here; it was too built up for her to mistake for woods even in the dead of night.

“It’s October 15th, Honey.” Jarod said from behind her.

“What are you talking about? It’s only Septe-” She stopped mid sentence as she looked again at Jeremy. It was definitely her son and he was definitely more than a few hours old. With an impatient breath she said, “Would someone just explain to me what’s going on?”

“You had amnesia.” Jarod replied.

“She did?” Lyle interrupted.

“I did?”

“Interesting, well that explains some things.” Raines wheezed. She jerked her head in his direction to find him leaning heavily on his oxygen tank only a few feet away. It seemed only right that he would be here for this Alice-in-Wonderland trip down the rabbit hole.

“So now I have amnesia about my amnesia?” She asked, somehow managing not to find it funny.

“It’s not uncommon.” Jarod reassured her, “You don’t remember any of the last few weeks?”

She shook her head feeling both frustrated and disorientated. But one thing she didn’t have to think about.

“Give me my baby, Lyle.”

Lyle rocked the child in his arms but didn’t otherwise move. His eyes were calm and his usual sly confidence was in full force. Anger burned in her gut, temporarily hiding the fear swimming underneath.

“Give him back Lyle.” She said again, her tone hardening further.

“Lyle!” Jarod bit out in impatience when he still didn’t respond.

A look passed between Lyle and Raines. When Raines nodded his head Lyle obviously read the silent message as he shrugged his shoulders and turned back to Parker and Jarod.

“Ideally we’d like to have all of you, but little Jeremy is all we really need. All on his own he’s pretty valuable, but he also guarantees his Mummy and Daddy won’t ever be far away.” Lyle’s smile sent a shiver down her spine.

“No.” She couldn’t have stopped the exclamation if she’d tried. It was her worst nightmare; leapt straight from her haunted dreams to vivid reality.

“You can’t take him.” Jarod spoke the words but they echoed through her.

“You lost your only weapon when you rushed to your wife’s side. What are you going to do to stop us?” Lyle questioned with calm confidence. Parker’s gaze flickered between the two men. She could feel Jarod coiled behind her, his body radiating tension.

Without warning she felt him move from behind her to stand in their enemy’s path. She put her hand out to steady herself, a sharp shaft of pain slicing her head at the movement. Her vision wavered for a brief second and she wondered at the chances she had managed to avoid a concussion.

Her vision finally cleared enough to see Jarod standing before Lyle and Raines, his shoulders set in a ridged line. Trepidation filled her and she concentrated on getting to her feet.

“He’s years, decades, away from being any use to you. Parker isn’t anymore use to you. It’s me you need, me you want.” There was no hesitation in his voice and no display of fear.

“You’re hard to keep though, Jarod.” Raines wheezed.

“If you promise to let my wife and son go… you may find me more manageable.”

“No.” Parker said, and at the lack of reaction added, “Hell No!” Complete anger and rage filled her. It had taken a lot for her to come to terms with her relationship with Jarod. Jarod had had an easier time of it; forgiveness had come easily to him, but then he had been on the relatively guiltless side of the equation. It had taken a lot for her to reconcile her feelings for Jarod with the guilt she felt at all the pain she had been a part of causing, not least of which to her now husband. There was no way she was standing back and watching even more pain be inflicted. The guilt would eat her alive.

“Jarod, I love you and the hero thing is nothing less than I would expect from you but there is no way in Hell I’m letting you make that kind of deal.” For the first time since she’d woken up Jarod turned and she got a good look at him.

“Jesus Christ, what did they do to you?” Shadows darkened his eyes and pain blanketed his features.

“I’m fine.” He insisted.

“He spent a couple of weeks with us at the Centre while you were vacationing here.” Lyle informed her, obviously enjoying the conflict. She swore under her breath, if she hadn’t been off with the fairies she could have tried to get Jarod out sooner, though obviously he’d managed to get himself out.

She shook her head. Everything was mad, how were they going to get out of this? They had nothing to parlay with. Her gaze clashed with Lyle’s, her supposed twin brother. She still couldn’t understand how they’d come from the same womb.

“Let us go.” She spoke directly to him, trying to appeal to anything human in him.

Unfortunately there didn’t seem to be anything left; his eyes reflected nothing but cool and calm confidence.

“I think we’ve spent long enough chatting. Sorry I missed your wedding Sis, but at least I’ll be there for Jeremy’s christening.” Lyle turned away from them before pausing briefly, “Pity you won’t.”

Jarod stepped to follow him but found himself at the pointy end of a nine millimetre.

“Be glad we’re leaving you both.” Raines said as he pointed the gun directly at Jarod’s chest.

“Be glad I haven’t crushed your windpipe and watched you flop around like a landed fish.” Jarod growled in reply, “Though I wouldn’t trust my restraint if I were you.”

While Raines’ attention was distracted Parker attempted to sidle away and follow Lyle’s path toward the black town car parked not far away.

She stopped her forward movement, however, when she heard Raines clear his throat. Glancing over she saw him slowly shake his head, his gun never wavering from Jarod. Frustration mounted in her and she struggled to keep calm.

Suddenly, out of nowhere an ambulance, lights and sirens blaring, rounded the corner and came roaring toward them.

Jarod leaped forward, twisting to the side and used the distraction to grab Raines gun. It went off in the melee and she could only spare a quick glance at Jarod to make sure he still stood before racing toward Lyle. She dove in front the ambulance as it screamed up to them, before braking in a squeal of burnt rubber, cutting Raines and Jarod off from Parker, Lyle and the town car.

Lyle had reached the car and was placing Jeremy in the back as she walked up to him.

“Lyle.” He turned at her voice, having deposited Jeremy in the backseat. He frowned at her and opened his mouth to speak. Before he could say a word, she grabbed his shirt front, pulling him nearer to meet her closed fist with bone crunching force.

His head snapped to the side as he gave a grunt of surprise.

“You’re a bastard Lyle and I’ve wanted to do that for a long time but if you take my child from me again that will just be an appetizer to what I’ll do to you, do you understand?”

His hand cradling his rapidly swelling cheek he turned to her with his eyes flashing with cold menace. “You Bit-”

A gun cocked. “Uh uh. We don’t tolerate that kind of bad language here.” Not daring to turn away from the coiled snake that was her brother she could only see the Sheriff out of the corner of her eye. The rifle he held in his hand pointed directly at Lyle’s head.

Movement caught her eye and she saw a Sweeper emerging from the driver’s seat of the town car, his hand reaching toward his holster.

“Stay right where you are unless you want to be responsible for your boss’ loss of an appendage.” The Sheriff warned.

“Doyle, back down.” Lyle commanded his irritation obvious. None of the fight had left him; he was clearly just waiting for an opportunity. Doyle paused but at the Sheriff’s behest dropped his gun and kicked it under the car.

“Parker.” She turned to find Jarod walking around the front of the ambulance.

“Raines?”

“Mitchell’s got him covered.”

“Mitchell?”

“The Doctor.”

“Doctor?” She raised an eyebrow, confused.

Jarod paused, and then shook his head. “Never mind…” He murmured. Looking at her closely he changed the subject. “You ok?”

“I’m fine.” She rubbed her aching knuckles, her headache now the lesser of her current pains. “Lyle just has an incredibly hard head.” Jarod’s eyes tracked from her red knuckles to Lyle’s already bruising face. When she saw the smirk break out on his face she knew he’d caught on to the fact she hadn’t been talking metaphorically.

“Have I told you I love you?” Jarod remarked, pride as well as mirth shining from his eyes. A wave of emotion roiled through her and her vision wavered for a moment. Damn these post natal hormones were a hell on her ice queen image.

A cry broke out from the backseat of the town car.

“Jeremy.” She pushed Lyle out of the way and ducked into the car to pull out her infant son. She settled him in her arms, discreetly brushing away the tear that streaked down her cheek. “Hey, little man, what are you crying for? Everything’s going to be just fine.”

“Take the ambulance. It was the closest thing to an armoured vehicle we have in this town so it was the best we could do on short notice.” The Sheriff said, “Take it to the hospital. My son’s got a car ready for you.” The Sheriff never took his eyes or gun off Lyle, who glowered back with equal dislike.

“We can’t just leave you here with them. There will be more of them coming.” Jarod warned.

“We can handle it.”

Lyle scoffed. “You have no idea what you’ve gotten yourself in for Sheriff.”

“Oh I know your type. I do read. I know just how to handle your kind.”

“Yeah? What are you – some two bit Sheriff to a little backwater town - going to do?”

The Sheriff laughed, “By dawn tomorrow this whole town’s going to be crawling with reporters, camera crews and tourists. There’s a lot of woods around here you see, lots of Bigfoot type sightings. We’re overrun almost twice a year with supposed sightings. And what do you know… Old Gus and Bill Elliott are convinced they saw Bigfoot himself over by Milligan falls. We’ll be swamped by morning with the curious I’m afraid. If you want to stick around for the crowds and the cameras; be my guest.” The Sheriff smiled as utter contempt filled Lyle’s face.

Wheezing sounded and a man, Doctor Mitchell she assumed, came around the ambulance with one hand on Raines’ arm, the other holding a gun to his head.

“I think that’s our cue to leave.” Jarod said and popped the driver’s side door of the ambulance open.

Parker went to follow. “If you leave now you are sealing your own fate.” Raines eyes held hers, his face a sinister and cold mask.

“No. If I leave now I am opening up my fate,” She paused directly in front of him, “To a new kind of life.”

“You’ll be hunted, is that the kind of life you want for your child?”

“I don’t believe history has to repeat itself, I don’t believe my only two options are to obey you or suffer.”

“What makes you think so? You never used to be this naive.” Lyle broke in.

“I had Jeremy.” She answered simply. She remembered the moment that everything Jarod had been trying to convince her of made sense. Before she couldn’t even comprehend any other kind of life, her life had always revolved around the Centre. But if it was possible for her to get pregnant, for her to fall in love with Jarod and even more unbelievably for him to fall in love with her… that meant that everything she had ever considered fixed, unmoveable, undoable… was all shakeably uncertain. Things could happen; amazing, incredible things were possible.

And she could believe, she did believe, in a better life, for herself, for her family.

A new life.

And the first thing she would do in this new life was deny any influence these men with their cancerous greed had in swaying her.

“Coming love?” Jarod asked as he stretched out across the ambulance’s cabin to hold the passenger door open. Jeremy squirmed in her arms and cooed happily as if recognising his father’s voice.

Oh yeah, she had better things to do with her life.

Without looking back she climbed into the ambulance beside Jarod.

The Sheriff watched the couple drive off before turning back to the men he had detained.

“Well that’s all folks; I think you’ve been well and truly dismissed.”

He couldn’t help the grin that spread across his face.