The Wilds Read Free Page B

cup of coffee waiting for her. She walked over and took the mug, thanking him as she did.
    ‘You can sit down,’ he said, gesturing to the empty seat next to him.
    ‘No time,’ she said.
    ‘What is with you this morning?’ he asked. ‘You’ve barely spoken to me in ages.’
    She sighed and shook her head.
    ‘Last night shouldn’t have happened,’ she said.
    There it was, the regret he had seen in her so many times after they had spent the night together.
    ‘You always say that,’ he said, taking a sip of his coffee.
    ‘This time I mean it,’ she said. ‘This all has to stop Jason, it can’t keep happening.’
    This was new, she had never told him that it would be the last time before. Was the pressure of her situation finally getting to her?
    ‘Is this because of Pearce?’ he said.
    She shook her head.
    ‘No, but if he found out about us I would be in some serious shit, wouldn’t I?’
    There was no denying this. If Pearce ever found about them it would be a disaster.
    ‘Then why can’t it happen again?’ he asked.
    ‘Because I need to grow up and start taking responsibility for my actions.’
    There was more to it than that, and he needed to know.
    ‘Is there someone else?’ he said, regretting the words as soon as they left his mouth.
    Anger flashed across her face.
    ‘No, there isn’t’ she said.
    She looked at her watch and set the mug down on the side.
    ‘I have to go, Jason,’ she said. ‘I’m late.’
    With that she left, and Jason was once again alone.
     
     
    The wind had a chill as she walked up the lane, she hadn’t expected it to feel so cool, otherwise she would have worn her heavier coat; however, it was too late to go home and change. There were things to be done. She had known that something was wrong as soon as she had woken up. Miko was acting strange, pacing the courtyard as though afraid to come in the house, afraid to face her.
    She had started off by wandering the woods, this was usually where these things happened, but nothing had seemed amiss. After an hour searching the woods, she had taken the path through the fields onto Maltham Lane. That was when she had first noticed the cool breeze. The woods, even though the trees were starting to shed their leaves, offered some protection from the wind, but once you got out into the open fields it would hit you full on. The natural flatness of Lincolnshire landscape meant that the wind never lost any of its bitterness when it came in land. She had been born and raised here, and spent a large portion of time here, but she had also travelled. She had seen all this country, and most of Europe had to offer. Despite this, Lincolnshire, and more specifically Darton, would always be her home. What others saw as bleak and isolated, she saw as beautiful and safe.
    She saw the car in the layby. It was smashed up pretty bad; one side was completely caved in and covered in scratches. Tiny shards of glass glinted in the sunlight like a sharp frost.
    Sighing, she shook her head at the scene. How many times had she come upon something like this on that road? Too many to count, too many to remember. She looked around; traffic on the road was still scarce, but would soon start picking up. Surely someone had seen the car and reported it to the police by now. What could she do?
    The door on the passenger side was open, whoever had been in the car had vacated from this side, probably during the attack. Trying to imagine what she would do in those circumstances, she crossed the road and saw that the long grass in the opposite field had been trodden down. Having lived in the countryside for most of her life, she knew that this path must have been recently made. It had rained heavily the other day and that would have flattened the whole of the field. This had been made since then.
    She set off into the long grass, enjoying its rich and fresh aroma. At her age she should have been starting to slow down, taking things easy, but she had too many