Chapter 5 - Caught In A Painting

Patina drummed her fingers on the steering wheel, the eeriness, and silence in the air was akin to the encounters from folklore with legends of beasts that roamed these lands. Her gut screamed at her to leave but she was steadfast. Eric had stolen a piece of her soul, and for that he was going to pay.

Eric sat by the fire chewing a tough piece of deer he had culled, skinned and cooked earlier on. Sauce smeared across his mouth; he cracked his back sighing as the tension was released from his bones. He stripped the bone and tossed it, he wiped his mouth with a rag and stared intently at the flames of the fire. His lips curled up at the image of Patina crying over her precious paintings, and how easy it had been for him to steal her trust. A noise made his ears twitch, he had travelled, and camped in these woods numerous times but never came across people in this part of the woods. A twig breaking caused him to grab his gun from his belt before pointing it toward the treeline. "So, the bimbo survived. I've got to hand it to you Patina, you aren't as dumb as I thought you were." He taunted. A rustle made him turn back to the campsite cocking the safety off of his hand gun. His smirk faltered as he scanned in-between the trees. A pine cone hit the back of his head causing him to turn, and fire into the woods.

Patina crouched hiding amongst the bushes, Eric's taunt had sliced through her heart but she remained composed. He's a narcissist, that much she understood. She grabbed a pine cone and aimed for his head before dropping down to the ground. Bullets flew above her head causing leaves, and twigs to sprinkle all over her. He fired again but nothing came out, she held her breath before going for it. She tackled Eric knocking the empty gun into the fire. He was dazed as he hit the ground but this was quickly subdued by unbridled rage at her audacity. She wrestled with him against the dirt and leaves. He wrapped his hand around her throat. She scratched at his bulging fingers as the air slipped away from her lungs. She wrangled her hand free before punching his face.

Patina sprinted through the woodland path; each crunch of the leaves made her swear inwardly. The mist didn't help much either and she cursed herself for not picking up her torch. Patina veered right, her thoughts were a panicky incoherent mess as she searched for a hole, a busted-up cabin, anything to conceal herself. Eric's steps grew louder with his shadow looming in the distance, she went behind a thick oak tree trying to form a plan. With every intake of air, she felt her eyes droop, her hands were shaking and the world around felt like a dress that was too small. Ringing permeated her ears and her fingernails scratched against the bark as her body slid down the trunk onto the roots. She felt her consciousness slipping from her grasp until Eric's deep angered voice boomed in the distance triggering her back to reality. She ran toward the denser part of the trail

Eric perched himself on a tree watching Patina from her hiding spot. Thrill coursed his veins as he watched Patinas pathetic attempt to outsmart him. "Oh, little lass Patina how foolish are we to think that you can outsmart a man as brilliant as me." He hummed to himself. He pulled a knife from a hole he had forged into the tree after the last debacle he had before meeting Patina. He pounced from the tree scaring the hell out of Patina in the process. She booked it toward the most obscure direction amongst the tree's, and thicket so it was unclear how much time had passed when she crashed through a wooden door in her effort to escape Eric's vicious clutches. She searched for anything she could use to barricade the door. The room was notably bare but there was a chair. She devised a plan before waiting behind the door.

.

Patina hit him with a chair knocking the gun from his hand, he stumbled forward. Patina pushed him then went for the gun but Eric leapt onto her grabbing at her arms. She struggled kicking at him but Eric gained the upper hand, and pinned her body beneath his own. She heaved; his sweat dribbled onto her chest making her sneer with disgust. She scratched at his eyes causing angry lines to form across his eyelids. He groaned flinching backward. She roughly pushed him off, searching for the gun in a panic. The gun had fallen into a broken floorboard. He charged at her pulling out his knife. He cut a lock of her hair as he tried to cut her neck. Patina's anger soared at this; she wrapped her hand around the blade smashing it into his face cutting her hand in the process. He screamed, she took this as her chance, she punched his face causing him to move away before she kicked him in the prostate. She then rammed him into the wall. He howled holding his manhood with tears dribbling down his eyes as his back cracked the fragile wood of the wall.

Patina pulled the gun out of the floorboard as Eric attacked her with a poker, and stabbed her stomach, Patina stumbled as blood covered her shirt. She fell back as he approached her with a stone-cold malevolence that was akin to the cat who got the mouse. "Not this time." She thought as she reached for the gun, cocking it, she closed her eyes as she fired. Eric's body flailed as bullets rammed into his body reducing the muscular brute into a fleshy swiss cheese like hunk of blood, and tissue. He lay upon the floor unmoving, and bleeding out. Patina fell back with her body shaking, the blood on her hands congealing. The energy along with the inhuman strength that she had possessed before was ripped away from her in the blink of an eye. Patina trembled from head to toe, her stomach clenched as she covered her mouth trying to block out the image in conjunction with the smell of his body slumped across the floor.

Fifteen minutes had passed before the shock started to subside. She gained the courage to move, and crawl. She struggled on the hard floor; tiny wooden splinters cut the denim of her jeans. Patina's adrenaline was crashing, and her breathing became shallow as she tried to reach the door. In defiance of the pain, she made it past the door. The cool breeze made her body tingle but the waves of pain radiating from her stomach caused her to hunch forward. She held her wound, blood trickled between her fingers.

Patina held her side as crimson oozed between her fingertips staining her golden skin. Sunrise was coming, she saw the road across from where she stood. She leaned against each tree as she pushed herself closer to the main road. Her grandmother appeared before her once again, she fell onto her knees holding her side as she groaned in agony. Her grandmother stepped toward her with an outstretched hand. Patina grabbed onto it before making it to the fence. She pushed herself over the small wooden line as her grandmother's spirit departed. Taking a few steps forward, she made it onto the road before collapsing.

A trucker pulled over before calling an ambulance as she floated away from her body.