Too Close | Rosalie Hale

Chapter 4

After leaving Seattle, Lex ran until she reached a heavily wooded area. It was there that she found a cave system to hide in during the daylight hours. She wasn't sure where she was, though she was pretty sure that it was somewhere near the Canadian border.

Thankfully, she was still well fed from her hunt earlier, so the lack of humans wasn't an issue yet. She was planning on figuring it out once it became necessary. Now that she was on her own, she was allowed to decide for herself when she would get to hunt.

As Lex sat deep in the cave and waited for the day to progress, she longed to feel the sunlight on her skin again. It had been so long.

Maybe she could just look at the sunlight. That might give her a good idea of how her body might react to it. 

Lex inched her way towards the opening of the cave, until she could see a sliver of light. After spending so long locked away in the darkness, this sliver of light was the most beautiful thing Lex had seen in a long time. 

Despite the warnings that flashed through her mind, Lex couldn't resist getting closer to the beam of sunlight.

She was surprised that besides seeming a bit bright for her eyes, the indirect sunlight didn't hurt her at all— she didn't dare move close enough to touch it though. Lex wasn't sure how long she sat in that cave and watched the daylight, but it was gone too soon. 

As soon as the daylight retreated from the darkness, Lex emerged from the cave. She wandered around the forest, and located some hikers.

Despite the fact that she wasn't thirsty, Lex had to fight the urge to attack them. Not now, Lex thought. She watched them from her spot atop a steep cliff. 

Three young women dressed in exercise clothes, all carrying heavy packs of supplies. Lex could hear their voices clear as day as they discussed their plans to camp in the woods.

"I told you, we should have pitched the tent before it got dark," one of them complained. "I can't see anything."

"Calm down," another replied. "We have enough lamps to figure it out. We'll be fine."

"Will one of you help me with this? The thing keeps slipping" the third one piped up as she struggled to secure the tent poles into place.

Lex couldn't stop the thoughts from filling her mind. Oh, how easy it would be to drain them all right now, she thought. No one would find their bodies for days. They would never see her coming— humans never did.

No, Lex resisted. She didn't want to kill them, but she couldn't bring herself to tear her focus away from them. Lex felt like a cat watching over a fishbowl.

Soon, the sounds of their conversations faded into soft breathing. They were asleep.

She pitied them— they didn't know how dangerous the world truly was. If Lex had known the truth when she was still human, she would have never left her house out of fear of creatures like herself.

She envied them— they didn't know how good they had it. When they were finished camping, they could go home to their families and do anything they wanted. Lex was alone. She could no longer see a scenario in which she wouldn't be alone.

An orange hue rose up from the horizon as the sun came out.

Shit, how long had she been watching them? Lex checked her watch. It was nearly a quarter past six in the morning. Lex booked it— she couldn't get Riley's warnings out of her mind. 

She did her best to follow her scent from last night, but she had been wandering aimlessly for a while, and she wasn't a tracker. Where the fuck had that cave been?