Wait for the reader to get out of sight

After debating the situation with herself for several minutes Jen decided it was best to stay put. There was a definite chance that the reading lady might look behind herself without warning. If she turned her head quickly, Jen didn’t trust her reflexes to get her hidden behind a tree in time.

It didn’t take long before watching the woman walking away started to feel like ****. She was moving at her own comfortable pace, nowhere else to be and taking her time getting there. Jen had every reason to believe the lady was heading to the parking lot as well- that was the primary reason anyone would head north up this trail. Jen tried to remind herself even if she successfully followed the reader without being seen, she would still have to wait in the trees while the reader got into her car and left. So she wasn’t really losing time by waiting here… But this thought provided little consolation.

This portion of the main path ran at a mild incline, a cresting at the top of a small hill you would only notice when looking at the terrain from a slight distance. Jen watched as the lady ahead kept moving up this rise, moved across the peak and started slowly disappear from view. First the reader’s shoes were out of sight, then her legs started disappearing.

So… wait for her to disappear, give it another minute to make sure she has some distance, then I can start moving? Yes, I think that’s good…

Soon the woman’s hip’s and waist were out of sight, then Jen watched as the upper torso and head leisurely bobbed and dipped lower and lower. Soon the woman’s shoulders dropped behind the hill, and eventually her head fell below the horizon.

Jen began counting seconds in her head, aiming to move out of the trees exactly at sixty seconds. She began thinking that she should have worn a watch, but decided Eve probably would have made her remove that too.

Right when Jen counted fifty seconds she saw something fleetingly pop up over the edge of the hill ahead then disappear again. She stopped counting when she saw it again, this time clearly the top of someone’s head. She kept watching and soon saw a second head starting to crest the hill. Two people were coming towards her, a man and a woman.

Jen backed further into the trees to be sure she was out of view and kept watching. It was similar to a reversed version of watching the reading lady leave, two people’s bodies appearing from the far side of the incline, obviously walking along the path. She settled in to wait longer. If the couple was going to pass by, she could wait until they left and get moving then.

Once the people were half-visible Jen realized they were holding leather straps, straps seeming to move on their own volition, left, then right, left again.

Dog leashes.

Shit, she thought. They’re probably coming to the dog park. Let’s get moving.

Jen turned to her left and started walking between trees again. While watching her step she still moved quickly, wanting to put distance between her and the new arrivals before she was possibly in earshot and rustling leaves might draw their attention. She knew there was some chance the couple could simply be taking the dogs on a walk and wouldn’t be going into the park with them, but she didn’t trust having such good luck today.

She kept moving, constantly glancing to her right to make sure she was keeping enough trees between her and the approaching couple. Once or twice she diverted from her direct course to move slightly deeper into the trees. She’d gone undetected this long, the last thing she wanted now was for someone to think there was someone streaking in the woods of a public park.

Ahead Jen saw a change in the terrain and realized the trees were coming to an end. Ahead of that was a swatch of grass, immediately followed by the local road running north to south. She had driven this road herself any number of times and knew the swatch of grass ran along the treeline next to the street. The street was generally a bit busy during rush hours but at this time of day on a Saturday it should only have the occasional passing car. The downside to her position, she knew, was that the trees running north, around the western side of the dog park, weren’t terribly thick. She could try to time her movements to avoid being seen by any cars moving by, or the couple if the dog park was their destination, but getting lucky timing on both could be tricky if she found herself in a bad position at the wrong time.

She stepped up her pace and turned northwards as the trees began running in that direction. She glanced out and saw the couple just reaching the dog park and stepping off the path into the grass. A quick peek to her left and Jen couldn’t see any cars. Trees blocked her vision but she didn’t hear any engines in the distance. Not remotely happy with her current position, Jen chose to jog a short distance.

She moved to her left and exited the thin row of trees, checked both sides of the road and broke into a hard run. She knew if any cars came by her naked body would be in full view but she had to get to a better hiding spot before the couple came further into a park and left her potentially trapped in a poor place to conceal herself.

After a few yards Jen placed her hands over her breasts to stop them from bouncing. Not using her arms threw her body mechanics off but so did her moving breasts. This seemed like the lesser evil between the two. She looked right again and saw that she was halfway past the park. She checked the road again and by some miracle it remained empty.

Jen had never been much for regular exercise and in the rare occasions she did exercise she hadn’t done any jogging since high school. Soon she felt muscle fatigue setting into her thighs and calves with each exerting step. Had she been at a casual jog she might have been able to cover more distance, but sprinting at her top speed was draining her energy quickly.

Quick look right. Three quarters of the way past the dog park. Glimpse behind, no cars coming from that direction. Scanning the road in the distance ahead, no drivers that way either.

Jen called up the last bit of willpower she had and **** her legs to keep pumping. Once she could get back into hiding she knew she’d have to rest for a few minutes, but that was a better option than getting caught like this.

Another glance right. She watched the dog park fall behind her and the trees start curving eastwards. Without bothering to look to the south she turned and ran back into the trees.

Jen found a wide trunk to hide behind, and practically fell to the ground once she was hidden. Sitting with her back against the tree she closed her eyes and held her gasping breaths for a moment and listened. No approaching car engines, no indication that the couple had managed to see her through the trees. Just the sound of dogs happily romping around, letting out the occasional excited bark. Jen’s breath burst through her mouth and she started allowing her lungs to stop burning and her heart to stop racing.

Once the ache in her chest and legs began to subside Jen started looking over her surroundings. Ahead of her was a large field, overgrown with green and yellow grasses. Many clusters would hit her waist and shoulders, but occasional ones stood overhead. Beyond that was the western side of the parking lot. Jen saw two trucks towing trailers circle the lot and start backing up to the field and soon realized what she was seeing.

The field was maintained but only three or four times a year. Many people living in the area liked seeing parts of the land appearing the way nature would let things run, and the city obliged by allowing some areas to grow wild. This meadow was generally one such area, but in an effort to keep prairie dogs or ground hornets from taking roost this was occasionally mowed.

She watched as men exited the trucks and walked to the back of the trailers, rolling up the rear doors to start getting their riding lawn mowers out. Had they not picked today to clear this area, Jen felt that she could walk through the field and be perfectly hidden from the street. Now she had to re-evaluate her options.

An idea hit Jen her she looked towards the road, scanning the ground in front of it until she saw what she was looking for. A drainage ditch began about fifteen yards northeast of her, the marginally rusted metal tunnel embedded into the ground just visible where the waterway opened. It ran alongside the road straight to the parking lot before another metal tunnel went into the earth. The ditch had always looked a bit deep to Jen when she’d driven by- she couldn’t be certain from here but if it was deep enough to crouch down in, then taking this to get to the parking lot seemed very possible. If one of the lawn mowers got too close or a car happened by she could duck down, even lay down if she had to as long as she went undetected. She couldn’t tell from here if there was any water running through the ditch, but it had been a fairly dry spring and an even dryer summer so she felt it should be dry. Even if it wasn’t, getting her feet wet for a while wouldn’t be the worst thing that could happen to her today.

Otherwise she knew the only other option was heading to her right through the trees and getting back to the main path. The woods arced to the north once it reached the trail and she could follow that to the parking lot. She felt the ditch could possibly be the faster way to go, but she’d never paid close attention to it. If it wasn’t as deep as she expected it would be, she might be left exposed to someone happening by.