by Powell, Lora
I was so engrossed in checking over my friends, that I almost missed the walking guard as they came around. A low growl from Rex warned me in time, and I crouched back down until they had passed. It was a close call, and I resolved to be more careful. I was probably the only hope my friends had of getting away from these people, and if I got caught too, there would be no one left on the outside to get us away.
Reluctantly, I finished my circuit of the fence. I hated to leave my group, even for just a little while. But I needed to be sure that there weren’t any surprises waiting for us around the next corner. Like I had figured, nothing about our situation changed. There was a second, smaller gate that was also guarded. Other than that, the chain link continued in an unbroken line that led me back to where I had first found the fence.
By the time that I had made my way back to my position within sight of my people, I had hoped to have come up with some plan to get them free. That was not the case. As I stared at them, I was still as clueless as I had been an hour before. Left out in the open like they were, all of them had started to look a little worse. Exposed patches of skin looked sunburnt and they all looked like they were too hot.
Even protected from the worst of the sun by the trees, it was hot. My growling stomach reminded me that I had not eaten anything since the day before. I had thrown anything that I thought would come in handy into my backpack, but there had not been much left in the way of food. The strangers had taken most of our stuff with them when they left. Looking at my friends, I was reluctant to use any of the remaining supplies without them, but reason prevailed. If I was going to save them, I needed to not be dehydrated and dizzy with hunger.
Rex had lapped thirstily at a small stream that we had encountered on our walk around the fence. Breaking off a small piece of my granola bar, I handed it to the dog before settling down to finish off the rest myself. I was sipping from a half-full bottle of water when movement inside the fence caught my attention.
Swaggering, the man with orange hair approached the cage that held my friends. In his hands, he twirled a bottle of water. With keen interest, I watched as he opened the latch on the door and let himself in. I hadn’t noticed him use any sort of key. He stood over my friends, still twirling the water bottle for several long seconds.
“It’s hot out here today, ain’t it?” He paused like he was waiting for a reply, but when he got nothing in return, he continued on unperturbed. “My name is Mack, and you all have found yourselves in a bit of a jam. This is my territory, the things that you took in the gas station are mine, and I can’t just let people come in and help themselves to the things that are meant for my group. You see where I’m going with this, don’t ya? What kind of a leader would I be if I allowed actions like yours to go unpunished?”
Pacing back and forth the short distance between sides of the fence, he seemed to be deliberating something. Eyeing him like the viper that he was, my group held their silence.
“Now, you all brought this on yourselves, but we’re not bad people. We understand, times are tough and you have to do what you have to, to survive. So, we are prepared to offer immunity for your actions, if you decide to join our group. To one of you,” Mack brandished the bottle of water. “All of the perks of being a part of our community can be yours. You just have to say so.”
Waggling the water in front of him, he waited.
FORTY-ONE
DAY 22
Yet another mosquito whined in my ear, but this time I didn’t swat it away. The roving guards were approaching in the night, their flashlights cutting through the dark. It was unlikely that they would notice my movement outside of the beams of light, but I wasn’t taking that chance.
A sting on my forehead let me know where the insect had decided to bite. My fingers twitched with the urge to squash the tiny parasite. Finally, the guards passed and I was able to kill the bug.
The compound was still and silent. Everyone had gone inside hours earlier, with the exception of the four guards who were now on duty. From my hiding place, I had watched as one man headed toward the back gate, another toward the front, and two more started walking the fence line.
That had been just before dark.
Hours later, everyone besides the guards seemed to have gone to bed. It was nearly time to make my move. If I was going to get my friends free, it would have to be before dawn. The orange haired man, Mack, had been very clear. When my group continued to stare at him in silence, despite his offer to join them, his oddly pleasant expression had morphed. I’d had no problem hearing his loud proclamation that he would give them the night to think it over, before stomping out of the cage.
When the sun came up, I had no doubt that Mack would be back, and nothing good was going to happen.
The plan I had managed to concoct was rather simple. The pattern of the guards’ activities had been well established as I crouched behind trees all day. If I could get through the fence quietly enough without attracting attention, I had a good idea of how much time we would have to make our escape.
The chain link of the fence wasn’t impossible to get through if one had the proper tools. Unfortunately, I did not happen to have tools stuffed into my backpack. Likewise, going over the fence wasn’t going to work. The sharp wire used to top the chain link would slice anyone who tried to ribbons. That left only one option: we were going to have to go under the fence.
Digging a hole under the fence sounded easy in theory, but I had a feeling it was going to prove more difficult than I was hoping. I only had about 20 minutes between rounds by the guards, not a lot of time considering the hole would have to be big enough for a person to fit through. And if I failed to finish on time, the guards weren’t going to miss a giant, partially dug hole under their fence, even in the dark.
Sipping the last few swallows of water from the bottle I’d been nursing all day, I zipped the empty container back into my bag. Resolutely ignoring the hunger clawing at my stomach, I swung the backpack over one shoulder. There were only two bottles of water and a couple of smashed pastries left in the bag, and I was saving those for my friends. They hadn’t been given anything to eat or drink all day.
The guards came back around and strolled by. As soon as they had melted into the darkness, I climbed to my feet.
The ground was full of stones and packed down hard. Tree roots tangled together in the dirt. It took me mere seconds to know that my half-baked rescue attempt was in trouble. Pulling out my knife, I dug it deep into the soil and attempted to use it to loosen anything in my way.
Standing next to my shoulder, Rex whined softly and I shushed him. Batting a stray piece of hair out of my face, I renewed my attack on the ground. I felt a fingernail snap and the tips of my fingers grew raw, but the pile of loose dirt steadily grew beside me.
Glancing up, I tried in vain to see where the flashlights of the guards were located, trying to gauge how much time I had left. They were too far away, but I could feel time racing by with every fast beat of my heart.
The hole was finally big enough for me to wiggle my shoulders through. I was halfway under the fence when I realized that it needed to be bigger. I was the smallest person in the group. If I could just fit, most of the rest of them would not be getting out that hole. Dragging myself backward hurriedly, I failed to stay low enough. The sharp metal ends of the chain link dug into my shoulder blades.
Hissing, I ducked down and pulled myself the rest of the way out of the hole.
Precious minutes passed as I clawed the hole bigger. Ignoring the stinging on my back, I crawled through to the other side. Reaching back out, I snagged the strap of my bag and pulled it through. It didn’t have much of value in there, but I wanted to keep it within reach anyway. Whining, Rex paced on the other side of the fence before stopping at the hole.
I didn’t have time to coax the dog through, nor could I afford the noise. With a last glance back at him, I turned and jogged the short distance to the cage.
Their huddled shapes form
ed ahead of me in the darkness. Too stressed to sleep, they were sitting together, slumped with exhaustion but still alert. When they caught sight of something running their way in the dark, they snapped to attention as much as their condition allowed.
I heard someone whisper zombie as I was taking the last few steps to them.
“That’s the second time someone’s thought I was dead. Should I be offended?” I tried to joke as I reached the gate.
“Bri!”
“How’d you get here?”
“What are you doing? Get out of here!”
Everyone started talking at once, but I ignored them and reached for the latch. Holding my breath, I hoped that I hadn’t been wrong about there being no lock. If the door was locked, I had no idea what I was going to do.
I released the breath when the latch lifted easily. The screech of the hinges made me cringe as I pushed the door open.
“You didn’t think I’d let a bunch of crazy people take you and do nothing, did you?” I dropped to the ground next to Fallon and began cutting at the plastic tie used to bind her. “We have to hurry. The guards will be coming back soon.”
The ties had been put on tight and I ended up cutting her as I tried to get the knife through them in the dark. I mumbled an apology, but she told me to just get them off any way I could. Her wrists were already bloody from struggling to get free.
I finally cut through the tie and when Fallon didn’t immediately get up, I realized her ankles were tied too. I was starting to see why the strangers had been confident enough to leave the door unlocked.
Moving on to Devon, I gave the teen a tight-lipped smile as I worked to free his feet. By the time I freed his hands, I’d figured out the best way to cut through the ties and was able to pick up the pace. Our dwindling time was an oppressive weight trying to crush me as I tried to keep calm enough to function.
When I cut through the tie around Shawn’s wrists, he pulled me into a hard hug. “You should have run the other way.”
I stole a second to lean into the embrace. I hadn’t missed the fact that his nose was just a little crooked and a nasty cut marred his cheek. Blood from both had dried on his face, making him look even worse. I had come far too close to losing the most important person in my life, and the reality was just now starting to sink in.
Steadying myself, I kept going, and within a few seconds, the last of the group was climbing unsteadily to their feet. “We have to go now.” I started for the gate but pulled up abruptly.
The guard’s flashlights were working their way along the fence, far too near to the hole.
“What’s wrong?” Shawn leaned close to my back.
“They’re too close. We aren’t all going to make it out in time. They are going to find the hole.”
Whirling around, I tried to come up with another way out of the compound. My eyes went to the vague shapes of the vehicles lined up not too far away. “This way.” I darted towards the van.
If we were lucky, the keys would still be in it. And if not, maybe we could hide there until we had a chance to run for the fence.
FORTY-TWO
DAY 22
“What’s that over there?”
I heard the words that I had been dreading as I darted around the end of the van. Scooting along its familiar side, I made room for the others. Shawn and Fallon were right behind me, but it was several long seconds before Devon limped around the end of the van. Behind him, Maya had stayed behind with Bill, who was listing sideways and having obvious difficulty staying upright.
“Something’s dug a hole under the fence!”
“What?” There was a moment of silence as the second guard must have walked closer to investigate. “What the hell?”
Crouched behind the van, we stayed still and silent. In what was becoming a habit, I sent a quick prayer to whoever might be listening, asking for the time we needed to escape back under the fence.
“Something’s moving out there,” the first guard sounded worried. “I think I heard a growl.”
It struck me that Rex was still out there, somewhere, at the same time that the second guard exclaimed, “It’s a dog!”
“I didn’t think there’d be anything like a dog left alive out there. What’s it doing?”
“I think he wants in—” A pause, “—Do you think that dog dug this hole?”
I turned my head to the left and found Shawn next to me, watching me intently. I stared back, suddenly wishing that we had time for me to say a few things that had been on my mind lately, but I’d kept to myself. So we sat there, listening to the pair of guards try to decide if they needed to wake Mack up, or if they thought that a dog could have created the hole under the fence.
“We have to tell him. He’ll have both of our heads if he finds out we found something like this and didn’t wake him up.”
“You’re right.” The second guard sounded less than thrilled at the prospect of waking up their leader. “I’ll go get him. You stay here and keep an eye out for trouble.”
Footsteps swished through the taller grass, coming our way. I did my best to shrink down behind the van. I had to bite back a noise when I rubbed the cuts to my back on the filthy side of the vehicle, but the guard walked right on past where the six of us hid.
“We have to get out of here before that maniac finds us,” Devon whispered.
He had a point. Two armed guards were beyond us to fight in our current condition, and the entire camp was about to be woken up. For now, all they knew was that there was a hole under the fence that may, or may not, have been made by a dog. But as soon as someone thought to check the cage, they were going to know for sure that the dog didn’t do it. Steeling my nerves, I eased up to look into the front seat of the van.
I had watched earlier as a pair of men systematically emptied our van of our belongings. I was hoping that, like with the door on the cage, they had been lax with security regarding the vehicles.
Someone seemed to be smiling down on us at that moment because the moonlight glinted off of a familiar set of keys, lying on the front seat.
“The keys are in the van,” I whispered excitedly.
I had everyone’s attention.
“Let’s go, then. That gate didn’t look like it would stop a car if you hit it hard enough.” Bill groaned as he hauled himself back to his feet.
The door slid open and everyone began piling into the van, but I held back. Looking over the hood, I tried to make out the fence in the dark, but it was too far away. “I can’t go yet.”
“What?” Shawn hesitated with one foot still on the grass.
“Rex is still on the other side of the fence. He wouldn’t come through the hole with me.”
“Bri, he’s a dog. We have to get out of here before they all wake up.” Maya looked out at me from where she had taken the driver’s seat.
“I can’t.” I tried to convey with my eyes just how serious I was. “I might not have even made it here to get you out if it wasn’t for him. I can’t just leave him.”
Five pairs of eyes looked at me like I was crazy, but the one person who I had learned I would always be able to count on came through once again.
“Ok. Let’s go get the dog,” Shawn finally agreed.
Maya sighed. “We will wait for you as long as we can.”
Sneaking back through the night towards the remaining guard seemed like a foolish thing to be doing. Sweat trickled down my neck and I struggled to keep my breath from turning into loud gasps. I’d switched my knife for the machete, and the handle felt like it was going to slip through my sweaty grasp. Creeping along next to me, Shawn now held the knife with a look of determination.
We hadn’t really had time to come up with a plan. He had hurriedly whispered that we would split up before we reached the guard, one approaching from one side, and the other from behind him. Hopefully, we would catch the guy off guard and be able to get the gun away from him before either of us got shot. Then I would get Rex through the hole by whatever m
eans necessary, and we would run for the van.
In theory, it should work, but there were a lot of variables we had no control over. Just before we made it close enough to begin to make out the guard in the dark, we split. Going right, I swung in a wide arc, staying out of view, until I finally encountered the fence. I had lost sight of Shawn and worried that I was not moving through the dark as fast as he was. If one of us made it to the guard too far before the other, that person was going to be in real trouble. After all, we were bringing knives to a gun fight.
I picked up my pace a fraction.
“Dog, what are you looking at?”
I froze. It hadn’t occurred to me that Rex was going to give our approach away. Of course, he was going to know that we were out there and was going to react. I just hoped that he was looking at me instead of Shawn. If anyone was going to get shot over our bid to rescue Rex, I did not want it to be him.
A strange sense of both relief and adrenaline-fueled anxiety hit me as Rex melted out of the darkness, just on the other side of the fence. The guard was going to be looking my way.
I took one step forward, and was stopped again.
“Stop! Who’s out there?” The guard’s outline appeared as he moved towards me.
I threw my hands up, machete still clutched in a death grip and hoped that I wasn’t about to find out what it felt like to get shot.
“Stop, stay where you are.”
The guard advanced. On the other side of the chain link, Rex started barking viciously and jumping at the fence. I kept my focus on the gun, trying to decipher if he was going to shoot.
The guard had come within a few feet of me when movement behind him in the darkness turned into a familiar face. The guard crumpled to the ground, leaving me facing Shawn, holding a good sized rock that he had just used to hit the guard.