“He came from over there,” CJ says as Bruneau heels to my left.
“What’d you find, boy?” I ask him as CJ takes off. Ihurry after him, scurrying over the wet cobbles to the low bank. The forest is thick here, wet branches slapping my face.
Ahead of me, CJ falls to his knees.
With panic chewing up my spine, I stop short behind him, panting.
Ripped in half, the contents strewn over the mix of cobbles and mud, is Linnea’s backpack.
Chapter Thirty-Six
Shivering on the cold ground,I’m startled by a thin beam of light shining in from the cellar door. Icy fear crawls up my spine.It’s the men, they’re coming back to hurt me. But a young woman steps through the opening and descends the set of stairs I tumbled down earlier, the hard angles of her face illuminated by the lantern she’s carrying.
My heart lifts. A woman wouldn’t come to harm me.
She’s wearing rubber boots and leggings, and a long-sleeved T-shirt that hugs her pregnant belly, the sleeves falling past her fingertips, and a ski coat that’s several sizes too small, the fabric damp from the rain. She’s carrying something under her arm. A blanket?
The hope that she’s here to help me is so powerful that I start crying again.
Please!
I try to form words.Help me!
But she walks in swift strides to the edge of the bars, her gaze fixed on the yellow pool of lantern light bobbing ahead of her on the cement floor. Her thin brown hair is pulled back in a tight bun that’s wet from the rain, and she’s pale and thin, her leggings baggy at theknees, like she’s had to crouch down or kneel for an extended period of time.
Wincing and huffing against the pain, I try to sit up, but my head pounds and whatever’s broken inside my chest screams at me to stop.
“Put your back to the bars,” the woman says in a tense whisper.
My panicked brain tries to process her request but I’m shaking and so tense my teeth are rattling.
She stands there out of reach, head bowed. Waiting.
What does she want from me? Can I trust her?
“I have water,” she adds, her gaze still fixed to the floor.
I want to scream that I don’t need water but there’s something about the fear in her voice that snaps my panicked brain to attention. Did she sneak in here to do this for me?
If she’s here to give me water, she’ll have to take the tape off my mouth, and if she does that, maybe I can talk to her. Maybe she’ll listen.
She glances over her shoulder, then our eyes meet for a brief flash. “Hurry. Please.”
It’s the “please” that spikes my determination. I get to my knees as best I can. Each inch of movement sends hot pain searing up my side, turning each breath into a stabbing ache and a wave of nausea. Tears sting my eyes but I blink them back. I beg the woman to look at me. At least so she can see my desperation.You have to help me!
But she stands still as a statue, the soft circle of lantern light trembling, like her breathing is unsteady. Finally, I get close enough that she lifts her gaze, but only for a fraction of a second. When she looks away, I feel cold, and more desperate than before.
I slump back into the bars, so tired that I have to rest the back of my head against them. Crying any harder than I already am makes the pain worse but I’m losing hope.
She’s pregnant, which should mean she cares about human life. She can’t possibly be bringing a child into the world while in support of the suffering I’m going to endure if I stayhere, can she?
She loops something around my bound wrists. It’s so fast and I’m so surprised that I jerk back in protest, shouting words she can’t understand into my taped mouth. Whatever she’s done keeps my hands tied to the bars. Then she unlocks the cell door and slips inside.
It makes me think she’s done this before. How else would she move with so much confidence?
“It’s safer this way,” she says like she’s reading my mind, before reaching out to peel the tape from my mouth. It burns but the relief to have it gone makes me start blubbering. “Please help me, let me go, please.” I suck in a breath but I whimper at the sharp pain and try to brace my muscles, as if that can protect me.
“Drink,” the woman instructs, holding an uncapped bottle of water in front of my lips.