The man grunted just before he started leaning to the side. Before he could fall completely, Emma yanked the knife free.
“B-bitch.” Her guard fell onto the dirt beside her.
A minute later, he was dead.
Using the bloody blade to cut her wrists free, she dropped the rope and knife and jumped to her feet.
With her one and only goal in mind—to escape—she waited long enough to take the keys and gun from the guy’s belt before heading for the door. Then, she ran.
Emma ran as hard and fast as she could toward a door at the end of the hallway. She could see light filtering in around it’s edges, and instinctively knew freedom was on the other side.
Please let it be unlocked.
She’d taken the keys, just in case, but there were several and Emma didn’t want to waste time figuring out which one she needed.
With a quick glance over her shoulder to make sure she wasn’t being followed, Emma reached for the handle. Sending up a final prayer, she turned the knob and pushed.
The door opened.
Yes!
Refusing to look back, Emma dropped the keys, ran through the doorway, and up a set of concrete stairs. She had to squint against the sun’s blinding rays, but within seconds, her vision had cleared.
As she stood at the top of the stairs, Emma checked her immediate surroundings. She was out of the building, sure, but she still had to be smart about where to go from here.
She appeared to be on the side of some sort of old, stone building. There’d likely be guards around the front and possibly the back, which left two options.
Run across the lush, grassy area to the thick trees straight ahead, or go back into the dungeon from hell.
Trees, it is.
Giving one final glance behind her, Emma took off in a dead sprint. She was weak, and it was hard as hell to keep the momentum going, but she refused to give up now.
The space between her and the cover of the trees was huge. A full football field’s length, if she had to guess. Still, she kept on running.
With only about fifty yards between her and the wooded covering, Emma heard someone shouting from behind. Seconds later, multiple gunshots also reached her ears.
Bullets hit the ground near her feet. Bark from the trees in front of her exploded. She screamed and ducked her head but continued on.
Ignoring the fact that she was shoeless, Emma pushed herself harder than ever before until she finally reached the trees’ edge.
Keep running. Don’t stop. Keep. Running.
It was exactly what she did.
For what felt like miles, Emma ran. Fatigued muscles burned and shook, but she refused to stop. Not now. Not when she actually had a chance to survive.
Her toe hit a fallen branch, and Emma went flying. With a loudoof,she landed chest-first onto a pile of moist, decaying leaves.
The stench of dirt and must filled her nostrils, but it still smelled better than the man lying dead back in her cell.
His body...hisblood...filled her mind’s eye, but Emma ignored it and pushed herself back onto her feet. She had no idea where she was, or where she was headed. All she knew was that she couldn’t stop.
But then a sound from her right reached her ears, and she realized she may not have a choice.
Oh, god. They’re here!
Tears threatened to fall, but now was not the time to feel sorry for herself. Giving herself a mental slap, Emma shook it off and kept going.