Total pages in book: 85
Estimated words: 79145 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 396(@200wpm)___ 317(@250wpm)___ 264(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 79145 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 396(@200wpm)___ 317(@250wpm)___ 264(@300wpm)
“Maybe there is something on the other side.”
“Yeah,” I agree, and she leads us in the other direction. Halfway there, her foot goes through the roof, and she covers her mouth before a scream can leave it.
“It’s okay; just go slow,” I assure her when her body freezes and begins to shake. She closes her eyes then opens them before moving again, this time more cautiously. I follow behind her as she slides over the hole, and I do the same. The roof pitches at a steeper angle, almost like we’re completely vertical. I look down and cringe when I see how far we are from the ground.
“Don’t look down,” Ellie hisses, grabbing my hand. I bite my lip then follow her to a ledge near where the roof changes angles. “Someone’s here,” Ellie says, peeking around a corner of the roof. “It’s the guy who took me,” she whimpers, with fear evident in her voice. I hold her hand and she scoots back toward me.
“What is he doing?” I ask, looking around and noticing we are surrounded by forest on all sides.
“Taking dog food out of his truck,” she says, disgusted.
“Did you see a way down?”
“No, I didn’t really look though, ’cause he’s there and I didn’t want him to see me.”
“Our only other option is to wait until it’s dark, hope they don’t come to check on us, make our way down the side the cages are on, and then make a run for it,” I tell her.
“Since I have been here, they have checked on me once in the morning, and once at night. They take me down to the bathroom and give me some water or bread then send me back up.”
“So they will be coming back. Staying here isn’t an option,” I say then hear a vehicle start up, and Ellie stands, peeking over the pitch in the roof.
“He’s leaving,” she hisses, sitting back down next to me. “What if we go down over the cages and open them as we leave?” she asks.
I hate the idea they would hurt the dogs if we let them out, but I know we need to do something. If we stay put, we are sitting ducks, and that is not an option.
“Let’s head over to that side of the roof. We’ll find a safe way to get down then make a run for it.”
She agrees silently and we make our way across the roof again as the sun sets in the sky. Once we reach the side of the house with the cages, I know we can get down, but I also know the minute we make our presence known to the dogs below, they are going to start barking, drawing attention to us.
“We’re going to have to be fast…really, really fast,” I whisper.
“If we make it out of this, I’m joining the gym.”
“I’ll go with you,” I whisper back, making her smile, and even with the events of the day and how exhausted she looks, I realize how beautiful she is. Her smile is blinding, and I hope when we’re out of here and she gets her daughter back that she smiles more.
“Let’s get the hell out of here, and then go get your baby,” I say, and a light fills her eyes right before she hugs me.
“Let’s go,” she murmurs, releasing me from her grasp. I take a few deep inhales and then lower myself to the shortest part of the roof. A fresh wave of adrenalin starts coursing through me as I watch Ellie get down next to me. It’s about six feet to the top of the cages, which have pieces of plywood set on top of them. I hop down, and the dogs immediately begin to bark louder and snarl in the cages.
“Hurry,” I tell Ellie, looking up at her. She hops down, and I hear someone off in the distance yell, “Shut the fuck up!” and my body freezes. Then I slide over the back of the cage, hitting the ground hard, and Ellie comes down next to me, her feet hitting the ground then landing on her ass.
“We can’t let them out. They’ll attack us,” I tell her as she looks at the dogs. “Let’s run back that way.” I point towards the forest behind the house. “I don’t know where the road is, but maybe we will see another house.” We slowly make our way back into the woods, and the deeper we go, the darker it gets.
“What was that?” I pause, asking Ellie as I hear what sounds like a four-wheeler.
“I don’t know.” She holds my hand a little tighter, and we begin to run as the sound gets closer.
“You can’t hide, you dumb bitches. This is five hundred acres of private property. No one is around for miles,” I hear yelled from off in the distance.