Page 42 of Baby Me

“Okay. Stay here, please. Lock the door behindme.”

She squeezed her tiny arms around me once more, and I closed the door. Remembering her warning about the two men, I quickly grabbed my gun as well as my Taser and one of the syringes Cameron had bought for me and went outside. The rain had turned into a drizzle, and the air was cold. Another degree or two and we’d have snow. I warily crept toward theshed.

“Hello?” I called out quietly. “My name is Kate. Sophie says you’re hurt. I’m here to helpyou.”

There was noresponse.

“Hello?” I called out again, and then heard a shuffle of feet behind me. I whipped my body toward the sound. Holding a machete in his hand, the bushman yelled out and charged at me. I pressed the Taser button and the springs released the charge right into the man’s chest. His shocked body shook, and he fell to theground.

One down, one togo.

I grabbed the machete, pressed my back against the shed, and shuffled my feet along the wall until I reached theback.

“Hello?” I called out quietly, peeking around the corner. I saw a man’s dirty feet first. There were cuts and scrapes all over his shins, along with plenty of scars. I followed the length of his body upward until I noticed his bloody torso and rushed toward him. He was unconscious. I knelt at his side and brushed away the long hair covering his face, and thengasped.

“Dad?” Iasked.

His eyes opened slowly, and I felt my throat constrict. Despite the loss of weight; the dirt, scabs, and scars; and the ten long years that I hadn’t seen him, his face was recognizable. His eyes were underlined with dark shadows, tired and empty of emotion. The gray beard was full of twigs and bits of leaves, his nose was twisted to the side as if it had been broken more than once, and his cheeks were sunken. He looked like a differentperson.

“Daddy, it’s me –Kate.”

I gently touched his arm, and he opened hiseyes.

“Hey, there you are. I’m here to helpyou.”

As he stared at me, his mouth slowly opened in awe. A flash of recognition sparked in his eyes and then disappeared. Behind the thin coat of drizzle, something rustled in the distance. It wasn’t near us, but it wasn’t fareither.

I put my finger to my lips. “Shhh.” In a lowered tone, as I pointed to his torso, I said, “You have a gunshot wound through the side.” I inspected the area, hoping that the bullet that entered him was out. Otherwise we had two bullets inside of him to worry about. But by the look of the entry and exit, I didn’t think so. “I don’t think we have a lot of time. Sophie came to getme.”

Blood was oozing from the wound. I removed my sweater, scrunched it into a ball, and pressed it to the wound. His eyes were opened wide, so I continued. “She’s safe at the cabin. It’s just a few steps away. She said there were twomen.”

His head whipped from right to left and left to right over and over until I placed my hand on his shoulder. He calmed in an instant and lowered his focus to my hand, then looked back at me as I said, “I Tasered one of them, but I think the other one has to be nearby, so we need to get out of here. Do you think you can do that? Can you walk? I’ll helpyou.”

“Hhh...Hope.”

At the sound of my first name, the one I used to go by, all the emotions I’d held inside of me over the past ten years took over and came out in the form of tears. I was sobbing while his hand came up and cupped my cheek. My first name was Hope, but ever since I’d met Cameron while trying to hide from Aaron Cortez, I’d gone by Kate. My father, missing for the past ten years, wouldn’t have knownthat.

“Yeah, it’s me, Daddy. It’s Hope.” I kept my voice low, every few seconds looking up and straining to hear whether anyone wasnearby.

“Anna,” he saidnext.

“Anna is okay too. Mom’s back home. We have to go inside, Dad. It’s not safe outhere.”

“Anna.” He pointed toward theforest.

I reached for his right arm and placed it on the sweater. “We’ll call mom as soon as we’re safe. Hold here and press if you can.” I pushed his hand over the sweater, then draped his other arm over my shoulder and helped himup.

“We need to go as fast as we can, Dad, do you understand?” I asked, and henodded.

As we passed the other man’s body I saw him twitch. He’d be awake soon, and I didn’t have time to deal with him at the moment. I reached inside my pocket, removed the syringe and jabbed it into his thigh, releasing the contents. His body calmed and his limbsrelaxed.

Another sound from the forest alerted me. It was closer than the last one. Muchcloser.

“Run,” I said through my gritted teeth, only loud enough for him to hear. Whoever was behind us was about to breach the backyard’s line. As my father picked up his pace I reached for the gun tucked behind my back and whipped my body around, pointing it in the direction of thenoise.

“Nooo!” A deep scream and a blast from my left shot my body sideways. I heard a gunshot go off, and I was pretty sure it was my own, and then another gun shot sounded. Maybe that was an echo? I wasn’t too sure. It buzzed in my ears for a few seconds as I clutched at the grass and slowly pushed myself off the ground. When I looked to the side, I saw my father lying on the grass, holding his hand on hisshoulder.

My father had saved me when he pushed me to the side. He took a bullet forme.

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