Page 57 of The Cult

He rushes out of my room, leaving me standing there with so much nervous energy I couldn’t sit down if I had to right now. We’re getting out tonight. With that key, nothing’s going to be able to stop us. Nash is big enough to handle any of the guards Micah or Nadine will send looking for us. All we have to do is get to the gate and we’re home free.

Mario is never going to believe me when I turn in my article on this cult. If he doesn’t give me top billing in the magazine that month, I’m going to tell him where to stuff his staff writer job and find somewhere else that appreciates the kind of work I’ve done investigating The Golden Light.

For the past three hours,I’ve nervously paced back and forth, unable to calm down because tonight’s the night. Micah never came by again, which is good on one hand, but I would have liked to tell him what I think of this little group of his before I go.

He’ll find out when my article goes live. Then he’s going to have to explain what the hell has been going on here. How they drug people to keep them docile. How they promise to help people desperately searching for something good in life and give them nothing in return other than making them zombies.

Or worse.

I need to make sure I include information about the box in my article. I hope Nash can talk about it. The memory of his screams full of terror echo in my head as I think about asking him to tell me what happened there.

When I get done exposing everything ugly and horrible Micah has going on with this Golden Light garbage, he’s going to be lucky if they only lock him up for the rest of his life. Then we’ll see how he likes it when he’s not the one holding the key.

I stop and look outside as the sun sets behind the nearby mountain, leaving oranges and purples behind to paint the sky for anyone lucky enough to see this beautiful scene. I can’t wait to enjoy sunsets and sunrises and everything else I took for granted for far too long back home. I won’t make that mistake again. I know now how precious freedom is.

No one is out. No doubt, they’re all in their cabins doing as they’ve been told like good little sheep obeying their mighty shepherd.

A faint tapping noise pulls me away from the view outside my window, and I hurry over to the door. “Nash?”

“Yeah! You ready?”

I nod in response and watch as the door opens to reveal him standing there smiling at me. I show him my hands and chuckle.

“I’ve got nothing to take with me from this place, so I’m ready. Lead the way!”

Excitement courses through me when he takes my hand and pulls me out the door. We run down the hallway to where another one meets it, and he directs me to go down that one.

“It’s okay. I went this way before,” he whispers when I hesitate for just a moment.

I smile and start off again with him next to me. I want to ask where this building is because I’m sure it’s not at the farm, but I don’t. We can talk about all that we’ve seen with Micah and his followers when we’re safe.

A door that leads to the outside appears halfway down the hallway, and my heart slams into my chest I’m so nervous. We haven’t seen a single person yet, but I know at any moment someone can appear who will want to stop us.

When we reach the door, he drives his shoulder into it and it flies open. I expect to hear an alarm, but there’s nothing but the sound of us laughing and our feet hitting the pavement as we rush outside into the warm night air.

I stop and look back at the building in disbelief. “I can’t believe no one tried to stop us!”

It all feels too good to be true. No, I can’t think that way. Sometimes, things are just easy. Not everything in this damn world has to be hard.

Unlike me, Nash isn’t ready to celebrate so soon. Yanking me by the arm, he directs me toward the road leading to the gate. “We aren’t free yet, Lara. Hurry up!”

I’ve never felt this alive in my life. It’s as if every cell in my body is screaming for me to keep going because freedom is only yards away. Or at least I hope it is. I don’t know what this place is or where we are, and in the darkness, it’s hard to see much of anything.

But I know this is going to work this time. It has to. Nash is going to get me out of here tonight.

His long legs mean he can run faster than I can, so I struggle to keep up. He tightly holds on to my hand to make sure I don’t fall behind, looking back at me every few steps as if to say, “Don’t worry. I’ve got you.”

Then in the distance, the sound of people sends fear racing through every inch of my body. If Nash wasn’t practically pulling me toward the road, I don’t know if I’d be able to continue on my own I’m so scared.

He smiles at me and looks over my head toward where the noise is coming from. “It’s okay. We’ve got a head start. It’s not far now.”

I can’t see in the dark, but I trust him. He’s going to get me out of here. I know he will.

Tightening my hold on his hand, I push my legs to go as fast as they can. I can’t give up now. Not when we’re so close.

“I see it!” he cries out a second later. “I see the road! Come on!”

My thigh muscles burn and my lungs ache from panting since I haven’t run like this since high school, but I keep up with Nash and hope at any moment I’ll see what he’s seeing. “How far is it?”

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