Page 50 of Wild Child
With a shaky breath, I forced my mind to focus on something else.
Not far outside the cabin, but far enough he wouldn't be able to hear me, lay Devin. He hadn't moved. They'd left him there without a backward glance. He lay on his back, his left arm thrown wide and knees bent. I hadn't torn my eyes off him much, afraid of what his stillness could mean. Would he wake up soon? Ever? My throat felt thick with fear for several reasons, but the greatest was for Devin.
Would we make it out of this?
There's no way I'd ever leave here without him, even if that meant I had to haul his limp body away. Hopefully, he'd wake up soon, and we'd have more options.
The three smaller men stood in a huddle not far away, speaking quietly. Fire behemoth squirted lighter fluid on the bonfire pile. Steve rummaged for a lighter, struck it, and touched it to a nearby branch. All of them recoiled away when fire raced over the saturated branches, then exploded in bright, yellow flames. A wave of heat rolled past the cabin, and the flicker illuminated the canyon walls. Steve tossed the lighter and lighter fluid aside as I tried not to panic. Those kinds of flames could set this whole ridge aflame, then there'd benoescaping for anyone.
My thoughts flittered around, unable to land, not fully aware of the ugliness of our new situation. As though I wanted to comprehend the whole picture, but didn't truly dare. Still, I forced myself to take mental stock. Facts were easier to work with than emotions. If there was anything I had practice with, it was bottling emotions away to deal with later. So I bundled up my terror and worry and anxiety and pushed it into a box at the back of my mind. The way I had when Jim came at me with a stick. Or when Lizbeth and I walked through the mountains to find Bethany.
Or when Devin left.
I had a lot of boxes.
I turned my mind to this moment and everything I knew about our situation. Clearly, Devin was passed out. Whether waking up would be a good thing or not, I wasn't sure yet. They could have plans for him. Hadn't Kimball saidpractice? If Dev didn't wake up, that would likely indicate a severe head injury. Hope of getting him out of here intact dwindled with every passing minute. Now, I just hoped to get him out alive.
Men with nefarious purposes and obvious physical brawn surrounded us, but their motivation remained unknown. They'd taken my pack and Devin's and put them . . . somewhere. Probably out of sight, in the woods, where I couldn't easily locate them if we stole away. Our radios and any hope of communication were out of reach. It was unlikely that we'd be able to use them for anything and we'd lose time looking. Daniel wouldn't expect us to return for several more days. I checked in with him every night via satellite text message. If I didn't for tonight, he probably wouldn't worry. Maybe after two nights he’d feel some concern, but that would be far too late.
So, all told, quite bleak.
The wordsSurvival Clubran back through my mind. Was it an actual game? A competition? Did all of them participate? If so, Kimball and the other two idiots had no chance against the monsters they'd brought. Likely, the big guys were going to fight. Maybe with fists.
But why fight?
And whyhere?
While most details remained murky, my position in this horror was abundantly clear. The inevitable victim of someone's disgusting lust at the end. Whatever game they played, the winner gotme. And wasn't that just peachy? Because underneath all his layers of alcohol, that's all Jim had really wanted: my innocence. Ultimate power over me, the object of his wife's affair. Karma had somehow brought me back here.
All of this in the middle of a forest where an alleged territorial grizzly roamed not too far away. If given the choice, I'd take the grizzly.
But I wouldn't call our chances impossible yet. Their ropes weren't impressively tight. With some determination and pain and blood, I might be able to wiggle my hands out and spring my ankles free. Binds notwithstanding, I knew the forest. They clearly didn't. If I could justgetin the trees, the wind would be my only competition as I hauled out of here. Even if I had to hustle at night.
Except, Devin posed a problem. Perhaps I could sneak out of here alone easily enough, but I refused to leave him behind. I started wriggling at the binds, using my teeth to tug them loose. The idiots, distracted by whatever they were up to now, had tied my hands in front of me.
Devin wouldn't like my plan. He definitely wouldn't agree with it. He'd tell me to run fast, far, and get to safety, then send help.
Forget that.
My days of leaving Devin when he needed me were far behind me, and so was my plan to keep him an acquaintance. No. There was too much between us. All that shared history bolstered me now and made me brave. Devin had always let me lean on him. Now, it was time for me to fight for Devin.
The decision to stay with Devin no matter what gave me something firm to hold onto, and I clung to it with renewed tenacity. Courage, fueled by my determination, followed.
My gaze darted around the cabin to map my options. Fallen boards, dirt, and a piece of a broken beer bottle littered the floor inside. Some charcoal along the dirt floor meant someone had lit a fire in here at some point.
I wiggled to the left and managed to grab a broken piece of beer bottle in my right hand. Small enough that it fit in my palm, the edges poked the sensitive skin there, but it was still large enough to draw blood. If anything, it would give me the element of surprise. I'd need something more, but I tucked it into my palm and kept working at the rope. The rope was tight but it had just enough give that I had a chance.
In between tearing at the rope with my teeth and the edge of the beer bottle, I turned my attention to the growing bonfire. The heat flared out so thick I could feel it through the slatted logs. I tilted my head to the side as I regarded the smaller men. They stood around now, shoulders slumped, voices quiet, talking not far from the fire. The three behemoths stayed away from each other. Each had surly glares and heavy brows.
My plan populated one piece at a time. Get out of the bonds. Find Devin. Wake him up. Grab one of the sticks that wasn't completely engulfed with flames to fight them off and haul out of there. The moment we could disappear into the darkness, we'd have an instant tactical advantage.
A weak plan at best. What if they attacked all at the same time? What if I couldn't grab a log? But at least it was something. I'd have to improvise as I went. Right now, I neededsomethingto do, or else it seemed like we'd both endure torture before being murdered.
"Forget practice," a rolling, deep voice said.
My head jerked to look through the nearest gap in the wood. The behemoth with the burned face cracking his neck by canting his head to the side. "Let's get this over with and get the dust distributed."
My thoughts stalled.
