Page 17 of Mated By the Pack
“You need to throw that key away,” Nara gasps, rubbing her hand. “We’ve seen plenty we don’t understand, but that… that’s dangerous, Calla.”
“What if it opens the door?” I question. “When we get to The Outpost, we don’t have to fight them. We just have to wait for the right opportunity.”
“You were keeping that to yourself?” Brenna tilts her head slightly. “Why?”
“Because I didn’t want to scare you, but now I’m scared. Really scared,” I sigh. “But I don’t think throwing it away is the answer. Not until we use it.”
“I’m with Nurse Calla,” Fiona whispers. “I don’t want to fight unless we have to.”
“I’d prefer not to fight,” Tansy says, her hands trembling.
“Yeah, alright,” Nara relents. “Just keep that thing in your pocket.”
“Wait,” I say, glancing back toward the campsite. “Did Jeb fall asleep again?”
Nara moves closer to the bars and nods. “Yeah, he’s out.”
“Then let’s test the key,” I say, scooting over to the cage door.
I carefully pull the key out of my pocket and move it close to the lock. The vine pulses and tendrils flow out, twisting into the metal. I turn the key, and the door opens with a creak. As soon as I do, the key returns to its previous shape and easily slips out of the lock.
The five of us pour out of the cage. It feels tremendous to stretch our legs and arms. But we have to be careful. One of us will definitely get whipped if they wake up—possibly worse.
“Let’s look for things we can use,” I whisper. “Weapons we can easily conceal they may not miss. But be quick about it.”
“We should get Carl’s rifle,” Brenna says, motioning toward the slavers.
“They’ll miss it, and there’s no way we can hide something that big,” I say. “We still need them to get us to The Outpost. It’s too risky. Let’s find small things we can hide in our clothes.”
The disfigured oxen snort when we get close, but don’t seem to care that we’re scurrying around, searching for something we can use when we get the chance. I open the box with the rations and stash a few more into my shirt. Then my eyes light up. I see a silver case at the bottom. I pull it out, open it, and see four syringes full of what I assume was injected into our neck. I look at them closely and even in the darkness, I can make out the words Academic Medical Center.
“Someone gave this to the slavers… Was it Clyde?” I shake my head and stuff the case in my pocket.
We meet back at the wagon. Nara has a small hammer. Brenna has a belt with a heavy buckle. Tansy has a piece of broken wood. Fiona—Fiona has aknife.
“Where did you get that from?” I ask, my eyes getting wide.
“I took it from Jeb’s belt,” she whispers.
“What?” I jolt and look toward the sleeping men. “Back in the cage, quickly. We can’t risk them waking up.”
I wanted them to take things that wouldn’t be missed. Jeb will miss his knife. I wait until the other four are in the cage, then I grab the knife and turn back toward the campsite. I have to put it back.
“Just throw it near him,” Nara whispers. “He’ll think he dropped it when he got up for his watch and fell asleep.”
“Good idea,” I whisper back, creeping toward Jeb’s sleeping form.
Scared little Fiona was the bravest of all, it seems. I’m not angry with her, but we can’t keep Jeb’s knife, just like we couldn’t go for Carl’s gun. I slowly creep close to where Jeb is sleeping. He snores and turns, which causes me to hold my breath, but then he settles again. I get as close as I dare and place the knife beside him. I hope he’ll believe it fell out of his belt.
“Okay, that should do it,” I whisper, turning back to the cage.
My heart pounds in my ears and the vine matches every beat as I return to the cage. I take a deep breath before hoisting myselfback inside. With trembling hands, I pull the door closed and use my key to secure the lock.
“Alright, let’s work on our plan,” I whisper, scooting close to the others.
Nara seems comfortable with the small hammer she found. It isn’t big enough to cause much damage, but it has some weight to it.
“When you swing this, aim for the head. Around the temple if you can,” I tell her, pointing out the location even though I’m sure Nara is familiar with it. “But most important, if you can, don’t stop swinging until they go down.”
