Page 25 of Savage Desires

Finally, I can see what looks like a break in the trees. Lexis slows her steps as we approach. Anxiety fills me when I see the expanse of empty space. There's no cover anywhere. We will be sitting ducks with nowhere to hide if someone is following us. At least among the trees, we have places to hide.

"What do we do?" Lucy whines.

Lexis is staring into the space with indecision on her face. "I thought the road was here…"

"Are we lost? Oh God! They're going to catch us!" Lucy wails, collapsing into Stacia's arms as they both weep uncontrollably.

My fingers twitch around the grip of the gun. It takes a lot of control to not just shoot them both. I have no patience for this right now, and they are compromising our safety with their bullshit. Apparently, I'm not the only one who's fed up with them because Tabitha walks right up to them and slaps Lucy so hard her face turns. Lucy looks at her with wide, shocked eyes, but she's finally fucking quiet.

"Get your shit together," Tabitha growls. "I'm not dying because you can't keep your goddamned mouths shut."

I smirk at Tabitha when she marches over to where I'm standing. I survey clearing in front of us. If we move quickly, we could cross it in maybe five minutes. The trees pick up again a little over a thousand feet away. I don't like that we will be out in the open, but we've gotten this far without anyone trailing us.

I have to trust that Lexis is moving us in the right direction. She's never actually been through the forest before. She learned about it from a loose-lipped guard who enjoys partaking in the free pussy at the mansion. Hopefully, the information isn't wrong. It doesn't even matter if it is. I'm not going back, so forward is the only option. I have faith that Kisten will find us if this ends up a wild goose chase. Something tells me he won't leave us stumbling around in the woods for those bastards to find us.

"What do you think?" Tabitha asks.

"We keep moving," I say, filling my voice with determination.

"I agree. What about them?" she says quietly enough that only I can hear.

"We stick together. For now," I tack on quietly.

She nods her understanding. I don't want to leave anyone behind, but I won't let anyone fuck up my chance to escape. Hopefully, Tabitha's slap was enough to wake the others up and clear their heads enough to keep it together.

"We need to keep moving. Stalling only gives them time to find us. We've got a head start right now, and I won't lose it," I say. "Stay low and close. We need to be quick."

Thankfully, no one protests. Instead of Lexis leading the way, Tabitha takes the front, setting a fast pace. The others follow without a word, keeping low and quiet like I told them to. I take the up the rear, guarding our backs as we cross the clearing. Lucy and Stacia start to slow about halfway across the space, and I grit my teeth.

"Keep going," I whisper shout.

"We're tired," Stacia whines.

"Either keep up, or I'm leaving you behind," I say shortly.

They look at each other horrified, then speed up again. I almost feel bad for the threat, but I'm done with these two. They have zero survival instincts at all. Especially Lucy. I thought Stacia was smarter, but I guess I was wrong on that one. Like Lucy, she was taken a short time ago. I wish they understood how fucking lucky they are to be in their current situation. I've spent six long years going through hell, and they are getting out in a few months. I push those thoughts away because they serve no purpose.

We're all breathing heavily by the time we reach the trees again. None of us are in good shape after being in captivity. Poor nutrition and no actual exercise have kept us all weak. I'm running on fumes after fighting against Kisten. The only thing keeping me going is adrenaline and stubbornness. We all pause to catch our breath once we've safely reached the tree line.

Tabitha gravitates back to my side. "You going to be okay?" she whispers.

"Yeah, I've got this," I say.

She gives me a tight smile. "You're one stubborn bitch. No wonder you were able to come out of the cage with your sanity intact."

That makes me laugh. Everyone turns in my direction, looking at me like I'm crazy. "I'm far from sane. Trust me."

I hear a twig snap and immediately shush the girls. We all freeze in place and listen. A few seconds pass, and then I hear leaves crunching. We all duck down behind the bushes and silently wait.

"Those whores have to be around here somewhere," a man with a thick Russian accent says.

"They could be long gone," a man with an American accent responds. "Scott's a greedy fuck. He probably planned this so he could sell them himself."

The other man says something in Russian, which makes him chuckle.

The girls look at me like they're waiting for me to tell them what to do. The problem is, I have no fucking clue what to do right now. The only thing I know for sure is that I'm not going back.

"We need to spread out and keep moving," I whisper.

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