Page 145 of Golden Atonement

They were getting closer.

Every retching breath I took threatened to reveal where I was if I wasn’t careful. Another cough and sputter escaped while I expelled more bile from my body. I could feel my sticky, damp legs dripping as my ass and pussy did the same. Exhausted, my legs gave way when I crawled haphazardly, falling breathlessly to the ground.

“No,” I chided myself desperately. “Get up, Remi. You are strong. You can do this.”

With a determined, renewed effort, I scrambled back up and continued to run away as fast as my tired limbs could take me. The men and even a few women, called out to me in horrifyingly soothing voices, which contrasted starkly against the loud, demanding roars and screams.

“Remi, we will catch you. We don’t want to hurt you.”

I knew that was total bullshit. My body was still sore and leaking from what they did to me. Aching from the endless torture. My pussy and ass continued to seep with the fluids they forcefully pumped into my petite body.

Looking over my shoulder, I sighed as one man began to catch up to me. I slowed my movement. I didn’t want to risk him seeing the shuffle of the grass. Thankfully, it was only one man who had made his way this far. His face contorted while he relentlessly searched rather than shouting.

Why couldn’t he be like the other idiots and simply pass over me?

I turned away from him, barely able to see past the tall grass. My vision blurred until I saw there was a downhill slope somewhere up ahead where I could gain some distance by rolling down the other side. I pushed my burning body to move faster. My breathing became heavier as I struggled along with barely half my strength. Finally, I came upon the hill and plunged down.

The tall, damp grass cut at my body and pulled at my arms painfully, until I reached the bottom. I took a second to catch my breath before a shout came from above that sent chills down my spine.

“I have tracks! She crawled this way!”

My naked breasts still heaved while I gasped. If they had tracks, then I would have little choice but to keep moving. It would be harder for them to locate where I was after my little tumble, but only if I pushed myself now. Sweat made my long, curly blonde hair cling to my face while I forced myself to keep moving, running swiftly, using what adrenaline I had left as I shuffled through the grass. Several more men shouted and ran in my general direction.

They would be on me soon.

Knowing that my life as I knew it depended on my next actions, I made myself crawl faster.

I grunted and crawled, still too weak or scared to think of standing yet. Several men passed by me, barely missing my sensitive, mud-covered body through their aimless searching. In my delirious state of wild fleeing, all I could do was be thankful that they trained these people to capture the innocent, not the escaped.

Panting and crawling, I forced myself to collapse into a pit of mud amongst some tall, thick shrubbery to better hide. I slowed my heavy breathing and listened as I heard a voice that sounded horribly familiar. I turned to see none other than the man who started all my nightmares many, many years ago.

“Come on, darling! You are too old to be playing hide and seek!”

Tears stung my eyes while I remembered what seemed like so long ago when he played simple games like that with me. Now he would just as soon drag me back if I dared to reveal myself and try to convince me otherwise. How many others were here? So many others, lost and forgotten, never to be found again. There was nothing I could do for them. Biting back heavy sobs, unable to stop the slight sniffle, I made my way through the thick sludge.

Moving carefully through the thick swamp, it was impossible to tell the difference between sweat building on my skin or if it was the mud plastered all around me.

I didn’t care.

I gained my freedom with every step I took.

I was not going back.

After another quick rest, exhaustion wanted to claim me, and I fell over. The thick mud damn near blinded me. I was so tired, coupled with the ungodly humidity, it made it impossible to remember which way I was supposed to go.

The voices of my pursuers slowly faded into the distance while I rested on a soft patch of moss to regain my breath. When I felt confident enough and strong enough to stand, I got to my feet, leaning against a nearby tree. Bracing myself, I rose on my shaking legs and looked around warily, prepared to fall back into the deep mud at a moment’s notice. It looked as though I was alone. Better still, I could see where I had come from at my vantage point. Turning, I saw that the swamp thinned in the direction I needed to go. With shaky legs, I plowed slowly through the mud, my head throbbing and my body aching horribly with how much effort I had spent to make it this far.

Very little stood out to me as familiar while I lumbered along for the first few hours. A growing hunger and thirst attacked my body. Then came the aching and cramping of being starved for days on end. At least my body was no longer trying to expel the bodily fluids from my last punishment.

Eventually though, my eyes came upon something that made my heart jolt with renewed hope. It was the unmistakable sight of car lights passing by on a moonlit highway.

I stumbled toward it quickly, ignoring once more my tired and sore body. My body hurt in so many places. Some places I didn’t even want to think about. Cuts and bruises were the least of my problems. I could barely see out of one eye. My nose felt misshapen, making it hard for me to breathe. There was a stabbing pain in my left wrist, and it hurt when I moved my fingers. I knew there were probably much more important injuries, along with malnutrition and God knows whatever they injected me with. I was a complete mess, and I was done with this shit. I’d rather die than get captured again.

The closer I got to the road, the freer I felt.

I was almost there.

I could taste my freedom. Just a few more steps and my feet would touch the asphalt, and everything would be over.

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