Page 53 of Peach

“I’m going to slow you down. You make a run for it.”

Haisley reached for Mel, her hand landing on Mel’s arm. “There is no way in the world I’m leaving you behind. You are coming with me no matter what.”

“I knew there was a reason I liked you. Let’s work on getting that latch open.”

It took two more tries each for the latch to finally swing open. Then it took both of them using all their strength to get the window up.

Haisley slipped out then turned, seeing Mel a little stuck. She turned and grabbed Mel under the arms and pulled gently. The scrape across her belly had to hurt, but Mel was out and they could escape.

They took off toward the road, but after a moment, Mel put her hand on Haisley's arm. They both stopped, and Haisley took Mel's hand.

“What’s wrong?”

“If we walk on the road, they could see us. We need to head into the forest.”

“What about bears and other things like mountain lions?”

“We’ll have to take our chances. We both know that these monsters could kill the baby without a second thought. We have a better chance at escaping a bear or mountain lion.”

Haisley snorted. “That’s true. I never told you what these men did.”

“No, you didn’t.”

"Let's move into the forest, and I'll tell you as we walk. I know we should make noise walking in the woods to scare away predators."

“I’ve heard that, too. I’m not sure how well it works.”

“I think it’s safer than staying on the road.”

They picked their way to a path through the forest thatwasn’t close to the road and began walking. She thought they were headed in the same direction as the road, but she wasn’t positive.

"Will, the man who was holding you, he was my ex. I'd broken up with him because he was a jerk. He got mad that I wouldn't date him again, so he broke into my car, popped it into neutral, and pushed it down a hill. It was totaled."

“Oh shit, that’s awful.”

"That's not even the bad part. He asked me to meet with him at a restaurant that was kind of a bar, too. I agreed because I thought he was going to apologize for wrecking my car. Instead, he drugged me."

“Oh shit. I don’t like where this is going.”

They’d gone about a hundred yards when they spied a vehicle on the road. Both of them froze and moved behind a tree. They watched as the lights passed by and kept going. It wasn’t Will or Eason returning from wherever they’d gone.

Haisley continued her story. "I kind of came to a few times, but not enough to fight them off. I remember Eason. That's the guy who was holding me. He was the sheriff in my county. There were a few other guys. I woke up the next morning on the edge of a pool behind a house in the rich part of town. I don't even know whose house it was."

"Oh, Haisley, I'm so sorry."

"I stumbled home, barely making it. They all lied, of course. I lost my job, lost my apartment, and had no car because Will had trashed it. Then Peach's mom took me in when they found me at their old church. I was there because the pastor was in on the attack, too."

“Damn, that’s terrible.”

"So the baby could be any one of theirs. They want megone because once I have the baby, they could end up being implicated in a crime."

“Oh shit. That’s scary. Having them connected to your baby, what do you think of that?”

She shrugged, knowing Mel couldn't see her, but they were holding hands, so maybe she felt the action.

“I don’t want them on the birth certificate. I’m thinking about never asking for child support. It would make it harder for me, but I don’t care. I don’t trust that some dumb judge wouldn’t give them custody.”

“Did you think about abortion?”

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