Page 54 of Mountain Captive

“A helicopter won’t fly in this storm,” Rand said.

“It sounds like the rain is slowing,” Chris said. The drops were more intermittent now, and she only had to raise her voice slightly to be heard over their patter.

“What will happen to Serena?” Rand asked.

“I don’t know.” She clasped Rand’s hand again. His warm grasp calmed her. “You know she only said those things because she was frightened,” she said. “She was born to the group. She’s been told all her life that if she ever leaves them, she’ll be condemned for eternity. She’s just a child.”

“I’m not blaming her,” he said. He squeezed her hand. “Was it like that for you? Were you afraid to leave?”

“No. But I wasn’t born in the group. And while my father was a true believer—at least for a while—my mother never really was. She went along to be with my father. She said at first it wasn’t so bad. She liked the idea of living off the land with a like-minded group of people. But the more time passed, and the more she saw how the Exalted brainwashed people into obedience, the more resistant she was to remaining in the group. I remember she and my dad argued about it.” She fell silent, trying to judge if the rain was really slowing. “I won’t get on that helicopter with him,” she said. “I won’t.”

He put his arm around her shoulder. “I’ll do everything I can to stop him,” he said. “For now, all we can do is wait.” He sat and she lowered herself to sit beside him. Harley settled on her other side. The metal floor and sides of the container were cold, and she shivered in her damp clothing, her wet hair plastered around her head. She laid her head on Rand’s shoulder and closed her eyes. She was still afraid, worried about what Jedediah and the others might do to her, about what would happen if she was taken away with the Exalted, and about where Serena might be right now.

The rain and Rand’s warmth must have lulled her to sleep. She started awake at the scrape of the bar over the metal door being lifted and Harley’s loud barking. “Harley, hush!” she commanded, and the dog fell silent once more. The door of the container opened wider, enough for someone to be shoved inside, then it clanged shut once more.

Rand was already kneeling beside the crumpled figure on the floor. “Serena, are you okay?” he asked.

Chris joined him, then gasped as Rand gently shifted the girl toward the light. One side of her face was swollen and bruised, and a thin trickle of blood trailed from the corner of her lip. “Did Jedediah do this?” Chris demanded.

Serena nodded and continued to sob.

Chris pulled her close. “It’s okay,” she murmured. “They had no right to hurt you.”

Serena sobbed harder. “I didn’t mean it,” he said. “Those things I said about you making me go with you. I was scared of Jedediah. I didn’t want him to hurt me.”

“I know.” Chris stroked the girl’s back.

“Bad things happen to people who disobey the Exalted,” Serena said. “That’s why my parents died.”

“I told you my mother and I left the Vine when I was about your age,” Chris said. “I was scared, like you. But things worked out for us. I make my living as an artist. I have friends and I volunteer to help others. I never could have done any of those things if I had stayed with the Vine.”

Serena sniffed and wiped her eyes with her fingers. “But they caught you. They made you come back.”

“They won’t keep me,” Chris said. “And they won’t keep you either.”

“How are we going to get away?” Serena asked. “There are more guards this time.”

“We’ll find a way,” Chris said. She couldn’t afford not to believe that. There was so much more at stake than her own safety. Serena’s and Rand’s lives were also at stake—two people who were becoming more and more important to her.

Chapter Sixteen

Rand left Chris to deal with Serena and paced the shipping container, his steps ringing on the floor. In the dim light, he examined the sides of the container. “I’m trying to find some weakness we can use to our advantage,” he said. After a full circuit of the box, he ended up beside Chris and Serena once more. Serena had stopped crying and was sitting with her arm around Harley, stroking his side.

“Search and rescue and the sheriff’s department will still be searching for us,” he said. He spoke just loud enough to be heard over the rain but not loud enough for the guards to make out his words.

“Maybe not in this rain,” Chris said. “The safety of the searchers always comes first.”

“I could try to overpower the guards,” he said.

“There are three of them, plus Jedediah,” Serena said.

“And they have guns,” Chris said. “I think our best opportunity is going to be when they try to move us. Maybe we can create some kind of distraction. I could pretend to faint?” Even to her ears, the plan sounded dubious.

“When they come to get us, they’re going to have all three guards and maybe some reinforcements from the camp or the helicopter,” Rand said. “That’s also likely to be when they decide to deal with me—either right before or right after you leave.”

An icy shiver raced through her. “What do you mean, ‘deal’ with you?” she asked.

“They don’t have any intention of sending me with you and Serena in that helicopter,” he said. “They’ll get me out of the way as soon as possible.”

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