Page 41 of Out to Find Freedom

I bit my bottom lip when it trembled. “Free from here, from them?”

His jaw clenched. “Yes.”

Was I dreaming?

Could it really happen and I would be safe? Harriet and her family would be as well?

Noise rose above. Voices screamed, a door banged. More voices. I dropped to the floor in a crouch and covered my head.

Death.

Blood.

Failure.

Arms circled me. “You’re good. You’re fine. They’re here to help.”

“That bitch. That fucking bitch,” rose above all other noises. I cringed and burrowed my head into my knees more, tightened my arms around my head. I started humming when things got thrown around above, then whimpered when I heard the basement door fly open with a crash.

Banging footfalls rushed down. The arms around me dropped away. I felt him stand.

“Get up, bitch. Get the fuck up. They’re dead. Do you hear me? Dead, just like you will be.” A leg knocked into me. I whimpered and peeked to see Killer holding Gloria back.

More footsteps raced down the stairs.

“Get her the fuck outta here,” Killer snarled.

“Warden, I’ll take her,” a man said. Hearing Ryan’s last name, registering that time, I peeked out again to find Ryan standing just in front of Killer. Another man had a ranting Gloria by the arms and tugged her towards the stairs.

“I’ll kill you, you pathetic bitch. You’re dead.”

They all ignored her. Ryan’s eyes dropped to me. I lifted my head and watched Killer step close to Ryan. They shared quiet words. Ryan nodded before he turned and left the room.

My head swirled. He wanted nothing to do with me. I couldn’t say I blamed him.

Killer turned to face me. “Come on, let’s get you someplace safe.”

“My friend Harriet White and her family. They need to be safe. She could still send someone for them.”

“I’ll let the right people know. She’ll be fine.” He walked closer, his hand held down and out for me. “Come on.”

For the first time since being down there, I didn’t want to leave because I didn’t know what would happen next.

Still, I reached up and grabbed his hand, ready to take my chance of getting out of there, even when fear rattled my body.

Chapter Fourteen

Emerson

Someplace safe actually meant next door at Ryan’s house. I didn’t understand why Killer would lead me there, but he had. Then he planted me on the couch in the living room and stood beside it with his arms crossed over his chest. He looked menacing. If he hadn’t been kind to me, I would be scared of him. Then again, I still was a little.

I pulled my legs up onto the couch and wrapped my arms around them. But then I thought better since my feet were still only covered in socks and the walk there could have dirtied them. I didn’t want to leave any marks on Ryan’s couch, so I placed them back on the floor. I arranged the hoodie so it covered the marks on my thighs and then tucked my hands under my knees, hunching in on myself.

When Killer had led me from the house and through the front door, no one had been around. I had heard voices coming from the back rooms in the house—where I kept peering over my shoulder to make sure no one was coming after me—but we’d made it safely into Ryan's. As I sat there, I glanced around for the first time.

The living room had the basic needs. Some furniture was still covered, which made me think Ryan had been painting recently. The couch I sat on faced the front door, and I surreptitiously glanced there and then away. There were stairs to the right of the couch.

Stairs.

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