Page 4 of Make Me Scream

“I fucking know!”

“You’d rather go back?”

No, of course not.

“You climb this fence, you’ll never have to do that ever again. Just this one time.”

She won’t leave without me. I’m holding her back. She should go. Master’s looking for us. If we don’t make it, this will be my fault.

I climb. Staring straight upward, I don’t think about the ground. I focus on the pain of my toes pinching against the metal. Pet’s movements travel through the fence to me; I can feel it when she reaches the top and eases herself over.

“You’re almost there,” she says. “You’re doing great.”

“Shut up, shut up! You’re not helping!”

My hand passes through the air; I’m at the top.

The car’s getting closer; its engine’s roar rises over the chorus of crickets.

I have to look down.

Quieting my mind, I swallow a rising heave. My throat burns, but I keep my grip.

One hand over, then the other. Leg up. One more, then I’m over.

Pet drops down to the ground, and my balance goes. I lose purchase with my toes; I dangle a moment before falling.

Even with Pet reaching out to catch me, I still land pretty hard. A spasm races up my leg. It’d probably hurt if not for all the adrenaline.

“Are you okay?” she asks, still holding me up.

I take a test step, and my ankle nearly buckles. Warm tears drip down my cheek. I’m not stopping now.

“Look!” I say, pointing at the pair of headlights cresting a hill.

Pet sees the car too, and pulls us into the road.

“Hey!” she shouts, waving her free arm at the car. “Hey, stop!”

What if it’s him? It’s too dark to see inside.

What kind of car did Master drive? That was so long ago now; I haven’t thought about it since he…

But the car doesn’t slow down. It swerves right past us, narrowly missing us.

Yeah, if I encountered two strangers in the middle of nowhere, I might keep going too.

As we turn to see, it screeches to a stop. The driver gets out.

It’s him.

“Make this easy and I won’t punish you,” Master says, approaching fast. He takes out two pairs of handcuffs. “I won’t give you another chance.”

“Fuck you!” Pet screams.

She lets me go and marches toward him, fists balled.

I try to warn her as he draws a gun from his windbreaker, but he doesn’t give me time. He fires immediately.

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