The daylight feels so nice on my face, and finally having a chance to stretch my legs, even if it is from running away from that place, feels amazing. A lot of things happened today, we did manage to get Darrell up, and he helped with the door, his theory was to not bother with trying to wedge Claudia’s hand through a four centimetre gap, but to run up and smash through the door with the little steel table in the middle of the room. Mind you it worked, the door is in a hundred splintered, smashed up pieces on the ground and inside the basement. As we were running away from the horrid place, he started to lag behind and then collapsed on the ground only halfway to the next property on the road. We dragged him behind a bush and had to turn back, running back to the house and looking for a cart or wheelbarrow, just something we can use to move Darrell. We can’t go leaving him behind. Looked around the back of the place; found nothing. Looked in the shed; found nothing. We even looked around the side where the main entrance to the house was; and we still found nothing. Then on our way back to Darrell, completing our clockwise lap around the house, we stumbled over – in the darkness – a wooden trolley, just a slab of wooden slats on wheels with a handle to pull with. Eureka! We have a way. So pulling it nearly effortlessly down the sloping road, Claudia and I pull alongside the bush which he was laying under. He wasn’t breathing.
“Come on Darrell! Breathe!” we yell in a panic. “Come on, you can pull through this!”
We begin to perform CPR; Mouth to mouth, forcing in air.
“NO!” Claudia yelled. “It’s rolling away!” chasing after the cart.
I must get him breathing. I won’t let him die on us! Come on! I check his pulse, his heartbeat is weakening. I begin pumping on the chest as well. Come on! No response. I’m too worn out, I can’t continue.
“I got it! I stopped it!” Claudia exclaimed while dragging the cart back up the hill.
“We’re losing him. He’s stopped breathing and his heart rate is dropping.” I was panicking.
Then out of nowhere, the man that was harbouring us began chasing us down the road, no mask, he seems to have a massive tumour on his face, a growth on his upper cheek that he’s attempted to remove himself. There are stitches all through his cheek, and it’s getting infected. The growth is just becoming larger and it’s just horrific to see.
“Quick, let’s get him on the cart and get moving. He needs medical assistance.” Claudia yelled, bringing me back to reality.
We lifted him onto the back of it and both began pulling at the handle to gain momentum, running with it down the hill we then jumped onto the cart and rode it down the hill and away from the man.
“My meats! My Leather! It’s getting away!” He screamed down the street, no longer being discreet about the cannibalism.
He ran and ran and tripped over halfway down the street. And now, with Darrell’s weight behind us, we travelled down the hill and along the road ahead. The momentum got us closer to the city. And we screamed as we rode, partially of joy and being free, but also in the hope that someone would come out and help us. As the speed died down, we needed to get off and start pulling. And after what seemed like an hour, we reached the part of town where there were more people. They came and helped us with Darrell, who sadly couldn’t be revived, and Claudia seemed to be dangerously underweight and the doctors said that her baby may be too small when it’s born and even if carried to term may not survive, but there’s still a chance that it’ll survive. Some calls were made and a news crew and a bunch of other people came to the area. Claudia’s husband, children and parents came for her, holding her tightly. Darrell’s family came and mourned his death and thanked me and Claudia for the effort we put in, despite it not working. People cared for them and as I had realised in that prison, they deserved to live more than I; just as I thought no one was coming for me, a girl from my work, Louise, who had gone to school with me since I was seven, came running to me, asking if I was okay. I never realised that someone actually cared for me like that. I finally felt as though I had hope.
