Kidnapped

Be a Hero

Chapter 10:

Ashley and I couldn't find the keys to the van so we just ran. She looked good in my basketball shorts and t-shirt, and I found myself staring as I raced behind her. But I needed a clear head, not one filled with thoughts of Ashley kissing and holding me again.

Suddenly, she stopped and doubled over. Her hands were pressed against her knees and her breath was coming in and out in ragged bursts.

"C'mon." I breathed. "We need to keep moving. We're almost there."

"Almost WHERE, though?" Ashley stared up at me. "You weren't kidding when you said you lived in the middle of nowhere."

"Then let's walk." I took her hand and pulled her forward.

A dog howled in the distance. It was a bloodhound. My heart sank.

No. It couldn't be my dad's dogs, he's dead. He couldn't have survived a hammer to the head! That's impossible. The howl sounded again and something inside of me screamed to run. Call me crazy, but I knew that howl. I knew it, but I wished I didn't.

"He's awake." My mouth was dry.

"Who?" The horrified look on Ashley's face told me I didn't have to answer.

"We need to get off of the road." I scanned the forest around us. "Now. Let's go."

She didn't need convincing. Without hesitating, we ran into the cover of the trees and undergrowth. However fast the dogs may be, my dad wasn't fast enough to catch us if we ran in places that required more jumping than anything. The years have not been kind to him, and for that I thank God.

"HOW is he awake?" Ashley huffed next to me. "You don't just walk away from a hammer to the face! He should be dead."

"I don't know." I breathed. I was already too tired to keep running. My legs felt like they were dragging across the forest floor. "Maybe it's Skip trying to get revenge for killing my dad?" But I knew that wasn't true. When he took the blow from the hammer I felt it sink into his skull. There's absolutely no way he could've walked away from that.

The howling stopped and a minute later I heard the van speed by down the road next to us. We were too far into the bushes and trees to see, but I knew it was him. That engine was unique and it sounded unique too. It was built by my dad just before he found a love for kidnapping, raping, and torturing teenage girls. At least he sells them now, instead of making me feed their corpses to the dogs.Their blood was on my hands, granted, not mine alone, but it was there. An invisible stain that reminded me of the monster my dad turned me into. Only the grace of God could clean them off. But who says I'm worthy enough for that anyway?

We kept running until Ashley's legs buckled beneath her. Mud caked her hands and knees as she stood on shaking legs.

"I can't-" she swallowed and took shallow, rapid breaths. "I can't- keep- running."

"We're almost there." I told her. Technically, that was a lie. I had absolutely no idea where we were. After we bolted away from the road, my sense of direction was thrown out the window. The lack of oxygen being sucked into my lungs made it hard to think.

"Wait." I paused. "What if we go back to the house?"

"What?" Ashley shrieked. "Are you nuts?"

"He thinks we left!" I looked around us and tried to find my bearings. "Skip has a car parked in our garage."

"And you didn't think to mention this before we left?" Ashley snapped.

"I didn't think of it then." I shrugged.