One Last Step by Sarah Sutton (free e books to read TXT) 📗

It had shaken her then, but she had been in such a haze that it didn’t pierce through her body like it did now as if she were seeing it for the first time. She was staring at her fate, that much she knew. Her shoulder was wrapped carefully with gauze. He had attended to her wounds, he had even given her water—pouring it into her mouth as her mind swirled into a haze of confusion. He had kept her alive, and she knew it was only to have more time to do what he did to them.

Next to her, a gasp of air bubbled to the surface of the room, and her attention was drawn to the source. Her sister lay next to her, her body vibrating as it tried to find warmth from a chill. Her wound too had been bandaged up but she knew it was much more serious than her own. The gauze wrapped around her leg was now the color of red rust as it continued to bleed.

“Kelsey,” she suddenly whispered.

She wanted to wake her. The man who brought them there was now nowhere in sight, and she knew that time was limited. But, as she said her sister’s name, it only affirmed that she was in no state to move. Her eyes fluttered open for just a moment, but her body didn’t even have the energy to hold them there and they quickly closed.

“Kelsey,” she said again, this time a bit louder.

She wanted to nudge her, but she couldn’t find a way to do so with her limbs tied together. All she was left with were her words, and as she said her sister’s name again, her eyes only fluttered once more—but this time weaker—and she knew she was only wasting precious time.

She was on her own, and it was up to her to save them both. She needed to get help. But how? She scanned the barn. If she could just find something to cut the rope around her wrists, that was all she needed. But as she looked around her, it became evident that he was too clever to leave something behind that could possibly assist an escape. The barn was barren of anything except vacant bodies and her and her sister. Her mind suddenly grew dizzy as it wandered to the thought that if she didn’t act quick enough, she and her sister would soon also lie in that pile lifeless.

She scanned the barn once more and could see a sliver of sunlight seeping through a crack in the barn door. It was slightly open, and she knew if she could only get her body free, she could easily make a run for it. And so she tried with all she had to wrestle her legs out of the rope, but it was too tight and too well tied and all it did was chafe her ankles. She then tried her wrists, but they too were tied too tight.

Can I make it? she thought to herself. If she could only get outside, find a rock, she might be able to cut through it. The door wasn’t far, so she threw her body onto the floor as quietly as possible and then shimmied herself toward it. At each thrust of movement, she could feel the pull of her wound and it racked her body with pain, but she needed to keep moving for her sister, and for herself.

And so she focused on the door, on the light shining through it, as she continued to lie on her side, bringing her knees up to her chest and then pushing them back out in one fluid movement. Over and over again she would do this, like an inchworm frantically fleeing a predator. Each time she gained length, she pushed even harder as hope dripped through her veins. And just when close enough, she squeezed herself through the crack in the barn door as it gave way.

She was outside. The smell of fresh cut grass filled her nose but as she looked around, she had no clue where she was. She lay in a field of green grass next to a home she’d never seen before. There were no neighbors, no other houses—only the forest surrounding the property, and a long dirt driveway.

If I can just get down the driveway, she thought to herself. There must be a road. But first, she needed to free herself. Her eyes fell upon a nearby rock. She didn’t have time to think it through. She rammed her legs into it and then continued to pull them forward and backward, in an effort to saw through the rope. It was thick but she could see each fiber give way as it slowly cut through.

But then she heard something, someone running toward her.

“Stupid girl,” she heard.

But this time, it wasn’t a man’s voice. It was a woman’s. And before she could even turn around, she felt a hand clasp her hair, and then her body being dragged.

Chapter Twenty Nine

Tara sat at the small table in her hotel room, staring at the slice of pizza she had just bought for herself. Her eyes moved toward the compasses, in their evidence bags, sitting upon a desk across the room. Tara had yet to look at them. She had second-guessed herself numerous times already, and she couldn’t yet bring herself to push a little further. She was afraid to go too far, afraid of what Warren said to her, and she was afraid of being wrong.

She was going home tomorrow. It was a reality that had finally sunk in, and it was all her mind could focus on. As much as she wanted to be excited—to enjoy the feeling of triumph that Warren felt—something just didn’t feel right to her. It all felt too easy. It felt too unsure. And her mind kept fixating on one thing—the compasses.

It felt too heavy of a piece of evidence to ignore. Why