by Elle James
Reggie ignored her, determined to get as far as she could before the Master returned.
Her cup struck a large rock. Undeterred, she scraped around the edges, her heart beating faster, her breath coming in ragged gasps. The drugs in her body slowed her down, making her want to crawl into her blanket and sleep. But she couldn’t.
“Stop whatever you’re doing,” Terri said.
Reggie halted and listened. When she didn’t hear footsteps or the quiet sobs of Beth being returned to her cell, she went back to work on digging around the rock.
Soon, she found the edge of one end of the stone and worked her way around it.
After scraping and digging for what felt like an hour, she poked through the dirt and felt cool, fresh air streaming through a tiny hole onto her fingertips.
Not trusting her hands, she pushed her head through the tunnel and sniffed fresh air, the scent of decaying foliage a welcome scent from the earthen cell. She inhaled deeply, her breath catching on a sob. She’d been right. Her cell was on the edge of the hill. If she dug a little more, she might be able to push through. The large rock was in the way. If only…
She pulled her head out of the tunnel and shoved her bare feet in and pushed as hard as she could.
The rock didn’t move.
Lying on her back, the cool dirt floor making her shiver, she scooted closer, bunched her legs and kicked hard with her heels, over and over until the rock moved. Hope blossomed in her chest and gave her the strength to keep pushing and kicking.
“You have to stop,” Terri said. “When one of us crosses him, he punishes us all.”
Another one of the women sobbed. “Please don’t make him mad.”
Reggie didn’t want any of them to be hurt by her actions, but the Master was hurting them every time he took one of them up into the house. She had to get out and get help for all of them. Using every last bit of her strength to kick and shove at the boulder until it rocked and gave, she finally pushed it free of the soil, and it rolled down the hill. Loose dirt fell into the tunnel, blocking the sweet scent of fresh air.
Using her feet again, Reggie pushed at the dirt. More fell into the gap. She scrambled around and shoved her arms through the tight tunnel and patted the loose dirt against the walls of the tunnel, shoving the excess out and down the hill.
“Shh!” Someone said from one of the other cells. “He’s coming.”
A door opened above them. Sobs sounded as Beth descended into her prison, followed by the clumping sound of the Master’s boots.
Reggie hadn’t taken the time to pat the dirt into the walls this time. If the Master came into her cell, he’d catch her at digging her way out. She looked through the hole. Gray beckoned her. She shoved her shoulders through the tunnel. It was tight. Really tight. But if she could get her shoulders through, she could get the rest of her body through. Desperately inching and wiggling her way inside, she prayed she could breach the exit before the Master jerked open her door, grabbed her by the ankles and yanked her back inside. He’d beat her and chain her. And he’d throw her into the wooden box beneath the stairs where he kept the “naughty” girls.
No way. She couldn’t let that happen. Not when she could taste freedom.
With her body blocking the tunnel, sounds of weeping and cries were muffled. Reggie couldn’t tell if the women were informing the Master of her scratching and digging. She wasn’t sticking around to find out. Once her shoulders were free, she braced her hands on the edges of the hole and pushed as hard as she could. Her body scraped through until her hips were free of the tunnel. Grabbing onto nearby branches, she pulled her legs out of the hole. Once all of her was free, gravity took hold, and she tumbled down the hill, her skin torn and gouged by sticks, rocks and bramble.
The jabs and tears made her cry out with joy. The pain wasn’t inflicted by the Master but delivered by nature as a testament she was out of that hell.
She came to a stop when her head hit the big rock she’d pushed free of her tunnel. For a long moment, she lay still, her vision blurring, pain raking through the base of her skull.
Then she heard the sounds of dogs barking, and her heart froze. The Master had two vicious looking Rottweilers he’d kept tethered when he’d brought her up into the big house.
Reggie staggered to her bare feet and shivered. The cool night air wrapped around her naked body. Swallowing the sobs rising up her throat, she ran, following the hill downward. She didn’t know where she was or which way to go, only that she had to get as far away from the house and the dogs as possible. She hadn’t come this far to be ripped apart by his maniacal dogs or dragged back to house and beaten until she couldn’t remember who she was or why she cared.
Sticks and rocks dug into the soft pads of her feet, drawing blood. She kept running until her feet were as numb as her skin and mind. The dogs were getting closer. She had to do something to lose them.
The hill continued downward. A cloud crossed over the sky, blocking what little starlight penetrated the tree branches. Her lungs burning and her heart beating so fast she thought it might explode out of her chest, Reggie was forced to stop long enough for the cloud to shift, allowing the starlight to illuminate her way.
When it did, she stared out at a dark canyon. She stood on the edge of a precipice. Easing to the edge, she could see the glint of starlight off what appeared to be a river forty feet below where she stood.
The barking dogs were close now.
Reggie turned right then left. No matter which way she went, the cliffs were still as high as the one in front of her. She couldn’t backtrack. The dogs were so close enough, they’d find her.
She refused to give up. But what else could she do? Die from the vicious rendering of sharp Rottweiler teeth, go back willingly to the Master’s house to be beaten, or jump off a cliff into water of which she had no idea of the depth?
When the barking sounded right behind her, Reggie spun to face the two Rottweilers, emerging from the tree line…stalking her.
A shout from behind them made her heart leap into her throat. The Master.
Without further thought or mental debate, Reggie turned and threw herself over the cliff.
As she plunged downward, she steeled herself for the impact against rocks or whatever lay beneath the water’s surface.
Crossing her arms over her chest, pointed her toes and hit the river feet-first, sinking deep. The chill shocked her body, but she kept her mouth shut tight, and struggled, kicking hard to rise. Just when she thought she would never breathe again, she bobbed to the surface and gasped. Above her, she heard the wild barking of the Rottweilers.
The cold water helped clear her foggy brain. She had to make the Master think she was dead. Taking a deep breath, she lay over, face-first in the water and floated as far as she could before turning her head to the side to take another breath. She did this for as long as she could hear the dogs barking above. The Master had to think she’d died in the fall from the cliff. It was the only way to get away and make him think she couldn’t tell the authorities about what he had hidden in his basement.
After a while, the sound of the dogs barking faded. Knowing the dogs couldn’t follow her scent in the water, she let the river’s current carry her along as she treaded water to keep her head above the surface.
The cold sapped what little energy she had left. She rolled onto her back and floated into the shallows where she dragged herself up onto the shore.
Darkness surrounded her, embraced her and sucked her under. As she faded into unconsciousness, her last thought was…I’m free.
About the Author
ELLE JAMES also writing as MYLA JACKSON is a New York Times and USA Today Bestselling author of books including cowboys, intrigues and paranormal adventures that keep her readers on the edges of their seats. When she’s not at her computer, she’s traveling, snow skiing, boating, or riding her ATV, dreaming up new stories. Learn more about Elle James at www.ellejames.com
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Or visit her alter ego Myla Jackson at mylajackson.com
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