Las Hermanas

by Raedene Jeannette Melin

  LAS HERMANAS

  Table of Contents

  Title Page

  Dedication

  Las Hermanas

  Chapter One

  Chapter Two

  Chapter Three

  Chapter Four

  Chapter Five

  Chapter Six

  Chapter Seven

  Chapter Eight

  Chapter Nine

  Chapter Ten

  Chapter Eleven

  Chapter Twelve

  Chapter Thirteen

  Chapter Fourteen

  Chapter Fifteen

  Chapter Sixteen

  Chapter Seventeen

  Chapter Eighteen

  Chapter Nineteen

  Chapter Twenty

  Acknowledgements

  About the Author

  Also by Raedene Jeannette Melin

  Thanks for Reading

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  Of the 40 million people living in modern slavery, 71% are female. Of the 4.8 million humans trafficked for sexual exploitation, 99% are women and girls.

  1 in every 3 women will be physically or sexually assaulted. Over 120 million girls have been raped or sexually defiled.

  Every year, 66,000 females are violently murdered. Out of the top 10 countries with the highest rates of femicide, 7 are in Latin America.

  This is for them.

  SKJALDMAER PUBLISHING

  This book is a work of fiction. References to real people, events, establishments, organizations, or locales are intended only to provide a sense of authenticity and are used fictionally. All other characters, and all incidents and dialogue, are drawn from the author’s imagination and are not to be constructed as real.

  LAS HERMANAS. Copyright © 2018

  by Raedene Jeannette Melin.

  First Edition – 2018

  All rights reserved. The use of any part of this publication reproduced, transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise, or stored in a retrieval system, without the prior written consent of the publisher – or, in case of photocopying or other reprographic copying a license from the Canadian Copyright Licensing Agency – is an infringement of the copyright law.

  ISBN 978-1-5255-1958-1 (Paperback)

  ISBN 978-1-5255-1957-4 (Hardcover)

  ISBN 978-1-5255-1959-8 (eBook)

  Our books may be purchased in bulk for promotional, educational, or business use. For information, please email Skjaldmaer Publishing at info@skjaldmaer.ca.

  www.skjaldmaer.ca

  Chapter One

  With a racing heart and pounding feet, she ran as fast and hard as she could through the trees. Her eleven-year-old body shook with fright as the sound of sporadic bursts of gunfire ripped the air, silencing the cries of those dying in the village behind her. Consumed by the chaos and fear, she didn’t notice her brother whimpering softly in her arms.

  She continued to run farther into the jungle, the screams slowly fading as the distance increased between them. As she fled, her mother’s voice rang loudly through her mind. “Adi, run!”

  Adi shook her head, trying to clear the vision of her mother shoving Benito into her arms, but it was no use. The image took hold of her, forcing her to watch as her mother jerked violently, the bullets tearing through her body.

  She ran for about a minute before stopping, unable to take another step as the grief and despair weighed her down, cementing her in place. Releasing Benito from her grasp, she dropped to her knees, struggling to breathe as her body shook uncontrollably. The immense pain of her heartbreak trapped her there until the sound of Benito’s terrified cries broke her from her anguish.

  “Adi!” he said, gripping her shoulders, the tears streaming down his face. “Adi, get up. They’re coming!”

  Fear seized her once more, forcing the agony out of her mind as she heaved herself onto her feet. As soon as she stood, the sound of people coming rapidly towards them reached her ears and she picked up her four-year-old brother.

  She ran as quickly as she could but less than a minute later, her muscles started to ache, unable to stop the exhaustion. The group behind her was gaining and the sound of their thudding footsteps told her she wouldn’t be able to outrun them, not like this.

  Thrusting all her remaining energy into one last sprint, she stopped at the base of a large cinchona tree and lifted Benito above her head. Needing no instruction, he grabbed onto the overhanging branch and swung himself up.

  “Hide,” she said quietly. “Don’t come out for anything.”

  She watched as he submerged himself under a dense clump of leaves before darting deeper into the trees. She knew the terrain well, advancing through the thick, convoluted clusters of vines and brush effortlessly. After her family moved here from the city four years ago, she had spent every spare moment in the jungle with the village healer, learning about the plants and animals. Señora Reyes taught her everything, including how to hunt and how to heal, and Adi had never been so happy. But that was before everything went wrong. That was before the jungle had turned on her, killing the people she loved one by one. Now she hated this place.

  She felt her cheeks flush, her fear morphing into anger as she loudly zig-zagged through the jungle floor. Using the damp ground and moist ferns, she created obvious tracks for her pursuers to follow, leading them into the thickening forest. Once she had them lost and going in the wrong direction, she would double back for Benito.

  After a few minutes, she stopped and listened. It took a moment to quiet the thumping of her heart, but eventually she heard them. Their footsteps were louder, quicker, and much closer than she wanted. Running faster, she used fallen trees, rocks, and roots to camouflage her footprints. She was looking behind her, trying to see her pursuers, when she tripped over a vine and fell head-first down the suddenly sloping terrain.

  Her body bounced hard against the ground, forcing the air out of her lungs as she tumbled down the hill in a loud, noticeable clump. Slamming into the exposed roots of a large kapok tree, Adi finally stopped rolling and lay there motionless at the bottom of the ravine.

  Sharp, painful convulsions shot through her body as she gasped for air. Every part of her hurt, from her head to her toes, and it took a minute before she was able to stand back up. There was no way she could run now.

  Limping into the dense foliage, she found a thick vine and began to climb, slowly hoisting herself up. Once she was a few feet off the ground, she pushed against the tree next to her and swung towards another one a couple feet away. It took several swings to get close enough, but eventually she made it, landing uncomfortably onto a branch as a red howler monkey screeched in protest above. Not pausing for a moment, she climbed to the other side, found another vine, and jumped, making her way across the jungle through the air. As she squeezed into the split trunk of the third tree, the forest quieted around her, an eerie silence settling down into the woods.

  Adi steadied her breathing and waited, the pain from her fall radiating through her body as she leaned against the branch, hidden by the dense leafy canopy. She was examining the ripped skin on her hand when her mother’s screams echoed through the air, causing her to jerk her head up just in time to see four camouflaged, masked men slowly emerged from the trees below.

  She watched them as they tracked her footprints to the vine and stopped, cautiously surveying the area around them. One of the men crouched, tracing her footprint with his finger, when he suddenly looked up and called, “Adelita. Adelita Alvarez. Where are you?”

  A chill ran down Adi’s spine and her heart beat faster. How did he know her name?

  “Your papa sent us to find you,” the man continued. “Don’t be afraid, you
’re safe now.”

  Adi gripped the tree to steady herself as a thousand thoughts ran through her head. Could it be true? Her father had been missing for over three months. Was he alive after all this time? Unsure of what to believe, she stayed hidden behind the leaves, not moving a muscle.

  “Enough,” she heard one of the others say. “I’m not wasting any more time looking for a fucking child. Everyone else is dead. She won’t survive out here on her own.”

  The first man ripped off his mask. “Shut up, you idiot,” he hissed angrily. “She’s close. I can feel it.”

  As he turned his head, Adi saw his pale, gringo face. There would’ve been nothing special about it had there not been a long scar that curved from the left corner of his mouth to his eyebrow. It hadn’t healed well and left an ugly, jagged line.

  She studied him for a moment before shifting her gaze to his friends. While they were all dressed alike, it didn’t take her long to figure out that three of the four men were white. Besides the fact that they noisily clumped their way through the jungle, they obviously weren’t used to the stifling humidity, as their shirts clung tightly to their bodies, drenched with sweat. But the fourth man did not experience the same discomfort and appeared quite relaxed. He moved through the jungle with ease, as if he were familiar.

  He must be a traitor, Adi thought, scowling. People like him were evil. They betrayed their own, doing anything for money. Because of men like him, her family was landless and had to fight just to survive.

  Adi sat in silence and watched the men continue their search, passing her on the ground below. She was happy to rest and wait them out but as she leaned her head on a clump of leaves, the distinct sound of hissing slithered loudly into her ear.

  Jerking her head forward, Adi found herself staring into the grey-blue eyes of an emerald tree boa. While she had encountered these green predators before, she had never been stuck in a tree with one. Forcing herself to stay calm, she slowly inched away from it.

  Her movements seemed to agitate the snake more and it struck at her, forcing her out of the tree and back into the open. Latching onto the twisty vines that cloaked the trunk, she silently climbed down.

  When she landed softly on the ground, Adi stood still against the tree and waited, listening for any sound or movement. Distracted by the snake, she had lost sight of the men and had no idea if they were close. Hearing nothing after a minute, she was about to step out and head back to Benito when she saw him crouched low, his white, scarred face visible as he searched through the trees. In an instant, their eyes connected and a small smile crept across his lips.

  Adi immediately turned and fled, running as fast as she could away from the man. A loud whistle cut through the air and the footsteps pounded behind her once more. She dashed through the trees, jumping over logs and sidestepping large rocks as she urgently looked for something that would help her. The sound of rushing water broke her from her panic and she ran towards it.

  While the river wasn’t particularly large, it roared with power as the rainy season had just ended, drowning the jungle in storms that lasted for days. The downpour had caused the river to swell and it now flooded over the bank and into the trees, trapping large pools of water as it receded. Going along the marshy shore, Adi hopped through the mud, looking into the pools until she saw grey, snake-like shapes slowly swimming back and forth within them, their beady white eyes staring up at her from their flat heads. Moving to the other side of the pools, she stomped through the sludge, making obvious tracks for the men to follow, before slipping farther back into the trees.

  The first man awkwardly made his way through the mud, not seeing her hiding a few feet away. The rest of the group wasn’t far behind and she watched as they walked across the murky and wet terrain, looking around them as they tried to follow her tracks. Spotting the more noticeable footprints she had left up ahead, one of the men moved forward with confidence, not seeing the deep pool beneath him, and sunk down into it, water swallowing his legs.

  He struggled for a moment, trying to wrench his feet out of the clay, when he suddenly screamed in agony, his torso shaking. The other men rushed forward to help, but as soon as they touched him, their bodies lit up with the electric currents being transmitted from the angry eels in the pool below.

  Adi couldn’t help but smile as she watched the men being shocked over and over again, their groans drowned out by the sound of the river. They would be unable to move, the electricity paralyzing their muscles, so she left them crying behind and went back through the jungle.

  No longer being chased, the adrenaline began to leave her body, revealing the many injuries she had collected during her flight. While she could easily treat them, she wasn’t stopping until she had Benito with her again. She was almost to the top of the ravine when she heard a shot.

  The sharp bite of a bullet ripped along the outside of her thigh, causing her to stumble to her knee. Fear and panic returned, clawing up her throat as she tried to stop her leg from shaking. She was still attempting to stand when the butt of a gun slammed forcefully into her back, sending her sprawling face-first into the dirt.

  Adi wheezed in pain as she rolled off her stomach and looked at the tall man standing over her, his silhouette casting a dark shadow. It took all her willpower to blink away the tears and focus in on his face. The man with the scar stared back with curiosity and satisfaction.

  Adi pushed her torso off the ground but was stopped by the heel of his boot smashing into her head, knocking her back down as ringing filled her ears. She could do nothing but watch as he dropped his gun and climbed on top of her, sitting down hard on her stomach.

  “You are an interesting individual,” he said calmly, his strong fingers wrapping around her throat.

  Adi frantically grabbed at his hands as he squeezed, the pressure constant and unrelenting.

  “I’ve never had someone evade me for so long,” he continued, ignoring her flailing arms and heaving chest.

  The sound of his voice faded in and out as the lack of air caused her body to scream in anguish. She tried with all her might to remove his hands from her throat, but she soon gave up and started scratching at his face.

  “It is a shame you didn’t last longer,” he was saying, completely composed as he shifted his head out of reach. “I was beginning to enjoy it.”

  As Adi’s consciousness began to flicker, the man suddenly jerked in pain and gasped. Swatting at something on his foot, he unexpectedly released his grip from her throat and she rasped in relief as air entered her lungs.

  She simply lay there, breathing desperately and coughing, her vision blurry and her ears still ringing. After several minutes, she pushed her body up and looked at the man twisting in pain on the ground. She didn’t have to wonder what was making him suffer: she could see the large, black bullet ant scampering underneath his clothes, stinging him repeatedly as his body jerked. In his eagerness to kill her, he had unwittingly jammed his boot into the ant’s colony at the base of a tree, and she knew that the amount of pain he would feel for the next twenty-four hours would be unforgettable. Taking one last look at him writhing in front of her, she turned and left, going as fast as her wobbly legs could carry her.

  She stumbled, tripped, and fell her way forward, no longer caring about how loud she was. The jungle was a death trap and she needed to get out. When she finally arrived at the tree, she hoped she wasn’t too late.

  “Benito,” she rasped.

  The seconds felt like hours as she waited for some sign that he was still there. When his head finally poked out through the leaves, a relieved sigh escaped her throat.

  “Come,” she whispered. “We need to go.”

  As soon as he was on the ground, Adi grabbed his hand and they ran farther into the jungle, away from the village and the men. She had no idea where they were going or what they were going to do. The only thing she knew was that they needed to get as far away as possible from the place they called home.

  Chap
ter Two

  Using her legs to grip the tree, Adi reached towards the papaya hanging just out of her grasp. She could feel how ripe it was as her fingers grazed its skin and she stretched her arm, her thighs shaking with fatigue. They had been running for days, only stopping when it was dark, but even when night came, she thought of nothing but the man, her mind refusing to let her body rest. She was more than just tired; she was empty. As her fingers finally latched onto the stem of the papaya, her muscles gave out, sending her freefalling into the dirt.

  “Adi,” she heard Benito cry, his voice filled with worry. His blurry face appeared above her.

  “I’m okay,” she said. She blinked fast, trying to clear her vision.

  She couldn’t feel anything, a numbing sensation blanketing her body, but the moment she took a deep breath, she immediately regretted it, the gesture racking her torso with pain. She struggled to stand, the agony radiating from her ankle. Unwilling to show how much she was hurting, she gave Benito a smile and limped towards the river.

  A small sob burst from her lips the instant she submerged her feet in the water, gingerly lowering herself down onto a rock. She winced as the pounding in her head intensified, her once-dull headache now spiking in full force as she looped a thick strand of brown hair behind her ear. Even though she could feel the heat radiating from her thigh, the bullet wound fully inflamed, she ignored it and dipped her hands in the river.

  It shocked her how cold the water felt as she splashed it on her face, a firm shiver running down her spine. She knew her head was hot, unable to explain why else she was constantly sweating, but as she looked back up feeling suddenly cold, a pair of eyes met hers from across the river.

  Adi froze in place, refusing to look away as a jaguar slowly walked towards the water, steadily holding her gaze. She knew she should run, the river no barrier to the predator, but as she watched it stop at the edge and take a drink, sharp shoulders emerging from its muscular back, she couldn’t look away. She had never seen anything so terrifyingly beautiful, and as she watched the sunlight glint off its body, a shimmering movement of yellow and black, she remembered what her mother had told her.