Fear gripped my stomach like an iron vise. Hard and relentless. Then again, I couldn’t remember the last time I ate more than a couple bites of someone’s leftover food.
Alissa listened by the door, then waved me to go. I peeked out the first open wallboard. From what I could tell, it was clear. But what the hell did I know about how to be stealthy and escape. I’d been caught doing this three times, and beaten almost beyond recognition for it.
But I’d never had someone to help me. To distract our captors.
I pulled the second board away and stuck my head out farther. Turning my body, I slid through and landed on my side. The air was dusty, humid, and thick. I squatted beside the building, taking in the sights.
Three more small huts like mine dotted the landscape before me. I’d known there were more places like this, but three? How many girls were in each one?
I skimmed the nearest shack as I made my way forward. The sky was darkening for the evening, providing a little cover, yet it was still light enough to see my way. I peeked around the corner and there were two more huts.
My stomach churned as the bile rose. All these girls. These—no. I had to stay focused. If I got free, I could help. I—
A door pushed open, slamming against the hut as a guy emerged, still straightening his pants. Pigs. They’re all pigs. Disgusting, smelly pigs!
I ducked back and held my breath. He was speaking Spanish, which I hadn’t picked up much, despite how long I had stayed here. No one talked. The johns didn’t, or the guards, and I rarely had any other girls around. Though when I had, they were all Americans.
Except Celia. But she didn’t last long.
I hustled across the dirt to the farthest hut and looked toward the trees more than fifty feet in front of me. They lined the back of the camp. I had no idea what lay beyond, but trees could give me cover.
The bottoms of my feet stung from the gravel and dirt, my stomach rumbled, and I glanced over my shoulder. The wallboards of my hut were up again. Alissa had replaced them and hopefully made up my bed to look like I was in there.
Just in case.
A yelp bled out of a hut. I couldn’t tell, but it came from the vicinity of mine. I bolted. I had to get out. I pumped my arms so hard. So long. They burned. The lactic acid built until everything stung.
Ahead of me the trees loomed, but stretched away from me. “No!” I reached for them. “Don’t leave.” They were my only cover. I had to get to them. I had to reach them and hide. Then find help. For Alissa.
Another scream pierced my ears, and I was back in the hut, chained to the wall by the wrist. How—Alissa lay on her back, eyes wide open and fixed on the ceiling.
No movement.
“You see what happens to those around you, babe?”
Nicco loomed over Alissa, wiping a bloody knife with his crisp, white kerchief. His grin was tight and crooked. Evil. I screamed, the sound ripping through my throat with the pain of a thousand of those knives he held.
“Sarah!” Drey’s voice yanked me out of the darkness of that rancid dream.
“Alissa. Alissa. No.” Tears streamed, burning a path down my cheeks. “You can’t help me. No one can help me. He’ll kill you. He’ll—”
“Sarah. Wake up.” Drey shook me. “Come on, girl.”
I blinked several times and got my bearings. Drey sat on the bed in his boxer shorts and T-shirt and held my shoulders. I was lying in my bed. Where? Oh, the tiny hotel in Rena. Drey found me. I—we—fell asleep together.
“At least you didn’t have a knife this time,” he said, smiling. “Bad one, huh?”
“You’re here. You’re really here.” I yanked him close to me. “Drey.”
“I’ll always be here.” He hugged me back, nuzzling my neck. “Shhh. It’s okay.”
The room was dim, but a halo of light around the shuttered shade indicated it was the next day. And sunny.
Drey brushed away my damp hair, and I let out a long breath. “I slept.” Better than I had since I’d arrived. Then again, the few times I’d slept with Drey in the same bed I’d always slept better.
“You sure did. It’s almost eleven.”
I drew in a deep breath, surprised by the scent of food. “Is that bacon?”