Page 79 of Juniper Unraveling

The boots head off to the left, stopping at either side of a truck that sits kitty-corner from my hiding spot.

“I suggest you go now.” Raymond’s voice draws my attention back to the empty space where he sat just a moment ago.

On a rush of adrenaline, perhaps a little starvation, and a haze of slight dehydration, I slide across the dirt, keeping low, and cross the gap between vehicles, toward the supply truck. Both men sit in the cab, and the engine fires up, prompting me to hurry into the back of it. Pushing back the tarp, I climb over the gate and find a place to hide behind stacked boxes.

The truck lurches forward, then comes to a stop.

“You see that girl, radio in, and we’ll let the others know.”

“Will do. Although not much hope after twenty-four hours. Ragers could’ve swiped her up and taken her back to a nest.”

“If we’re lucky!” The guard chuckles, and two thumps echo inside the back of the truck. The tarp is peeled back, and I hold my breath, ducking down to avoid the sunlight peeking in. “You’re good to go!” the guard yells, and the truck sets into motion once again, the flap shielding out the light as the guard lowers it.

I exhale a shaky breath.

Whatever happens next is yet to be seen. Perhaps they’ll find me back here. Maybe they’ll shoot me on sight. Maybe I’ll have to fight them.

For now, I’m just going to breathe.

* * *

I peer out through the tarp, at the ground whipping by behind the truck. About ten minutes have passed since we left the compound, based on the minutes I’ve counted off inside my head, which I estimate is approximately the ten-mile mark.

I’m trying to decide whether, or not, to jump.

If I’m lucky, they won’t see me in the side-view mirrors.

The longer I stand here, the more I’m thinking this wasn’t a good idea. All around is open desert, with nowhere to hide, aside from a field of creosote bushes off in the distance.

“Raymond, what were you thinking?” I cringe at the words, praying my earlier encounter with him was nothing more than dehydration and starvation—two things that still plague my body, making me thankful for the shade of the truck. I’ve already rifled through the boxes—nothing but files. Patient files that I could hardly stand looking through. I don’t even want to know what’ll happen when it all comes crashing down. When reality forces me to look at the last few months, and I’m no longer hiding behind a daily dose of new horrors.

The vehicle comes to a stop, and I scramble backward, falling into my hiding spot behind the stacked boxes. Two slams of the door. Boots thudding across the dirt. The tarp peels back, and I duck lower, ensuring that I’m out of sight. The creak of the truck’s tailgate crawls down my spine.

“Hotter than two field mice fuckin’ in a wool sock,” one of the guards says, lifting a box that he hands off to the other. He reaches for a second box, and both men disappear. I count off the seconds, my muscles thin with tension, until they return.

Eighty.

Just over a minute.

They lift two more boxes situated toward the front. Four more, and they’ll discover me back here, so I have to pay attention. Be ready.

Again, I count off the seconds.

Ninety this time.

The guard stretches his arm over the gate, for the next round of boxes and I breathe through my nose to control my heartrate. The second they disappear, I dart out of my hiding spot, standing at the gate, where I can see their backs walking toward a building about twenty yards away.

I hop off the gate to the side of the truck and hold myself flat to the wall of it, waiting for their return.

Eighty-six. Eighty-seven. Eighty-eight.

A nearby thump tells me they’ve returned.

“Hey, you see the new kid they brought into S block? Bastard took out three Legion, when they held him down to tattoo him. Docs say he’s strong for the alpha gene.”

I concentrate on the close proximity of the guard’s voice and move a few steps along the truck to distance myself.

“Don’t know why they don’t just throw all those savage fuckers into a pit and burn them. Keep lettin’ ‘em breed, and we’re gonna have a war on our hands before we know it.”