Page 14

“I can’t help you; they will kill my daughter. I am sorry, Elora,” she says sorrowfully.

I hang my head, knowing there is nothing Abigail can do.

We finish cleaning the kitchen, and Abigail instructs me to take out the garbage.

Stepping outside, I spot a truck and an idea hits me like a bolt of lightning.

The garbage man is here to collect the dumpster behind the castle—my only chance.

Is this Abigail’s way of helping me escape without actually helping? The timing is too perfect.

Heart pounding, I sprint to the bin, climb in, and hunker down. The stench makes me gag, but what other choice do I have?

A moment later, the bin jerks. This is it. I brace myself just before it lifts and tips, sending me tumbling into the truck. The violent motion churns my stomach, and when bin juice splashes over me, I lose whatever little was in my stomach.

Disgusting. At least it masks my scent.

I exhale in relief as the truck rumbles forward. Five minutes. That’s all it takes before the brakes screech.

The gate. My pulse spikes.

Voices outside. Footsteps. Someone climbing onto the back.

Shit. They’re searching the load.

Holding my breath, I burrow deeper into the trash, yanking boxes over me.

“Clear,” a voice calls out.

The truck moves again, and I scramble to the top, gulping in semi-putrid fresh air. I wait, praying for the right moment.

When the truck stops in an alley to collect another bin, I move.

Clambering up the side, I leap onto the lifted bin and then onto a retaining wall behind it. I don’t look back.

Running. Jumping fences. Cutting through alleyways.

I know this city like the back of my hand. Getting home is easy.

I finally arrive and look upon my front door, taking a deep breath. When I open the door, the worst smell I’ve ever smelled plagues my nostrils. I nearly threw up again. Grandma, I realize, her body is still here. Gasping, I peg my nose with my fingers. Stopping in the hall, I fight the urge to look into the lounge room. I didn’t want to see her dead body still sitting on the couch. I also didn’t want to relive that night. I need to remember her the way she was before all this and right now. At this moment, I have one task, and that is to find some clothes and the book my grandmother hid under the floorboards. I then need to escape the city and find elsewhere to live. The city has never been safe for me, but with the return of Silas and him knowing of my existence, it is now a death wish to stay.

I find my room exactly the way I left it the night I was awoken to the screams of our neighbors. The bed is still a mess, and the lamp is still on. I flick it off and walk to the corner to rummage through my clothes that are in the basket, grabbing some jeans and a hoodie. I scrub the garbage juice from my face and get dressed. I don’t want to shower because as gross as it is, the rubbish will cloak my scent. Not only that I also don’t exactly have time.

I run into the hall and use my fingers to pry up the first floorboard, grabbing the book that is wrapped in white cloth and tucking it inside my hoodie pocket. Looking up the hall toward my bedroom, I feel a deep sense of sadness knowing I am leaving my grandmother’s dead body without giving her a proper burial. I also know she would’ve wanted me to survive. Once outside, I take one final look at my home then leave, taking off at a run, toward the forest that lines the edges of the city. As long as I can get through the thick forest to the fence, I stand a chance of survival. Once there, I can climb over and escape the confines of the city, into the unknown. While it may sound easy, I remember the border fence is always under surveillance with guards everywhere. If I can just find an opportunity, a moment, to climb the barbed wire fences while they look the other way… I stand a chance.

I spend all day trekking through the rough forest terrain. By the time I’m about halfway through, night begins to fall, and the temperature drops considerably. Nights in the city are always unforgiving. I just hope it doesn’t snow. The ground is already cold enough without shoes and only socks. Snow will not only slow me down, it might just make me freeze to death.

The night completely sets in, and I can just make out the full moon making me curse. Full moons supercharged most night creatures, and I know Vampires would likely be guarding the border. When I hit a small clearing, I know I’m not far from the border’s edge, now. Peering out and around the tree line I bee line straight for the cover of the trees on the other side of the clearing. Nearly to the tree line, I hear howls and wings off in the distance. Looking up, I see a massive Dragon fly over the clearing. Dropping to the ground, I hide amongst the grass praying to the fates they don’t see me.

Certain the coast is clear, I lift my head, peeking around the clearing.

Voices echo in the distance—men shouting.

I stay hidden in the long grass, too afraid to move, too afraid to even breathe as their footsteps draw closer.

Their voices grow louder. Too close.

Lucky for me, they’re running fast, and the snow and grass mask my scent.