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Where were they?
Ellie stared at the entrance of the commune, her heart in her throat, choking her with fear.
Come on, Cal. Come on. Come on.
The SUV’s engine rumbled softly behind her, and she bounced on the balls of her feet. She felt exposed waiting out here,
Something was wrong. The feeling prickled at the back of her neck, a creeping chill that wouldn’t budge no matter how hard she tried to shake it off.
Suddenly, there was a rustling in the underbrush nearby and she whirled around, her heart pounding in her chest. Raszta burst out of the thicket, his dreadlocks flying out behind him as he galloped towards her.
“Razzy!” Ellie dropped to her knees, throwing her arms wide open. The dog skidded to a halt in front of her, his pink tongue lolling out from the side of his mouth. His dark eyes were wide with terror, and he was panting heavily.
“Oh, Razzy,” Ellie murmured, pulling the dog into a tight hug. She could feel his heart hammering against his ribs, matching the frantic beat of her own. She pulled back slightly and looked at him, then at the entrance. “Where are they?”
But Raszta only whined and squirmed in her arms, his claws scratching against the earth as he tried to push himself back into a standing position. She let him go, scrambling back onto her feet.
“Razzy, where are they?”
Before she could try to interpret his doggy distress signals, several figures ran out from the commune’s entrance. Raszta bolted into the trees.
“Wait!”
He didn’t stop and disappeared into the dark.
“Shit.” She spun back to the figures, but it wasn’t Cal and Pierce.
Marla and Jeff.
Had they been sent to find her?
She stiffened and groped around in the car for the tire iron she’d found while stowing the box of tapes in the trunk. She’d left on the seat in case she needed a weapon and closed her hand around it.
But then Nico and Tyler followed hot on their heels. Tyler was pale and wide-eyed. Halfway to the car, his knees gave out. Nico almost dropped him, and Jeff ran back to help.
“Thank God you have a car,” Marla said.
“Where are yours?”
“We don’t own one,” Jeff said, grunting under Tyler’s slight weight.
“Ours is in town,” Nico said. “Sincere picked us up in the commune’s van.”
Ellie studied them, trying to gauge whether they were telling the truth, and her gaze finally landed on Tyler. He really didn’t look good. There was no way he could be faking that pallor to his skin.
Ellie made the split-second decision to trust them and released her grip on the tire iron. She rushed to open the SUV’s back door. “What’s wrong?”
“They took his insulin, convinced us he no longer needed it. Jesus.” Nico shook his head in stunned horror. “How did they convince me of that? I’m a fucking doctor!”
“Dentist,” Tyler said, his voice slurred. “You’re a dentist, Nic.”
“But I knew better, and I still let them brainwash?—”
“Don’t beat yourself up,” Ellie said. “Brainwashing is powerful and happens faster than you think. We are all susceptible.”
As the men loaded Tyler into the backseat, she looked over at Marla. “Where is Cal?”
“Hopeful has him and your other friend.”
