The building across the park already looks smaller. We’re making progress—but the cars are getting closer too. I can almost make out the vile faces of the guys in the vehicles. Then gunshots crack into the air like thunder. I hold my breath.
“They are shooting at us. Don’t stop.” Scott shouts and pulls me by the arm toward the trees.
I’m not freaking out. I’m not freaking out. Repeating that mantra in my head is not helping. I’m freaking out.
“I’m scared.” Rena’s eyes are wide with fear as she looks down at me from atop Scott’s shoulders.
“I’m sure Scottie will get us to safety.” I’m trying to convince myself as much as her. All I know is this can’t be the end. We haven’t come this far for it to be over now. Did I comfort Rena? Perhaps. She burrows her face into Scottie’s neck and closes her eyes. Behind us, men are shouting commands to each other. They are organizing their pursuit.
“Don’t look back, three guys are close. We are almost there. No more than thirty yards.”
Scottie’s words break up. How can he run, carry Rena, and talk all at the same time is beyond me. I stumble ahead, more falling than running. Everything hurts.
“Run!”
Luke, my trusted brother, is close and gives me another burst of energy. I didn’t know I had it in me to run even quicker.
Ahead of us is the tree line. The moment we reach it, Scott ducks and after a few yards turns sideways to the left. He sits Rena down and pulls me to the ground as well.
“Hush, quiet. The men are here.”
I don’t dare to look up, because men are rushing right past us, obviously assuming we kept running straight ahead. I know we’ve won the first round. He winks and a big smirk turns his face into a macabre mask. I better not tell him that he looks more frightening than our pursuers.
“We have to keep moving”
We jump up and dash ahead into the forest away from our pursuers. After about a hundred yards we stop. I lean against a rotting tree stump to catch my breath and stare at the river that blocks our path, cold water raging over the stony riverbed.
“We have to cross this, or we’re toast.” Scottie breathes heavily and puts Rena down again.
“I love it when you are so positive. At this moment I don’t mind being toast. My lungs are burning and I don’t think I can take another step.” I don’t want to be a negative Nancy, but let’s face it, we’re fighting a losing battle.
He opens his mouth to say something when he pulls me down to the ground and puts his arm around Rena as people break through the undergrowth close-by. My stomach tightens. The group following us is getting larger. They are firing shots and shouting commands.
If that’s meant to scare me, I can report it’s working.
“Are they shooting at us?”
“Don’t be afraid. They don’t know where we are. Whatever they are shooting at, it isn’t us.”
Scott slings Rena on to his back again, pulls me up, and steps behind me.
“Go, I’ll cover you.”
“I don’t need you to protect me.”
“No, but I need to protect you. I couldn’t live with myself if something happened to you. Come on, old girl.”
I only send him a nasty stare. I’m not old, but there’s a time to fight and a time to cross a tricky river. Right now, crossing the knee-deep, wild water is taking all my concentration. It’s either that or slipping on the moss-covered boulders and landing in the water.
“Hurry, hurry, they are coming.”
Caught by fear, the Tribe is screaming for attention. I can report, the shortest way for moving from fearful concern to paralyzing panic is having voices inside your head yelling what you already know. I’m aware they’re coming. The shooting is getting closer.
Breathe! Breathe!
“They must have noticed we’re no longer ahead of them.”
The urgency in Scott’s voice is telling me to hurry. He grabs my hand and pulls me across the stream. I don’t mind wet feet. It’s better than being shot. But they don’t shoot us. Small mercies. We have to get out of the water and back into the bush if we want a chance of surviving. I stumble over slippery boulders as fast as I can.
“You are doing well, darling.”
Scott crawls up the bank of the stream and pulls me up too. Rena sits on Scottie’s shoulders and is excited about her horsey. Who can blame her? The bush ahead is a mixture of fern, prickly Manuka trees, and a whole lot of tall trees and bushes I don’t have a name for.
“Thanks. Do you think we’re safe?”
Scottie has a serious look on his face. “I don’t think so. We haven’t shaken them off.”
“You must be hurting like hell. I didn’t even think you were alive when I saw you in the white room.” My hands want to stroke his body and take the hurt away.
“I felt worse when I thought they’d gotten to you.” He brushes my hair out of my face and kisses my forehead. “We have must keep going.”
We rush through the undergrowth, swatting branches aside, breaking through bushes, and climbing over fallen trees. Scott stops at a small clearing and squints in the direction of our followers. They’ve stopped chasing us. At least, we can’t hear them. The bush is quiet. Even birds and insects seem to hold their breath. I lean against a tree holding my side, trying
