My phone buzzed and I jumped because I was so deep in my thoughts and worries that it caught me by surprise. I pulled the phone out of my back pocket, and when I saw the text from Drew’s phone flash across the screen, I stopped in my tracks.
DREW: You’re running out of time Eden. If you are even a minute late, he will die.
Just as my heart started racing my phone vibrated in my hand making me jump and almost drop my phone. When Dad’s face flashed across the screen, I knew I had a problem. If I didn’t answer, he would ping my phone and get a GPS location. Saving Drew would be impossible after that. My mouth went dry with fear. There was no getting around that. I started running and the phone stopped vibrating as I ran with everything I had toward Porter’s Field. About thirty seconds passed and the vibrating of my phone resumed. Tears splayed across my cheeks as a sense of helplessness settled on my shoulders. I was sprinting down the graveled road my terror of losing Drew fueling my speed. My phone stopped vibrating for the second time and I knew it was just a matter of moments before it would start up again. I felt Echo’s emotional presence come barreling to the surface.
Eden, Stop!
I ignored her and pressed myself to run faster. I was running out of time.
Eden, damn it, stop!
I could feel Echo trying to fight me for physical control. But her efforts were pointless because the meds, in a sense, had made her weak. I could have continued to ignore her, but my gut was telling me to hear her out—for once. I stopped running at the start of Mile Woods, which would come out on the other side at the edge of Porter’s Field and bent over with my hands on my knees. I hadn’t realized how out of breath I was. My chest burned, and my breathing was ragged and raspy. Sweat was pouring down my face and dripping from my chin. My phone buzzed in my hand, and I glanced down again at Dad’s flashing face. “Echo, it’s only a matter of time before Dad will find me because I was stupid and took my damn phone.”
Take the battery out of it genius. If it has no power source, how can he track it? You gotta start thinking more like a rebel Eden.
I couldn’t argue with her logic, it was as solid as it came. Flipping the phone over, I removed the back cover and took the battery out. The vibrating and flashing stopped abruptly. A typhoon of guilt crashed through me. Dad would be worried out of his mind. I didn’t let myself dwell on it as I put the two parts of my phone in different pockets.
Good, now pull it together! You can’t afford to fall apart if you want you and Drew to get out of this alive. So stop your damn crying. It gives away where you are. You gotta be smart about this Eden!
The evening air rushed into my lungs as I took a deep, steadying breath. A glance up told me that the sun was just starting dipping below the horizon, and I had about fifteen to twenty minutes to get to Porter’s Field which I estimated was still a good three-quarters of a mile off, if not a little more.
Well, sitting here trying to gauge how long it will take you is not saving you any time, Eden. Think and move at the same time, but be as quiet as possible. Chances are our killer is in these woods somewhere.
For once I chose to take Echo’s advice. I moved as fast and quietly as I could while staying as alert as possible. It was still too early in the season for the leaves to have started falling, and I was beyond grateful for that; no leaves afforded me as silent a passage as I could get. I found myself thinking of Dad and wishing that I had his sense of awareness, there wasn’t much that slipped past him. In fact, it was a miracle in itself that I was able to sneak out without him noticing right away. A sound in the underbrush scared me half to death and almost had me tripping over an exposed tree root and colliding with a dewberry bush. The thorns snagged in my clothes and cut into my arms, legs, and face. I bit back the urge to shriek in pain.
When a Horned Owl flew out of the brush with a field rat in its talons, I knew I’d overreacted. I felt Echo’s wave of relief course through my body and heard her sigh in my head. I had no way of telling what time it was since my phone was as good as dead but could see that dusk was fast approaching by the time I reached the edge of the Mile Woods. Porter’s Field was a long stretch of dead grassy pasture bordered by woods on two sides and a road on the other. The air smelled of freshly cut and baled hay. There where large wheels of it spottily placed throughout the field as I looked over the vast area. I knew I should go out into the open to alert Drew's kidnapper to my presence, but fear had glued my feet to the ground.
I don’t blame you. I wouldn’t wander out into the open either—not with knowing the person who wants me dead is in the same
