I look around quickly for something I can use to sweep my tracks, and I find a long-handled feather duster in a cupboard in the laundry room. It’ll take extra time, but I don’t have a choice. I grab it in my hand like a club and make my way back to the window, moving as quietly as I can. I can hear them more easily now with the window open, and they sound like they’re checking a house across the street. I risk a quick glance out the window, and I can see them clearly now. There are three of them, and they are moving toward the house directly across from this one.
They all have knives of some kind clutched in their hands. Probably to make it easier to skin you and eat you. The thought digs into my brain with icy fingers, freezing me into immobility. Then I realize I’m wasting a golden opportunity. Their backs are turned, and they’re not yet in the house, where they could easily look out a window and see me.
I throw my legs over the windowsill and drop to the ground. I have the duster out and I walk quickly backward, sweeping it side to side, running as best I can while trying not to kick or trip on debris as I go. I make it to the side of the other house, then push on toward the back, just making it around the corner as one of them turns around.
I flatten myself against the wall, and I work on keeping my breathing even so I can hear them better. Was I seen? He was turning as I rounded the corner—it’s entirely possible. I am shaking, and sweat drips down my back even though it is cold out here. Please … please … please … I am murmuring soundlessly as I strain to listen. After a few moments, it’s clear no one is shouting an alarm. I move as quickly as I can, stepping around and over anything that might crunch or jangle or trip me, wincing when I stumble a bit and something clangs softly.
One more house. If I can make the run across, I can get to the first house and then maybe, while they’re searching the other houses, I can run for the road and the rubble pile again, go back the way I came. Maybe I can follow the stream farther down and find someplace where the water is clearer. Why didn’t I do that in the first place? Because I’m stupid, that’s why, I mentally berate myself.
I edge up to the corner on the second house, moving my head by the barest fractions until I can see out. No one is there. I can hear them in the houses now, calling for me, promising me food, shelter, a helping hand. If I didn’t know what Finn taught me, I would believe them. They sound sincere.
I take a deep breath and race across to the first house, half turning so I can obliterate my tracks again, and finally, I am safe up against the back wall. I need to try the door or find a way to get through a window, if I can. Once I’m inside, I might even be able to find a mirror and hopefully some more light. I try the back door, but it’s not only closed but slightly warped and immovable. I start checking the windows and find that the one nearest the road has been broken out. I manage to get my leg over the sill by stepping up on a cinder block lying under the window. I reach inside to brace my hands against the inside of the window frame and pull myself over.
And a pair of hands closes down over mine, pulling me through.
I land on the floor in a heap and scramble up to my knees.
“I’ve got her!” a man cries out loudly. He’s filthy and he smells indescribably bad and in the dim moonlight, I can see the contrast of his gleaming teeth against the darkness. He’s grinning at me like I’m a five-course dinner.
38
Caught
“Don’t worry, honey,” the man tells me. “I’ll make you a deal before the rest of them get here—if you’re nice enough to me. My name’s Vince.”
I get slowly to my feet and start backing toward the window. He steps in closer. “Won’t do you no good to run,” he says. “They’ll be on you before you get far.”
He folds his arms, straining to see me in the dim light.
“You’re a real treat.” I see his teeth again. “And I’m getting really tired of Josh. He’s pushy. If you’re nice enough to me and Bobby, we’ll probably get tired of Josh before we get tired of you.” He smiles again. “You think about that while we wait.”
I am shaking all over, fighting not to pass out because I’m hyperventilating so badly. I’m going to have to dive through the window and hope I can outrun them. I’m still in my glitter-Jessa body, though. I may not be as malnourished, but I don’t know how fast I can run. It’s the only hope I have, and I have to go now, before the others get any closer. I don’t know if I can make it, but I know I’m not going down without one hell of a fight.
I start to turn, but Vince second-guesses me, yanking me hard by the hair. I let out a scream as my head is twisted, hard, and he pulls me up against him. He grins in my face—like he’s glad I’m fighting him. His breath is foul, and I feel like I’m going to vomit. How long do I have before the rest of them are here? Minutes? Seconds?
I do the only thing I can think of to do. I twist in his arms, then I cup my fist in my hand and I use the added force of it to push my elbow back into him as hard as I possibly can, just like Finn taught me.