Cassie made it to the evergreens without being shot. She didn’t know how she’d done it, and she thanked God for keeping her alive. Bart and his men had made a good attempt at killing her, and the bullets that zinged past her could have hit their mark like they did with Jolie. God had helped her reach safety. She was sure of it. Cassie sucked in deep breaths as she crouched beneath a large tree. Her lungs ached, but her heart ached even more. She had nobody left, and as she watched from her elevated hiding place, Bart and Donny loaded Jolie’s lifeless body into the cart pulled by Donny’s four-wheeler. They took off, and as dust spun under the fat tires, a thick cloud of brown hung in the air and blocked her view.
Tears streamed down Cassie’s cheeks. She covered her mouth as she coughed and hoped the sound didn’t echo into the valley.
It’s all my fault. I thought running away would save us from the fate Bart had threatened us with on a daily basis, but instead, I got her killed sooner. How am I going to do this alone? I don’t even know where I am, where this ranch is, or how far away civilization is.
With nothing more than a sweatshirt and food and water that would last maybe three days now that she was alone, Cassie knew she had to find the road to freedom before Bart found her. If he did, she would surely be the next to die.
April nights in Montana dipped into the twenties at times, and her sweatshirt wouldn’t keep her warm for long. Finding a town was imperative, but as she scanned the horizon and looked from left to right, she saw nothing but open plains and, in the far distance, the ranch. Behind her were mountains, but a city could be on the other side. One thing she was certain of—if she went back down the way she came, she would be shot.