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We’ve only been hiking for a few hours in the hot sun when I hear Glo stumble behind me. I turn to look and see Boyd haul her back up and shove her forward so I just try and send her a reassuring smile but I know it comes out flat. It’s only a few minutes later that I hear her let out a small gasp and then the sound of her hitting the ground. I whirl around and yell at him as I rush to lift her back up.
“Don’t touch her!”
He glares at me and stabs the gun in our direction. “I don’t need her to get what I want from you so she either keeps up or I get rid of her! She’s just slowing us down anyway so...”
He leaves that threatening sentence open for me to fill in the blanks. I’m going to have to carry her or he’ll do something drastic. I turn around and squat down so she can climb onto my back when my eyes land on the sled. I stand back up, take her arm and pull her ahead to it. It only takes a few seconds to move our supplies around so there’s a spot for her to sit in the middle of the sled. The kid can’t weigh more than seventy-five pounds so it’s shouldn’t have any problems with her extra weight on it. I take a minute to dry her tears and then help her step up and get settled onto the sled and then hand her one of our battered umbrellas to open up and use for shade. She gives me a shaky nod that she is ok but I know she’s far from it. In the last three days, this poor girl’s whole world has come crumbling down around her. She’s lost her home, her grandmother, her friend Beck, and now faces death by this evil man. I know she’s going to have emotional scars for a very long time. I just hope we can live through this so we can work on healing them.
Boyd interrupts my musings. “Well, look at the queen of the desert riding on her throne!” He says sarcastically. “Now that just doesn’t seem fair, does it? I think maybe the man with the gun should be the one riding in style. Don’t you?”
I bite my tongue to keep the nasty reply I want to bark back at him in and take a deep breath before answering.
“I’m not sure if it could handle your weight. Even if it could, the charge wouldn’t last as long and we’d have to stop often to power it back up. Glo’s weight shouldn’t affect it that much but we can try with you on it if you want.”
He stares at me suspiciously for a few seconds before finally shaking his head.
“Maybe later. Let’s get moving! We’ve wasted enough time.”
I turn without a word and get the sled moving again up the path ahead of me. So far, it’s been wide enough that I can walk beside it but I’m worried about what’s ahead. I had taken a good long look at the first part of the map before Boyd showed up but I know I’m going to have to look at it again soon to make sure we stay on track. I’m afraid if he sees the map, he’ll take it and start asking questions about the different paths marked on it. Two of the paths marked on the map lead to my Grandfather’s mining claims where he made his fortune and the other one leads to the valley. There’s no way I’m going to lead Boyd to the valley. He wants gold so I’ll take him to one of the claims and he can pry it from the rock with his bare hands for all I care. Hopefully, somewhere between here and there I’ll get my opening to either escape with Glo or kill him.
We are moving faster now that Glo isn’t setting the pace but it doesn’t take very long for Boyd to start slowing us down again. Poor guy, he’s not used to exerting himself outside in the full heat of the day. He calls for me to slow down a few times as a gap grows between us but I only slow down for a few minutes at a time before speeding back up. A little bit of distance between us is a good thing for me. As the path goes around a rock outcropping I take the few seconds that I’m out of his sight to pull the map from my bag and scan it for what’s ahead. There’s a split in the path ahead that will take us in the direction I want to go and even better, it looks like it will climb a hill. I want Boyd to be as exhausted as possible so I will have an edge on him.
“Hey! I said, slow down! It’s not a race so quit running!”
I can hear him huffing and puffing as he gets closer so I stuff the map back into my bag and turn with an innocent expression.
“I’m sorry, Boyd. I just thought you’d want to get there as quick as possible. You said my sister was slowing us down so now that she’s not, I just assumed you wanted to go quicker.”
He comes to a stop in front of me with his chest heaving and his breath coming out like a bellows and just scowls at me. I’m just about to turn around and keep going when out of the blue he hauls off and slams his hand against the side of my head, sending me flying into the sled. Glo lets out a squawk of surprise when the sled jerks to the side and crashes into the rock wall we were going around.
I’m half draped over the sled with the hard boxes and jugs digging into my stomach and my knees stinging from landing on the unforgiving rock we are walking on as I try and blink the stars from my reeling head. I can hear Glo crying again and I want to reassure her but all that comes out of my mouth is a groan. I swallow hard and go to try and get to my feet again when I feel Boyd grab a handful of shirt from my back and haul me back up and on to my feet. He grips my arm hard when I sway and gives me a little shake.
“I think we need to clear up how this works. I tell YOU what to do. You obey! I’m getting tired of your mouth so from now on you keep your trap shut. Got it?” He gives me another shake to emphasize his point and I feel my head bob up and down at his shaking. Thankfully, he takes that as my agreement and lets me go. He stabs a finger past me and motions for me to get moving so I slowly turn and start walking. The sled seems to be ok after its crash with the rubber bumpers doing their job. I meet Glo’s eyes but look away quickly when I see the hopelessness in them. She doesn’t believe we’re going to get out of this but she’s wrong. I’m going to kill that bastard the first opportunity I get.
The next few hours are spent in silence except for the scuff of our feet over the rocky terrain. I’ve zoned out as the burn in my thighs from the uphill climb matches the burn of the sun beating down on my scarf wrapped head. I stumble without warning when the land levels out for the first time in what feels like hours and look up to take in what’s ahead. We’ve reached a saddle clearing between two giant rock peaks that runs for about four hundred feet before dropping away. As happy as I am to be walking on flat ground again, I’m also nervous because I can see at least five fissures in the ground ahead that we will have to jump over. The first few look like they’re only a couple of feet across and should be manageable but the third is a dark gap in the rock that from here looks at least four or five feet across. I’ve paused as I try and work out how the sled is going to go over it but shake my head. It must be doable if my grandfather traveled this route to his claim. My next thought is how I can use the large fissure to my advantage. If I can time it right, I might be able to catch Boyd off guard and shove him down into it.
“What’s the holdup?” Boyd gasps from behind me so I move to the side and just point out what’s ahead.
He takes his time looking around to catch his breath and guzzle down way too much water. I look away to hide my disgust when he finishes off his second jug of the hike and tosses the empty container on the ground. The way he’s not even trying to ration tells me again that he doesn’t care that there won’t be enough left to support all three of us for more than a few days. He’s just going to kill us and take it all for himself.
Glo’s grunt of surprise has me spinning back around. Boyd’s dragged her from her spot on the sled and has her clutched against him.
“You first, with the sled. Once you’re across, we’ll follow.”
I try and keep the glare from my eyes when I realize I won’t be pushing him into a crack after all. Instead, I just turn and get the sled moving. It’s an easy hop over the first two cracks and when I get to the third I see it’s only about six feet deep and four feet across so it wouldn’t have been deep enough to cause him much damage anyway, even if I could have pushed him into it. There’s no way I can guide the sled over it though. With nothing for the air to push against, it would just tip right in so I spend some time going back and forth along the crack until I find my grandfather’s work. Butted up against one of the rock walls that hem in the area is a section of six planks that span the crack. The planks look like wood but when I get down and push on them to see if they are rotted it turns out that they are some kind of hard plastic that just resembles wood. It seems sturdy enough so I take a tentative step out on them and let out a breath of relief when there’s no give.
Once the sled is across, I move back to the center of the saddle and turn and wave Boyd forward, pointing to where I crossed. The shadows from the peaks are making it harder to see the ground ahead but the last few fissures are no more than two feet across so I make my way to the end and look down on what’s next. The land drops down at a steep angle before climbing back up between another set of peaks. I turn and look up at the sky. There’s at most another hour of decent light left. I don’t want to even think about navigating that descent and climb in the dark. Also, the humming from the sled is becoming more sluggish so I think the battery is winding down. I bite my lip and try and find the right words to tell Boyd that we have to stop for the day without him lashing out at me again as he catches up. Thankfully, he’s not a total idiot and when he sees what comes next he just points to the ground with a grunt.
“We stop here for the night. Get me some food!”
He’d pushed Glo to the ground when he caught up so I take a second to smooth the scarves back from her hair and face and bend down to plant a kiss on her forehead. My heart aches when she doesn’t even raise her eyes to meet mine but just keeps them fixed on the ground in front of her. She’s given up and shutting down. There’s nothing I can say to her to make it better with Boyd steps away so I just sigh and head over to the sled.
He follows me and while I pull the basket that I put the food I made earlier in and rummages through all the supplies. When he grabs yet another jug of water I take a few steps away so I’m not in hitting range and say, “That’s all the water we have. There’s nowhere to replace it ahead.”
The jug is halfway to his lips when he lowers it with a nasty look my way before taking in the other jugs still on the sled.
“Looks like there’s plenty to me.” He says sarcastically.
I shake my head and take another step back. “We still have a day and a half of hiking then the return trip to the cavern and then back to town, if that’s where you’re going. It won’t last if we don’t ration it.”
He doesn’t dispute me, just glowers at me before lifting the jug to his lips. I don’t show my satisfaction when I see he only takes a swallow before capping it back up. He drops the jug back on the sled and points to the basket.
“What’s in there?”
I hold it out to him at arm’s reach bracing myself for a hit from him but he just snatches it from me and pulls out more food than he should for one meal then drops it to the ground in front of me. When he walks away and settles on the ground, I turn to the sled, start opening the bumpers and fanning out the solar panels to catch the last light of the day. After that, I grab the basket and settle down beside Glo and pull her into my lap. I hand her some food and we eat quickly. I watch Boyd out of the corner of my eye as he finishes his meal and starts to relax. I can see his eyelids are looking heavy and I might have a shot of just running with Glo if he falls asleep.
I give it a few more minutes and start plotting. Slide Glo off my lap and rise to our feet. Snatch a jug of water and bolt down the slope in front of us, find somewhere to hide in the dark. We can’t go back because it’s wide open and he can just shoot us as we run so even though I don’t want to go down that steep slope in the dark, it’s our only option.
I glance his way again and see his eyes have closed completely. This is it, this is our chance. I tense up to move just as Glo lets out a croak from a dry throat.
“Can I have some water?”
Boyd’s eyes pop open with a jerk and he scrambles to his feet. The gun’s pointed at us again causing me to drop my head in frustration as he motions me to my feet. I slide Glo off of my lap and push myself up to face him.
“Get the kid a drink then bring that rope I saw on the sled over here.”
I shuffle over to the sled in defeat. He’s going to tie us up for the night. There’s nothing I can do now so I grab the rope and a jug of water as exhaustion sets in. All the adrenaline that has been keeping me going is starting to recede, leaving me feeling weak. I toss the rope toward him and help Glo drink from the heavy jug before taking my own drink. As soon as we’re done, Boyd waves Glo over to him and wraps the thick nylon rope we had found in with the mining supplies around her waist and then ties a loop of it around his own, leaving four feet of slack in between them. He grabs my arm and spins me around before dropping down behind me and looping the rope between my legs until there’s less than a foot between my feet, effectively hobbling me. He finishes off by wrapping another loop around my waist and then attaching it to his waist. Now both Glo and I are bound to him and won’t be going anywhere in the night without him feeling it. He shoves us both in different directions away from each other and drops to the ground, dragging us down with him.
“Go to sleep!” He mutters as he lays down.
I rub at my sore tailbone that I landed on when he yanked the rope and look over at Glo who has curled up in a small ball facing away from me. I can see her shoulders shaking as she cries silently causing my anger to override my caution.
“At least let me sleep with her!” I rage at him.
He cracks one eye briefly before shutting it again. “Just be grateful I’m tired and want to sleep, girl. You and me are due for a...conversation...and it won’t be about sleeping with your sister. Now shut up and go to sleep or I might find the energy to have that talk tonight!”
A cold shiver runs down my back. I know exactly what he’s implying. I’d rather die first! With one last look at Glo in the fading light, I lower myself down to the unforgiving rock and close my eyes. I think about tomorrow. I think about the valley that’s so close but also so far away now and I think about Beck. Then I let my own silent tears flow.