Chapter 10 - Into the Cold
The metallic smell of gunpowder mixed with the earthy dampness of the rain inside the cabin. Clara lay on the floor, groaning in agony as blood seeped between her fingers.
"Clara!" Sarah cried out, instinctively moving toward her.
"Run, Sarah!" Clara gasped through clenched teeth. "Don't stop!"
Arthur leveled the revolver directly at Sarah's chest. "I won't ask again. The phone."
Sarah locked eyes with him. Instead of handing it over, she grabbed an open kerosene lamp from the side table, hurled it against the dry wooden floorboards, and kicked the broken glass toward the heavy drapes. Flames immediately erupted, feeding on the spilled oil and leaping toward the ceiling in an angry wall of orange fire and thick black smoke.
Arthur coughed, stepping back to shield his face from the intense heat. "Put it out! Grab her!"
Sarah didn't look back. She dove through the open bedroom window, tumbling onto the muddy embankment outside. Glass shards grazed her forearms, but she barely felt the pain. Scrambling to her feet, she plunged into the dense blackness of the pine forest.
Branches whipped against her face, clawing at her clothes and hair. The rain was relentless, turning the forest floor into a slippery, treacherous trap. Behind her, sirens wailed in the far distance, mingling with the shouting of men thrashing through the underbrush.
Her phone buzzed in her pocket. It was an email confirmation: File received by the Department of Justice Child Protection Task Force.
A spark of hope flared in her chest, but she knew an email wasn't enough to save her daughter tonight. Government offices were closed; bureaucracy moved at a snail's pace. Meanwhile, Lily was in Evelyn's mansion right now. If Evelyn realized the authorities were closing in, she would eliminate the final witness.
Sarah reached the swollen, rushing stream Clara had mentioned. The water was icy and black, churning violently over slick boulders.
Across the water, past a row of barbed-wire fencing, she saw the glowing tail lights of a massive interstate rest stop.
Taking a deep breath, Sarah stepped into the freezing current. The water pulled violently at her waist, dragging her down. Fighting the roaring tide, she clawed her way across, dragging her soaked, freezing body up onto the opposite bank.
She crawled under the barbed wire, her hands bleeding, until she reached the asphalt of the truck stop.
Parked near the diner was an empty flatbed truck idling in the rain, the driver inside paying for coffee. Sarah slipped into the narrow gap beneath the canvas tarp of the trailer, pulling the wet fabric over herself.
Her phone vibrated again. A new message had bypassed her blocked contacts, sent from an unknown burner number:
May you like
*Ethan believes me, Sarah. Tonight, we give Lily her final dose to cure her crying forever. You're too late.*
---
