Silver Creek - G.L. Snodgrass Page 0,72

her last chance to say goodbye to the place. And goodbye to Uncle Tom. A wave of sadness filled her for a moment. Shaking her head, she forced it away as she stepped across the street to the jail.

Surprisingly, the door was locked. Jake must be making his nightly round. She smiled to herself. He was so determined to do a good job. The town had been quiet the entire week. The circle B boys had stayed out at their ranch. The Feltons to embarrassed to show their faces.

She glanced over to the restaurant to see Helen, the moonlight combining with the yellow lamplight from distant windows showed Helen’s hand wrapped through Chester’s arm, leaning in closely to whisper something to him. The man almost stumbled for a second, then smiled down at the woman next to him.

Rebecca’s heart soared with hope and happiness. No, she’d wait for them to go on and get a bit ahead then go home unescorted. There shouldn’t be any problem. People knew Luke. No man was going to risk his wrath.

Only when Helen and Chester turned down an alley - an alley that led to Chester’s shack - did she smile to herself. Pulling her shawl tight around her shoulders, she started for home.

As it did whenever she was alone, her mind drifted to thinking about Luke. Where was he? What was he doing? Was he smiling? God, she hoped so. There was nothing in this world so special as Luke’s smile.

She had just stepped off the boardwalk when the world went dark and a hand clamped over her mouth. The strong smell of Bay Rum biting the back of her throat.

Her heart raced as she fought to understand what had happened. How? What? No, this was impossible she thought as she was lifted off the ground and drug away.

Twisting she fought, bringing her elbow into a soft stomach hard enough to be rewarded with a heavy “umph” but the darkness stopped her from knowing where to strike next. A bag had been pulled over her head, she realized.

A strong arm trapped her against a man’s body. The hand covered her mouth tight, refusing to budge no matter how she turned and twisted. Without thinking, she tried to bite through the bag and into the hand.

“No,” a man grunted as he pulled his hand away, then hit her, knocking her to the ground. The punch coming from the darkness with no warning. A thousand stars erupted around her as Rebecca fought to retain awareness.

Never had she been struck like that. The shock and shame washed through her as her mind was filled with a confusing fog.

She struggled to understand when the man grabbed her hands and had them wrapped up immediately in a rough rope. So tight that she couldn’t even wiggle without the rope biting into her flesh.

“No!” She screamed before once more a hand covered her mouth, followed almost immediately by a gag stopping her from calling for help. A rough cloth had pushed the sack into her mouth, filling it with a dry flour taste.

The world spun as she tried to roll away, she must get free. She was to be married. This could not be allowed to happen. Her heart raced, her lungs strained for air and her mind whirled a thousand terrors.

The man grabbed the ropes binding her wrists and pulled her up to her feet. She kicked out in the dark, hoping to connect but she missed and would have fallen but her attacker grabbed her arm in a vice and dragged her away.

“Who? Why,” she gasped around the gag as she tried to catch her breath, her words sounded dull and confused, but the man simply grunted then picked her up and dumped her in the back of a wagon. The hard bed was another shock, causing her shoulder to scream with pain.

This darkness, this unknowing was too much. Everything she thought she knew had been thrown in doubt. Her heart raced as her mind whirled. A terrifying fear filled her. She knew the stories. Women taken, used, and never seen again. They said the desert could hide a thousand graves and no one would ever know.

But no, this was impossible. Twisting again, she scrambled to get away when her hands were pulled tight and she knew he was tying her to his wagon, stopping her from escaping.

A sickening feeling of failure filled her. She was truly caught. A thousand thoughts flashed through her mind. The life