him."
His words alone almost brought me to my knees and ended my escape. "How do you know Jones, and who the heck is your father? I'm so confused, Alex. All of a sudden, I feel like I don't know who you are."
"I'm the same friend I've always been. If I'm correct, my father is the one you call Master. Nothing happens around here without his knowledge. I swear I didn't know he had anyone imprisoned at the back of our property, let alone any plans he might have for you. I would've told you sooner, but I was afraid to lose your friendship. And more importantly, I couldn't rescue you if you didn't trust me. Now please, hurry up and go so I can get the medical attention I need before this asshole succeeds in killing me."
"Okay, Alex. We can talk about this later. But promise you'll be okay."
A sharp pain flared in my left butt cheek, followed by a stinging, burning sensation even deeper in the right shoulder. My body hurt so bad I was ready to drop, but when I realized how close I was to safety, a burst of adrenaline struck.
I dove for the bushes at the top, flying through and landing on the other side… precisely on the sore part of my bottom. The momentum kept me going, though, and I slid and rolled down the hill. Wheezing, I sucked in a breath when I finally landed at the base, coming to a stop in a bush filled with sticky burrs. Yelping, I scrambled to my feet, ignoring the fresh burst of pain as I stepped on a nettle.
As badly as I wanted to know if my friend was okay, Alex was no longer responding. Either he'd passed out from the pain, or… I didn't want to think about the alternative reason.
Between the different points of pain, the burning shoulder, the worry, and my overall anxiety, I knew if I didn't keep going, I'd be done for, and my brothers would never be rescued. Their safety, even more than my own, got me moving again.
I'd read about cars in books and seen them in movies. But movies couldn't tell me how different and scary they were in person. Flashes blinded me from the opposite side of the highway, while the cars whizzing past on this side nearly made me jump out of my skin. Everything smelled weird and unnatural. And it was so loud. And bright from their lights. I didn't know how long I ran before a break in traffic, but when I didn't see lights in either direction, I raced across the highway in a shocking burst of speed.
With my heart racing in my chest, I forced myself to hug the edge of the road and stay on the asphalt for a while, running back the way I'd come. On the road with them, the cars were even more terrifying as they flew past, some coming close enough for me to feel the heat from their engines. A loud horn startled me, making me jump sideways into the ditch. I sat there shaking for several seconds, hunkering down against the ground, away from the view of the cars’ occupants. Whenever it got dark, I took off running until the light of the new series of cars came up behind me.
I wasn't sure how far I'd gone, but running and stopping to wait between cars slowed me down. My body grew weaker with every step of sheer torture. I needed to move faster. While I caught my breath, I watched the road. Inspiration struck when I realized half of the car's lights didn't extend too far onto the side of the road. In fact, the ground beside the ditch was barely lit. The lone downside was the slope, making it a challenging run, especially in my current state. No matter. The only way to freedom was moving forward.
Ignoring everything but the thought of my brothers and the taste of liberty, I forced my body to run. I kept moving for what felt like forever, pushing onward even when my lungs started burning and my heart began pumping too hard with a weird, unsteady beat, pounding super fast, then fluttering.
Later, I promised myself. I’d think about it later. Right now, I didn’t dare because the stinging pains in my butt cheek, and particularly in my shoulder, were getting worse by the second with my initial terror fading into bone-numbing weariness.
Still, I pushed forward, running as long