Chapter Twenty-Two
“What happened to your face?” A small voice woke me up, Stephanie’s hair curtaining over me.
Blinking my eyes, I tried to bring the situation into focus, but all I could feel was the pain. My body ached and I swore it hurt more now than it did last night. Finally, processing what she asked, I tried to think of a suitable answer. I couldn’t tell an eight-year-old that some large man beat me as a way of obtaining answers.
“When they took me from dinner, they wanted help with getting some nuts from a tree, like we did back at camp?” Stephanie nodded, following along with my asinine story. “Well, I fell from the tree. But I’ll be okay.”
I waited with bated breath to see if she would believe me and finally, she shrugged. “Okay. Is it breakfast time? Lucas is hungry.”
Glad that her mind couldn’t comprehend something worse happening to me, I looked behind her to where Lucas sat, his eyes scanning the bruises I could feel on my face. He didn’t look as convinced as his sister, but I was hoping the silence would continue for a little longer and he wouldn’t ask questions.
“We can head out and see if there’s some breakfast waiting for us. Do you know where Aiden is?” I asked when I realized he wasn’t in the tent.
“He said he was getting some fresh air,” Stephanie answered.
Bracing myself to stand up, my muscles ached, but I was able to get out of the tent without cursing. The twins were at my heels, both latching onto my hands when we exited, and I spotted Aiden standing a few tents over, chatting with a few people. I couldn’t hear the conversation, but by their bent heads and hushed words, I had a feeling he was trying to see if anyone else was willing to escape with us.
I wanted to tell him about the man last night, but I had forgotten after the evening with Vex. Knowing that we needed to get out of here even sooner than I thought, before either of us were beat too badly, I decided I would spend the day looking for the man. I trusted Aiden to watch over the kids while I did so and I figured it was probably best I searched for him. I didn’t think Aiden would have any chance convincing him of letting us join his escape plan.
When Aiden spotted us outside the tent, he waved goodbye to the others, rushing over to our side. “Are you okay? I could have grabbed you breakfast.”
“I’m okay.” I waved him off, although my throat was decidedly scratchy. I wondered if I had screamed last night and hadn’t realized it, too caught up in the pain.
Aiden frowned, not believing me, but that didn’t matter. “Plus, I have things I need to do today. Can you watch the twins?”
“What do you have to do? I’m making plans, Lessy, you don’t need to get involved.”
Sighing, I pressed a hand against his shoulder. “Aiden, I love you, but please let me do this.”
Furrowing his brows, he eyed me up like he didn’t recognize me. “You seem different.”
Laughing humorlessly, I arched a brow. “Yeah, that’s what happens when your family dies and you have to survive in the woods. Now, take the twins to breakfast, I need to find someone.”
Aiden opened his mouth to argue, but I released the twins” hands, heading off before he could stop me. Most people would be headed to breakfast by now, but I figured the man would be anywhere else. He didn’t seem like one to join in on the group activities.
Walking in the opposite direction of the crowds of people, I scanned the fences, hoping to spot the elusive man. As I eyed the area, I made note of the positions of the gates. I knew there was one at the front and another on each side of the camp. So far, I hadn’t been able to pinpoint one on the back side. Deciding that would be a good place to look, I stayed to the edges of the tents in case someone was watching, trying to stifle the sound of my feet.
Murphy had taught me that skill on one of our many hikes to the radio tower, informing me of how important that was when you were tracking an animal on foot. The thought of the broad grinned man had sadness swirling in my chest. I wondered what he was doing right now, if they were all safe.
My steps led me along the fence line, nothing out of the ordinary as far as my eyes could see, when suddenly I saw a dark head of hair ahead of me. His steps were languid, in no hurry, but I saw the way his head swiveled, taking everything in as I was.
He was only about twenty feet in front of me, but he hadn’t noticed my approach and I was moving quicker than him. When I was only five feet away, he finally turned, doing a poor job of stifling a smile.
“Wouldn’t have expected you to sneak up on me,” he stated, backing up until he was leaning against the fence. That seemed to be his favorite position to relax.
“Would have expected you to notice,” I sassed back and one of his brows rose in delight.
“I should have known you had a backbone, considering the bruises covering your face.”
His finger reached out, running a light stroke against my swollen cheekbone. “Pretty girls shouldn’t have bruises on their face, Alessia.”
My face flushed at his words, the deep tone sending something unidentifiable through my body, and I was glad the bruises covered the redness of my cheeks. “Seems unfair you know my name. What’s yours?”
“And if I don’t tell you?” He teased, his finger still caressing my cheek.
Shrugging, I tried to act nonchalant, but by his grin, I knew he could see right through it. “Then I don’t care. That’s not why I want to talk to you.”
“Right, your escape plan.” Tapping a finger against my temple, he asked, “And what escape plan is brewing inside this head? I can’t imagine it’s a good one or else you would have already left before someone could do this to your face.”
Realizing he had me pegged much more than I had him pegged, I dropped the tough act, slumping my shoulders. “I have exactly zero plans. But you seem like the type of guy that would have one.”
Leaning further into my space, he left the fence. “And what type of guy is that?”
His words were flirtatious, but there was a hint of danger in his eyes that told me to stay far away. “The kind of guy who’s smart enough to know where the guards are at all times but didn’t realize there’s a gap in the fence back there.”
I threw a thumb over my shoulder, motioning to the almost invisible gap I had noticed when I was following him. If I hadn’t been staring so intently at the fence, I wouldn’t have noticed it. It wasn’t a gate, merely a gap between two links of fences that hadn’t been sealed properly.
The gap was barely a foot wide, not nearly wide enough for me or Aiden to squeeze through, let alone this man, but wide enough that if a strong person pulled, it could grow.
The man’s eyes widened in interest, strolling past me to check out the gap I was talking about. I followed behind him, waiting for him to say something. After several moments, he clucked his tongue in interest.
“Well, well, well, it looks like I underestimated you, Alessia.”
“And apparently, I overestimated you…” I paused, hoping he would fill in the statement.
“Warner,” he said, smirking. “Looks like you and me have some things to talk about.”
Turning on his heel, he began walking away, strolling away from the breakfast area. I guess I had been right to assume he avoided the guards and crowds.
“Meet me at the fence tonight,” he tossed over his shoulder, and a wave of relief overcame me.
***
Aiden and I snuck out of the tent after the twins were asleep. I knew I could have left him behind, maybe Warner would have preferred that, but three minds were better than two. And if we actually wanted a chance of making it out here, we needed all the brain power we could get.
Aiden followed closely at my heels, muttering under his breath about how this was a bad idea, but I shushed him, knowing we needed to avoid getting caught. And muttering between the tents was the fastest way for someone to wake and spot us sneaking around.
Warner was waiting against the fence I had seen him at the two previous nights, his smile dropping when he spotted Aiden behind me.
“Who’s this?” He asked, all flirtation dropped from his tone.
“My brother.”
“I thought this was a two-man escape mission. Three makes it much harder.”
Well, he was about to hate my next words then. “Make that five. I have two kids with me.”
Warner frowned at that, shaking his head already. “Yeah, no thanks. I’d rather have a chance of making it out. Two kids will screw everything up.”
“No, it won’t. And you won’t be able to get through that fence on your own. So either you work with us or you stay here.”
I waited for Warner to realize I was right, his bottom lip rolling between his teeth as he debated. “Fine. But no more than that.”
Nodding in agreement, since that was easy enough, I started telling them my plan. “We should be able to sneak through the gap in the fence. If you two can widen it, we can easily get through. The hard part will be sneaking past the guards on every other side.”
“Why do we need to sneak past the guards? We can run from the back and get as far away as possible.”
I was already shaking my head as he spoke. “No, we have to go back to the front. Through the town and into the woods.”
“Let me guess, another nonnegotiable?” Warner leaned back against the fence, relaxing, and I realized his words weren’t as annoyed as I expected. He was already realizing that although I needed his help, this was my plan.
“Correct. I told you I had a place in the woods.”
“Right, this safe place.” He rolled his eyes, although a grin still lifted his lips.
“Why do we need his help? You seem to be the one with the plan,” Aiden whispered, but it was loud enough for Warner to hear.
A sly smile spread his lips and he tilted his head mockingly. “You don’t think I can help? What are you doing?”
Shaking my head at the two of them, I realized I really was the one with the plan. “We need his help because he’s been watching the guards for who knows how long, and his knowledge will be our best bet for sneaking around them.”
“And apparently you’ve been watching me.” Leaning forward until he was in my face, he whispered, “I like that.”
This time, I was the one to roll my eyes. This wasn’t the time to flirt or whatever the hell he was doing.
“So, what are we going to do about the guards?” I asked, trying to bring us back on track.
Gently nudging my chin with his fist, Warner smiled. “You leave that to me.”
As he did in all our conversations, he began walking away, dismissing us without a word. “Same time tomorrow night,” he called, strolling cockily through the tents.
Aiden and I stood there for a few moments longer, me watching his retreat, Aiden staring at me like I had grown two heads. Finally, he spoke with disbelief, “I don’t trust that guy, Lessy. We don’t need him; we’ll find another way.”
“There is no other way. And I don’t trust him either, but we need to for a little bit longer. This is our chance, Aiden. We’re taking it.”
Taking a page out of Warner’s book, I began walking back to the tent before Aiden could try to disagree more. I knew he would be silent while we walked and wouldn’t dare wake the twins by discussing this in the tent.
Settled into our sleeping bags, Aiden stared at me, trying to communicate without words. I knew he thought I was being crazy, maybe even reckless. And maybe I was an idiot for believing Warner could help us get out of this hellhole, but we didn’t have any other options. And when Aiden sighed in acceptance, I knew he realized the same.