Chapter 38
She wanted to stay and spend more time with the girls and their family, but the road and the safety of her own home called to her.
Heading south to Meredith was her last stop.
By the next morning, Sarah was ready to head out with her horse already loaded down for the long journey ahead of them.
After hugging the girls and their housekeeper goodbye, they set off onto the road.
She had no intention of sticking to the beach, given their trip up the coast. Keeping to the roads but avoiding the main cities was her plan.
For four days, they traveled as much as possible.
Sarah pushed herself and her horse from the time the sun came up until it went back down again, but by the fourth afternoon, mere hours before the sun started to set, she saw the prison coming into view ahead of her.
Her mount must have felt her tensions from the trip ease as they approached.
Moving to the front gate, she saw the guard in the tower and waved.
She wasn’t sure who it was, but they waved back before signaling to someone near her old block.
Almost immediately, she noticed something was off as she looked around the yard.
There was no way Meredith would let it become as trashed as it now looked unless they were desperately short on staff and inmates.
Despite the churning in her stomach, she continued to smile as a man jogged in the direction of the gate.
He gave her a friendly wave. While he was wearing a guard’s uniform, Sarah instantly recognized the man as one of the inmates.
George felt Sarah’s tension and took several steps away from the gate as the man opened it.
“What can we do for you?” the inmate asked.
“Tell me where Meredith is?”
“Oh, she’s inside working on a project. As you can see, the outside of this place has been pretty much left alone, and that’s because we have so much to do in the building.”
“I thought she had planned to work the garden and the inner parts as a whole,” Sarah said.
He smiled. “Well, that was the idea until a few weeks ago. Had a few things go wrong and we’ve kind of been stuck working on…other things.” He smiled.
Sarah could tell the man was lying to her.
Though he was well versed in his deceptive tactics, she knew Meredith would never let the garden go to waste, and her friend wouldn’t ever allow the mess that now surrounded her.
While there was no way to be certain of what had happened, her only concern was where Meredith was now.
“I’d like to talk to her myself,” Sarah said. “You know, just to make sure everything is all right. I promised her I would check in on her and make sure she was doing okay.”
“She’s doing just fine, actually. Yeah, she has everyone working hard and taking care of things.”
“Well, she can take a break and talk. Will you have her come out, please?”
“As I said before, she’s pretty tied up at the moment. You’re more than welcome to come on in and see how she’s doing.”
“No, just have her come out to see me. I’ll wait.”
“I’m sorry, ma’am. That’s just not possible.” He grinned. “Safety concerns and all that.”
“She’ll let this one pass. Now, I’ll wait right outside the gates for Meredith. Have her come out to meet me.”
The man snickered. “Fine, suit yourself.”
His eyes darted to her right as he opened the gate wider.
George was starting to prance beneath her as she quickly looked around to see what the man was looking at.
Suddenly, five men emerged from the forest, positioned roughly fifty feet apart.
It didn’t matter what direction they bolted; the inmates would have time to get to her.
She wasn’t going down without a fight. Giving George his head, she squeezed her mount’s sides and let him bolt in what his survival instincts told him was the best direction.
As he lunged to the right and galloped along the fence, she quickly pulled out her gun.
Shots rang out through the night as Sarah cursed and returned fire.
Of course, the inmates were armed. She hated herself for leaving Meredith behind, but it was obvious the prison had fallen.
Sarah didn’t just recognize the inmates in the forest; she knew they were all dangerous men who were supposed to still be behind bars.
Suddenly, a searing pain coursed through her right side just below her ribs.
She screamed out and grabbed her side, tugging on George’s reins to guide him into the cover of the forest. Her palm was hot and sticky as soon as she pulled it away from her side.
Sarah had been shot. There was no way she could risk stopping and letting the men catch up to her, but she could feel the blood dripping down through her fingers and onto her leg.
They’d only been in the forest for a few minutes when George stumbled over a tree limb he hadn’t seen and nearly went down.
Sarah cringed in pain and brought him to a stop before carefully climbing down.
She wasn’t going to risk his life by letting him stumble through the dark forest. She knew the area well enough to know they were heading south, and at that moment, that was all she cared about.
“It’s okay, George,” Sarah whispered. “Well, I guess it’s kind of not all right. I guess we’re in some deep shit now.”
As she led George through the woods, she couldn’t help but wonder what had gone wrong.
Had everyone else at the prison left Meredith by herself or had the inmates simply overpowered the remaining guards and taken over?
Sarah planned on figuring it out, but first, she needed to get herself to safety.
Thoughts continued to rush through her head, and the blinding pain was making it harder to walk.
She didn’t know how far she was going to be able to make it, but she continued to push forward.
Within a few minutes, Sarah began to feel lightheaded and sick.
The world started to spin around her, but still, she kept herself and George moving.
She wanted to put as much distance between herself and the prison as she could.
Suddenly, she remembered a place they could go that wasn’t too far away. As long as it was still standing.
“George, there’s a place just a few miles away. It’s an old campground that used to be an amazing place to go,” Sarah whispered.
It had been a while since she had gone in that direction, but it was the only place she could think of that might be safe for the both of them. The pain was still taking its toll on her, and she knew they needed to keep moving. While it felt silly, talking to George was helping her to stay awake.
“We can make it there if we keep moving. We’re just going to have to keep it slow and quiet.” Sarah chuckled. “Thanks to you, George, we’re going to get away from here and figure out what the hell is going on.”
Sarah knew it was a ridiculous thing to be talking to the animal, but it brought her some comfort as they walked through the treacherous forest. Thus far, she hadn’t heard anyone following them, but she’d gotten a good head start by having a horse.
If their inmate files were any indication of what the men would do to a woman, she wouldn’t feel safe until there was a wall and locked door between them and her.
Plus, there wasn’t a chance in hell that she was going to leave George outside wherever they stayed.
After all, there was no one around to tell her the horse couldn’t come into whatever abandoned house she found.
Her stomach rolled as the stench of blood stung her nostrils.
Not knowing how bad the wound was, she couldn’t tell if every step she took had a purpose or not.
From the way it felt, she could have been bleeding out and never known.
Why had the prison fallen? Had someone betrayed Meredith, or did they simply overthrow her and the other guards somehow?
Sarah had to get down to Alan and find out what had happened.
He was only twenty miles away from the prison, making it an easy trek if she were able to bandage herself up.
Every step brought her more pain and closer to the edge of collapsing until she was leaning against George for support.
Just when she was sure she could go no farther, the abandoned cabins of the campgrounds came into view.
They were small and primitive, but they would do for the night.
Praying for a little more strength to get them through the doors, Sarah started to climb the cabin’s three steps.