2. Grace
2
Grace
A shrill scream pierced the night sky, blending with the roar of engines.
I jerked into an upright position, my hand cradling my chest as my heart thrummed against it.
"What was that?" Monica whispered in Spanish.
Jorge shook his head, his eyes wide and alert. "I don't know."
I crawled to the ledge, my fingers digging into the dry dirt and pine needles, my knees smarting with sharp rocks.
Harsh spotlights slashed through the darkness, their beams mercilessly dissecting the once-serene landscape.
I collapsed onto my belly, throwing a hand over my mouth, a pebble bouncing down the ridge.
No, no, no.
Three trucks with mounted floodlights drove through the middle of the group on the other side of the river.
A truck barreled into Carly, tossing her body into the air like a broken doll, her lifeless arms flailing around.
Maria raced off down the riverbank in the opposite direction while Rachel stood, eyes wide and petrified.
A gunshot shattered the anarchy with a jolt of raw malice, freezing time in its place.
Maria collapsed, her face hitting the ground without so much as a twitch to catch herself.
A billowing cloud of kicked-up dust enveloped Rachel, concealing her within the swirling chaos.
My stomach revolted, sending acid into the back of my throat .
Oh God.
Duarte battled two men, one with a baton, the other with his fists, as Isabella dashed into the thicket.
He punched the one man, sending him tumbling to the ground, and kicked out behind him. His foot buried in the man's stomach, doubling him over, giving him time to grapple with the baton. He raised it above his head when a third man shouted behind him, freezing him in place.
I rolled away from the scene and crawled around the rock, coming face to face with Sarah, her eyes wide.
"Shh." I placed my finger to my lips and took the teen into my arms, her body shaking as I caressed her hair. "They don't know we're up here."
"They do now." Jorge dragged Monica behind him. "Duarte pointed us out. We need to leave."
Shit .
I scrambled to my damaged feet, grabbed Sarah by the hand, and bolted away from the trail the group had taken—away from our planned safety.
Adrenaline shot through my veins, triggering the primal urge to put distance between us all, to leave them in the dust, and vanish without a trace. My hand locked onto Sarah's, her weary legs moving as fast as she could.
"We need to find another place to cross."
Ortiz had a topographic map hanging on the wall in his room like a trophy, and each time he'd pull me in, I'd study it like it were the SATs.
I mentally tallied each dip in elevation.
"There are two more chances to cross before it levels out." After that, we'll be sitting ducks.
I glanced over my shoulder when a slight yip sounded behind me and faltered.
Monica landed on her hands and knees. Blood trickled down her forehead, curling under her brow as Jorge helped her to her feet.
"Are you okay?" I released Sarah, backtracked, and helped Monica dust off her scraped knees.
The romp of a two-stroke engine ripped through the canopy, freezing my erratic heart.
More came from all directions and had my feet itching to move.
"Run." As I turned on my heels, the words skipped through my lips with barely an audible note. "Run. "
I darted in and out of the trees. My feet screamed as the cuts reopened on the harsh terrain, my lungs burned, and my muscles stretched. Jorge and Monica followed behind Sarah, who trailed me like I was their lifeline.
How did I become in charge of so many lost souls?
What if I failed them?
Blinding light erupted directly ahead and to the right, their deafening engines overpowering as I skidded to a halt, my bare feet kicking up rocks.
My breath burst in and out as I looked all around us. "We're surrounded."
"What do we do, Grace?" Jorge wrapped his arms around a limping Monica.
"I don't know." I shook my head, my chest rising and falling, the world bleeding out around me.
Choosing to go straight meant risking capture while retracing our steps promised it.
The only viable option loomed over the rocky embankment—a less steep terrain than our current location but still dangerous.
"We…"
The engines drew closer. "Over here!" a man shouted in Spanish astride his dirt bike.
His bike skidded sideways as he planted his military-style boot on the ground.
Monica screamed and ripped away from Jorge's arms, darting in the direction we'd run from.
She took two steps to the right, then to the left, when a dirt bike stopped in her path. The driver raised his gun and blew her matter all over the trees.
My lungs wheezed.
Sarah let out a piercing scream as Jorge seized a thick branch and swung it like a baseball bat against one of the approaching men.
He flew backward, and my feet cemented in place.
"Go, Grace. Run." Jorge swung again in a steep uppercut, snapping the man's neck backward.
My skin flushed, sweat dribbled down my brow, my legs ignoring my silent commands to flee.
Sarah's high-pitched screams dragged my attention away from the fight at hand.
" Let's go, little girl. " He wrapped his arm around her and tossed her over his dirt bike. "Don't give me any problems.”
Sarah growled and sunk her teeth into his arm, tearing at his flesh with a savage yank. The man released her and clutched his bleeding forearm as she rushed toward the ledge .
"I won't go back."
Sarah turned her back towards the ledge and glanced at me with a tortured smile. Stretching out her arms, she tipped backward over the cliff.
"Sarah."
I screamed. My voice carried through the air as her body vanished with a crack and a resounding thud, colliding with the unforgiving boulders below.
Tears blurred my vision and adrenaline shot through my veins.
Jorge hit another man out of my periphery.
Arms wrapped around my chest, pinning my arms at my sides, eliciting another useless scream.
My feet flew into the air as I kicked. My bare heel collided with his solid shin.
The man grunted, and his grip tightened, pinning my lungs flat in my chest.
I gasped, the air difficult to pull in.
Jorge spun, his knuckles white as he squeezed the branch, then swung.
Thunk .
The man who held onto me grunted as the branch slammed into his side, our bodies jerking to the left. He loosened his grip but only growled his disdain. " Eres un maldito estúpido, chico." You're fucking stupid, boy.
Jorge grinned and hit him again with the branch, then again until he released me.
I collapsed to the ground, my knees breaking twigs beneath me.
"Run, Grace."
"I'm not leaving you."
He stepped up to me, dug his hand in his pocket, and slapped his rosary into my palm. "I'll meet up with you. Now go."
I stood stark still as he wrapped his hand over my shoulder.
"Understand me?"
"Yeah." My head bobbed. "Okay."
A shot rang out, and my spine stiffened.
Jorge's chest bowed, his eyes widening as he dropped the makeshift bat.
"Jorge?" I wrapped my arm around his body as he slumped. "No. No. No. Come on."
"Find my sister." His lower lip trembled as my heart stuttered, his weight too much for me.
He crumpled to the ground as the men advanced around me.
I stepped backward toward the ridge behind me .
"Don't come any closer," I commanded in Spanish.
An off-road vehicle without doors approached and stopped in the clearing in front of me, illuminating Jorge's crimson-splotched shirt.
Miguel, Andrés' right-hand man, stepped out of the passenger side with his hand on the roll cage, bracing himself as he exited.
" Cari?o , come back with me." He stepped over Jorge's body and held out his hand. "We'll tell him they took you."
I shook my head and stepped closer to the edge.
If Sarah could do it…
"I'll never go back there."
Exhaustion clung to my body like an oppressive weight.
In the passing days, our spirits flickered with a fragile hope fueled by the belief that freedom awaited us at the end of this tumultuous journey.
I glanced around at the death at my feet. Little did we know the price we'd pay for our fleeting taste of freedom.
I shook my head, a rebellious tear trickling down my cheek and curling under my chin as I tucked Jorge's rosary into my pants pocket. My heart stampeded in my chest. "I want to be free."
Miguel stepped forward, his head cocked to the side. "Don't do it."
My heel hung off the edge.
"Come back, and we'll explain it all as a misunderstanding. Por favor, cari?o. "
His jaw pulsed, and the fist at his side clenched and released, the skin around his knuckles whitening in the vehicle’s headlights.
I shook my head. "I'm not afraid anymore." I sucked in a deep breath, spun on my heel, and let gravity take me.