Total pages in book: 92
Estimated words: 88673 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 443(@200wpm)___ 355(@250wpm)___ 296(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 88673 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 443(@200wpm)___ 355(@250wpm)___ 296(@300wpm)
“Then no, Clover. You can’t change your clothes or have a shower.” He starts pushing me down the hallway.
“What about food? I didn’t eat. I haven’t eaten all day.”
“I forgot. I only have one MRE with me right now, and it’s mine. You’ve just been lying around all day. I’ve been working. You’ll survive. You can go way longer than three days without food.”
“Wait, what? You’re not gonna feed me at all?”
“I told you, I only have one meal and I’m not going back to my camp until this job is over.”
By this time, we’re well down the hallway and I know the library is a mere few feet away. Once I’m in there, there’s no more chances to change his mind. So I stop, planting my feet and making him bump into me.
“Keep walking, Clover.” He growls this into my ear.
“I’m hungry. I don’t eat much, I promise.” I need to make him give me something from his food ration. Anything. Even if it’s a single cracker. I need him to take responsibility for my wellbeing. To see me as a person he’s taking care of instead of something he can throw away. Because while he has been mostly accommodating for the last ten minutes, I’m still ninety-percent sure I’m not getting out of this kidnapping alive. “Something small. A cracker.”
“No. There’s just not enough for you.”
“There’s a diner in Revenant. You could go out and get us both food. Or—I know! I could go with you!”
“Fuck off. How stupid do you think I am?” He shoves me forward, making me stumble. “I’m not going into Revenant and I’m certainly not letting you leave this house.”
“But you have to drive past there, anyway. I mean, when you leave. It’s the only way out without passing through Disciple.”
“I don’t travel on highways, Clover. I’m leaving the way I came. And I came through the hills.”
I think about this as I take those final few steps into the library. “You’re one of them? The hill people that Lowyn told me about?”
“One of them?” He says the word ‘them’ with derision. Like the thought offends him. “No. I’m not one of those hill people. I’m from out west. I’m just using their…” He pauses here. Like he’s choosing his words carefully. “Their… infrastructure. That’s all. I’m not from around here. Obviously, since I don’t have one of those hick accents like all you people.”
My mouth falls open with this insult. Like all you people? “I don’t have an accent.”
He laughs. “You so do.”
“I mean, maybe it’s a bit… Eastern seaboard, but—”
“Eastern seaboard?” He laughs again. “Woman, you talk like a country western singer.”
“What?”
“And I’m not talking about, like, cowboy kinda accent, either. I’m talking hillbilly country western.”
I blink my eyes underneath my blindfold. “I beg your pardon?”
“Never mind. Just turn around.” Then I hear the snapping of the leather belt and my heart jumps.
When I don’t turn, he forcibly does it for me. “No. Do not tie me back up! Please!” He grabs both my wrists and tugs them behind my back. “At least tie them in front!”
“So you can escape like you did this morning? Nice try.”
“I won’t, I promise.”
“Well, I might believe you. If you hadn’t already proved yourself untrustworthy. I don’t forget or forgive shit like that. When I make a mistake, I only make it once.”
Then he cinches the belt around my wrists, winding it around and around until it’s painfully pinching into my skin and he can buckle it. He keeps a hold of my wrists as he nudges me forward with his body and for a moment, I really think he might push me down those stairs.
“Wait,” I say, the desperation in my voice very clear. “When will you be back?”
“I dunno. But you’re not going to die. At least not down there and from thirst or starvation. You can go three days without water and weeks without food.”
“But—” I try and turn, but he stops me. “You’ll be back tonight though, right? I mean, I just gulped down a whole bunch of water. I’ll need to use the bathroom.”
He doesn’t answer me. Just pushes me forward again.
“Please! Don’t leave me here. It’s unnecessary!”
“Go down. And be quick. I’m behind schedule. And if you want me gone soon, we don’t wanna screw that up now, do we?”
“But—” I lean back, pushing myself into him.
“Unless, of course, you’ve changed your mind about the shower? If that’s the case I can carve out another fifteen minutes and allow myself a little fun time with you.” He says these words with amusement. And when I ease up on my resistance, he actually laughs. “Thought so. Get down there.”
Then he gives me a push, sending me falling forward. I am fully expecting to dive face first into the trapdoor, but at the last moment, he grabs my shoulders. I feel like I’m inches from the opening, but then he says, “Bend down and put your legs into the hole, Clover. If you do that, and you’re a very good girl, maybe I’ll feed you later. We can split that MRE.”