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"It’s what I talked to you about this morning. The schematics and journals we saw. The house powers down every night. That’s what’s happening right now. Everything is off, even the fence."
"Hang on," Drake said. "Are we one-hundred-percent sure about this? Do you remember if your cuff turned off the other night at the chapel? We were out late then too."
It was a good point. I racked my brain, trying to remember if I’d looked at the display at any time while I hunted and killed Cartwright. I couldn’t remember. I didn’t think I ever looked at it. I was too busy slaughtering a man and then fucking Drake to worry about the stupid watch.
"I don’t remember," I said, "But they’re both off, plus the electricity isn’t running through the fence. Now’s our chance, Drake." My voice was high and tense with excitement. "We can climb the fence or something. Let’s go." I grabbed his arm and tugged him toward the fence.
He ripped his hand from mine, making me stop. I spun, confused, and saw his face. He stared at the fence with a worried expression. He was slowly shaking his head.
"What’s wrong? We need to hurry." Why wasn’t he moving?
"We can’t, Dahlia." His voice sounded miserably sad. "He won’t let us get away. I know it."
I went back to him, putting my hands on his chest. "You don’t know that. We were never supposed to know about the shutdown. This is a loophole we weren't supposed to find. Look, it’s not even razor wire on top, It’s barbed wire. We can climb over and not kill ourselves, but we have to hurry."
Drake grabbed me by the shoulders, and looked directly into my eyes. "Now is not the time. Even if the power is out and we run, he knows we’re out here. He’ll send the others after us, or his workers or whatever. Plus we don’t have any clue what these devices will do when we’re away. What if they’re designed to explode or something if we get too far away? What then? You haven’t been here as long as I have. I know Sam. He’s always one step ahead. When you killed that guy in the bunker, it was the first time I’ve ever seen him caught off guard. We need a plan to escape, not a spur of the moment thing like this."
He was terrified. I could see it in his eyes. Sam had really done a number on him in the time he’d been here. It was sad and heartbreaking all at once, but there was no arguing with him. I could run. I could climb the fence and head into the forest by myself, but without Drake, what was the point? In my life there had never been anyone like him. A person I could cling to, who would protect me, who would do what was best for me. I was falling in love with him. I couldn’t run from that. Not even if the person I cared for was stuck in a hellhole with me. My shoulders slumped as the worry and anxiety bore down like a boulder on my back..
"Okay," I said quietly. "We’ll make a better plan."
Drake sighed. "Thank you. I just don’t want us doing anything rash and getting into a worse situation. I do think we have a chance, but we have to be careful."
He took my hand, brushing my knuckles with his thumb. The smoothness of his skin on mine warmed me, and made me want to slide my flesh across his entire body. "Let’s finish this. Come on," he said.
Without letting go of my hand, he led me into the forest. Ten minutes later, I watched as Drake’s device powered back on. The screen flashed to life. A sense of loss and sadness filled me, knowing whatever chance we might have had had vanished. The fence started humming again as well, to punctuate the fact that we were again caged animals.
A female scream rent the night, tearing me from my depressed thoughts. "Oh god no. Please god no."
Drake’s hand clamped tighter on mine. "That’s got to be the person Payton’s after. It doesn’t sound like Bri or Elise," he hissed.
"Come on," I said, taking the lead and running through the woods.
Another inarticulate scream of horror erupted, echoing through the forest. We were getting closer. I’d lost track of which direction we were going in my rush to get to the action.
Soon Payton’s voice rose above the screams. "Shut up. Jesus, shut the fuck up. This isn’t easy for me either."
Through the branches, a swinging beam of light caught my eye. I grabbed Drake, both of us sliding to a stop, and I pulled him behind a tree. Thirty yards ahead of us, in a semi-clearing, Payton stood over a woman. She must have been given a flashlight. The beam was aimed down at her face, blinding her eyes. Payton stood over her, holding his knife; the ax was on the ground beside him. Between the flashlight and the light of the moon, I could see the whole scene. The woman looked like she was in her thirties, maybe late twenties. Her right ankle was bent and twisted, coated in blood. If I had to guess, Payton had struck her with the ax almost severing the thing in the process.
Payton was looking at the screen of his device and muttering to himself. He then looked up and took a step toward her. "Did you really do that? Is he fucking serious?"
"My leg.'' The woman panted. "Oh my god my leg. I need a hospital." She then threw her head back and let out a gut wrenching loud scream. "Help. Help. Help me."
Payton kicked out with a foot, catching her under the chin. Even from as far away as we were, her teeth audibly clacked together, a small white chip flew from her lips and I was pretty sure she’d snapped a tooth off. The woman collapsed, sobbing on the dirt.
"Do we go now?" I whispered to Drake.
He pointed toward Payton and the woman. "No. We wait and see what happens. Once she’s dead, then we go for him. Then we only have to deal with one person."
"Okay."
Payton was reading off his device again, and began to cry, sobbing. "Oh fuck," He moaned before picking up the ax. "He, uh, he says I have to do it slowly. If I don’t I’m gonna get punished."
The woman rolled onto her stomach and clawed at the ground, crawling away with her hands, her ruined foot dragging behind. Payton pulled his sweat shirt off revealing his scrawny muscled torso. He grabbed her good leg and pulled her back, pulled her arms behind her and used the sweat shirt to tie her hands together, then rolled her on her back.
He knelt beside her, ignoring her screams and cries, and slapped her face, shocking her into silence. "Did you really do that to those women? Like he says you did?"
"I’m sorry," she screamed, face red with exertion, sitting up, spittle flying from her lips onto Payton’s face. "I’m sorry, god damn it. I went to jail for it. I got out a few days ago. I did my time, okay. I’m fucking sorry."
