Total pages in book: 96
Estimated words: 94313 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 472(@200wpm)___ 377(@250wpm)___ 314(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 94313 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 472(@200wpm)___ 377(@250wpm)___ 314(@300wpm)
“They’re inside,” I replied finally, stepping back into the cabin. “Come in.”
Otto’s eyes widened in disbelief as he followed me inside.
The cabin had become normal for me, but by the looks on the men’s faces, it was far from normal to them. They were scowling, staring, wide-eyed, frowning. For the first time, it felt like there wasn’t enough room inside my little haven. Shame burned through me. Why hadn’t I put the supplies away? There were still bags of things all over the floor and it made the space look messy. I brushed the hair out of my face as I strode toward the kitchen area, putting the revolver down on the table. It wasn’t as if I would use it anyway.
“Where?” Otto’s dad asked, looking around.
“Could you take a step back?” I asked one of the men who was standing right on top of the trap door.
“Uh, sure,” he mumbled. He shuffled back, still scanning the room with his gaze.
Trying not to die of shame and embarrassment, I knelt down on the floor and ran my fingers along the board that I was pretty sure was the edge of the door. When my fingers finally felt the catch, I dug them in and jerked upward, pulling the door open.
“Holy fuck,” the man named Rumi muttered. “We would’ve never found it.”
I didn’t have time to feel guilty that I’d given away the hiding place for no reason, because the older man was coming forward, his eyes on me.
“Booby-trapped?” he asked calmly.
“What?”
“Is it booby-trapped?”
“I—” I looked down at the hole. “I don’t know. I don’t think so?”
“You live here?”
“Yeah.”
“Then you should know.”
“I didn’t even know they were there,” I said, my voice barely audible. What the heck was going on?
“You just showed us where they were,” he countered.
“I came home yesterday,” I said faintly, gesturing at the hole. My mind was racing. Was it booby-trapped? I lived right on top of it. What if I’d climbed down there the night before? “And someone had been in here. They put wood on the fire.”
“Okay?”
“I noticed that there was a lip in the floor that wasn’t there before.” I looked at him. “So I opened it. I don’t think I was supposed to know they were there.”
“Where were you yesterday?” Otto’s dad asked.
“The doctor.” I looked at Otto and then quickly away.
“No car outside. How’d you get there?”
“My uncle and aunt picked me up.” I crossed my arms over my chest, uncomfortable with the interrogation. He was asking questions so fast that I was having a hard time following.
“Not your parents?”
“No.”
“Why is that?”
“I don’t know.”
“How long you been livin’ here?”
“Fifty-five days,” I replied, making him frown.
“Since the day after Thanksgiving,” Otto murmured, running his hand through his short hair.
“Good guess.” I looked at him in surprise.
“Let me take a look,” one of the younger guys said, pushing his way to the edge of the hole and laying down on his belly at the edge of it. “Can you turn on the lights?”
I opened my mouth, closed it again, my cheeks heating. “There are no lights.”
“What?” the big younger guy asked.
“There’s no lights,” I repeated. “There’s no electricity.”
“You’ve been livin’ here for two months with no electricity… in the middle of winter?” the older guy asked incredulously.
“There’s a fireplace,” I said, gesturing toward it with fake nonchalance. “It keeps things warm in here. Plus, it puts off light at night.”
Otto cursed and spun away, walking toward the small kitchen area.
“It’s really not a big deal,” I said, knowing even as I said it that these men were looking at me like I was a complete freak. “I’ve got everything I need.”
“Well, I still need a goddamn light,” the man lying on the floor growled, his voice vibrating with anger.
“Here,” someone else said, handing him a phone with the flashlight turned on.
It was quiet in the cabin for a few moments.
“We’ve got wires down here,” the man on the floor said grimly. “A fuckin’ spiderweb of ’em.”
“Get her out of here,” Otto’s dad barked, gesturing toward me.
“What?” I stuttered as hands pushed me gently away from the hole in the floor.
“You got anythin’ you need in here?” Otto asked, coming up beside me.
“Everything,” I said faintly, looking around the room.
“Not carryin’ out the couch,” he replied dryly. “Could you be more specific?”
“My suitcase.” It was behind one of the men, and I would’ve gone to get it, but before I could move, Otto had his hand on my shoulder, stopping me from moving any further into the room.
He strode over to it and made sure it was zipped before lifting it carefully off the floor with one hand.
“Come on,” he said, grabbing my coat off the couch. “You can put this on outside.”
I followed him numbly, shoving my boots on by the door as we went. Once we were outside, he helped me into my coat and led me to the passenger seat of the truck.