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"They say head wounds bleed a lotthis forherto get out of here, Kara; I promise"

"Okay," she says I can see how scared she is when she doesn’t look atthe wall for balance, I e double doors Once there, I cliainst the doors They don’t budge an inch not that I’ at the botto to come up with a plan

"What if we both try?" Kara asks I liftin front of

"We can try" I scoot over, give her rooet up the stairs with ainst the doors, counting and pushing to no avail

"It’s not working," Kara says, h; the stress of the et out of here," I say, praying I’ht

"They took pictures of us"

"What?" I ask, looking over at her

"When they finally brought me down here," she looks over at me, "they took pictures of us"

"Why?"

"I think they’re going to use theet to Tim"

"We need to find a way out of here," I tell her, and this time e"

"If we can’t get out, then we need to find a way to protect ourselves against the in here"

"We can break the old shelves up and use the pieces as a weapon"

"They have guns"

"I know, but either we try to fight, or ait for theives e belly "Are you okay?"

"Yes, just so that ht now "I’real contractions, you need to tell ht to try and pull it apart It doesn’t budge, so I kick it a few ti," I state the obvious, watching the light flicker and start to di that ill have enough battery e really need it "I never even thought about turning the laht of it either"

"You wouldn’t happen to have started s her laugh

"No, sorry"

"Figures" We sit there in the dark,over hundreds of scenarios I can’t believe that yesterday I spent the day driving back ho the cabin, we drove to November and Asher’s and picked up Lolly; she was so happy to see us and we ot her, ent ho ho Trevor getting ready for work thisI wanted so badly to cuddle into him and hide away from the world for a few more days Noish I would have spent a fewhim how , he is going to freak the hell out I’ainst the hen I hear what sounds like a car I stand when I know it’s getting closer

"Is that a car?" Kara asks, turning on the lamp I can see the terror in her eyes

"Kara, I want you to go into the corner, tuck yourself into a ball, and turn off the la to do?"

"I have no idea Just, please, listen to me Get in the corner and tuck yourself into a ball" Once I see that she is tucked away and turns off the light, I follow the wall to the opening of the stairs Listening, I can hear the vehicle stop, then the sound of chain againstI see the bea down the stairs My heart starts pounding so hard that I hear it infor when the person is at the bottom of the stairs, and then I wait patiently for theht; there are two of them and one ofwoht shines around the roo in ht in my eyes

"Liz?" I know that voice I don’t knohere from, but I know that voice

"What do you want?" I ask, shielding ht

"I’ who it is "Do you ht ihere? I mean, how did you find us?" I look overup in the corner

"Ti"

"It has slowed down," I say, touching the back offor a while now" He takes a step toward Kara, and I autoonna help her off the floor"

"No, I’d rather you not"

"You don’t want my help?"

"I never said that I just need to uy"

"Ms Hayes--"

"Mayson"

"What?"

"Mrs Mayson…I got married"

"Jesus, you’re nuts" He shakes his head, laughing "As I was saying, Mrs Mayson, I’uys, but I’m here to help you"

"Why?"

"Your brother gave ain"

"No, Mrs Mayson, you’re safe Now, if you’re done, I would like to help Kara off the floor That can’t be good for her or the baby"

"How do you know Kara?"