Total pages in book: 70
Estimated words: 68509 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 343(@200wpm)___ 274(@250wpm)___ 228(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 68509 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 343(@200wpm)___ 274(@250wpm)___ 228(@300wpm)
“Oh, okay,” she said, letting me help her to her feet as she let out several curses as her body cracked and objected to the tight sleeping conditions.
We got our packs then I moved forward ahead of her, making her grab the back of my shirt so I knew where she was as we stumbled through the dark.
“God, it’s hot,” she said as we walked further down the tunnel, bodies hunched down thanks to the low ceilings. My legs were burning. But if she wasn’t complaining, neither was I.
We met a fork and went a few yards down a dead end before circling back and choosing the other direction.
The more we walked, the heavier and hotter the air got.
Then, finally, a hint of sunlight.
Behind me, Violet gasped.
I turned, pressing a finger to my lips.
We didn’t know where we were coming out. Or where our pursuers were. We had to be careful.
But we kept moving and, finally, we came to a small hole in a wall, the greenery from outside creeping inward slightly.
We were going to have to crawl through once again.
It wasn’t ideal. If someone was on the other side, slipping back in would be hard, if not impossible.
“Let me go first,” I whispered before lowering myself down and carefully making my way through.
The area outside was unfamiliar. I couldn’t even hear the waterfall anymore. But, after a quick walk around, I decided there was no one around and went back to call Violet through.
She crawled out, looked around, got to her feet, and then threw herself into my arms.
Caught up in the moment, I wrapped my arms around her and swung her in a quick circle before pressing my lips to hers.
“But now, where are we?” she asked, glancing around again. “And what time of day is it even? Do you… oh! Look at your hands.”
“They’re fine,” I insisted.
“They’re all ripped up.”
“The rocks did some falling on them.”
“But we need to treat them.”
“I think we should get moving,” I said, shaking my head. “Like you said, we have no idea what time of day it is. We need to cover as much ground as possible.”
I could tell she wanted to object, but we both knew time was of the essence.
So we started walking.
Vi pulled out the bag of açai and we each munched on the fruit as we walked.
My best guess we started walking sometime around eleven in the morning.
And the sun was just about to set when we heard it somewhere off in the distance.
A car horn.
“Am I hearing things? Is this wishful… hearing?” Vi asked. Her eyes were round, her cheeks flushed with excitement.
“I don’t think we could both have wishful hearing,” I said.
Suddenly, we weren’t walking at a steady pace anymore. We were running, tearing through the woods that had been thinning for a while, but I hadn’t wanted to get my hopes up too high.
“Oh my God. Oh my God,” Vi cried as we broke out of the tree line to find an open, rolling field. With a single lane road.
A road.
Thank God.
“We did it,” Violet said, her smile so wide her eyes crinkled.
“We did,” I said, throwing an arm around her. “But we’re not done yet.”
“I could walk all night now that I know we’re heading in the right direction.”
“Good. Because we might have to,” I said, pressing a kiss to the side of her head. “But until night falls, I think we should try to walk inside the trees as much as possible.”
She grumbled at that, but we both knew why it was necessary, so we moved back to the edge of the rainforest as we walked, our pace faster, motivated by the idea of showers, food, a comfortable bed, a lack of people actively trying to gun us down.
“Shouldn’t we be getting to a town soon?” Vi asked as we walked out of the trees as the sun set and gave us some privacy.
“Eventually, I’m sure.”
“You’re sure we’re heading the right way?”
“West,” I confirmed. “If we go west enough, we will hit the shore. We’ll get there. If you want, we can stop to sleep—”
I trailed off as headlights came in our direction, making my stomach drop as I grabbed Vi’s hand before we both made a beeline for the trees.
The headlights drew closer then, suddenly stopped moving as the car parked at the side of the road.
Like it was… waiting.
“What the hell is he doing?” Violet asked, fingers crushing mine.
As if hearing her, the driver’s door opened and a figure moved out in front of the Jeep, gaze seeming to look right at us.
“No effing way,” Vi gasped, confirming what I thought I was seeing with my own two eyes.
Marco.
Our guide.
With our Jeep.
Waiting for us.
We moved out in unison. It was a slow, careful walk at first. Then a full-on run as we made our way toward him.