Chapter 39

The kiss was ended as quickly as it was begun. Anna’s father burst in the room. “Adam and his men are hunting around outside for the entrance. I spread the deer sign around as you said to try and throw them off, but I don’t think it is working. They know we are here. “. He said in an out of breath whisper. He clearly had just come back inside from scouting. Lyle had pushed away from Amaris and was now holding just her arms. “Okay get the stretcher ready and tell them to be ready to move.” Anna’s father turned and left. Lyle walked to the corner of his room and pushed on a section of wall. A large hidden door popped open to reveal a hidden space. Inside were two large backpacks. “I wanted to be ready in case you and I needed to escape quickly. I knew there would be people that would want you for their own purposes. These packs have food, water, a change of clothes, and first aid kits. I don’t have packs ready for the rest of them but we can see what we can find down here for them. Further in the tunnels there are no supplies. Lyle went into the kitchen area, and opened the cabinets and pulled the contents out and put it in the bags. Amaris noticed that most of them were MREs. “Is there somewhere else that we can hide that is safe? Doesn’t Adam know all of these tunnels also?” Amaris asked as she followed Lyle out of the room and down the hall back toward where they came from. Lyle continued toward the room where Gran was with Anna and her parents. He looked back over her shoulder at her saying “Not these. I had these built by an outside contractor to keep them as safe as possible. Luckily for me I did it when he was away with many of the highest ranking warriors in our pack, or they would know exactly where we are right now. As it is he knows the general location, and probably has an idea that there are tunnels out here that I did not tell him about. The contractor just thought that I was some crazy prepper readying for the zombie apocalypse.” Lyle chuckled as they turned into the room where the rest of the group were waiting. Anna’s parents had gotten Gran onto a stretcher and they looked ready to go. Lyle handed over the backpacks that he had started filling and gave instructions to Anna and her mother to finish filling them with anything that they made need for a camping trip. The two of them walked around the room taking what they needed and then Anna’s mom walked out into the hall and to the room across the way. When she came back her backpack was full and zipped and she handed a few items to Anna who filled her pack and then zipped it also.

“We are going to follow the tunnels out and down to the river. Have any of you Kayaked before?” Lyle asked the group. Anna’s parents nodded but Anna and Amaris looked at each other and then said “No”. “Okay then, each of you will take a double kayak with one of us. Stay together and follow my lead. There are traps along the way for intruders so stay close.”

Lyle grabbed the front end of the stretcher and Anna’s father the back and they went out the door. The three women followed close behind with Anna’s mother at the rear to keep guard. they started out down the tunnel and turned down past Lyle’s room and continued on. They were not running but they were walking at a fast pace. They walked for what seemed hours. Amaris did not think that the river was that far away, but with all the twists and turns, it was no wonder it was taking forever to get there. Amaris who used to love athletics was finding that even though she was in good shape the strain of the last few days was starting to wear on her and she was slowing down a bit. Anna had taken her hand noticing this and helped pull her along to keep pace.

At last Lyle stopped and motioned silently for Anna’s father to put the stretcher down. The men walked to the ladder on the wall and Lyle climbed up and opened the hatch slowly. He popped his head up cautiously and took a look around. There was no one in the woods around them and he could not hear anything in the vicinity. “I am going to go up and check it out in my wolf form I will be back in a minute.” Lyle hopped up and out of the hatch. He closed it and then changed. Amaris and Anna were still holding hands back in the tunnel. Everyone stood quietly and listened hard. They heard nothing. Suddenly a low moan broke the silence and they all jumped. Gran was coming around. Amaris and Anna’s mother knelt down on either side of Gran. She was still not coherent, but she was conscious. She was talking now, but not making any sense yet. “The bond is not complete. The bond is not complete.” She kept repeating. No one knew what it meant and thought that she was just delirious.

The hatch opened again and Lyle climbed down. “The coast is clear for now. We need to be very quiet. I can hear them off in the distance, but if we move quickly and quietly we can get away. I will grab Gran and bring her out. Ben you climb out after me and Emily and Anna if you can hand the stretcher up to Ben then we will get Gran back in it and keep moving. Amaris you come up next and then Anna and Emily. The Kayaks are just down the bank and I have them set up and ready to go. I will take Gran with me and each of you girls go with Ben and Emily. The stretcher can come apart and fit in with Amaris since she is the smallest.” Lyle then reached down and hoisted Gran up in a fireman’s lift over his shoulder and climbed up the ladder like Gran was just another backpack. Amaris saw this and was impressed, in fact she thought it was rather sexy that he could carry Gran up and out without much effort. He must be even stronger than he looked.

Once they were all out of the tunnel, Lyle and Anna’s Dad had Gran in the stretcher and were ready to go. Anna’s mom closed the hatch behind her and recovered it with leaves and tree branches so that if they needed to use it again it was still unknown to everyone else. They went single file down the river bank to the kayaks. Lyle and Anna’s father got Gran into the front of Lyle’s kayak and strapped her in. They then broke down the stretcher and fit it down the side inside the front of the kayak that Amaris would be riding in. Anna’s father took that one set it out in the shallow water and motioned for Amaris to get in. He pushed it further out into the water before adding his weight. Anna and her mother did the same. All of them pushed out into the river and set off downstream.