Chapter 49 HEADSTART
“I'll give you thirty minutes, even longer if I can and then I'll run out there and tell them you're gone. Put as much time between us and yourselves as possible," Amelia says. "Take care. I hope for a safe journey for all of you."
Then she steps up to me and very quickly gives me hug and then releases me. "It's been nice knowing you, Grace.
Tell Doreen I miss her and I'm glad she made it." She looks towards the door then back to us. "Now go. There is no time to spare."
I don't need any more warning to that. I am more than eager to get out of here. I am the last one through the door and I stop just a moment to glance back at Amelia. I see then that the goodbye has been harder for her than she let us see. Tears are pooled in her eyes.
"Take care of yourself, Amelia. Thank you for your help. None of this would be possible without you."
She laughs a little through stray tears. "I don't know what you're talking about. I'm still ratting you guys out." Because you have to, I want to say. But I don't. She already knows.
With one last smile I say goodbye to her and rush out the door after Dylan and Elsa. I can't get out of here fast enough. I just hate what I am leaving behind in the process.
"I checked and there is no guard stationed here. We need to make our way over the wall and run the direction I told you. Once we're in the clear we shift and Elsa can ride on my back," Dylan says.
I look at the large block, concrete wall. "How are we going to get to the other side? There is nothing to climb."
Dylan closes the distance between him and the wall and starts to pull blocks away from the wall that were broken apart from the concrete.
"I've been working on this for a while. I only made it half way when I had to come find you." He looks toward the top. There are some chipped places further up. Put your foot in them and try to gain some traction." I nod.
"You go ahead," he says. "I'll stay back with Elsa until you reach the top. She can climb onto my back when it's my turn. I'll get us there."
He has way more experience in this place than I do. I have to trust he knows what he is doing. He'll get us out of here. I believe that.
Half way up the wall is simple enough. But the further up I go, the harder it gets to hang on. The wall is no easy feat. My hands slip a few times and I scrap my legs along the rough sides of the blocks. They sting, but I can't let that stop me.
I am aware the slower I go the longer it will take so I force myself to go faster even if it pains me. At one point I am even scared I am going to fall, but thankfully I steady myself and continue the climb.
By the time I reach the top of the wall, I am exhausted and sore. As I look down over the other side my breath falters. We have made it up the wall, but how will we get down? The wall is nearly two stories. We can't rightly jump. We can get ourselves killed and all of this would have been for nothing.
Dylan reaches the top in half the time it has taken me and he is visibly unscathed. He definitely has much more experience than me.
I glance over the trees in the direction of the ceremony, but I can't see anything, I only hear the low music still playing. They haven't been notified I am gone yet.
Good.
We still have time. I send out another silent thank you to Amelia and turn back toward the other side of the wall. Elsa is next to me now, legs dangling over the side. I can sense she is scared out of her wits. Who won't be, dangling off the edge of a two story wall?
I reach over and wrap my arm around her. Dylan is just on the other side of her."How do we get down?" I ask him.
"We jump."
My eyes widen. "We'll never survive it."
He looks down. "I've done this before. I'm gonna go first then you and Elsa jump. I'll catch you down below."
For the first time since meeting Dylan I am starting to question his sanity. "Are you insane?"
"You just need to trust me. We don't have time to argue about this. As long as I don't land on my head, I'll be fine. When I give the word you jump."
He doesn't wait for my compliance. He is right, we have no time.
He jumps off the wall feet first with his legs bent slightly under him. He hits the grown with a thump and then rolls forward on his shoulder before coming to stop on his heels. I gape at him. Where on earth did he learn those things? Was he climbing and leaping off walls as a child?
"Send Elsa down," he calls.
I am worried for a moment that someone might have heard him, but we are too far away for that. The closest guard is not even in sight.
Elsa shakes under my arm. I hear her whimper. It makes me feel guilty. I told her I would keep her safe and to send her off the wall feels like the complete opposite of that. I have no idea what she thinks of me now.
"Elsa," I say gently. "Dylan is just at the bottom. If you look you can see him. He'll catch you when you Jump."
She whimpers again and snuggles deeper to my side. "I...I don't think I can do it."
"You can. I believe in you. I know it seems scary, but trust Dylan. He'll catch you." I look down at him with his arms outstretched ready for her.
She shakes her head panicked. "No. I can't."
This is not good. We are gonna get caught before we even make it to the other side. I call down to Dylan, trying not to let my panic show. "She won't go. We'll have to jump together. Can you catch us both?"
He pauses for a beat and then says, “I can do it. But you need to jump now!"
I take in a deep breath and shake away my fear of falling. I understand Dylan's sense of urgency and I have to push all of that aside. Elsa is depending on me now. I have to save her.
The wall is thick at least a couple of feet in width so standing up is not a problem. However, holding Elsa falling off the side back first, that is going to be the issue. I have to do it though.
I am glad when Elsa let me pick her up and hold her in my arms. She seems to relax there. "I've got you,” I whisper in her ear. "Don't be afraid now. Just close your eyes, alright?" She nods and does exactly as I say.
I waddle closer to the edge then. It would make falling much easier now since Elsa isn't staring at me with those big blue eyes in worry.
I breath in deep. I want more than anything to mentally prepare myself for what I am about to do, but I don't have that luxury. I have to act now and think later and hope everything will turn out okay. What other choice do I have in the matter?
Sometimes you just have to take risks. "Go!" Dylan shouts. "You have to do it now."
And so I do. I step off the side, twisting my body mid air letting myself fall, watching the sky move further away from me. It feels like my heart has completely stopped while being airborne. And it doesn't fully pick back up in pace until I land at the bottom of the wall with a pair of strong arms wrapped around me.
I look down at Elsa who still has her eyes shut and refuses to move. I wonder how much more this journey is going to mess her up than her life at Grog's pack? Guilt sweeps over me. And so does nausea. I have to fight the urge not to puke and hope my baby is okay.
When Dylan finally sets me down on the ground again I am breathing better and steadier. Elsa then opens her eyes, but very slowly.
"We made it," I tell her, sitting her down. "You're okay."
She wobbles a little on her feet at first then when I am sure she will be fine I release her and see that she has her balance.
"Trust me now?" Dylan asks. There is a bit of a smile tugging at his lips when he says it. I have to fight back a smile of my own.
"I wouldn't have done that if I didn't already trust you."
"Come on," he says, reaching down to hoist Elsa on his back again. "We have to get going. They'll be on us in no time."
I follow after him, running into the thick, dark woods. With the trees crowded over us, the sun is no longer visible making it seem more like late afternoon than mid day.
All three of us run for what seems like miles. I can't really be sure. We are fighting tree branches along the way and I can barely see three feet in front of me. If it wasn't for Dylan I'd have gotten lost a long time ago.
Elsa clings tightly onto his back, never releasing him once.
I am still ignoring the burning on my legs from my scrapes when we finally reach a river. The stream is fifteen or so feet across flowing densely downward and over large boulder size rocks. I know that the only choice we have is to walk through it. At least the raging water is more on the calmer side of things today.
Dylan sits Elsa on the ground next to him.
"I'll cross first," he offers. "You two wait here until I fix a stick to help you across."
He doesn't wait for a response. There is still no time for arguing. I just hope he'll be careful. It takes him all of ten minutes to cross with no help, but I know it would take longer for me and Elsa. He stops on the river bank for a moment to steady himself then he makes his way over to a tree, pulls off a thick, heavy branch with no effort and makes his way back across the river to us.
He grabs Elsa first and walks her across, then me. We are all soaked and tired by the time we are safely across. All that running has exhausted me. I know we can't stop yet.
Again we run and run. After another hour I see Dylan struggling to keep his speed with Elsa on his back. He continues on for another half hour and then has to stop and rest, sitting Elsa down beside him.
I toss the bags I have been carrying to the ground at Dylan's feet and he looks at me and nods in agreement. I am offering to carry Elsa for a while now while he takes charge of the bags.
"There is a big gathering of rocks just up ahead another mile. We'll stop there and rest up for the night. It's starting to get dark now and Grog won't want to be caught out in the woods at night unprepared. We'll be safe for now. If they've returned to the pack grounds for the night, we'll have a head start on them in the morning before they set out again. He'll be more prepared then."
I don't like the sound of that, but I nod anyway. It sounds as if tomorrow we'll have more to worry about than today. I can't even imagine what Grog would do to us if he found us. We'd be dead or worse, tortured.
When resting is over, Elsa crawls up on my back and we start for the rocks that will be our shelter for the night.