Chapter 3 - Into the Night
We didn't bother with shoes; we scrambled across the kitchen floor in our socks, our limbs heavy and uncooperative from the lingering effects of the sedative. Noah’s knees buckled under his weight once, and I hauled him up against my shoulder, using every ounce of my remaining strength to drag us toward the back door. The 911 dispatcher had said help was dispatched, but in the dead of night in our semi-rural neighborhood, every second felt stretched into an eternity.
I unlocked the back door, twisted the knob, and shoved the heavy wooden panel outward. The cool night air hit my face like a splash of ice water, clearing the lingering fog from my brain just enough to let survival instincts take total control. We slipped out into the shadows of the backyard, ducking behind the wooden deck stairs just as the garage door began to lift again.
Peeking through the lattice of the deck, I saw Daniel walking back into the kitchen, holding a roll of paper towels and a bottle of heavy-duty cleaner. He stopped, looking down at the exact spot where Noah and I had been lying just seconds before.
His head snapped up. A harsh curse ripped from his throat as he realized the empty space on the floor.
"Sarah?!" he shouted, his calm demeanor instantly shattering into frantic panic. "Noah?!"
He rushed to the back door, scanning the dark yard with wild eyes. We crouched lower, pressing our backs against the cold damp earth beneath the deck, praying the shadows would swallow us whole. My hand clutched the hidden freezer bag in my waistband, making sure it hadn't shifted or leaked. Daniel grabbed a heavy flashlight from the kitchen counter, stepping out onto the back porch and sweeping the brilliant beam of light across the lawn, the grass glowing an eerie, artificial green with each pass.
"I know you're here!" Daniel yelled, his voice losing its controlled veneer, cracking with unhinged desperation. "You can't escape this!"
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I pulled Noah tighter against my chest, whispering reassuring words into his hair while my own heart thudded violently against my ribs. We just needed to hold out for a few more minutes. The police dispatcher had tracked our call; sirens had to be close.
Suddenly, a sharp crunch of gravel echoed from the front driveway, followed by the blinding flash of red and blue emergency lights slicing through the darkness of the trees.
