บท 108: One hundred and eight: Running

I ran from Iain, before I collapsed inside the garden in part of what had been the field. I crawled under a bush to a tiny plot of earth between other plants that blocked me from other people's passing sight. It looked like a good place for me to start trying to grow my own secret garden. Hugging my knees, I sobbed silently to myself. He didn't love me. He didn't love me. The sun set and still I stayed huddled in my secret place amongst my plants.

"We can't find her anywhere," Robert's voice said. "We've looked everywhere. You don't think she could have escaped, do you?"

"I doubt it," said Kiran's tired voice. "She's probably scared and hiding. I lost my temper with her. Let her come home when she's ready. Tell her I'm sorry when you find her. I have to go out to Posy tomorrow to check on the things she warned me about. Set up a computer for her tomorrow in a secluded space. No internet connection. No access to our network. It has to be thoroughly isolated. Get the geeks to put information on it about the latest coding languages and stuff. We may need her whether they trust her or not, and so we may as well let her get up to date. I know she just wanted the war to end and she'll probably do anything to keep it from starting again. Life was hard enough for her during the war. I don't want her to have to go through all that again. Until we've made thorough checks everywhere, she's not to leave the Compound again."

"Why are you certain she hasn't escaped?"

"Because the Compound is the safest place for her to be. She wouldn't leave. There are people out there wanting to kidnap or kill her for their own ends and she knows it. Come on."

Their footsteps faded away and I let out a breath I hadn't realised I had been holding. I sat there in the dirt, listening to the night time sounds, not wanting to come out and ever face the world again.

Then there were quiet, muffled footsteps that bypassed my hiding place and headed toward the graves. I peered through the leaves at the dark figure, where a device buried by a gravestone was unearthed. Wires were pulled out from a waterproof casing. There was a grunt and a faint blue glow from a device. When and how had anyone ever got those wires in there? When the headstone was put in? That would have been the best opportunity. I heard the faint sound of typing.

After a moment, the man disconnected, reburied the wires and crept away again. He walked with a slight hip drop and a droopy foot.

Making sure he was long gone, I went to examine the gravestone. Looking at the pattern and arrangement of the gravestones, I tried to recall who was buried here. It was too dark to read the headstone and even with my fingers tracing the engravings, I couldn't work out what the words were.

"Who's there?" a light shone in my face. "My lady? What are you doing here? Kiran's been looking for you everywhere. Come on."

I blinked at the man, trying to recall who he was and his history. He must be one of the newer Bosky soldiers that I didn't know. He took me by the wrist and pulled me along. His foot dragged and one of his hips dropped when he took a step.

Was he the same man from just now? My gathering certainty turned into action when he didn't bring me back toward my apartment or Kiran's office, but toward one of the older areas of the Compound that hadn't been renovated. Twisting my wrist from his grip and jerking downward, I turned to run. Fingers grasped the ends of my hair, making me squeal at the burning pain when the hairs were ripped out of my scalp.

I was good at running. I could out run him. He wouldn't catch me.

I hoped.

Turning my stumble into a sprint, I leapt away from his reach, hearing him swear under his breath and chase after me. At one point, he managed to tackle me down and we fought. Flipping me over, he grabbed one of my breasts, squeezing hard and his other hand drew up my dress until the bare skin was exposed. He drew a symbol on my abdomen that made me jerk and shudder uncontrollably beneath him as if all my muscles had just suddenly gone berserk.

What had he just done?

When I drew a breath to scream for help, he slapped me across the face. I choked on my saliva while he sat on my legs, tore my skirt off my dress and then stuffed it as deep as he could into my mouth. My arms were pinned down above my head and another symbol was drawn on my abdomen.

Now, I couldn't move. I could only stare, screaming through the gag and feel him drag his fingers over me. His eyes gleamed with fiendish glee, as if he had a special secret to tell me. A finger went where it shouldn't go and my body drew it in to his amusement. Then he drew another symbol and suddenly, as if I'd been holding my breath, I could move again.

Bucking, I twisted and kicked him in the balls, scrambling back up and into a run. He hadn't been expecting that, had he? His footsteps staggered behind me and I heard him moaning and muttering curses under his breath.