The Forsaken (The Chosen Series Book 2), Patricia Bell [e textbook reader .txt] 📗

directly to the door that led to the dungeon. Opening it, he walked inside the room. In complete darkness, he couldn’t see a thing, but his mind visualized the eerie details, and he shivered. Swiftly, he strode to the door that led outside and sighed with relief when it opened.

With his map in one hand and a flashlight in the other, Daniel walked out into the arid night air. His pulse raced. An adrenaline rush overtook him as he thought about what he was about to do. Depart from the confines he’d never left before. With an unusual pep in his step, he headed down the dirt road around the mountain that led into the community.

He made great time and was pleased to find out that it wasn’t as far away as he’d always thought. But as he got closer, he stared in stunned silence at the sight before him. The houses were dark and plain. Unlike his own property, there were no toys in the yards, no bikes or playthings strewn about. No bright lights in the homes or cars parked in their driveways.

Where is everybody?

The place was like a ghost town. Quiet and strange.

At the back of a house stood a tall wooden box looking thing, too small for a shed or a room and yet it had a door.

What is this?

Even before he was able to fully open the door, a stench bit at his nostrils. Inside was a toilet seat. He closed the door quickly and threw a hand to his face.

What in the— An outhouse? Was this how his people lived?

Daniel walked in a daze to the center of the community and the building he was looking for. The Storage building. The tall double doors were unlocked, and no one seemed to be around, so he went inside. The place was stocked to the ceiling with all kinds of items. Rows and rows of canned goods, boxes of blankets, shelves of baskets, stacks of rugs. But where were the clothes that the community wore?

At the sound of voices, Daniel ducked behind a box of rugs.

“Get these supplies loaded. I am ready to go home and rest for the night,” the distinct voice of a man said.

Daniel leaned up just enough to get a look at who was speaking. He was a tall man with short brown hair tucked beneath a straw hat and sported the same basic attire he’d seen the elders and the few other’s wear. Standard Chosen attire. He crooked his head around the box but still could not see who the man was speaking to.

“I am almost finished. Only a moment more.”

Daniel recognized the voice. It was Malachi. How could he get so lucky? Now if he could just get him alone, he could speak to him.

Daniel watched and waited for an opportunity as the two men carried bundles of blankets out the double doors in the back to the awaiting truck.

Once they were out of sight, Daniel jumped up and glanced around the room, searching for something to wear that didn’t make him stand out like a sore thumb.

“Who are you?” a voice spoke from behind.

Daniel turned abruptly and was met eye to eye with Malachi.

Malachi stared at him in surprise. Did he know who he was?

“Are you—”

“Who are you talking to, Malachi?”

Daniel got sight of the man coming back through the door and ducked back down behind the box. He prayed that Malachi wouldn’t give him away.

“No one.” Malachi gave him one more glance. “Are we finished? Morning comes much too early.”

Daniel sighed a breath of relief. He stayed behind the box and waited for the two men to finish loading the truck. What would Malachi do when they were done? The man scared him but he was exactly the man he'd come to see.

A short time later, the two men exchanged goodbyes, the building was closed and locked, and Daniel was trapped inside. He stood and glanced around. There were no windows and only two sets of doors. One single door at the front and the double doors he came in through the back. Malachi would come back. He had to. He wouldn’t allow the son of the High Prophet to be locked in a storage building all night.

He searched through boxes and shelves, and still, he could not find the clothes he was looking for. There was no way he could go out into the community looking as he did. His red robe and long hair would make him easily recognizable.

“What are you looking for?”

Chapter 14 ― Rachel

As Rachel tossed and turned in her bed, a tear fell down her cheek. And it had nothing to do with the nightmares that plagued her.

With the verses her doctor had written down for her and the help of Shelly, she’d read each one. It was strange that those same verses, the ones about God’s forgiveness and love, had never been mentioned by the elders at their sacrament service.

The one that hit her the most was in John. It told her that God did not wish for her to go to hell. That He wanted only the best for her.

Even though she’d believed the preacher when he’d said there was no unpardonable sin, sometimes the old words crept back on her, and she’d allow herself to fall into a deep depression. The confirmation Dr. Paine had given her, took a serious weight from her chest. But nothing would ease her suffering completely until she gave birth to a child without horns, a tail, and red glowing eyes.

But that morning, her pain was something entirely different. It was physical, not emotional. Her body was so big that she could hardly move. She was about to have a baby, so of course, that was to be expected. But the roaring headaches that came and went along with the rapid pulse of her heart scared her beyond measure. As she lay in bed, she wondered if maybe Shelly and Dr.