Traveler, L.E. DeLano [book series for 12 year olds .TXT] 📗

crunch or jangle or trip me, wincing when I stumble a bit and something clangs softly.

One more house. If I can make the run across, I can get to the first house and then maybe, while they’re searching the other houses, I can run for the road and the rubble pile again, go back the way I came. Maybe I can follow the stream farther down and find someplace where the water is clearer. Why didn’t I do that in the first place? Because I’m stupid, that’s why, I mentally berate myself.

I edge up to the corner on the second house, moving my head by the barest fractions until I can see out. No one is there. I can hear them in the houses now, calling for me, promising me food, shelter, a helping hand. If I didn’t know what Finn taught me, I would believe them. They sound sincere.

I take a deep breath and race across to the first house, half turning so I can obliterate my tracks again, and finally, I am safe up against the back wall. I need to try the door or find a way to get through a window, if I can. Once I’m inside, I might even be able to find a mirror and hopefully some more light. I try the back door, but it’s not only closed but slightly warped and immovable. I start checking the windows and find that the one nearest the road has been broken out. I manage to get my leg over the sill by stepping up on a cinder block lying under the window. I reach inside to brace my hands against the inside of the window frame and pull myself over.

And a pair of hands closes down over mine, pulling me through.

I land on the floor in a heap and scramble up to my knees.

“I’ve got her!” a man cries out loudly. He’s filthy and he smells indescribably bad and in the dim moonlight, I can see the contrast of his gleaming teeth against the darkness. He’s grinning at me like I’m a five-course dinner.

38

Caught

“Don’t worry, honey,” the man tells me. “I’ll make you a deal before the rest of them get here—if you’re nice enough to me. My name’s Vince.”

I get slowly to my feet and start backing toward the window. He steps in closer. “Won’t do you no good to run,” he says. “They’ll be on you before you get far.”

He folds his arms, straining to see me in the dim light.

“You’re a real treat.” I see his teeth again. “And I’m getting really tired of Josh. He’s pushy. If you’re nice enough to me and Bobby, we’ll probably get tired of Josh before we get tired of you.” He smiles again. “You think about that while we wait.”

I am shaking all over, fighting not to pass out because I’m hyperventilating so badly. I’m going to have to dive through the window and hope I can outrun them. I’m still in my glitter-Jessa body, though. I may not be as malnourished, but I don’t know how fast I can run. It’s the only hope I have, and I have to go now, before the others get any closer. I don’t know if I can make it, but I know I’m not going down without one hell of a fight.

I start to turn, but Vince second-guesses me, yanking me hard by the hair. I let out a scream as my head is twisted, hard, and he pulls me up against him. He grins in my face—like he’s glad I’m fighting him. His breath is foul, and I feel like I’m going to vomit. How long do I have before the rest of them are here? Minutes? Seconds?

I do the only thing I can think of to do. I twist in his arms, then I cup my fist in my hand and I use the added force of it to push my elbow back into him as hard as I possibly can, just like Finn taught me.

He doubles over and the air comes out of him in a whoosh. His grip on my hair is momentarily loosened as my knee connects solidly with his head and I yank myself free, ripping some of my hair out as I go.

I try to run for the window again as I hear the door bang open behind me, but it’s too late. Vince grabs my arm, swinging me down, and I hit the floor, hard. I roll to my knees, expecting him to come at me again, but my mind registers that I’m watching him struggle with someone else in the shadows, possibly the hated Josh. Maybe he overheard the plan and is eliminating his enemy first. Now is my chance. I have to get out of here.

They crash into the closet door and I am diving for the window, hitting the ledge painfully with my chest and scrambling to pull myself through. Two strong hands grab my hips, pulling me back in, but I’m fighting with all my might, kicking hard.

“Jessa!” comes a whisper, urgent and then repeated until I realize who it is.

Finn pulls me back against him, hugging me fiercely. “Come on! We only have a minute before they’re all here.” He leads me to step over Vince’s body—I don’t know if he’s knocked out or dead, and I don’t really want to know.

“We could run for it,” I pant.

“We’ll never make it,” he says. “They’re expecting that.” He pulls me along, up the stairs and into a bedroom. Here, the windows face a mirror over the dresser, and there are no curtains to obscure the thin light of the moon. But is it enough? The mirror has a large crack down the center, and I can still barely see myself.

“I tried this in the other house,” I tell him, gasping for air. “It didn’t work. I couldn’t—”

Downstairs a door flies open, and I can hear them pounding up the steps.

“Get your hand on the