Chapter Four
Athundering crashand the shelves shaking against her back woke Delilah.She opened her eyes and found it still dark in her hideout.She lay still, barely breathing, as she waited to see what would happen next.
After several seconds, she wondered if maybe she hadn’t dreamed it.Everything was so still and quiet.Deciding she must have imagined it, she closed her eyes and tried to go back to sleep.She’d almost managed it when the pantry door flew open.It banged against the shelf behind her and started to swing shut again but something stopped it.
Delilah cringed away from the bright light streaming into the room and making her eyes burn.
“You the only one in here?”a rough voice asked.
Delilah blinked, trying to get her eyes to stop watering and focus.
“Are you alone?”The words changed but asked the same thing.
Her brain still foggy from sleep, all she could do was nod.
“Come on.”A hand came from the light, held out toward her.It was how she’d always imagined it had looked when Christ had made his return.
After everything that had happened to her in the months, Delilah wasn’t sure she should believe everything she’d been taught.She’d done what she’d been told.She’d been a good and obedient wife, and still, here she was.She hesitated to take the hand.What if he was going to make her go out there and do what all the other women here were doing?
It wasn’t like she hadn’t had sex before, but she didn’t want to do that.It always hurt, and she hated the idea of baring herself to everyone in the room.The other women hadn’t seemed to mind, but then, the men hadn’t cared if they minded or not.
“Come on, little dove, let me take you to safety.”The fingers on the hand coming from the light curled to beckon her closer.
Delilah stared at him a moment longer, wondering if she was jumping from the frying pan into the fire, took the risk.Slowly, she extended one hand and laid it into his.She didn’t recognize the voice, which meant he wasn’t part of this group.She had been here several months and was still shocked she hadn’t been forced out into the main room with the rest of the women.She also suspected that would happen eventually.She was willing to do almost anything to keep it from happening.Even go with a stranger who might be worse than the men she wanted to avoid.
The warm hand closed around hers and tugged her to her feet.
“Stay on my six.I’ll get you out of here,” he said, turning his back to her and drawing her hand to his belt somewhere behind his back.She took hold of the belt and let him lead her through the darkness, his light dancing in front of him but she couldn’t see much with it.
“I’ve got one.I’m headed back to the rendezvous point,” the voice that had called her from the pantry said.It was clear he wasn’t talking to her, so she stayed quiet, focusing on not tripping as she made her way behind him.Her stomach churned, her fingers and toes tingled, but Delilah had felt it before.She did what she always did, pushed it out of her mind and kept going.Someday she might have to deal with it, she knew, but that wasn’t today.Today she was going to survive.
She refused to worry if surviving was the wrong choice.
