“Josh? Lexi’s Josh?”
I grimace. “Eww, don’t call him that,” I say in disgust. “Crap, I should probably find him. We were supposed to meet up here after we separated to find Lexi.”
Lochlan goes eerily quiet, refusing to meet my eyes.
“What is it?” My lungs struggle with each breath as I wait for whatever hammer to drop.
“He uh. He did come back,” Lochlan mumbles. My brows furrow in confusion before he continues. “I thought it was the Axeman coming back to finish the job after Lex pushed me, so I pretended to stay deada little longer.” He stretches his arms above his head and winces. “But it was Josh. I was going to shout out to him, but something about his demeanor stopped me. He walked over to you, rummaged through your bag, then took off again.”
What? What was he looking for?
The map.
“He must be the one Rebecca warned me about,” I gasp, pointing to the note written on the map. Josh must have woken up with his own little note from Pierce, too. “We have to get there before he does.”
Lochlan smirks before turning his attention back to the map. “He’ll have a joy of a time catching up. He’s going in the wrong direction. Plus,” he says, his fingers tap the small house in the center of everything. “I know where this is. It’s not far from here, I don’t think. We woke up there before being chased by an axe-wielding lunatic. We can hit the bunker first since it’s on the way. Grab weapons and supplies.”
Hope ignites inside me.
That’s where I’ll find my daughter.
“Okay,” I finally say. “Let’s get to the bunker and arm up. After that, we have to find that cabin.”
We make our way through the forest in silence for a while before Lochlan speaks. “What’s so important about the cabin?”
I look over at Lochlan’s kind face again as we walk side by side. I don’t know what I’m searching for, but again, something inside urges me to trust him. It’s nothing like the feeling I got when I thought about trusting Josh with this information. Now I know why.
Josh is the person hunting for her. She must be his ticket out of here.
“My daughter,” I confess. “She’s what’s waiting in that cabin. And I’ll kill whoever I have to with my bare hands to get her back.”
Lochlan lets out a low whistle. “And I thought Lexi was cut-throat. She’s got nothing on you, mama bear.” He bumps my shoulder with his own, earning a small smile. “Now let’s go get our girls back. All of them.”
Chapter twenty-nine
We make it to the hidden bunker in record time, then stuff our faces with food and water. We shove all the extra supplies we can into my duffel bag and the backpack Lochlan found in the weapons room.
Both of us are armed to the teeth with knives. Lochlan carries the axe, while I feel more confident with the bow and arrows. I never thought I’d be thankful for that mandated archery course we were forced to take in my high school gym class.
“Need a hand there, lass? This bow looks bigger than you,” Lochlan teases, flipping my bow in his hands as he watches me struggle with the quiver of arrows around my shoulders.
“Shut up.” I roll my eyes, tightening the strap before grabbing the bow from him. “I just really hope I’m still as decent a shot as I was a decade ago. Now let’s get this show on the road. Everyone is counting on us.”
Lochlan tightens the straps of his backpack, and we both head out. I follow behind him, lost in my own thoughts as he leads us to the cabin.
What if I’m too late?
What if my daughter wants nothing to do with me?
How do I introduce myself to someone who might not know I exist?
How do I convince her to trust me?
All these fears and unanswerable questions plague my mind, nearly crippling me, but I won’t give up. I will save my child along with everyone else who has been forced to participate in these horrors under the controlling thumb of Pierce.
I wonder what he offered Josh to make him turn on me, if he’s actually done so. Part of me is hoping that Josh saw me lying there and ran to get help. The more rational side of me knows it’s a fool’s wish. Josh and I aren’t exactly besties, but I know in my heart that he cares for both Teagan and Lexi. Pierce must have offered him the world to get him to turn his back on their best friend. There’s no way they'd forgive him after this if what I suspect is true.
“So…what’s your daughter like?” Lochlan asks. “Lee never said anything about her during our romantically bloody stroll through these woods,” he adds with a wink.
