Chapter Thirty-Two
Wayne Burton dragged Eleanor by her hair. “You’re lucky you’re knocked up, or you’d be fertilizer, you bitch.”
“Wayne, please leave her be,” Belinda West demanded.
“She’s polluting the well.” He struck Eleanor in the gut with his fist.
Eleanor shivered as he dragged her across the compound. The sounds of babies crying, echoing in the night, air grew dimmer. “They won’t like you doing this, Wayne.”
“How dare you taint the minds of the others. They will agree with me after they hear you created a mutiny. Segregation will cure you.”
Her captor slapped her again with the back of his hand. “When will you figure out your job here? You’re a brood mare, not a mother.” Wayne yanked her into a shack on the far side of the compound, tied her hands and feet to a stake, and locked her in.
“It’s cold. They want a healthy baby,” she screamed.
“Too bad. You’re cold, but you’re warm inside.”
She heard him walk away laughing. Eleanor struggled for hours, finally tearing the fine skin on her wrist to free her hand. Unable to reach her other hand, she struggled to free it the same way as the first. Her avulsed wrists burned and bled. She bent her arms and leveraged herself to a sitting position by balancing on her elbows.
Numb fingers worked the knots around her ankles. On unsteady feet, she shivered uncontrollably. She peered through the hole that served as a window. It also let the cold air enter. The compound was dark with the exception of the main cottage. A single light burned in what she knew was the delivery area. She rubbed her distended belly.
“Birdie, I’m going to try.” A flutter vibrated against her palm.
Her breath was coming fast. Bonds broken, she still had to find a way to free herself from the four walls. Wobbling to an area where she felt the wind blow the hardest, she took a piece of the stake that held her and grappled with a wall board to break free.
After what felt like forever, a piece of the wall gave way. “Oh, God,” she whispered as the outside world appeared. She hoped she was near a road or other civilization. Looking up into the sky, she found the North Star. Jason West taught her about astronomy.
Getting her bearings, she began to walk. Forcing one bare foot in front of the other, she moved away from captivity, eventually making it to a dirt road.
Walking north on the road’s grassy edges, she longed to find a place where she could warm up and find some clothing to cover her body that was dressed in tatters. Reaching the point where her legs couldn’t carry her another inch, she fell to her knees and began to crawl.
“Ellie, pretend you’re warm.”
Pain assailed her. “Oh God, not now.” Crawling from a thicket of trees, she saw a dark outline of a shed. The closer she got, she could see the door was ajar. Not a shed, a cabin. Poking her head inside, she saw a few bales of hay.
Out of the wind, she closed herself inside. Her breath caught as the squeak of the hinges sounded so loud. Dragging her body toward the hay, she forced the wires apart to allow the flakes to fall free. Spreading them out, she bit her cheek to avoid crying out from the rhythmic pains. Promising herself she’d rest for a little while, she pulled some flakes of hay free to make a blanket and bed.
Tears poured down her cheeks as the memories continued to attack her.
“Eleanor, you will be damned for all of eternity because of what you did,” Malachi Drake said as he swung the lash against her naked body. She was tied to a pillar in her home’s great room with all the soldiers to see.
That night, help came, and she shivered on the stretcher. Belinda climbed beside her. “You did it. You waited,” Belinda said as her eyes closed.
