Kneeling, she rested her fingers on the ground as she glanced around. She braced herself for something to come bursting out of the woods toward them, but nothing stirred. Jack tugged the rifle from his back and gripped it against his chest as he knelt beside her.
“It’s an alarm,” she whispered.
“For what?” Jack asked.
“I don’t know. I’ve never heard an alarm on the island before. Did they sound one when you broke out?”
“No,” Jack said.
Charlie tilted her head to the side as she listened. “It’s coming from the area of the boats.”
Jack’s heart lurched. “Mike and Doug. I know it’s at least one of them and they’re getting out of here.”
Before she could reply, he clasped her hand and stood. She rose beside him. “It might not be them.”
“It is,” he insisted. “Where’s the boat ramp?”
Getting any closer to that alarm was a bad idea, as it would draw the Savages, but the look in Jack’s eyes stopped her protests. He was determined to get to the boat ramp, and she couldn’t let him go alone.
“This way,” she whispered and led him through the trees. They moved through the forest until she stopped at the edge of the trees. “There it is.”
“Where?” Jack asked in confusion. “All I see is more cliffs and sea.”
Charlie pointed across the open expanse of land. “There’s a stairwell carved into the side of the cliffs. The boat ramp is down below.”
Jack studied the woods before turning back to the cliffs. He didn’t want to take Charlie into the open, but he had to know what was happening. “Stay here.”
“You’ll be exposed out there, and the alarm is going to draw others in,” she protested.
“I have to see what’s happening.”
And so did she. “I’m coming with you.”
“No. Stay here and remain hidden.”
“I have to know if someone is escaping this island.” She glanced around the woods as she listened for anything coming their way. “I have to see. Let’s go.”
Before Jack could protest further, or she could stop to think about what she was doing, Charlie slipped from the woods and sprinted across the open land to the edge of the cliffs. Savages raced down the dock while four people scrambled to get into a yellow boat.
“Is it your friends?” she asked when Jack arrived at her side.
“Yes.” He recognized one of the women with his friends as Mollie, but he had no idea who the other one was. It didn’t matter as he lifted the rifle and started firing at the Savages chasing his friends.
Charlie didn’t know what to make of everything unfolding before her. This was the closest to getting away she’d ever seen anyone come, and they were going to make it! Someone was going to get free of this island!
“You can go,” Charlie said as she rested her hand on Jack’s arm. “You can go with your friends.”
It would be difficult, but not impossible, for Jack to make it down there to join his friends. If it weren’t for Dylan, she would attempt to go for it, but she wouldnotleave this island without her son. However, Jack could make it. He could get free too.
Jack didn’t respond as he continued shooting at the monsters swarming the dock. “Jack—”
“I’m not leaving you,” he grated through his teeth as he fired the rifle.
Glancing frantically around, Charlie spotted security members and two hunters running toward them. She clutched Jack’s arm and pointed at the approaching death.
“We can’t stay here, Jack!” she shouted at him. “Run for your friends, or we have to go!”
He slid the rifle onto his back as Mike steered the boat away from the dock. He’d done what he could for them; they were getting free, and he had no doubt they would return for him. “I’mnotleaving without you and Dylan.”
