BAILEY
“Why do I have to take her feet?”the chattier masked man demanded, shoving his hands into his pockets.“She might kick.”
The other one let out a long exasperated sigh.“This treasure hunt was your fucking idea.That means when it comes to cleaning up the messes, you get to do the hard part.”
The chattier guy shifted his weight from one foot to the other and darted a glance at me.“You’re the one who beat the crap out of her.If you hadn’t done that, then we wouldn’t be stuck dealing with her now.I’m not sure I’ve got it in me to kill anyone.”
If I hadn’t been scared of drawing their attention back to me, I might have wriggled toward him.I definitely approved of his anti-murder sentiment.
“What the hell did you think was going to happen today?”the other guy demanded incredulously.“We’d throw a party and sort out our differences?After we fucking kidnapped her and beat up her boyfriend?”
“Well, maybe—”
“Maybe if you’d done a better job of being lookout, you’d have saved us from all of this,” the pro-murder assailant cut in.“If you don’t want the feet, then you can take the whole lot of her.Just, like, roll her to the edge or something.”
Anti-Murder Guy scoffed.“So then it’s all on me, and if we get caught, you can say I did it?I’m not that stupid.”
“Hurry up and get it over with.”
“You know, just ’cause I’m younger doesn’t mean you get to boss me around while you sit on your ass and do nothing.This isyourmess, not mine.”
Oh my God.They were arguing.This was fantastic.
Slowly and carefully, I put my weight on my hands, glad that they’d almost fully healed, and began to shuffle away from them.Perhaps if they got angry enough, I could make it to the trees before they noticed.
“For the hundredth time, this is your fuck-up because you’re a shitty lookout.”Pro-Murder Guy put his hands on his hips.“Fine.I’ll help.You grab her legs, and I’ll take them from you once they’re secure.”
This seemed to work for Anti-Murder Guy, because he nodded.
Shit.I’d hardly made it more than a couple of feet.
Adrenaline surged through me as Not-So-Anti-Murder Guy bent down and reached for my legs.I kicked, my stomach lurching sickeningly as my foot made contact with his face.
He reared back with a shout as blood spurted from his nose.
I scooted backward, moving as quickly as I could now.It would be so much better if I could get to my feet, but with my hands tied and my body still recovering from its first beating, that was pretty much impossible.
Pro-Murder Guy pinched the bridge of his nose.“For fuck’s sake.”
He grabbed me roughly by the shoulders and started to haul me to the edge of the cliff.I flailed, hoping I might be able to hit him the way I had his friend, but he was too far from my legs, and my arms couldn’t do anything other than swing directly in front of me.
As we got closer to the cliff edge, my mind raced.
This was it.
If I didn’t do something right now, he was going to throw me over, and I’d splat on the creek bed below like a bug on a windscreen.
There was a small rock nearby, and I wedged my foot behind it, using all of my strength to resist his forward momentum.Cursing, he backtracked, dragging me as the other guy continued to complain about his nose.He circled around the rock, dislodging my foot, and started forward again.
I went limp, relaxing every muscle in my body.I might be petite, but as a former gymnast, I was strong, so I was heavier than I looked.
He stumbled, cursing a blue streak as he righted himself.“Quit your whining and help.”
“Fuck you,” the other man said, but he came over as we neared the cliff edge, his head tipped back in an effort to stop the bleeding.
Pro-Murder Guy dropped to his knees and tried to shove me off the edge.I actively rolled toward him, uncaring if that meant I ended up in his lap.
Better that than dead.
