Wincing, I tried again. “This is your last warning. Come out now and you might not go to jail.”
Silence.
Not the slightest scuffle inside of a boot or a puffy jacket. Leaning forward, I listened harder.
Complete stillness.
Okay, they’d seen through me.
If they weren’t coming out, I had to go in.
And if I was going in, I was taking at least one of them out on the way.
With a wild yell that echoed in the quiet woods, I launched myself around the tree, ready to swing.
Hoe overhead, I waited.
The dark empty hole stared back at me.
Panting, I dropped to my knees and peered into the depths.
Nothing happened.
The last bit of fading light trickled into the hole, revealing it was much deeper than I’d thought. I couldn’t see the bottom.
Tentatively, I leaned in.
If they’d tied up my family and left them here, I should be able to see a fuzzy outline of their bodies, right?
The hole couldn’t be that much bigger.
Gathering my nerves, I scooted forward to poke my head in farther.
Some loose dirt underneath my hand made the hoe slip.
Crap!
I lost my balance.
Swinging my arms wildly, the hoe went flying as I tried desperately to tip my body away from the hole, but it was too late.
Crap, crap, crap!
I was about to get a face full of dirt.
A squeak escaped as I fell. I hit the ground a couple seconds later.
Oof.
And then I was rolling.
Unable to stop myself on the steep incline, I tumbled head over heels into the inky darkness. My coat snagged on something. A loud rip rended the air. As I rolled, my wrist got caught beneath me and twisted, making me yelp, before the ground leveled out.
The momentum threw me without warning into a solid dirt wall that thumped the last gasp of air from my body.
Ow.
Ow, ow, ow, ow, ow...
