As the morning led to afternoon, I wondered where Grant and Aaron could be. How far had they gotten? The room we were in had one overhead light, but it provided enough light for us. I took a seat near Beth on the couch. Since we had nothing but time on our hands, I figured I might as well get to know her.

"So," I smiled. "Where are you from?"

She laughed at my sudden question. "Minneapolis."

"Oh, I really want to go there!" I told her. "The Mall of America sounds awesome!"

"It is," she agreed and then looked down at her leg. "It’s huge. The largest mall in the country. So...it’s a lot of walking, to say the least."

"You’ll be running circles around that place soon enough!" I tried to cheer her up.

"What about you?" she asked.

"I’m from Texas. Just outside of Houston," I replied.

She gave me a suspicious look. "You don’t look like a cowgirl."

She tried to keep a serious expression, but then burst into laughter.

"I’m kidding! I hate stereotypes like that!" she said.

I sighed in relief. "Me too! Why everyone thinks Texas is just a bunch of cowboys, I don’t know."

She giggled. "That’s one of the reasons I had been looking forward to going away to camp. Just to visit another state and meet new people...you know, all the stuff you can’t really learn in school. You have to experience it for yourself."

I nodded in agreement. "That’s it! You just put words to how I’ve been feeling for years. I mean, don’t get me wrong. I love Texas and I’m a proud Texas girl. But when else do you get the chance to venture out of your comfort zone, right?"

"Right! I love hearing different accents. It’s so funny to me that we could all live in America, but have so many different accents. Or use different slang and stuff," she marveled.

"Don’t let this ruin that for you," I told her. "Dean and Gina, I mean. I have to keep telling myself that once we get out of here, I’ll still want to travel. I don’t think I could live if I was too afraid to leave the house."

She nodded slowly. "I don’t want this to change me. But I also know it probably will, at least a little bit...Can you tell me about, well, when you all came through that door? Where were you coming from?"

I closed my eyes for a minute.

"I’m sorry," she apologized. "I didn’t mean to turn this conversation into something dark. You don’t have to tell me."

"No," I assured her. "It’s okay. You’ll hear about it eventually anyway and I’d actually prefer if you heard it from one of us rather than the police or whoever."

I glanced over at Cal who was propped up against some pillows in the corner. She had dozed off to sleep, so I lowered my voice. I explained it all to Beth. She sat next to me, hanging on my every word, her eyes wide.

"Fortunately, we weren’t there too long. I mean, in comparison to the eight weeks we had feared we’d be there," I sighed.

"I’m so sorry," Beth whispered.

"Me too," I said.

We sat in silence for a few minutes. I was glad I had gotten the chance to talk to her. It felt like we had bonded a little bit, which seemed less than impossible given our circumstances. Cal woke up and stretched out her arms.

"I’m going to the ladies’ room." She winked. That was our code word for going outside to use the bathroom, so to speak. We had been walking outside behind the cabin and as uncomfortable as it could be, we all agreed it was better than sharing that one disgusting toilet in the basement.

Cal lifted the hatch and closed it gently behind her. I heard the cabin door open and close. Beth yawned and I was about to tell her to take a nap, when I thought I heard noises outside. It was hard to tell from down below, but then I distinctly heard two male voices.

"I think I heard Grant and Will-" Beth said cheerfully.

I hesitated. The voices didn’t sound like them, although it could have been that from where I stood the sound was muffled. The cabin door opened and I walked slowly over to the stairs to try to hear them better. I strained to listen.Beth turned slightly on the couch and was staring at me, not making a sound. I spun around and looked at her.

"It’s not them. We need to hide. Now!"

I walked as quickly and as quietly as I could over to Beth.

"That’s not Grant and Will," I whispered. "I don’t know who they are. We need to hide, okay?"

"What?" She sat up. "Hide? Where? What about Cal?"

"Hopefully she’ll stay hidden out there until they leave. I’m going to help you up, okay?" I whispered, already taking her hand. I looked around the room. Maybe those guys didn’t know about this hidden room or even if they did, maybe they wouldn’t go down there. But I couldn’t risk it. I ran over to the cabinets and opened the doors.

"Can you fit in one of these?" I asked her. I tried to help her bend down but she couldn’t get her leg to cooperate. It hurt too much. She looked like she was about to cry.

"Okay," I told her. "Lie down behind the couch."

I helped her onto the floor. She fit in between the couch and the wall.

"Just stay still and don’t make a sound, okay?" I instructed, and covered her up with the old blue tarp.

She shook her head and pulled the tarp from her face. "I’m scared. I can’t do this!"

I grabbed the knife out of my pocket and handed it to her.

"Yes, you can." I looked her in the eyes.

I rushed back over to the cabinet, climbed in and shut the doors. I sat in total darkness, my knees up to my chin. From inside the cabinet, I could hear the voices above me much clearer. They were opening the hidden shelves we had found.

"Where are the knives?" the first voice yelled. "They were in here!"

"I don’t know, man. Maybe Wayne grabbed them," the second voice replied.

They were stomping around the cabin. Then their footsteps stopped just above my head.

"Did you hear that?" the first voice said. "Outside. You hear it?"

The second voice whispered. "I didn’t hear anything, but go check it out. I’ll check downstairs. Maybe we left the knives down there."

Oh, please don’t come down here!

I heard the cabin door open and footsteps walk outside. I waited as I heard the other pair of footsteps stop, the sound of the hatch lifting open, and then continuing as they walked down the stairs. I held my breath. My hands were sweating profusely. I could hear him walking around the room.

"What the hell?" he muttered to himself.

I couldn’t hear anything then. I pushed the cabinet door about a half inch, just enough to peek out with one eye. This guy was short and stocky, with wide shoulders. He was wearing a loose gray tank top and basketball shorts. His hair was a dark, dirty blonde color and cut really short. I could see his scalp had gotten a slight sunburn. The tops of his shoulders were red, too.

He was bending over, lifting up the couch cushions. I knew he wouldn’t find anything - knives or otherwise - since we had already swept the room clean. I only hoped that once he finished with the couch, he’d give up and go back upstairs. He sighed loudly with his hands on his hips. Cursing under his breath, he seemed to give up and walked over to the stairs.

Go, go, go! I willed him away.

But then he stopped. Turning around slowly, he crept back over to the couch. I could tell my his movements that he was intentionally trying to be quiet and not make a sound. He peered over the couch and then smiled wickedly. The blue tarp was in his hand and he tossed it over his shoulder onto the floor.

"Well," he grinned. "And who are you, darlin’?"

In one fast swoop, he shoved the couch to reveal Beth. She was already crying, clutching the knife I had given her with both hands. She was shaking.

"Awww, hey. Don’t be scared. I won’t bite." He crouched down and I couldn’t see him anymore. The couch was blocking my view.

I pushed the cabinet door a bit more, but it was no use. The position of the couch was diagonally in front of the cabinet, entirely blocking my view. I was tempted to crawl out, but there was no place else to hide.

Beth was sobbing now.

"And would you look at this! There’s my knife! See, I knew I left it here. That’s not very nice of you to steal it," he spat.

"I didn’t-" Beth tried to speak, but her words were jumbled between her sobs.

"What else are you hiding, huh?" he asked her.

"Nothing!" she cried. "I swear!"

"Yeah?" he asked. "Well, I’m gonna have to check for myself."

I heard the rustling of clothes and Beth crying out. She was yelling ’no’ over and over again. The guy kept telling her to stop fighting him and then I heard him slap her across the face.

I was shaking. I couldn’t sit in there and let this creep attack Beth.

"This is my knife. See?" he seethed. "And I love this knife, I gotta say. You want me to use it on you?"

"No," Beth choked. "No, please. No. Stop! Please stop!"

She was screaming. I heard him tearing at her clothes. I didn’t have time to think. I opened the cabinet doors and crawled out. Staying close to the floor, I moved around the couch and then stood up. As I looked down, this guy was in top of Beth. She was trying to get free but he had both of her wrists above her head holding them with one hand. With his other hand, he was pulling his shorts down.

Beth looked up and saw me, her eyes wide and red. My hands were shaking. I knew I wouldn’t be able to pull him off of her. He was much stronger than I was. I glanced around the room and grabbed the metal letter opener. It was the only thing there that remotely resembled a weapon.

I got behind him and took one more look at Beth. Tears were streaming down her cheeks. I gripped the letter opener tightly in my hand and then slammed it into the side of his neck. I pulled it out and blood squirted everywhere. Beth screamed and I plunged it into his neck again. I dug it as deep as it would go and then pulled it to the side. It tore his flesh open and he reached up with his left hand.

He stood up and turned around, shocked to see me and at his bleeding neck. Beth rolled to her side, crying hysterically, and struggled to get up. She lost her grip on the couch and fell back to the floor. The guy was walking towards me making awkward mechanical moves. I kept stepping back, my eyes glued on him. He made a deep gurgling sound and blood poured from his mouth. As he fell to his knees, his neck was covered in red, blood flowing down his chest, soaking his shirt. I backed away until I was against the wall.

I leapt onto the couch, my feet sinking into the cushions. I reached over and grabbed for Beth. I led her up the stairs and shut the hatch behind us. Cautiously I stopped. The second guy had to be there somewhere.

Next Chapter: Twenty