Page 60 of Dawn of Hope

I let out a sigh of relief.

These aren’t the Castaways. They are with Dane. These are my people.

I’m safe.

But they don’t know me, and they clearly assume I am a Castaway.

“Dane is going to be beside himself when we bring her back. We finally got one!” The youngest jumps up and cheers.

Footsteps pound from behind me. Not one set, but two.

“What’s going on?”

“We caught one! Now we can finally get answers to where they’re hiding and smoke them out,” the second voice says.

“But I’m not a Castaway! Dane brought me here last night. None of you were there. I didn’t get to meet anyone.”

“Liar!”

“That’s exactly what a Castaway would say.”

“I was there. I would have known if Dane brought someone new.”

“I swear,” I say, trying to keep the pleading out of my voice. I need to remember to stay calm. “How would I know Mara’s name if I wasn’t there?”

“Your brainwashing won’t work on us, bitch.”

“Where’s your leader now? Is he going to come save you?”

“Maybe we can use her as bait and finally snag Weston!”

“Enough!”

The scrawniest of the boys is the one to speak, breaking the silence. He doesn’t look to be the oldest, but definitely commands the most respect among them. Maybe he has been on Dawnlin longest.

“I’m being honest with you,” I say, speaking low and slow. “I’m not a Cast?—”

A foot slams into my stomach, knocking the breath from me yet again. I double over in pain, curling into myself, gasping again for air.

“Gag her,” the boy says. “Blindfold her too. We’re bringing her to Dane.”

I hear the tear of fabric, then feel a thick gag being pulled between my teeth, followed by a blindfold over my eyes.

I have no way of convincing them I am who I say. It will have to be Dane who does that. But Dane isn’t here, and I don’t have any clue how long he will be gone. Once he sees me, he will know that they made amistake. I just hope they stop injuring me at this point. Traipsing through the island and searching for the cure will not be easy with cracked ribs. I need to stay quiet and wait this out.

I’m just thankful they aren’t the Castaways.

There is a lot of rustling and whispering before I am jostled around, and two bodies come along either side of me. They pick me up under my arms and drag me between them as they walk.

The journey back takes drags on as I hang between them. I don’t know if it is because Dane and I were so far from camp, or if the blindfold just makes it difficult to get my bearings. Once we finally push through the trees and the light on my blindfold is cast into darkness, I know we’ve arrived at camp.

I stay quiet, letting them jostle me around at their disposal. They keep any communication to a whisper so I can barely hear, but now I’m not really trying to. I know this will all blow over once Dane returns. It just need to wait them out.

They don’t bring me toward the rope ladder I climbed last night. Instead, they stay on the ground, heading to the other side of the clearing. I didn’t realize there was anything else down here because Dane didn’t show me any of it last night.

I hear a creak before I’m thrown onto the ground, dirt and dust kicking up into my face. The creak sounds again, followed by a clicking of a lock.

“Maybe we should wait until tomorrow before we tell Dane about her. A nice long night might help loosen her tongue a little bit.”