Megan's Way by Melissa Foster Read Free Book Online

maneuvering around dips and ruts in
the overgrown path. A large pine tree had fallen across the road
and blocked the way. Seeing no way around it, she slammed the car
into Park and got out. Pain, like knives, worked its way from her
stomach to her arms. She was unsure if the pain was Olivia’s or her
own. She pushed ahead, keys in hand.
    Her eyes quickly adjusted to the darkness.
She followed the dirt path that soon became thick, tall grass
interspersed with lofty pitch pine trees. She weaved her way around
masses of prickly shrubs and over fallen leaves from giant scrub
oaks. The tower perched atop a mild hill which at that moment
appeared to Megan as ominous as a mountain. She strained forward,
driven by Olivia’s plight. As Megan approached the tower the wind
amplified in her ears. She felt exposed, vulnerable. She looked
around for a weapon, and grabbed a substantial fallen tree limb.
She turned toward the sound of a vehicle engine, and spotted a
bright green truck speeding off through an overgrown field about
fifty yards away. Her mind reeled. Oh God! Don’t let Olivia be
in that truck! She stopped dead in her tracks as she felt a
large, rough hand grab her wrist. She looked down, and in her
panicked state was surprised to realize that it was not her
trembling arm that the hand was grasping, but Olivia’s. She closed
her eyes, willing Olivia to stay strong. Megan knew Olivia was
being pushed deeper into the woods. She could taste her daughter’s
fear, bitter and pungent. She quickened her pace, trying to remain
silent, unnoticed. She saw a glimmer of light up ahead, smaller
than a flashlight. It moved along slowly, illuminating a spot just
large enough to see her daughter’s shaking shoulders. A lighter
maybe? She forged forward and the incline lessened.
    Olivia’s pleas and promises shot out of the
dark and pierced her mother’s heart. Megan swallowed a yell. The
light ahead stopped, hovering in the cool night air. Megan stopped,
listened, then silently moved deeper into the woods.
    Twenty feet away, she could make out a large,
ungainly man with a flannel shirt and torn jeans looming over her
daughter. Olivia’s face, a palette of panic, her arms crossed over
her chest, were enough to make Megan’s heart explode, her anger
rose to an insurmountable level.
    The man spoke in rough, harsh murmurs. Megan
moved closer, desperately hoping Olivia would not see her and give
her away. She had not one thought of caution. Adrenaline and fear
for Olivia had repressed any suggestions of delay or defeat. She
rounded a thick bush, ducked behind it, and closed her eyes long
enough to think, One chance, that’s all I have—one chance to get
her out of this alive .
    With white knuckles, she gripped her keys,
the largest jutting out between her index and middle fingers like a
knife. She placed the stick on the ground, deciding it was too
cumbersome. She did not see a weapon, no gun in the man’s hand. He
hulked over Olivia, and violently rammed her back into a tree.
Megan could hear her daughter cry out in pain as Olivia pushed him
away with all her might, “No! no!” Olivia screamed.
    Megan crept quickly behind him, hoping to
remain undetected. Too late, the crumbling leaves beneath her feet
gave her away. The captor spun around just as Megan lunged at him.
Her five foot frame was no match for his height and bulk. She
dropped her keys and clung to his body, her legs wrapped around his
middle, her left hand clenched his hair and her right thumb dug
into his eye, pushing past his eyeball and into the socket.
    Somewhere to the side, Olivia screamed, “Mom!
no, Mom!” her terror evident in her shrill voice.
    Megan pushed and thrust with all her might,
while screaming at the top of her lungs, “Run, Livi! Run!”
    Olivia was paralyzed with shock, her mind too
consumed with fear to function. She watched her mother attached to
her assailant and cried uncontrollably.
    Megan continued screaming for Olivia to run.
She gauged her