“That’s a lie.” Jacob said, gripping the knife tighter.
Suddenly, the door above us was uprooted from the ground and
dirt showered down on all of us. Two sets of hands grabbed me under my arms and
yanked me up and out of the hole. Jacob and Josh soon followed.
There were about 6 to 7 police cars sprinkled among the
trees. Two were close, facing toward us; others were backed in, and we were
pulled behind them. Mixed in with the police cars, there were two ambulances, a
tank with the letters S-W-A-T on the side, and a crane with the prison door
dangling from it. Shouts and screams were echoed from the opening as the SWAT team
went down in a rush. But thankfully, no gunfire.
I felt the feeling come back into my neck and upper body. A
few minutes later, I could also feel my legs and my feet. I looked around to
see Josh and Jacob sat on either side of me. I grabbed them both and we all
squeezed each other in a tight hug. Sobbing. “It’s over!” Jacob cried, hugging
just me now.
The paramedics came over and I was told to sit at the first
ambulance, while Josh and Jacob were led to the other. I got up on the stretcher
and sighed. “It’s all over…” I thought, swinging my legs back and forth.
But it wasn’t.
A doctor came into the ambulance and quickly shut the doors.
Howard. I screamed bloody murder, leaping off the stretcher. He locked the
doors from the inside and I saw two police officers through the doors small
windows run over, trying the doors.
Howard walked towards me, with a vial in hand. “Howard,
don’t,” I begged, backing away. “Please don’t.”
“Oh Caroline,” he replied, walking towards me still, “You’ve
ruined everything, all of my plans.”
I backed up against the wall of the ambulance and begged
again, “Howard, I’m sorry, don’t do this.” He grabbed my arm and slung me to
the ground, but before I went down, I grabbed his other hand and yanked the vial
out of it, throwing it against the wall. As he bent over me, he pinned me to
the floor with his knees so I couldn’t move my arms, which were on either side
of me. The ambulance rocked and I glanced out the window to see dozens of
police officers, trying to break the door open. I screamed as I looked back and
saw Howard reaching in his pocket, pulling out another vial. Just then, Jacob
was there, behind Howard. He leaped on his back and put his arms around his
neck in a strangle hold. Howard got up, releasing me, and banged backwards,
catching Jacob between himself and the hard metal wall. Jacob groaned, but didn’t
loosen his grasp.
I got up and grabbed the vial out of Howard’s hand and shattered
it, too, against the wall. I ran to the door and unlocked it, but came back.
Grabbing Howard’s ankles from behind, I pulled, making him crash face first
into the floor, at the officers’ feet.
“Thank you Lord,” I thought as they handcuffed him and dragged
him away, “for sparing me and protecting Jacob.” I climbed out of the
ambulance, with an officer’s help, and hugged myself, thinking anything could
have happened.
I felt myself being lifted off the ground and spun in place.
Jacob set me down and laughed, “And I thought I was saving you!”
I laughed with him and said, “You did, but, how did you get
in there?”
“The window separating the back and the driver’s seat.”
I smiled and looked into the ambulance. Sure enough, there
was the window, open.
Josh jogged over and asked if we were both alright. We both
nodded and then I asked, “How did they find us?”
“They put a tracking chip in your skorts pocket,” he
explained, and I reached into my pocket and pulled out a chip, paper-thin and the
size of a fingernail.
“After you said Howard’s name, and reacted the way you did, Mom
called the police department and they decided to track you. But they lost us
after we went down into the hole; that’s why it took them so long to find us. If
we hadn’t put you right next to it, they would have never found the entrance—
it was covered with pine needles.”
I nodded, and looked over to see the Police Chief walking toward
us, white as a ghost. “Jacob?” he asked, and Jacob turned his head.
“Dad!!!!” he yelled, and almost jumped on top of his dad.
They hugged and looked as though they would never let go.
I smiled and turned to Josh, who was also smiling. “I want
to talk to Howard. I have to know why he took all of us,” I said. He nodded,
and we walked over to the police car he was in. The window was down half way,
so we didn’t have to ask to speak with him.
“Why?” I asked him, as he looked at me, “Why did you take
all of these kids?” I motioned at eight kids being escorted out of the hole.
Howard let out a sarcastic laugh and answered, “They were all walking home from
school alone, their parents didn’t think they were important enough.” He
smirked at me and continued, “We showed them what their ignorance can cost
them.”
“And Jacob?” I asked, glancing over at him, still clinging
to his dad, “Why a Police Chief’s son?”
“He was like you, but on his way home from Basketball
practice. Being that he was a Police Chief’s son was just an added bonus.”
Just then, a car pulled into the clearing and out jumped
Mom, Dad, and our younger brother Levi.
“Mom!” I
cried out.
“Dad!” Josh
said after me.
We ran
together, and clashed into a group hug, not letting go.
“In Everything, Give Thanks.”
1 Thessalonians 5:16
The End
Tomorrow, the
Epilogue!!!!!
