Free Escape, a New Life by David Antocci Page A

mind putting that knife down?”
    “Actually, I would.”
    “You’re new here.”
    “How can you tell?”
    “You have been here probably four or five days, no?”
    Abby furrowed her brow . “Yes, about five days, I think.”
    “Well , for one, your clothes are still in one piece.  That, and your hair is greasy.”
    “There seems to be a shortage of showers around here,” Abby said wryly.
    “Don’t worry. Give it another month and you won’t believe how good it looks.” Sara could see Abby was confused.  “When you wash your hair all the time, you strip out the natural oils, so you produce extra to compensate for that.  If you don’t wash your hair for a few days, it gets to look greasy.  After a few weeks though, you’ll stop overproducing those natural oils, and your hair will look amazing.”  Sara gave her a big smile, trying to relax, despite the knife against her throat.  “Trust me.”
    H er blond hair is gorgeous , Abby thought, so maybe she was onto something there .  But it was going to take more than a beauty tip to win her over.  “How long have you been here?”
    “ Eight or nine months I figure.”
    Abby relaxed a bit and lowered the knife slightly.
    Sara went on. “When you got here a few days ago, you woke up and had no idea where you were or how you got here.  You have been noticing changes in yourself. You feel healthier or stronger than you should.  There was also a man with you, about your age.  You found each other within a few minutes of waking up.  He also has no idea where this is, or how he came to be here.”
    Tightening her grip, Abby pressed the blade against her flesh . “How do you know that?  Where is he?”
    Sara smiled innocently.  “I know because that’s exactly what happened to me.”
    Abby’s heart sank.  “What?  Really?”
    “Really.”
    “What about…” She thought for a minute. “Tom?”
    Sara barely nodded, trying not to move with the knife pressed to her neck.
    “What about him and his people ?”
    She let out a breath. “He is out of his mind, and so are the rest of them.”  She paused.  “Will you please relax with the knife?  I’m not here to hurt you, but you’re starting to hurt me.”
    The knife had been pressed flat against Sara’s throat.  Had Abby tilted the knife on an angle, or Sara made a sudden move, it would slice through her jugular without difficulty.  Abby relaxed the pressure and lowered the knife, keeping it ready in her hand by her side.  “Tell me about them.”
    “Thanks,” Sara said, her eyes moving from the knife to meet Abby’s eyes. 
    “Was Tom the man you woke up next to on the island?”
    “ No.  When we got here, Tom was already here.  He said that he had been here a few months and would take care of us.”  She shook her head.
    “Who is we?”  Abby asked, “You said when we got here.”
    “ Randy, the guy who arrived here with me.  When we got here, Tom was already here.  He seemed a little odd, but he knew his way around, so we followed his lead.  Anyway, some things went on that I was not OK with, but Randy was all in with whatever Tom was up to.  I decided I’d rather be on my own, so I took off one night, and I’ve managed to avoid them since.”  She shrugged her shoulders, “So here we are.”
    Abby studied her face.  She was filthy, but you could see that she had beautiful features.  What were left of her clothes did not do much to cover up her lean body. If she had a weapon on her, it had to be hidden some place very uncomfortable.  Her shorts looked like they used to be pants, but were torn off near the top of her thighs, and she donned a tight tank top that clung to her sweat-soaked skin, though it was so tight that it probably would cling to her regardless. 
    Abby’s eyes came back to her face.  There were two women sitting around the fire with Tom the night she and Eric had been taken.  One had her face slashed with the knife, the other one took off pretty