Free Rescued: COMPLETE by Alex Dawson Page A

of Laura’s hand, the pillowcase sack, and her own back.
     
    “Come on,” she urged, and Laura put on a burst of speed, trying hard to keep up.
     
    Tina glanced back over her shoulder and saw Clarissa just leaving their house, a big bathrobe over her long nightgown, fuzzy slippers outlined on her feet in the light from the front door.
     
    Hopefully, she wouldn’t be able to keep up.
     
    After they were out of sight of the house, Tina pulled Laura into the woods to catch her breath.
     
    “If Mother called the cops, they’ll be here any minute now,” she said, “but I’m not sure that she would, she doesn’t trust them to follow Jesus.”
     
    Laura nodded.
     
    Tina struggled to think of a plan. It was a lot simpler to get out of town in the middle of the night alone, all she’d meant to do was buy a bus ticket.
     
    Maybe she still could. The police would probably figure it out, but at least it would get them further away quickly.
     
    “Okay, kiddo,” she said, trying to sound confident, “Let’s get to the Greyhound. We’re on the next bus.”
     
    Laura nodded again, eyes big with fear, and Tina wined at what she’d done.
     
    How were they going to survive? She only had two hundred dollars in cash she’d saved from babysitting, Tina didn’t know much about the world, but she knew that that wouldn’t be enough for very long.
     
    “Do you have any other clothes?” Tina finally asked, kneeling down to talk to her little sister. With Laura’s waist-length blonde hair and old-fashioned clothing, they’d stick out like a sore thumb. Tina was used to being stared at for their ankle-length calico dresses, finding other clothing without it being discovered by Clarissa or their mother was the hardest part of getting ready to flee.
     
    Laura nodded.
     
    “You were wearing jeans, so I took some of Fred’s,” she said, “He’s almost as big as me already, and I thought you might want me to look like you?”
     
    Tina grinned and kissed the top of Laura’s head.
     
    “Yeah, let’s see what you have,” she said. In the murky light, she pulled a pair of jeans and a t-shirt from the bag.
     
    “Okay, go ahead and put them on,” she said.
     
    Laura didn’t have any problem undressing in the dark, she was used to undoing all of her own buttons by feel and then helping her littler siblings, but she struggled to put on the unfamiliar clothing, and Tina had to help hold her steady so she didn’t fall in the dirt.
     
    “Right, time for shoes,” Tina instructed, and Laura sat down and obediently got the socks and sneakers on her feet.
     
    Once Laura was dressed, Tina picked up all of their bags, hoping and praying that nothing had fallen out of them, and took her little sister’s hand again, stumbling through the woods roughly parallel with the road, heading towards the center of town, away from their suburban neighborhood.
     
    The three mile walk seemed a lot further with a little girl. Tina ended up having to carry her, Laura yawning against her shoulder and the bags hitting her with every step.
     
    When they finally saw the flickering light of the station, Tina sighed with relief. She’d been afraid that they’d meet dangerous people out late at night, but apparently it was so late that everyone in their town was in bed.
     
    Tina saw a few people, but mostly they kept to themselves.
     
    “Two tickets on the next bus, please, ma’am? One adult and one child?” Tina asked the bored woman at the counter, shaking Laura awake and putting her on the dirty concrete at her feet.
     
    “Just the next bus? You don’t care where you’re going?” she asked, raising one heavily-tweezed eyebrow.
     
    “Has to be better than here, right?” Tina asked.
     
    “I don’t know, but if you’re out here this late, I hope so,” the woman said, and looked at her schedule. “Sugar, if you really gotta get outta here that bad, go ahead and get on that bus, it’s going to Savannah. That’ll be