Free Take Me Home (9781455552078) by Dorothy Garlock

chain that bound them was broken, he’d have to go along with Otto’s nefarious plans.
    Peter nodded, trying to act as if he saw the truth in the other man’s words. “So we keep heading east?”
    â€œOnce it’s dark, we’ll make our way back down to the trains,” he explained. “Until then, rest.”
    Leaning back against a tree’s trunk, Otto folded his arms across his chest and closed his eyes. Even though Peter was tired, as much from a lack of food as from exhaustion, he found it hard to do as Otto had suggested. The man he was chained to was dangerous, the sort who had to be watched closely. Peter knew he had to be smart and to take a chance to get away only when the time was right.
    His very life depended on his making the right decision.
    Â Â 
    Once night fell, they made their way to the depot. There were lights on in some of the houses but they didn’t see anyone. The locomotive hissed at the head of the tracks; it wouldn’t be long before it departed. But then, just as Peter was taking his first step toward the open door of a freight car, he was grabbed hard from behind and hauled backward as a hand clamped down over his mouth. Shocked and surprised, he began to struggle; a sliver of fear raced through him that Otto had decided he was no longer worth the trouble and intended to kill him.
    â€œQuiet!” Otto hissed in his ear.
    Peter stopped struggling. A couple of moments later, he understood why Otto had taken hold of him. A lone guard made his way up the line of track, swinging his flashlight slowly up one side of the train and then back across the platform. Otto had pulled them between a couple of crates, out of sight. No more than ten feet away, the man stopped, fished out a pack of cigarettes, and lit one before inhaling a deep drag and blowing smoke into the sky. Behind him, Peter felt Otto’s body tense; he knew that if the guard noticed them, Otto would attack like a wild animal, trying to kill him before any alarm could be raised. But after a while, the man moved off, whistling a tuneless tune. Finally, once the guard was far enough away, they cautiously entered the dark freight car.
    Eventually, the train began to roll. Under a blanket of stars, it traveled farther east. Peter tried to sleep, but found it too difficult, not because of his concern about Otto or what they were doing, but because of hunger. More than a day had passed since he’d last eaten and he felt as weak as a kitten. With every rumbling of his belly, pain filled him. By morning, the feeling had become unbearable. One look at Otto told Peter that the other man felt the same. It was decided that they had to get off the train and forage for food, no matter the risk.
    As they had the day before, they jumped off the train just before they reached a town. Unlike then, they soon had better luck. In the hills north of the rail line was a cabin with a couple of outbuildings. They watched quietly for a long time, listening to the squirrels chatter and the wind gently rustle the boughs of the evergreen under which they hid. Nothing happened. Finally, they decided that they’d waited long enough. Breaking out one of the windowpanes, they forced their way inside.
    The cabin looked to have been unoccupied for some time. Dust covered every surface and there was a musty smell in the air, as if it had been shut up for months. Immediately, they rushed to the cupboards in the small kitchen and rifled through them. They found a tin of sardines and a can of beans that they forced open and ate ravenously. Peter’s stomach was so empty that it hurt to put something in it, but he ignored the ache and kept eating. Checking the rest of the cabin, they found some clothes in the bedroom and a couple of dollars in the back of a drawer.
    â€œToo small for me,” Otto said, holding up one of the shirts.
    â€œI could wear it,” Peter replied.
    Otto nodded. “We’ve got to get