Caught: Chapter Twenty-One

1.8K 130 15
                                    

Tonya shivered, laid out on leaves edged with frost. Her head spun when she tried to raise it, and she felt sick to her stomach. It was difficult to order the thoughts ricocheting inside her tender skull. What time was it? How long had she lain unconscious?

Her ears were ringing, distorting sounds of police shouting and dogs barking. Through the trees an officer wielded a powerful flashlight. Every few paces his big German Sheppard sniffed at the fallen leaves, then led his master in a circle, looking for a bomb that wasn't there.

Last night in a panic, making a bomb threat to evacuate the woods had seemed like genius. She hadn't anticipated endangering the lives of these officers, who might be breathing infected air as they searched under every leaf. Unless she confessed, they would keep looking.

Admitting she made a false bomb threat would get her charged, but it couldn't be helped. That is, unless she could think of a good excuse for her actions? Tonya shook her head at her own folly, making herself dizzier. There was only one way out of this mess. She had to invent a rational, believable explanation for 'crying bomb,' one that didn't involve magical fires or mysterious eating epidemics. Just the thought of her predicament made her head throb double time.

She touched her forehead and found a teacup-sized bump. That's it! When the police come for me, I'm faking amnesia.

The sky disappeared, blocked out by a monstrous head. Black eyes stared into hers, and growling sent her neck hairs standing. Time to flee, but light glinting on its enormous teeth convinced her not to move. The beast was so close she inhaled its rotten breath.

"I found somebody!" an officer yelled. He recalled his dog, but not before it dribbled slobber onto her face. Tonya groaned. She hated dog slobber.

"Are you okay?" A second officer stepped up to look at her.

She nodded, then winced at the pain it sent through her head.

As the first officer rejoined the search with his dog, Tonya wasn't sure what to do. Should she protect this cop or elude him, in case Donna's family had infiltrated the police as well as the hospital?

"What happened?" he asked.

"I hit my head on a tree." She cupped the goose egg on her forehead.

"You were riding your bike, off the path, in the dark?" He stood with his hands on his hips.

"I was being chased by angry students."

He quirked his head and raised an eyebrow.

"They were upset because I called about a bomb, and they had to leave."

He stroked his chin and got down on his haunches. He pointed a flashlight into her face. "What bomb?"

"I saw suspicious wires high up in the trees and I thought, terrorists for sure right?" Better sound as ditzy as possible, if she were going to sell this tale. "But everybody got mad and came after me."

"We haven't found any bomb."

"Thank goodness! That's why I'm still alive. When I was riding like crazy to get away, I was sure everything was about to blow."

"Where did you see these wires?"

"It was dark." She looked around, pretending to look for landmarks. "I don't know, but somewhere on the path."

He took her hand and they stood up in unison. Tonya groaned. Her leg muscles were in agony from running and pedalling, and they were stiff from laying on the frosty ground. She took a step but her leg refused to stretch properly and she stumbled.

Feeding Frenzy (Watty Award Winner)Where stories live. Discover now