Grant and I ran away from where Johnny had presumably fallen out of the tree's snare. We heard him howling in pain, and I can't say I felt too bad for him, to be honest. I may have started off naive and trusting, but by the time I came across Johnny, I had become all too aware that everyone we were to meet on that island was not there to be anything other than my enemy.
I felt Grant squeeze my hand and my heart beat faster. Watching him lead me away from danger - yet again - made me realize just how lucky I was to have him with me. My stomach turned at the thought of the rest of my group; wherever they were. Even though I wished and hoped they were somewhere safely off the island, there was a small voice in my head telling me they might have run into the same types of danger Grant and I had - or worse.
I thought of Beth, her small frame that could completely stand inside the shadow of Will's taller and much larger body. Her leg injury had slowed her down almost to a standstill, yet she barely complained and never wanted to be a bother to the rest of us. Then I thought of Cal and my chest tightened. We hadn't known each other long, but without her instant friendship and help, I never would've made it through those first few days in the basement. When she had gotten taken by another group and held in a hole dug into the dirt, she must have been so scared. When we found her, I couldn't help but notice the change in her. She seemed weaker and even sickly. All I wanted was for her to be well and return to her old self again. I relied on her strength more than I realized.
I hoped Beth and Cal were with Will and that he could get them somewhere safe. Will had definitely turned out to be a surprise to me. He may have never been the overly friendly type, but he proved himself to me as soon as I'd seen him take care of Beth. He definitely had a heart underneath that thick and tough exterior of his.
And then of course, there was Grant. I didn't know if I even wanted to decide how I felt about him. I couldn't deny that I found him attractive and that, under any other circumstances, I would have hoped to date him. He was caring, smart, patient, and even kept a sense of humor during the whole ordeal. Plus, he looked out for me, even risking his own safety for my own. I had never met a guy who was so chivalrous, yet didn't make me feel like any less than his equal. Grant knew I could hold my own. I guess we were right when we'd agreed that we made a pretty good team.
I was snapped out of my thoughts by Grant stopping for a quick break. He craned his neck past my shoulders before exhaling loudly.
"I think we're safe," he panted.
I turned to look behind me and then nodded in agreement. We both took a quick drink of water before heading on towards the cabin. As much as I wanted to reach our destination, I also didn't want to. That place was what my nightmares would be made of for many future nights to come.
We were careful for the rest of the walk there. The closer we got, the more on edge we both seemed. I expected someone to jump out from the trees every other second, but fortunately we made it there without any more run-ins.
As soon as I saw the cabin in the distance, I felt nauseas. I felt a cold sweat run over me. Grant must have felt my resistance because his pace slowed and he reached for my hand.
"It's okay," he assured me. "We'll be in and out. We just need to scan it over for anything we might have missed before."
I tried to swallow my fear down my dry throat. When I gave him a quick nod, Grant led me up to the cabin's door. He took a deep breath before opening the door and glanced around. Once we knew it was empty, we quietly stepped inside and closed the door behind us. It smelled dusty and felt humid, making my skin crawl. Grant opened the small door that we both knew led to a flight of stairs down to the basement and I had flashbacks of when Gina had first brought me there. I had to push those thoughts out of my mind.
"Ready?" Grant asked, seeming hesitant himself.
"Ready as I could ever be, I guess," I said softly.
He nodded and began to descend down the stairs. I gripped the rail tightly and followed him. When we reached the bottom, Grant flipped on a light and I stood in front of the makeshift fake bookshelf that was really a secret door to the cell we had been held in. I felt my body start to tremble just at the sight of it and I took a small step backward. I couldn't do it.
Without realizing it, I was shaking my head and slowly stepping away. Grant was feeling around the bookshelf and turned to me. Once he saw my face, he rushed over.
"No, no," he said. "Ry, it's okay. We are okay."
I shook my head violently. Warm tears slid softly down my cheeks as I stared ahead.
"I can't, Grant," I whispered.
"I know," he soothed. "I'll go, okay? You don't have to take another step. Just stand here. I'll be quick."
When I didn't respond, he wore a concerned look across his face before bolting around the room. My eyes stayed focused on the bookshelf, but I could see Grant whizzing by me here and there. He was opening drawers and feeling the walls for any other secret spots.
"Wait..." he whispered. "What the..."
I blinked and tried to focus. He was leaned up against a wall with a file folder in his hands. He looked up and stared at me.
"You should see this," he said.
When I didn't move, he walked closer to me.
Holding the folder open, he held it up for me to see.
"It's filled with papers," he told me. "But look! There's a list of all of us, see? There's your name, mine, Beth's....all of us. But then over here on the next page? It's a list of other names with last year's date."
I glanced down at the paper and read off some of the names on a list.
"I don't get it," I said softly.
"I'm not sure," he said. "But if I were to guess, I'd say this is a list of kids they did this to last year."
"They've done this before?" I said louder than I meant to.
Grant softly flipped through the small stack of papers and nodded.
"It doesn't give specifics, but what else could these other names mean?"
I shrugged and stood by the stairs. "They're sick. Dean and Gina are twisted and crazy! Can we leave, please? I hate it down here..."
Grant met my eyes and nodded. He grabbed the pieces of paper from the folder, folded them and placed them inside the backpack.
"Grant," I said. "Remember the keypad on the bookshelf? The one that opens to that...cell?"
"Yeah," he replied. "Do you want me to open it?"
My eyes widened. "What? No! No, sorry, that's not what I meant. I don't want to go in there!"
"Okay, good."
I exhaled loudly. "I was just thinking...there are lights here and that keypad, right? Well, where's all that electricity coming from?"
Grant's face grew serious. "And the cameras, too."
I nodded.
"There has to be a power source somewhere," he said.
Suddenly we were both eager to find the source that had supplied enough power to keep the door locked when we were held captive.
"Remember the lights were kind of on a timer?" I asked him. "They went off at night and came back on in the morning?"
"Yes!" Grant said as he hurried around the room looking for wires.
I scanned the walls and flooring, but didn't see anything.
"I can't find anything," he said. "I mean, not without opening the cell and inspecting the lights."
As he talked, my eyes made their way up to the ceiling.
"Grant," I said. "Stop."
He froze in place and spun around. "Why? Did you hear something? What happened?"
"No," I assured him. "Nothing like that. It's just...I think we're looking in the wrong place. We're too low."
"Too low?" he asked. "What do you mean?"
I pointed up to the staircase. "We need to go back up and outside. We need to try to see the roof outside."
He walked closer to me. "You just want to leave. I get it. That's fine-"
I smiled. "I do want to leave, yes. But that's not why we need to go outside."
"Then...?" he said and scratched his head.
"Solar," I told him. "We need to go check the roof for solar panels. That's how they're getting power."