Chapter 7 - The Underground Tunnel
I screamed and twisted around, expecting to see my murderous stepmother standing over me.
Instead, I was staring into the soot-stained face of the young deputy.
He was bleeding from a graze wound on his left arm, but his eyes were completely focused.
"Follow me right now, there is an old drainage pipe that leads under the highway," he coughed.
He grabbed my free hand and dragged me toward a heavy iron grate partially hidden in the mud.
He kicked the rusted metal away, revealing a dark, narrow concrete tunnel.
"Get in, the fire is moving too fast for us to outrun it on the surface," he ordered urgently.
I crawled into the cramped, damp space, holding the baby carrier tightly against my body.
The deputy squeezed in right behind me, pulling the heavy grate back over the opening.
The intense heat of the forest fire roared above us like a passing freight train.
We crawled through the darkness for what felt like an absolute eternity.
The air in the tunnel was thick and smelled strongly of stagnant water and decay.
"You saved our lives, thank you," I whispered to the deputy in the dark.
"It is my job, ma'am, and I am not letting that psycho get away," he replied grimly.
We finally saw a sliver of moonlight at the end of the long tunnel.
We pushed out of the pipe and found ourselves on the opposite side of the rural highway.
I took a massive breath of fresh, cool air, feeling the terror finally begin to subside.
The deputy pulled out his radio to call for immediate heavily armed backup.
Before he could press the transmission button, a heavy wooden baseball bat swung out from the shadows.
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The bat struck the deputy squarely in the back of the head, dropping him instantly to the pavement.
Standing over the unconscious officer was my father, holding the bloody bat with a crazed look in his eyes.
