Chapter 4 - The Grave Discovery
I stared at my phone screen in absolute disbelief before ending the call violently.
David had control over everything, including my only lifeline to the outside world.
I shoved the useless device into my pocket and paced across the creaky wooden floor.
"Dad, look out the window," Ethan whispered, pointing a shaking finger at the dirty glass.
I crept over to the window and wiped away the condensation.
Through the heavy rain, I saw the beam of three powerful flashlights moving slowly through the trees.
They were tracking us, and they were getting closer to the cabin.
"We can't stay here, we have to keep moving," I told the kids, my heart hammering in my chest.
I carefully pushed open the back window of the cabin, which led out into a deep ravine.
I helped Ethan climb out first, then passed Lily down to him.
I squeezed through the narrow frame just as the front door of the cabin was kicked violently open.
We slid down the muddy embankment, hiding beneath the thick roots of an ancient oak tree.
I held my hand over Lily's mouth to muffle her quiet sobs as the flashlight beams swept over our heads.
"They went down the ravine!" David's voice echoed through the wet darkness.
We army-crawled through the mud, desperately trying to put distance between us and the search party.
After ten minutes of grueling movement, we reached a small clearing surrounded by jagged rocks.
I paused to catch my breath, my lungs burning from the cold air and exhaustion.
Lightning flashed again, illuminating something strange in the center of the clearing.
It was a perfectly rectangular hole in the ground, roughly six feet deep.
Two matching shovels were staked into the mounds of fresh dirt beside it.
I slowly walked toward the edge of the pit, a sickening dread washing over my entire body.
At the bottom of the freshly dug hole lay a simple, wooden cross.
My name, along with Ethan's and Lily's names, were neatly painted on the wood in Vanessa's handwriting.
They hadn't just planned to kill us tonight, they had been preparing this grave for weeks.
"They want to bury us here," Ethan said, reading the marker with wide, horrified eyes.
A twig snapped loudly in the bushes directly behind us.
I spun around, raising my muddy fists to defend my children.
A tall figure stepped out of the shadows, holding a heavy shotgun leveled at my chest.
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But it wasn't David, and it wasn't Vanessa.
It was Officer Miller, a local cop I had known for over five years.
