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11 Honor

I walked forever it seemed. Looping around the hole until there was a definite path in the crudely dug ground. Hope was a strong emotion, but it was fleeting.

How incredibly hard it was to hold on to when it seemed that everything was working against me. The words of my kidnapper seemed to echo in the enclosed space around me.

I’ll be back.

What kind of grim fate awaited me when he returned? The writer in me conjured up all sorts of scenarios—not one of them good.

I didn’t want to admit it to myself, but I knew what was coming. I knew the kinds of things that a man who kidnapped women wanted. I shuddered and leaned against the damp, muddy wall. I should prepare myself.

How did one prepare herself for rape and grisly murder?

Just when despair seemed ready to take a giant bite of my sanity, the phone buzzed.

I need to know where you are.

It was Nathan. He hadn’t forgotten about me. He was still out there; he was still trying to help me.

I sank down the wall until I was sitting on the ground. My body sagged, weak with relief. Nathan was my best hope for survival.

Renewed hope took root inside me and blossomed like a flower in the spring.

Quickly, I texted back my reply. I’m in the woods. In a hole. If I wasn’t so exhausted, I would have done a happy dance when it went through.

Where?

Not sure. I was in Slatington when he took me. On the trail. I worried that it wasn’t going to be enough information for him to find me in time.

Do you have GPS?

A GPS? Did he think I just walked around with one of those strapped to my ass? God! I cleared out of the message, frustrated, and stared down at the phone. My eye went right to the maps app. Oh my God, I did have a GPS!

I pumped my fist in the air. I didn’t even care that it made my ribs scream.

Yes, I replied.

This is what I want you to do…

It took a few more minutes for the rest of his message to come through, and my stomach knotted as I thought I’d lost the connection again. But then the phone vibrated in my hand and I glanced down.

Type in directions. Use ur current location & get directions to somewhere. The map should pull up ur location when it pulls up directions. Text it to me.

Could this phone really be smart enough to know where I was? Was the signal strong enough for it to calculate a route while I was in a deep hole? How far off the beaten path did that man haul me? What if Nathan was too late? What if I was far away?

Enough. Just do it.

I snapped out of my internal freak-out and did as Nathan instructed. Why hadn’t I thought of this? It made me angry that I hadn’t. I knew I should give myself a break, that I was likely in shock, was injured and scared, but now wasn’t the time for weak emotions. Now was the time for action.

It took the map a long time to load. The screen went dark twice while I waited. I stood and began pacing, unable to sit a second longer. My knees wobbled as I walked, but I ignored it and continued moving.

Finally, my location pulled up.

Reading a map wasn’t one of my better abilities, so I took a screen shot and texted it to Nathan.

It failed the first time I tried to send it.

The second time took five minutes, but it went through. By the time the job was done, there was only thirty percent battery remaining.

I slid down into the dirt and leaned against the wall.

And I started to pray.