Page 6 of Keeping Amanda
It was the sound of gunfire that had Amanda moving,however. She wasn’t going to be a sitting duck in this tent, waiting for a stray bullet to pierce the canvas. Or even for the rebels to decide killing their hostages was better than allowing them to be rescued. And one thing she refused to do was sit back and let someone else do all the work. If it meant getting out of here, getting all her kids out, she’d do whatever was necessary.
“Hurry, girls, this way!” she whispered urgently, gesturing toward the back side of the tent. She’d tested it out two days ago, realizing that the bottom wasn’t secured to the ground. She lifted the canvas and lay down on the ground, peering out into the darkness. All she saw was trees. Whatever was happening was going on in the clearing on the other side of the tent.
She gestured for Natasha and Patricia to move forward. “Scoot out, but stay by the tent,” she ordered.
Natasha nodded and took Patricia’s hand. Next came Michelle and Jennifer. Then Karen and Sharon. Sandra reached for Bibi’s hand, but the four-year-old refused to take it, instead holding her arms up for Amanda.
As much as it tore her heart out, Amanda shook her head. “Go with Sandra,” she told Bibi as sternly as she could. “I’ll be right behind you.”
She loved that little girl. She was adorable, and sweet, and loving. She’d been orphaned very recently, after her parents were killed in a motorbike accident. She was lost and confused when she arrived at the school, but before the kidnapping, she’d slowly begun to open up, attaching herself to Amanda in particular.
Hating that the little girl was experiencing such trauma, that all the kids were, she was right on their heels, slithering out of the tent to join the rest of the girls. She hurried toward where Michelle was standing near the edge of the tent and peered around the corner.
Her eyes widened at what she saw. Men she didn’t recognize—who seemed to be wearing uniforms of some kind, not theshorts and T-shirts most of the rebels wore—were hiding behind trees, shooting at their captors. She saw several rebels lying motionless in the dirt while the rest fought back almost desperately.
“Head in that direction!”
Amanda let out a screech and jerked at the sound of the accented voice behind her. Spinning around, she saw it was one of the newcomers. A man in a military uniform.
“There’s a clearing about half a kilometer through the trees that way,” he barked. “Take the kids and go!”
The girls didn’t need to be told twice. Natasha and Michelle took charge and herded the rest of the group in the direction the man had pointed. Amanda didn’t want to let them go alone, but she needed to make sure the boys were being rescued as well.
“The rest of the kids?” she asked the man.
“We’ll get them.”
She should’ve trusted him—but she couldn’t leave that camp without seeing the boys. Without knowing they were coming too. She watched as the man ran toward the other tents. Spotting Michael and the other boys streaming out of them was a huge relief.
But when one of the rebels saw what was happening, he screamed in rage and made a beeline for little Richard and Leon.
Michael purposely dodged in front of him, and was knocked on his ass as the man ran smack-dab into him. They fell to the ground in a tangle of limbs. Thankfully, the soldier who’d spoken to Amanda was there. He and the rebel exchanged blows. Punching each other as hard as they could.
In the meantime, Michael was frantically yelling for his fellow orphans to run as fast as they could into the trees. Except they weren’t orderly about it. They scattered like leaves in the wind, and Amanda was having a hard time counting heads, making sure everyone was escaping. With the darkness and the chaos of the fight occurring all around them, she hadno idea if they even knew which way to go toward the chopper.
Panic hit hard and fast.
“Run!Now,” a different soldier said, as he grabbed Amanda’s upper arm and practically threw her in the direction the girls had gone. “We’ll get all the kids!”
It was the best she was going to get at the moment, and Amanda knew it. She turned and ran into the trees after the girls. The second she left the clearing, any light there was from the moon disappeared. It was like running blind. Amanda had to slow down, resort to walk as quickly as she could with her arms in front of her, so she didn’t smack into a tree.
Adrenaline was making her shaky, but she kept going. Freedom was close. So close she could smell it. Or maybe that was the scent of her own fear.
The sound of the helicopter got louder and louder, the only way she knew she was headed in the right direction. The second she broke out of the trees into another clearing, she could see once again, thanks to the moonlight that wasn’t able to penetrate the canopy of the jungle. A huge helicopter was on the ground, its rotors turning, a man standing by the open door and helping kids into the huge cargo area.
Excitement surged through Amanda’s veins. She took off toward the chopper, knowing as soon as she got inside, she’d finally be safe and this ordeal would be over.
But before she got more than a few steps closer, Michael appeared at her side as if by magic.
“Mandy! I can’t find James!”
“What?” Amanda practically shouted to be heard over the sound of the chopper.
“James! He was with Patrick, but he got lost in the trees somewhere on the way here!”
“Shit,” Amanda muttered. “What about everyone else?”
“I think they’re all here. I tried to be last and count aseveryone ran by me. We headed for the sound of the helicopter because we saw the girls going this way. He was there by the tents, but by the time we got here, I didn’t see him anymore!”
