You'll Thank Me for This Nina Siegal (red white and royal blue hardcover .txt) 📖

own, were trying to attack her. She closed her eyes and breathed deeply, feeling her heart gallop. This was too much. This was not what she had been seeking.

Once her heart had slowed, after the onslaught had faded a bit and she could tell herself that it was “just pictures,” she opened her eyes again.

She remembered what Pieter had told her after he’d finally emerged from their darkened guest room after three days of fitful rest. He’d reached out to her and put his hand lightly on her forearm. “They were torturing them all,” he had said. “To death.”

Chapter 13Ghoul Camp

“I’m sorry!” Karin cried out. “I’m really sorry. I don’t want anything from you. I didn’t mean to come here. I’ll go away. If you let me be, I’ll go away. Please don’t hurt me!”

She began to tremble so much that it was crazy. She had no idea what was happening to her. Her hands were all wet, and now her teeth began to chatter, like, really hard. The flashlight wasn’t anywhere anymore. It was gone in the dirt. She felt around to find it. Shit, shit, shit.

She pulled her knees to her chest and ducked her head, trying to curl up into a tiny ball, like a pill bug. Maybe if she just hid inside her giant rain poncho it would go away.

The bushes around her were making noise again, and there were more of them. The footsteps in the leaves were moving slowly, gently, toward her again. They weren’t going to leave her alone.

One of them hovered over her, making her think of a bat. She could hear its breathing, which was not healthy, more like a wheeze. She didn’t dare look up and into its face again. She tried not to move a muscle, but her body continued to shake, and she couldn’t stop it. “Please, please,” she whimpered quietly, to herself. “Please, please, please.”

A minute later, another one came and stood over her. They were coming out of the woods. They started to surround her. Their feet were moving in the sodden leaves, crunching and sloshing. Could they be animals? Maybe wild boars? Other night creatures? They weren’t animals, and they seemed bigger, wider, more frightening than humans.

“It’s a kid,” she heard one of them say, and thought, At least that sounded like a human voice.

“What’s she doing here?” said the voice she had already heard. Raspy, deep.

She felt someone kick her leg with a heavy boot. She whimpered, “Please don’t hurt me. Please don’t hurt me. I am just a kid. I’m only twelve…I’m here on a dropping.”

“A dropping?” She heard laughter—four or maybe five people. They were humans. Just really weird humans. “Like with Scouts?” They continued to laugh.

Karin thought maybe they would leave her alone now, but she felt another kick, this time hard, against her thigh. “Get up,” a voice ordered. This time it was a woman’s voice. “I said, get up,” the woman repeated, before she had even had a chance to move.

“Okay, okay,” said Karin, trying to move her legs but finding them stiff. She unfolded her hands, which she had been using to clutch her hood over her head, and reached out to find the ground so that she could push herself up.

Did she have anything she could use to fight them off if they tried to hurt her? Anything sharp? Or long? Or even bright? Losing the flashlight on her key chain meant she’d lost her keys too. Her mom would be mad.

“I’m getting up,” she said as she pushed herself up to standing. She felt tiny in their company, all these big bats. “I dropped my keys,” she said, knowing that it sounded kind of pathetic. “I dropped my keys in the leaves and I can’t find them.”

Nobody answered her. She let them see her face, hoping that if they saw she was only a kid they might take some pity on her. Then she could see them a little better. They weren’t bats. They were all just wearing big, wide rain ponchos, which covered their whole bodies. All the same. But when she looked closer she realized they weren’t rain ponchos, they were just big black garbage bags with holes cut in them for their arms and heads.

“What are you doing out here by yourself?” one of them asked. It wasn’t like he wanted to help her to safety. It sounded like he was accusing her of doing something wrong.

“I…I…g-g-got separated from my…my Scout group,” Karin stammered through a tight jaw.

“That was stupid. It’s pretty dangerous out here.”

“I just lost my group, like, a few minutes ago. I’m sure they’re right up there, right ahead of me. I’ll bet they’re waiting for me. I’d better get with them or they’ll start to worry.”

The one who’d been talking most recently reached out and grabbed her roughly by the arm. “No,” she said. “You’ll come with us.” Oh no, they weren’t nice. They were going to hurt her.

All of a sudden they were all talking, and one of them was trying to pull her rain poncho off, and another one was trying to get her backpack out of her hands. Another one said, “Give me that,” and basically ripped it away from her. “My backpack…” Karin said weakly while one of them held it and another one zipped it open. “It’s just my camping equipment,” she said.

While some of them went through her bag, a couple of the others walked a little bit away and she could hear them arguing about whether to leave her or take her with them.

Karin blurted out, “If you let me go, I promise not to tell anyone anything! I swear I’ll just go my own way and I won’t say a word. You can have everything in my backpack. I’ll just go.”

“Come on,” said the one who took hold of her arm, jerking her forward. She wasn’t expecting it, and she slipped on the wet leaves, almost falling. “I’m not taking