Emma thought Andrea was going to kill Richard. For some reason, Andrea took a deep breath before walking away.
“You’re lucky it is lunch time, slave.” Andrea told Richard as she walked towards her friend. “You can all break off,” Andrea told them.
Everyone relaxed.
“Let’s go under that tree,” Richard told Emma and they went to sit under one of the trees at the edge of the clearing on the lower end. Emma followed him and they sat on the grass.
“I thought she was going to kill you,” Emma confessed. “That was brave, and a bit stupid if I may add. Alison already hates me. If Andrea had killed you because of me, I’m pretty sure Alison would definitely kill me.”
Two women walked into the clearing with dishes and plates. They camped near Andrea and her friend, then started serving the food.
“I’m starving,” Richard complained.
A while later, the food was brought to them. The food was rice and black beans. The boiled rice looked white and unflavoured. The beans looked like they had been put in a saucepan filed with water and boiled. Emma took a mouthful and chewed. The food was tasteless and bland. She picked the bowl up and started eating since she didn’t have any other option. She either had to eat the terrible food or starve.
When they stopped talking and each focused on their food, Emma started thinking about Tommy. She couldn’t help but wonder why they killed her boyfriend. She was pretty sure it wasn’t any of the group who did it because they had been together all day when Tommy disappeared. The pack warriors had probably killed him, but why not just put him down and capture him like the rest? Could it be that someone else had killed Tommy? She resolved to ask one of the warriors when they got back to the pack’s household area.
“What did you do to Andrea?” Richard asked. “She seems to have it in for you.”
“Oh, we fought for some territory up north. Tommy and I defeated her and her friend so we took the spot and they had to continue moving. She is trying to get revenge for that.”
“Well, that sucks. But don’t worry I’m here for you. I will protect you.”
“Why are you being so nice to me? Why would you put your life at risk for me when we haven’t known each other for long?”
Richard was quiet for a while.
“Because I’m in love with you,” he blurted out.
Emma’s lips parted in shock. She had not expected him to drop a bombshell like that on her. “Oh,” she said. “I don’t know what to say about that really.”
“I totally understand. You just lost the man you loved. Obviously, this is isn’t the kind of thing you’d want to hear right now. I know that you don’t love me, and may never do but that’s just how I feel. I wouldn’t have told you if you didn’t ask. You don’t have to be nice to me or be pressured to act a certain way because of my feelings. I totally understand that you’re not interested so don’t worry about it.”
Damn right. She was not interested in loving anyone. She was still hurting from losing tommy and being rejected by her mate. She had way too many problems to be thinking about love. Emma cursed herself for asking the stupid question. Why else would he have been risking his life if he wasn’t possessed by the wicked feeling called love? That emotion had caused the ruin of so many people and clearly, it wasn’t about to stop.
Andrea stood up, her whip on her hand. As she strode towards the two, her whip cracked loudly. Emma hurriedly tried to finish her cold meal, knowing what Andrea had come to tell them. She didn’t want to risk more punishment from the mean woman.
“Get back to work, you lazy loafers.” Andrea yelled. “You have had enough time to rest. Now, get back to digging.”
Emma and Richard scrambled to their feet immediately, their bodies still weak from exhaustion. Sitting down had made Emma weaker than she felt before but she had to get back before that whip met her back.
Emma and Richard parted ways, each returning to their tools and started digging under the scorching sun which shone mercilessly upon them. Andrea watched Emma closely. There was a smirk on her face and it looked like she was ready to punish her if she made the smallest mistake. For the next hour, Emma and her colleagues worked in silence, not daring to take too much rest. They toiled until the sun went down.
The relief Emma felt when the day was over was enormous. Her entire body was aching and she was a sweaty mess but she was glad it was done. Andrea herded them back into the yard where they were prayed with water and given a change of clothes. There was a shack where they changed clothes from. It was the only private place they had aside from the toilet so they went in one by one. There were four other slaves that hadn’t been part of their group. They also washed in the same place but they resided in another building.
The four were standing behind the shack as they waited to be led back to their side. Since everyone had changed, there was no one in the shack. Emma had forgotten to leave her head wrap in the laundry basket inside there. When she went to put it back, she heard the other slaves talking. She paused when she heard the word escape tunnel.
“Are you sure about what you’re talking about?” the female one asked.
“Yes, it is the same tunnel that Anna used to escape. Anna was the girl who was leading us before we met you guys. She escaped and told me about a tunnel that she used. We have to look for it.”
“Well, they must be guarding it if Anna escaped through it,” one of them reasoned.
“Yeah, but there’s a chance that they don’t know that we know about it. When Anna returned, she left us immediately and went to the human world. These people don’t know that Anna was part of our group. We have try this, guys. I can’t take this anymore.”
“Oka-
Emma left the shack before they could discover her. She joined her group and acted like she hadn’t heard the exciting news.
If there was a tunnel that could be used to escape venom pack, she decided she would find and use it.