Chapter 10: Into the Root Cellar
I gripped Leo tighter against my chest, his little arms wrapping frantically around my neck as the sound of heavy boots flooded the front hallway. The floorboards vibrated beneath our feet with every aggressive stride the enforcers took toward the kitchen.
"Go! Now!" Viktor barked, shoving open the pantry door and tearing away the rug that concealed the wooden root cellar hatch.
Sarah dropped to her knees first, pulling the iron ring and hauling the heavy wooden doors upward with a sharp groan of rusted hinges. Cool, damp air smelling of moist earth and stored potatoes billowed up from the darkness below. Without a moment's hesitation, Sarah scrambled down the wooden ladder into the blackness.
"Evelyn, take Leo down," Viktor ordered, standing guard at the threshold of the pantry, his pistol raised and aimed squarely at the swinging kitchen door. The shadows in the hallway shifted as dark silhouettes began to crowd the entrance.
"I'm not leaving you here to die," I said, my voice trembling as I balanced my son in one arm and reached out with the other to grab Viktor's unbuttoned white shirt.
"You're not leaving me," Viktor said, turning his head for one agonizing second to look into my eyes. A fierce, unyielding smile touched the corner of his lips. "I'm buying you time. Run through the barn, follow the tree line to the highway, and don't stop for anyone. I'll be right behind you."
"Promise me," I choked out, tears spilling over my lashes.
"I promise," he said softly, pressing a quick, rough kiss against my forehead before gently prying my fingers loose and pushing me toward the open hatch. "Go!"
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I climbed down the wooden ladder into the damp earth, clutching Leo as the first gunshot cracked through the farmhouse kitchen above us. The sound echoed deafeningly in the enclosed space, followed by shouting, the shattering of glass, and the dull thud of bodies colliding in the dark.
I hit the dirt floor of the cellar, pulling Sarah and Leo behind me as we plunged into the pitch-black tunnel leading toward the old barn. Behind us, the sounds of war raged in the house we had just abandoned, marking the explosive point of no return for all of us.
