6. Bales of Hay

Chrissy and Emily finally find out who is chasing them, and it's even worse than they feared.

When Chrissy woke it was already light out. She slowly stood up and stretched and twisted the kinks out of her body that came with sleeping on the ground. The morning air was a little chilly. It was hard to tell what time it was, but she could tell it was still early. She had spent half the night wondering what to do about their predicament.

She finally made a decision. She stooped down and gently shook Emily awake.

“What time is it?” asked Emily as she rubbed her eyes.

“I don't know,” Chrissy answered, “But it's still early. I've decided that we're going to try to make a run for it. I have no idea where we are, but if we can get to a major highway and find a gas station or something, we can call the cops. I'm going to check the road to see if the coast is clear first, though.” She took the last energy bar out of the bag and handed it to Emily along with the remaining water. “Here, have this for breakfast, but go easy on the water, that's all we have.”

“What are you going to have?” asked Emily.

“Oh... uh... I'm not hungry,” she shrugged, “You go ahead.” She started packing their things into the bag while Emily ate. She felt a tap on her shoulder and turned to look. The child was holding the remaining half of the energy bar toward her.

“You always tell me that breakfast is the most important meal of the day,” she said in a slightly scolding tone.

Chrissy gave her a half smile. “You're right,” she replied, “I do, don't I?” She took the offered half of energy bar and popped it into her mouth. “Thanks, Kid.”

Once she had their things packed and they were ready to go, the two of them walked to the edge of the woods next to the field. They watched the road for about fifteen or twenty minutes without seeing any traffic. Chrissy was about to go get the motorcycle when she saw a car approaching. Her heart leapt when she realized it was a sheriff's patrol car. She stood up and was about to run across the field to flag it down when she saw another vehicle approaching from the opposite direction. It was the white pickup truck with the tinted windows. She quickly ducked back down into the brush and watched. Both vehicles slowed to a stop in front of where they were hiding. Two men got out of the truck and approached the sheriff's car. She recognized one of them as the muscular man in the green SUV. He had a large bandage on the side of his head. He must've been injured when she threw the rock through their window.

“Gotcha!” Chrissy muttered with a self satisfied smirk. They watched as the two men spoke with the deputy in the patrol car for several minutes. Another vehicle soon approached from the same direction as the pickup truck. It was a small delivery van with a package delivery service logo on the side. It stopped when it reached the other two vehicles and a man got out and joined the others. The men were pointing around at the woods as if they were discussing a search plan. Chrissy grew concerned.

“That's like the van I saw yesterday,” said Emily, “They were loading little bales of hay into it.”

Chrissy furrowed her brow at her. “What are you talking about?”

“Yesterday when we were at that general store. I was looking for you and I went into that big building next door. There were some men loading little bales of hay into a van just like that one.” She pointed. “They looked mad that I was in there, so I left right away and found you.”

“Little bales of hay?” Chrissy asked.

“Yeah, like this.” She indicated the size of a concrete block with her hands. “They were covered with paper, but the paper was torn on some of them and I could see the hay inside.”

Chrissy's eyes suddenly widened. “That wasn't hay! That was marijuana! Oh, my God, Emily! You stumbled on a marijuana operation!”

Emily's jaw dropped. “You mean those guys are drug dealers?!”

“Oh, Christ!” exclaimed Chrissy, “That explains why they're after us! And it looks like the sheriff's department is in on it with them.” She closed her eyes and shook her head.

“Damn!! That means we're not safe anywhere in this whole county!”

Author's Note

Suggestions and constructive criticisms are always welcome

Reviews

[Nienor Niniel]

Oh, dear! Chrissy and Emily are in even deeper trouble than this first appeared to be. (Though it is ironic that if these men had simply dismissed Emily as a silly little kid and ignored her and Chrissy, no one would have been any wiser....) I can't wait to see how they get out of this!

[Craig2591]

Thank you very much for continuing to read and review.

[Tina Kline]

I did miss this chapter and it does explain a lot!!!! of what is going on. It's important to have the whole story.