La Shonda Presses on.

La Shonda decided to press on.

After stopping for a moment to look at the map, La Shonda noticed that the safe house she had been making her way to was not far. Praise Jesus for small miracles. La Shonda thought. It was a saying that her Grams had been fond of using. La Shonda began to smile at the memory of Vonetta Granville her matriarch and role model. La Shonda knew while her Grams would not approve of her methods she would understand why she had chosen this path.

Grams I'm doing this for our family. Oh, it's been so hard since you passed. Malik got to running with the wrong crowd. It's hard to find a job back home with a clean sheet, but if you have to check that felony box... And Taye... Oh, Taye... Grams he wasn't even doing anything. Just sitting in the passenger seat. That cop got jumpy when his boy Rakim got out all mad for being pulled over for no reason. Racist bastard just started firing. Hit Taye twice. Rakim had a record and that piece of shit DA didn't try very hard with Grand Jury. That cop got off scot free, and we got stuck with medical bills.

La Shonda felt tears well in her eyes. No, I have to be strong. Any weakness could mean one of the hunters gets the jump on me.

Just then La Shonda spotted the safe house. It was different than the ones close to the starting area. It had no windows, and the door had a large wheel instead of a handle.

La Shonda approached it cautiously. She spun the wheel, and the door began to open. Once inside she shut the door. La Shonda noticed that there was a separate latch on the inside and locked the door behind her. A set of stairs led down to a basement. Down there was food, yoga pants, a sports bra, a pair of tennis shoes, a few steamy romance novels, a couple of porn magazines, and most importantly a length of rope. Looking up La Shonda saw that there was a map on the wall that showed a secret tunnel leading from the safe house to just a few yards from the cliff face.

"Glory!" La Shonda said with a shout. She decided the best course of action was to rest up, get a bite to eat, and then after darkness fell make her way to the cliff.

The serenity of the situation was harshly interrupted by a furious banging on the door.

"Miss, Miss, can you hear?" A female voice shouted frantically. "You just have to help me! You're my only hope!"

La Shonda took a second before deciding to answer. "Yeah I can hear you. Why do you need my help?"

"It's my sister. Oh God, please let me! I'm so scared a man might find me!" The voice was frantic. Its tenor quivered as though its owner was on the verge of a breakdown.

"Calm down, sugar." La Shonda said trying to be reassuring. "What's this about your sister?"

"We were together as a team. She said we should follow you. Said you seemed like you knew what you were doing, not like the other girls. But when you went up in the tree one of the hunters... She went... went to distract him and told me to follow you. Said she would catch up. But she hasn't. Please, you have to help me find her." With that, the girl on the other side of the door began to weep.

La Shonda had her hand on the latch ready to open the door. Then doubt crept in. Is this girl for real or is this some hunter ploy?