There was nowhere to go. 

Carla banged on the chain link fence in frustration. If only she had the superhuman strength to make it give way. Her shoes were sinking into the mud as the downpour raged around her. She could barely see the fence right in front her much less what lay on the other side. The pitch darkness of the night and the incessant rain made for pitiful conditions to attempt an escape. But beggars couldn’t be choosers. 

The barking dogs were closing in on her by the second. She couldn’t go back. But there was no way forward. Climbing the fence was a sure way to break her neck. No way she’d make it that easy for her captors to get rid of her. 

What now?

“Run up 100 metres to your left. There’s an opening there.”

She was sure she was hallucinating. The stress of the last three weeks had finally broken her mind. Until a man dressed in black from head to toe emerged on the other side of the fence. The glimmer of the nearby security light illuminated his outline.

“Do you want to get caught?” He snarled at her. “Run! Now!”

His harsh whisper broke through her trance. Her feet moved on autopilot as her mind struggled to catch up. 

By the time she made it to the gap in the fence he was already there. Waiting on the other end. He held up the fence so she could crawl through. 

But her brain finally kicked in. “Wait. How do I know I can trust you?”

“You don’t.” He looked into horizon behind her. “But you know for sure you can’t trust them. So…what will it be?”

This edition of Telios Chapters is an excerpt from Checkmate By Mary Kamau.

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