Page 3 of The Orc Protector's Secret Baby

Jump and die, or stay and die.

I look back, watching the group of orcs still running through the trees. This is it. They’ve finally bested me.

My head turns towards the cliff, and I already know what I’m going to do.

“Looks like you’re trapped now!” someone calls.

I glance towards the orcs again, just as an arrow comes towards me. I try to move out of its way, but I’m too late.

I scream, so loud I’m sure animals all across the forest heard me. I look at my arm, seeing the arrow sticking out of it and nearly throwing up. It isn’t the first time, but I’ve never had one so deep before.

The pain is almost too much to bear. Blood is pouring out of my arm at a concerning rate.

The orcs laugh at the sight of me standing here and begin taunting me.

“It’s okay, we’ll go easy on you!” one of them says.

“Yeah, we’ll be quick about it!”

No, you won’t, I think. Because I won’t be giving you that choice.

I turn around and run towards the edge of the cliff. When I reach it, I give them one more look.

“Fuck you, you fucking monsters!” I scream at them.

With that, I fling myself over the edge.

2

HAYDEN

Idon’t want to die.

Truth be told, I have every reason to want that. I’ve been tortured and forced to do things I didn’t want to do for my entire life. It’s been never ending, and I have no reason to think that it’ll ever be any different.

But that’s exactly why I want to stay alive.

I have to know. If there’s a better life out there, if there’s a place for me, no matter how small, I have to find it. Even if it takes my whole life, I can’t give up.

I start falling down the cliff faster than I expected, but I’m able to grab onto a jutting rock a few feet down. A bolt of pain shoots through the arm with the arrow in it, and I hold back a scream.

The rock is slippery with moss, so I struggle to hang on. My hands keep slipping, it’s impossible to get a grip.

“No,” I gasp, trying my best to not lose my hold.

I glance down, which turns out to be a huge mistake. The ground is so far away, and there’s nothing to break my fall. If I make it all the way down there, I’ll be splattered on the rocks within seconds.

My fingers start to slip again, but I regain my hold once more. I can feel myself starting to panic, but I ignore it. Panicking is not an option right now. All that will do is make this worse.

“Fucking bitch!” an orc shouts. “She jumped!”

He sounds like he’s a bit farther away. My eyes bug out as I realize that falling isn’t the only thing I need to worry about. If they look over the edge, they’ll see me right away. Either way, I’m dead.

I take a deep breath in and let it out slowly, before looking down again. This time, I’m not looking at the ground, but instead at the rock wall I’m clinging to.

It isn’t just one smooth wall. There are cracks everywhere, and there are rocks jutting out, but most are too small for me to use. And the ones that are bigger are way too far from me. There’s an outcropping nearby, but that’s also too far.

“We can still find her. She’ll be down there somewhere,” an orc says.