The Sacrifice — Janice Daugharty

Ah, end of summer, one more week till school starts, and Ruth and her friend Mandy are wading downriver near Ruth's grandfather's cattle and hay farm. Always fun! That is until they spy a newly built house along an upper bank and decide to explore it and are interrupted by two escaped prisoners on their way to Florida. They stab Mandy and take Ruth hostage. She's never been even slapped, but now she is exposed to the kind of evil that she's only heard about. One of the men, Rewis, is a serial killer. He loves to shock. There are many sacrifices on the three-month boat ride downriver, but THE sacrifice at the end of the journey is Rewis's most shocking.