With a sharp intake of breath, the truth I knew none of us liked to admit came. “I’m scared.”
Anger boiled in my veins at the bastards that took the others from me, and how they’d hurt the only survivor left beyond myself, stripping them of any belief of going home.
Fuck this.
Just as I was about to say more, the pounding of feet made their way toward us. I heard the door being unlocked, before it flew open, and the ugliest, meanest asshole I’d seen since we’d been taken hostage stood in the doorway, a sinister smile on his face.
He stalked our way with purpose, roughly grabbing my friend, and yanked them into the air from where we lay on the floor. A cry of pain rang throughout the room.
“Looks like it’s your time to play,” the evil fucker said, laughing. “Maybe we’ll have a little extra fun this round.”
My arms may be zip tied behind my back, but the idiots hadn’t bound my ankles. I kicked out with my leg, hitting him in the shin and he went down, releasing his prisoner on a dime.
“You want to fucking play? Take me, you sick bastard!”
This is what I’d been doing any time I could to try and save my buddies. It worked for a few days, and my fractured body was proof of that. I’d become a human punching bag. I may have been struggling, but I wasn’t done fighting.
Though, with only two of us left, I’d be lying if I said I wasn’t worried about how long I could hold out. But I had to try because Dusty was in no shape to endure a beating after being shot and all the loss of blood sustained. Fever had set in, along with infection, and I’d been surprised that my friend was even still with me.
I was going to do everything in my power to keep it that way.
From my seated position, I mustered up all the energy I could, and brought my leg up, kicking out again. Hitting the shithead in his temple, he hit the ground with a thunk. Thatseemed to put all of his attention on me. Pissed as hell, he jumped to his feet and pulled me up, so I was standing face to face with him.
“Fine, your turn first.” He laughed wickedly, spittle flying in my face.
When he started roughly dragging me toward the door, I didn’t fight back. I needed to get out of the room and keep the focus on me.
An ungodly wail ripped from Dusty’s throat. “Nooooo!”
I turned my head over my shoulder and looked at the woman lying in a lump on the floor.
“You fight,” I told her like I had moments before. “Stay strong.”
She tried pushing herself up on her hands and knees. “Not without you.” Her body was too weak, and she crashed back to the floor with a moan. They hadn’t even bothered to tie her up in her condition. She posed no threat of helping any of us or getting out on her own.
Beaten and bruised, my shoulder was now being yanked out of its socket as the man wrenched me through the threshold into the hall.
“Fight!” I yelled. “It’s too late for me.”
And that’s when the lights went out, something exploded, and the sounds of gunfire rang out.
Suddenly, I was released, but before I could move, my assailant somehow swung out, hitting me in the head with something hard. I fell back into the room onto my ass and managed to kick the door shut with my feet before scooting my way across the dirt-covered floor toward Dusty.
Blood dripped from my head into my eyes as splinters gouged into my skin even through my filthy clothes. When I made it to her, I covered her body with mine the best I could. Just in case my suspicions were wrong, I needed to protect her.
But I felt it in my broken bones.
We were getting out of there.
“Dusty Blu Baker,” I said, emphasizing her full name like a parent would a child. “You fucking hold on. I think the cavalry has arrived,” I whispered just before everything went black.
GERMANY
Come back to me.
The whispered words tickled my subconscious, stirring me from the grogginess that worked to pull me under like quicksand.
Patience.
