“Breaking the rules already? I told Brother Marvin it was a mistake to wait so long to return you to us. You will answer me when I speak to you!” His hand clamps down on my shoulder, squeezing hard enough I see stars. With a tiny whimper, my shaky legs give out completely. If it weren’t for the other two holding me up, I’d be face down in the dirt.
“She can’t, asshole!” Parker shouts. Two more of Prophet’s clerics muscle her forward. Zip ties cut into her wrists, but her legs are free, and she fights with everything she has, twisting and kicking. One of her boots catches the guy on her right in the shin hard enough that he falls, taking her down with him.
She’s up again in a heartbeat, ducks her shoulder, and tries to ram the brother holding my left arm. But before she reaches me, she’s caught around the waist and thrown to the ground.
Brother Malone chuckles as he stalks forward and plants his boot in the center of her chest. “Two hundred and sixteen of us. One of you. Brother Marvin said you were smart. Guess he doesn’t know what he’s talking about.”
“Fuck you, asshole,” Parker manages, each word punctuated by a pained gasp. Brother Malone shifts more of his weight forward.
“Stop!” That’s what I want to say. But it comes out garbled, the word shattering on my lips.
Parker makes a small, pained sound.
He’s going to break her ribs. Or her breastbone.
“St….st…” It’s the best I can do.
“What’s wrong with her?” Brother Malone asks, finally removing his boot so Parker can breathe.
The glare she gives him could freeze Hell itself. The clerics haul her to her feet, and Malone grabs her chin hard enough to bruise. “Rule number one. Women do not speak unless spoken to. Rule number two. If a brother asks you a question, you answer.”
“Fuck…you…and your…rules,” Parker wheezes.
His hand flies, hitting her cheek with a sickening crack.
“Rule number three. Members of the Blessed Flock are not allowed to swear,” he growls.
“Good thing…I’m not one…of them.” Parker stands up a little straighter. “Grace can’t speak. Because you assholes stole her from her hospital bed twenty-four hours after she had fuckin’ brain surgery.”
Brother Malone hits her again, but this time, with a closed fist. She slumps forward, blood dripping from her mouth.
“Bring them,” Brother Malone snaps. “Prophet says the preparations for tomorrow’s ceremony need to start immediately.”
Terror steals my breath in an instant. The clerics on either side of me clamp down on my arms, half-carrying, half-dragging me past the barn. The horses spook as the helicopter lifts off again, stamping and tossing their heads. The blades stir the air so fast, dust stings my eyes.
Parker. Where is Parker? I twist, straining against the men dragging me up the hill.
She staggers between two clerics I don’t know—or can’t remember—her eyes glassy, her lip split and swollen. She looks wrecked—but she’s still fighting. I see it in the way her shoulders set, the way she keeps jerking against their grip, like if she just times it right, she’ll break free. Her gaze locks on mine, hard and steady, before she drops her eyes to her hands, zip tied in front of her.
I follow her gaze. Her fingers are moving. Slowly. Carefully.
A-J W-I-L-L C-O-M-E.
AJ will come.
God, I want to believe her. But the memories claw at me—sentry towers, men with AK-47s laughing in the darkness. If AJ comes here…they’ll kill him. They’ll kill him because of me.
My throat burns. Tears streak hot down my cheeks. My arms feel like stone, my fingers thick and useless, but I force them to move. I can’t let my last words on this earth be nothing but broken sounds from my broken brain. I point to her, then start to form letters.
N-O G-I-V-E U-P.
Don’t give up.
Parker sees it. She jerks her chin at me, fierce, protective even now when all hope for me is gone. Her lip trembles but her eyes—God, her eyes burn. She understands. She won’t stop.
They drag us higher, toward the glow at the heart of the compound. The altar looms ahead like a sadistic beacon, ringed by lanterns and a trench of open flame. My stomach heaves. Every instinct screams at me to run, but I can’t. All I can do is stumble forward, and pray Parker finds a way out.
I half expect them to tie me to the altar and leave me there until tomorrow night. But Brother Malone takes a hard left, and we’re forced to follow.
