Lucky shot! I hit his head.
“Good job, sweetie!”Daddy used to compliment me like that when I would get A’s on tests or tell him the scientific names of body parts.
“More, Daddy, more!” I yelled, and giggled, just like when he used to push me in the swings in the backyard.
For a few minutes, we got into a pretty good rhythm, and either she stabbed them, or I shot. It was all fun until I ran out of bullets. She screamed as they dragged her out of the room. A sharp searing pain exploded right under my right shoulder. The hot, ripping pain stole my breath before I realized what it was. When I placed my hand over it to massage it, I felt the warm wetness and saw the new layer of bright red.
It’s going to be over soon.Clarity swept into every corner of my mind. There had been so much I wanted to do with my life in this gorgeous world.
Then the memories of him popped in chaotically, just like I’d lovedmy Killian. “Killian…” I sobbed, remembering the many times I looked at his face up close, searching for new freckles as if each meant the birth of a new galaxy. It played like a movie, he was right in front of me, smiling at the same age I last saw him.“Killian?”
He chuckled. “This is good, my beautiful angel. It’s good.”
“It hurts …”
He cupped my cheek. “I missed you.”
“I missed you too.”
“Let’s never part again,” he said.
“Never.”
All my energy melted away. The gun was too heavy, so I put it down beside me. It winked at me and asked, “We had some fun, didn’t we?” I nodded. At least six men dressed in black combat ran toward me. “And they say women are dramatic,” I whispered to the gun.
I’m already dying, gentlemen, no need for all the tactical gear.The world swirled.Please God, wherever you take me, please let me see him just this one time. Please let me see my Killian.
33. Time’s Up
MAGDALENA
Only as they dragged me out did I hear the blaring alarm and see the red lights flashing in the hallway. For seconds at a time, I would wake to the throbbing in my shoulder, the blinding white lights in the medical room, and a dominating voice yelling commands and demanding tools.
“For fuck’s sake, how many men does it take to keep one tiny woman down!” Many hands pinned me to the bed as I descended back into unconsciousness.
I hadn’t realized I was fighting them. Long forceps were shoved into the wound, searching for the bullet, stealing my breath and voice. Loud beeping roared in my ears. I couldn’t tell if I was still hearing the gun or if it was the machines signaling my lack of breathing. I was exhausted beyond belief, barely able to keep my eyes open.
“Clean it up!” he yelled, and they poured cold liquid into the open wound, sizzling it. The smell of disinfectant overwhelmed me. Why would they do this? Were they going to harvest my organs as Sir had warned? I didn’t have time to figure it out.
I woke up alone, strapped to a bed. For too long, I was left to my thoughts. No matter how much I tried to deny it or forget, Sir’s death hurt. I wondered how he’d been killed. What had they found out about him that made them eliminate him? Was it about me? Had they tortured him to death too?
An unrecognizable man in a suit sauntered in. He was so quiet for so long that I didn’t know if he was real. “You have caused quite the stir. Your trainer had actually sealed a deal with one of our best buyers, but after learning the level of violence you are capable of, no one wants you. You will never get out of this place. You owe us the lives of twelve innocent men and a billion dollars.”
Innocent men? Has such a thing ever existed? Wait, a billion?I wasn’t sure if I should be proud to be worth so much. Sir was indeed a master in sales. A chuckle burst out of me at describing the men “innocent.” After recovering all my memories, no one could convince me there was such a thing. Where had he found so many blue unicorns? The laughter was brief because any movement unbounded a firestorm of agony on my body.
My eyes followed his as he walked from left to right at the foot of the bed. “I hope you weren’t stupid enough to believe we were going to allow you to die peacefully… from just a bullet and a little too much blood loss?” He smiled, then clucked his tongue while slowly shaking his head. “Tsk tsk tsk. Such a bad bad slave. We’ll give you a day to recuperate and then you’ll pay for what you did.”
They hadn’t given me anything to numb the pain, so I lay there, with my shoulder keeping me awake, each merciless throb reminding me they had much worse torture tactics in line for me. But they couldn’t torture me forever. Sooner or later, my body would give out, and then I prayed I would see my family and Killian in whatever afterlife there was. I had so many questions for Sir. I was willing to search for him in hell to get the answers to those questions.
Did you ever feel it, Sir? Did you ever truly care for me? Or was it all a trick? Was I truly just a fool?
When six men in tactical gear barged in, I knew time was up. A screech roared out of me when their fingers sank into the wound as they dragged me out of the room.
“Stop, stop! Let me go!” Like a rabid savage animal, I screamed and tried to pull my right arm away.
They ignored me and the doctor who warned, “You’re going to tear her wound open again if you take her like that.” He sighed at the lack of adjustment.
They stomped fast through the halls until they dropped me in front of a door where I tried to crawl away, but oh-too soon they caught me again. I was sure they were pissed at me for killing their friends.
