Not then.
With a scream, I flung myself past the end of the couch and threw myself at them. Surprise was the only thing on my side as I barreled into the first one, knocking him to the side as I went for the next one. My nails raked down his face as he realized what was happening and shoved me to the floor.
Something was happening behind me. I could hear the noises, but all of my attention was on the man above me. As he swung his leg back to kick me, I wrapped my own around his opposite leg and forced his knee to buckle, taking him down to the ground. Something crashed in the living room as I scrambled on top of the man, going for his eyes.
I didn’t make it there.
With one swing of his meaty arm, I flew backward, my face exploding with pain. I wasn’t even sure where he’d hit mebecause my entire face felt like it had been crushed. Blinking, I tried to see past the darkness encroaching on my vision.
The man was rising, and I couldn’t let him. Moving blindly, I wrapped myself around one of his legs and tried to pull him down to the floor again. My muscles seemed too weak, like they wouldn’t move the way they’d been taught to.
I let out a whoosh of air as he kicked me in the side, but I didn’t let go.
Finn was in the living room. I couldn’t let the man get past me. It was my one job. I just had to make sure that he couldn’t get to Finn.
“Little bitch,” the man muttered.
I cried out as he wrapped a fist in my braids and yanked, wrenching my head back so far it felt like my neck was going to snap.
Then he hit me. Once. Twice. The third time, everything went black.
When I woke up, I didn’t know how long it had been, and I wasn’t sure I could move. It felt like someone was sitting on my chest, making it impossible to breathe, and my left eye wouldn’t open.
“Where’s the kid?” one of the men said, his voice low and vicious. It was coming from somewhere behind my head, but when I tried to look, black spots danced in my vision.
A wet noise followed his question, and then a moan so quiet that I nearly missed it.
“Let’s go. He’s not here,” another voice said.
“I fuckin’ saw him.”
“Well, he’s not here now. Come on. We get caught here, we’re fucked.”
“We come back without the kid, we’re equally as fucked.”
“He said no collateral damage, man.” There was a long pause. “We’re already fucked.”
It took every bit of willpower I had to close my one good eye as footsteps moved in my direction. My heartbeat thundered in my ears as they passed me, not even pausing as they let themselves back out the sliding glass door in the kitchen.
Once they were gone, I opened my eye again, blinking over and over to try to see past the haze of red that covered it.
When I tried to call for Finn or Dylan, I couldn’t get my mouth to open, and the sound came out like a garbled groan. Trying to ignore the way my head spun, I rolled to my side and then onto my belly, forcing my arms and legs underneath me so I could crawl toward the living room, following a wet clicking sound to its source.
Where the coffee table had been before it was smashed to pieces, the plush tan carpet was stained red, and in the center of it, Dylan was lying on his back.
“Dyl,” I called, the word barely a whisper. I gagged on the blood that was running down my throat and crawled toward him, pain making him float in and out of focus.
When I reached his head, panic beat at the base of my throat.
His eyes were on mine, but his mouth was opening and closing as he wheezed and choked on the blood that was pooling in his mouth. I lifted my head to look at the rest of him, and nearly fell when I realized that his hands were fisted in his shirt, pushing against some kind of wounds that were bleeding everywhere.
“Phone,” I mumbled, shaking as I looked around the floor.
There had to be one somewhere. Mine had been in my pocket, but it wasn’t there anymore. Dylan was always holding his. I searched frantically, gasping shallowly. With every breath, my chest felt like it was being ripped in half.
Finally, I found Dylan’s phone halfway under his side of the couch only because there was a notification that lit up the screen.I pulled it to me and tried to focus on the screen, but it was impossible.
When the dispatcher’s voice finally came through, my eye filled with tears.
