Page 16 of Ripple Effect: Ep. 1

She does as she’s told, slowly bending down until she’s on her knees. I can see it in her eyes, though, she’s plotting something. Cunning little fox. I’d have brought this show to a screeching halt by now, but I’m curious to see what the girl does. She’s got my interest piqued.

“Drop the knife,” he orders and when she fails to comply, he racks the chamber. “Don’t need your hands, bitch. Now drop the knife before I blow both of them off your shoulders.”

Guy has the shittiest kill lines I’ve ever heard.

A clang echoes in the building as she drops the knife before Frank kicks it away.

“Good girl. You’re such a good girl, aren’t you?” He sucks his lip into his mouth and smiles. “It’s time to make you do some bad things.”

“Please don’t hurt me,” she says, but I’m not convinced. This girl’s too crafty to give up so easily.

“Oh, I can’t promise that, girl. Down side of having a big dick.” He grabs his crotch as he steps toward her, gun still aimed at her skull. “But if you do everything I tell ya, I might keep you for a while.”

I want to laugh at that but I don’t. The only place this asshole will be taking her is straight to the bowels of hell when I finish with him.

“Please.” She sniffles and bows her head. “I don’t want to do this.”

“Well, then I guess you shouldn’t have asked for it.” After unzipping his pants, he yanks his dick out, gripping the back of her head. Once again, I’m disappointed when she breaks into a sob. I’d hoped for more of a fighter in this girl.

Enough of this shit.

I pull my blade from its sheath.

Ready to get the show on the road, I step out into the factory and stop when Frank’s agonized cry reverberates against the surrounding dilapidated walls. He tucks his hands between his legs and bends forward, offering a view of the girl’s bloody face.

Fierce little shit. Hot damn, that’s more like it!

She spins in the opposite direction to get away and lets out a shriek when her hair stretches from Frank’s palm. Scrambling toward her, he gets one good punch to her face and holds the gun to her temple. “Fucking whore! I’ll fuck your corpse!” Before he can take the shot, I come from behind and slam the hilt of my blade into his temple, dropping him to the floor.

His gun falls to the ground beside him, and I tuck it into my back pocket as I watch his eyes grow heavy, his head rolling back and forth against the gravel, succumbing to the darkness that’s about to take him under.

“Stay put,” I say, trailing my gaze after the girl who runs blindly through the dim-lit factory. “I’m not finished with you.”

Following the sniffles, it doesn’t take long to zero in on her location, where she hides behind a large steel cabinet, against the wall.

“Marco,” I say aloud.

A beat of silence hangs on the air before the cabinet rattles and she flies around the corner with a mallet. “Polo!”

I dodge her swing, nab the business end of the mallet and on instinct, knock the handle into her jaw.

She drops to the floor and in seconds, a skinny rivulet of blood streaks down her cheek.

Tipping my head, I stare down at her, noticing how beautiful she is beneath all that homeless girl shit. The caramel and peach glow of her skin, framed by honey locks, with full pouty lips that have me grinding my teeth, and I wonder how old she is. I’ve seen some tough bitches on the streets, hardened by life, but this girl takes the cake. A fighter, for sure.

A foreign sensation moves through me at the sight of her lying knocked out and bleeding. Something I’ve never felt before as it relates to the majority of women I’ve encountered over the years. Heat burns inside of me, warning of dangerous ground.

She’s stoked my curiosity, but unfortunately, she’s the cat, and I know all too well how that saying ends.

6

Dylan

The taste of copper coats my tongue, mirroring the tinny scent of metal that’s clogged my nose. Pain throbs in my jaw that feels unhinged, sending zaps of electricity to my head, and eyes still closed, I attempt to slide it back and forth to loosen the ache. Pressure has my skull feeling full, like it’s about to explode, while blackness hangs in the center of my view as a scene fills in from the fringes. I blink to clear the film that shields my eyes and leaves an annoying blur to the objects in front of me. A wide glow inside a box. Not a box. Many boxes. Not boxes. The scene widens to grids on a window and the light shrinks to a floodlight outside of it.

My world completely upside down.

I suck in a gasp and lift my head, where my feet hang above me, tied to a metal beam. “Oh my God!”