She was unprepared for this. The combined stink of the truck’s exhaust, the fetid odour of the unwashed men who held her captive and the sweet perfume of her own fear. It all made her nauseous. She had seen the horrors of what could happen to a person and when they were misused.
Euan had told her that the new dystopia was now driven by one man. A man who had hurt Nick, a man who had hurt Lily, a man who had killed Smith.
A man who likely intended to hurt her too.
‘Pull over, let’s have a taste before we hand her over.’
A filthy hand gripped Kira’s knee and pushed its way up her thigh. Her adrenaline spiked, the nausea grew. She clamped her legs together and swiped at his wandering fingers with her bound wrists. He cackled and leered into her. ‘We’re going to have so much fun with you, pretty-thing.’
The bile was there, it rose up her throat, drowned her senses. He was predator, she was prey, and she had never known vulnerability such as this in all her life. She thought taking the chance to approach Euan and Nick all those months ago had been the greatest challenge she would face. Living this, she had been such a fool. A naïve, ridiculous fool.
The driver grunted and the vehicle slowed. Fetid breath was husky with vile desire, fingers wormed and pried, hair was in her eyes, the taste of terror was in her mouth. It was with a moment of sudden clarity that Kira realised this was reality. Horrible, inexplicable, real.
The truck rumbled to a stop. A clatter and a clang shortly followed.
Kira marshalled her courage, pulled her strength inwards and faced her captor. Lip curled, she was proud of herself when her voice didn’t shake. ‘They’re coming after me. They’ll never stop. They’ll destroy anyone who touches me.’
The man laughed again, a wet sound of soggy pleasure. ‘Then they’ll be killing quite a few lads by the time they catch up. The Reaper likes to share his toys.’
He leaned forward. Black teeth, black gums, skin ruddy from too much sun and not enough vitamins. Instinct was still in command and she kicked out. Her boot jarred him, forced him backwards, but it wasn’t enough. He pounced, gripped her, shook her until her teeth snapped, her ears rung, and her will waned.
But she wouldn’t cry, she wouldn’t cower. If she had learned anything, she understood that love didn’t come in linear shapes, and it certainly couldn’t be tainted by something as physical as scars or abuse. Euan’s determination, Nick’s belief. They had suffered and they had survived. Their confidence in her was invincible, and no matter what happened, they would love her still.
What she had to do was simple. Survive. She just had to survive.
The door to the cab was opened, but the exit was full. The second man peered down at her through the portal to safety, stealing the light and the seeds of hope.
His smile was terrible. His eyes were eclipsed with a malevolence so deep and so black that his humanity was lost to the vile beast that roamed his soul. Dirty hands gripped her, pulled her from the seat. She tumbled and fell into mud at his poorly shod feet just as the clouds rumbled and roared. They flashed their anger and Kira was emboldened by their rage.
She swallowed the scream. She quashed the instinctual need to cry for Euan and Nick. She scrambled to her feet and hissed as they advanced. Her hands were tied but not her courage, not her stamina. Euan thought her brave, and in that moment, she challenged the demon that held her and thought of herself as brave as well.
The man’s thin lips kicked up. The dark stubble around his mouth moved with his dry skin. ‘That man was a fucking brute. I bet he made you bleed.’
Kira shuddered, took another step back. He had made her bleed. But it wasn’t blood that had poured from her body. She had bled untainted love and devotion. She had felt whole in their combined arms. Never in her life had she considered more than one man. Then she had been wrapped in the safety of both their bodies and she had known that life couldn’t be lived any other way.
Her knees trembled. In her periphery, she watched the second man round the truck to thwart her escape. Between the vehicle and their bodies, they caged her. If only she could fly.
She had no weapon, just her wits. If she was honest, she would have been better with a club. They closed in, confined her, each step they took forced her to move closer to the open door of the truck.
An idea came to her.
She didn’t think it through, just acted. She leapt inside, slammed the door. Locked it. Then the rest. She was in the driver’s seat before they could react.
Even with her hands bound, the key was easy to turn. The engine roared to life. She hadn’t driven a shift stick since she had learned to drive, but the adrenaline flowed and so did the memories. She pumped the accelerator, pushed the lever into first and let out the clutch.
The car lurched, shuddered, shook. But it moved. And it moved forward.
The two men banged on the hull, attempted to open the doors. They hollered and cursed. But Kira was oblivious. She was about to escape, and too busy trying to get the spluttering thing to move faster to care.
A smile, a hoot. She found second gear and the truck grunted, revved. It picked up speed and so did her hope.
She was going to do it! She was going to be free! Little Kira, the woman who survived an apocalypse but still couldn’t cook was
