Megan stayed crouched in the dark, crying quietly to herself and waiting for some opportunity to make things better. When the noises died down and she looked inside, she saw that all of the men were sleeping in the kitchen, knocked out from the booze. Her heart seized. This might be her one and only opportunity to help Jake. She still ran the risk of waking them up and getting herself killed, but she had to try. She had to see if she could help Jake.
She stretched her aching legs and headed toward the shed. Something told her it would hold something useful in there. It was dark inside and it was almost impossible to see what she was dealing with, but she fumbled around for something of us. She heard a clatter of wooden sticks as she knocked a box of matches from a shelf and her heat stopped.
She had an idea.
It was risky. It could end up killing Jake if it went wrong, but if she did nothing, he would die anyway. The second they got bored of torturing him, they’d end him. With her heart racing, she formed her plan.
It took her some time, but half an hour later, she returned to the house with a bottle of gasoline and her matches in tact. Her heart was in her throat. She wanted to run away and avoid carrying out her plan entirely. But she had to do it. She had to try.
She entered the house as quietly as she could, sloshing the gasoline around her as she went. Her hands were shaking uncontrollably, but it didn’t matter so much when she was supposed to be spilling it everywhere. It splashed a little on her pants and she leapt away, terrified that she might somehow light herself on fire. But if she was right, she didn’t need to set the whole house on fire. Now that she’d covered the corridor, she was certain the smoke and the fire would be enough to drive the gang out of the back door without anyone getting hurt...leaving her to save Jake and get the hell out.
The plan terrified her, but it was the only one she had. Lighting a match, she watched the small flame for a moment, knowing how much chaos it could cause. She wished she could just let it burn out. She wished they’d never stopped there at all. But this was her life. She didn’t have any other choice.
She dropped the match.
The carpet went up in flames. Megan rushed through the side door once again to hide, waiting for the flames to wake up the gang and send them running. The heat of the fire licked at her as she scurried away, and she knew she’d never forget the feeling it gave her. She was terrified, but so, so alive.
Her heart was racing as the smell of the smoke roused one of the gang members. His eyes widened when he saw what was happening and he cried out, waking his friends. Then chaos ensued. Jake woke up too, staring in horror at the towering flames as the gang scurried for the door, forgetting their torture victim as they made their escape. Megan shrunk back into the shadows as they thundered away from the house and up the hill, out of her sight. And now, it was time for the hard part. Her chest felt tight with anxiety, but she knew she had to go back inside. She had to run through the fire and get her friend.
She covered her face with her t-shirt and rushed inside.
Eleven
Aby
“You were very rude to that nice man, Aby. Pulling a gun on him and treating him like a criminal...it’s a miracle that he wants to come back!” Peaches huffed as she began to tidy up the place in a frenzy, no doubt preparing for the return of Tex the following day. Aby noted that Peaches hadn’t waited long to take interest in someone that wasn’t her husband. Tex was handsome, she supposed, in an unassuming way, but she knew that even the handsomest man on earth couldn’t sway her from Jake...wherever he was.
“I’m just trying to be cautious, Peaches,” Aby said tiredly. “You should try it.”
“Don’t get an attitude with me, young lady!” Peaches said. She was almost taking on the persona of Aby’s own mother. “I know a good person when I see one. If he was a bad person then tell me how he managed to be so charming?”
Aby didn’t bother to point out that ‘charm’ was a personality trait that many psychopaths had. She paused a few moments to gather her thoughts. She knew Peaches wouldn’t respond well to her being sassy or rude. She just had to be reasonable.
“Peaches...I’m not saying for definite that he’s a bad person. That’s not what I intended at all. But being careful these days will get you a long way. He could’ve had a secret weapon stashed away, or he might’ve had backup that we couldn’t see. His arrival might’ve been a distraction so that we wouldn’t see an ambush coming.”
Peaches tutted. “I’ve never met such a paranoid person! What happened to you to make you so damn untrusting, Aby?”
“You really want to know?” Aby asked. She had been holding back on the things that had happened to her over the past few weeks. She could see that Peaches was vulnerable, even though she’d lived pretty safely since the EMP strike. She knew that telling Peaches about her past would put fear in her heart, but Aby thought she could probably use a little more fearfulness. If she just let life pass her by, not fearing the things that lurked in the shadows, then she’d be an easy target if a fight came. She needed Peaches to be prepared.
“Go on, tell me,” Peaches said, folding her arms. Aby closed her eyes. The painful
