“Who the hell are you?”
Jake whipped around. There was a man standing behind him, holding a handgun and pointing it at him. Jake put his hands in the air in surrender.
“Sir...we don’t want any trouble…”
“Is that why you broke into my house through the window?” the man snarled. Megan stepped forward and the man switched the gun to point at her. She too put her hands in the air.
“Please...we’re in real trouble. Some men have been chasing us for a long time...they want to kill us.”
“Not my problem,” the man said, shaking his head. “I’ve got a family to protect. I want you to leave right now.”
“Please, no,” Megan begged. “We just need somewhere to hide for a while…”
“How the hell am I meant to trust you? You just broke into my house.”
“It was an accident, I swear…”
“Enough! I should shoot you just for coming in here….I’ll let you go, but if you don’t leave right now, you’ll get a bullet through your brain.”
Megan looked to Jake desperately. They both knew that going back outside would likely be a death sentence. But now it seemed that staying in the house was too. The man waved his gun threateningly and Megan was the first to move toward the door. Jake followed her lead, hoping that the gang had already moved past the house. But as he stepped outside, he saw that they were gathered in the yard, waiting for them. It seemed they hadn’t gotten away at all.
“You’re going to pay for what you did,” the leader growled. “We showed you mercy back at that house...and then you threw it back in our faces. So now you have to die.”
“Please,” Megan wept. “It doesn’t have to be this way...we can give you everything back...we can all go our separate ways…”
“It’s too late for that,” the leader hissed. “You messed with us and now you’ve got to suffer.”
The group surrounded them. Jake looked over his shoulder and saw the man with his gun standing at the door. He was watching the scene unfold with a dark look in his eyes. In that moment he made his choice. He gave Jake one last glance before shutting the door on him.
They were on their own.
Megan tried to make a dash for it, but one of the men grabbed her easily, holding her against his chest. The three others advanced on Jake, their sticks at the ready. Jake tried to back up, but there was nowhere to go. He didn’t even have the hammer that they’d stolen to defend himself. Once again, he was defenseless.
The leader whacked Jake in the stomach with the branch. It was heavier than it looked and as it hit Jake, he felt bile rise in his throat and he threw up the contents of his stomach. The pain was horrifying, but it was only the beginning. The men all raised their sticks as he dropped to his knees, tears clouding his eyes.
All he could do was close his eyes and take it.
Nineteen
Aby
“Aby...are you awake? Please wake up, Aby, I can’t stand being here alone…”
Aby slowly forced her eyes to open at the sound of Peaches’ voice. It was an effort and every single part of her body seemed to be in pain, but she managed it. When she turned her head to the side she saw that Peaches was lying in the darkness of the basement with her, tears streaming down her cheeks.
“Oh my God, I thought you were dead for a while,” she whispered. There was a scream from above them and Aby’s heart filled with fear as she glanced upward. Peaches shuddered.
“He went and found someone else...I’m just...it sounds terrible, Aby, but I’m glad it’s not me.”
Aby wasn’t surprised at the comment, and she couldn’t blame Peaches for feeling that way. After all, the horrors they’d endured were something Aby never wanted to experience again. She had no idea what Tex had done to Peaches during her time upstairs, but she seemed to be covered in blood.
“I’m so sorry. I’m sorry I got us into this,” Peaches sobbed. Aby closed her eyes. The truth was that she blamed Peaches. She knew she would never have gone in that car if not for her. But Aby made her own choice too. She knew it was wrong to put all the blame on Peaches. She might not have any common sense, but she was just hoping for a better future. How could she blame her for that?
“There’s no time for feeling sorry for ourselves,” Aby rasped. Her throat was raw from screaming and it hurt to speak, but there were much more painful parts of her body right then. “I found some matches. I can break apart our cords…”
Aby went to move her hands and found that they’d been tied up once again. She cursed. She had no idea where the matches had gone, but they weren’t in her bound hands. Peaches began to cry again and Aby shushed her. She didn’t want to give Tex any reason to come for them again. For as long as he was distracted upstairs, they were much safer. She needed to buy herself as much time as she could if they had any hope of escape. Even if she could find the matches again, trying to use them to burn away the cords was going to be much more difficult with her hands tied.
“Aby...we’re going to die down here…” Peaches sobbed. Aby gritted her teeth.
“Not if I have anything to do with it…”
She wriggled herself into a sitting position. Her hand throbbed horrifically where the drill had penetrated her hand. She wished for some relief from the pain, but she had to work through it. She was determined that the pain wouldn’t be the end of her. With her tied hands, she began to fumble around on the floor, looking for the matches. Hopefully Tex hadn’t found out that she stole them. She didn’t imagine she’d still be alive if he
