Aby dived at the car and yanked the passenger door open. She searched desperately for the keys inside, but it only took her a moment to see that they weren’t there. Tex had to have them. Still, she couldn’t stop herself from fumbling around, hoping that her luck might change.
But it didn’t.
“You won’t find them in there!” Tex’s voice rang out. Aby’s blood turned cold as she felt a hand grab her ankle and drag her from the car. She hit the ground with a thud and found Tex grinning down at her. He tutted.
“Trying to escape, hmm? That wasn’t part of my deal,” he hissed. “For that, you’re both going to have to pay. But don’t worry. I don’t want you dead...I’ve not finished my fun with you yet.”
Tex pointed his gun at Peaches, who was stood looking terrified a few metres away. He shot her right in the foot without blinking an eye and then laughed as Peaches screamed, falling to the ground. Aby felt a range inside her so intense that she felt like she could kill him with her bare hands. And now was her only chance. She had to at least try, even if it got her killed.
Scrambling to her feet she launched herself at Tex with a cry, tackling him to the ground. He was taken by surprise and as they wrestled, both of them trying to get dominance, he finally had the sense to look a little worried. Aby’s hand was in agony, but she still tried to grab the gun. Tex pulled the trigger and it went off with a loud bang, throwing Aby off him in fear. When she saw what the bullet had hit, she couldn’t stop herself from screaming.
The bullet had hit Peaches square in the face, and now there was barely anything of it left. She’d clearly died the second it hit her. Now, she was just a mess or raw meat, lying deadly still on the ground. Aby wailed, unable to move to try and save herself. She couldn’t believe she’d lost Peaches after everything they’d battled together. She blinked, hoping she was imagining the horror scene in front of her, but she wasn’t. This was her reality now.
Tex laughed again, grabbing Aby by her hair and pointing the gun at her skull. Aby wouldn’t care much if the bullet killed her right then, but she was too traumatized to even tug away from Tex. He put his lips close to her ear.
“You ruined my fun,” he hissed. “You weren’t even my favorite to torture...Peaches was much better. I was even considering just killing you to put you out of your misery...wouldn’t that have been merciful? But you had to go and run away, and now I guess I’ll have to make your life even more miserable…”
Aby couldn’t even fight back. She couldn’t protest. All she could do was feel impending terror as Tex pulled her back inside, back to face hell all over again.
Twenty
Megan
Megan felt helpless as she watched Jake being beaten viciously with sticks. She screamed, hoping that someone might come and help her, but it was hopeless. She turned back to the house and banged hard on the door, sobbing.
“Please...please, let us in! Help us!”
But no response came. The man who had been holding Megan back had joined in the beating, obviously thinking she was no threat at all. After all, she was just a screaming woman, right? A woman so terrified of these men that she could do nothing, but wail and hope someone would save her. Megan was shaking as she watched the scene unfold. Jake cried out as one of the men hit him around the face and his jaw made a cracking noise. There was no way he could save himself this time.
If Megan didn’t do something, he was going to die.
Maybe he’d die anyway. Maybe she needed to run while she still had a chance. Jake had gotten them into this situation. She didn’t deserve to die because of his mistakes.
But even as she willed her feet to move, she stayed put. She couldn’t do it. Once again, she was tied to Jake. Until the moment he drew his final breath, she’d be tethered to him. He was the only friend she had in the world and she couldn’t let him die.
But Megan knew the odds were bad for her. She was facing four strong men without a weapon to her name. They were armed too and she didn’t fancy being on the receiving end of their sticks like Jake. She desperately tried to think of some way to draw their attention away from him.
“Why aren’t you attacking me?” she cried out. “You really want to just keep hitting an unarmed man, huh? What are you, monsters?”
But trying to appeal to their humanity was useless when they didn’t have any. They didn’t even care that it was an unfair fight, or a coward’s attack. They didn’t care about honor. They just wanted to see Jake die.
Wildly, Megan tried to dive into the throes of the battle, but one of the men swung a branch at her, knocking her back so hard that she went flying. She landed hard on her back and the wind was knocked from her. She lay there for a moment, her head spinning from the impact. She wasn’t doing enough. She didn’t know how long he could possibly have left to live, but it wasn’t long. She needed to do something more drastic.
She felt the way she did when she set the fire again. Like the world was putty in her hands if only she was willing to take risks. If she tossed aside her regard for whether she lived or died, then she was capable of almost anything. She clenched her
