She got to her feet and ran toward the front door of the house. With one swift kick, she opened it and found the owner of the house stood behind it, looking shocked. She used his moment of confusion to her advantage, throwing her whole body weight at his waist. The pair of them tumbled to the ground. Megan knew that the man was much stronger than her, but she didn’t care. She was determined that if she was savage enough, she’d win this fight.
“I don’t want to hurt you, just give me the gun!” she cried out.
“Like hell I will!”
It was the answer she was expecting, but she was prepared for it. She was going to do whatever she had to in order to get that gun. She opened her mouth wide and then bit down hard on the man’s shoulder. He was so shocked by the gesture that he cried out and dropped the gun. Megan snatched it up immediately and backed away from the man. She pointed it at him, breathing hard.
“You need to get the hell out of here before I shoot you,” Megan hissed. “I gave you a chance. Now you need to go.”
“This is my house!” the man snarled. “Who do you think you are?”
“All I wanted was to save my friend, but you had to be aggressive. So now it’s my turn. Leave or I’ll shoot you.”
The man got to his feet unsteadily, breathing hard. He began to back out of the room and Megan felt relief inside her chest. She didn’t want to have to hurt a single person, not even someone like him. She was glad that he’d listened to her and backed off.
But quick as a flash, she saw his hand reach out for a knife and he began to run at her. In her panic, she wasn’t prepared to shoot. She managed to dodge him as he tried to stab her viciously. She flashed back to her old apartment, remembering all of the times she had to dodge punches from her ex. He was always happy to see her suffer, to see her in pain. She still had bruises on her skin, among many others, that he’d inflicted on her. Megan backed away from the man and watched the madness growing in his eyes as he kept slashing at her with the knife.
She realized in that split second that she’d never escape the violence that seemed to follow her around like a curse. There was always someone wanting to see her hurting. People always took advantage of her good nature and thought they could get away with it. But now, she wasn’t just a frightened young woman anymore. She wasn’t someone who could be messed with. She was strong, and she was willing to fight.
“You shouldn’t have done that,” Megan said darkly as the man lunged at her with the knife again. She turned her gun to his leg and shot him.
The recoil from the gun sent her stumbling back. She felt like she was in slow motion as she fell, watching blood splatter as the bullet pierced the man’s leg. She didn’t want to kill him, or even hurt him, but she’d been pushed to her limits. She couldn’t leave that house without the gun.
As the man cried out in agony, she felt the urge to help him, but she had to save Jake. Besides, the man had been intent on killing her from the start. He brought his pain on himself.
Or that was what she had to tell herself to keep her going. With the gun now in hand, she stepped over the man’s body and rushed back outside. She was going to finish this once and for all.
“Hey!” she cried out. None of the men even bothered to respond to the sound of her voice. She gritted her teeth. She’d been hoping to give them a chance to run. But now that they’d ignored her desperate call, she had no reason to show them any mercy. They were cruel and cold. They deserved everything coming to them.
She aimed the gun at the man closest to her and shot him in the back. The sound of the gun ripped through the dark and shocked the other men as their accomplice fell to his knees, gurgling blood. Megan held the gun steady, scanning the other men with it.
“Who is next?” she hissed. Two of the men looked at one another with fear before running off. Jake was a pummeled mess on the ground and Megan wanted to rush to help him, but it wasn’t over yet. The last man standing, the leader of the group, didn’t seem quite so intimidated. He glared at her with malice in his eyes.
“You messed with the wrong guys,” he growled. Megan held her ground.
“You hurt my friend. You tortured him. Why? He did nothing to you,” Megan said, her hands trembling a little. “You say that we messed with you, but you messed with us. You didn’t show us any mercy or compassion. I’m not a bad person. I don’t want to do this. But I know good from bad...and you deserve everything that’s coming for you.”
The man snarled, raising his stick in defense. Megan had hoped he might back off, but it didn’t seem like that was going to happen. He planned to fight her.
And she planned to win.
Twenty-One
Aby
Aby was tied to a chair in Tex’s torture room now, waiting for whatever horrific pain he planned to inflict on her. In the corner of the room, a woman was lying, covered in blood, appearing to be passed out. Tex whistled to himself as he prepped himself for another round of horrors. He glanced in Aby’s direction.
“Why the long face?”
Aby shook her head in disbelief. She couldn’t believe that any person could be so cruel.
