by Jacob Chance
The severity of this situation hits me all at once. My mind sprints in a hundred different directions, all of them centered around how this happened and what I can do to get us out alive.
“Let her go. She knows nothing,” my dad yells out from across the room. My head swings in his direction. He too is bound to the back of a chair with thick, black strips of duct tape and like my mom, his wrists are zip-tied to the arms. One of his eyes is swollen to a small slit and his nose is askew like it’s been badly broken. My larger than life father doesn’t even look like himself. My lip quivers and my stomach rolls as fear zips through every fiber of my being.
Oh God. I think I’m going to be sick. My arms wrap around my waist. I inhale deeply, swallowing back the wave of bile rising to my throat.
“You got this Sergei?” Karl questions.
“Yeah, I’m all set. I’ll see you later.” His accent is strong and guttural and combined with his intimidating size, has my legs quaking with fear.
Karl ambles off like he doesn’t have a care in the world and seconds later the slam of the front door makes me twitch nervously.
“Please let her go. She doesn’t have anything to do with this,” my dad pleads.
“Oh, but she does. She’s a loose end and Popov doesn't like loose ends.” He moves closer to my father.
“Popov’s a fucking coward. If he was a man he’d kill me himself.”
My father’s head suddenly explodes before my eyes. Warm blood and brain matter splatters across my face as the sound of the gun blast resonates in my ears. Numbly, I touch my wet cheek then stare at the red bits wiped away with my fingers. Sergei lowers the gun, swiping a forearm over his brow. Streaks of blood jaggedly slash across his forehead and his eyes are wild, adding to his already menacing appearance.
My mother screams and I spin around to face her. A piercing wail comes from deep inside her, like a blaring siren. Our eyes meet, and I raise a shaking bloody finger to my lips and take a step toward her when another blast echoes throughout the space.
The room is now shrouded in silence, the ringing in my ears the only noticeable sound. My vision grows hazy with the pall of death.
Mom’s mouth now silenced forever is frozen in a scream as the blood trickles in a red trail from the bullet hole in the middle of her forehead. Her head slumps forward bobbing like a rag doll before settling, chin to her chest.
Squeezing my eyes shut, I try to block out the horror of the last thirty seconds, but the sea of red behind my lids brutally taunts me. My ears continue to reverberate with a high-pitched ringing from the thunderous blasts. I sway on my feet as dizziness assails me.
Mom. Dad. Oh God, Mommy. How did this happen?
Swallowing down the rising bile, I try to replace the horrible visions of my parents’ disfigured faces with memories of their warm smiles. It doesn’t work.
“Looks like it’s just you and me now, sweetheart. How about we get to know each other a little better before you join mommy and daddy?” My eyes pop open at his sneered words and my heart gallops inside my chest like a quarter horse racing in the Kentucky Derby. He killed my parents and now… I’ll be next.
He grins eerily as he stalks toward me. “I bet that pussy’s never been touched by a cock.” He licks his lips as his eyes greedily roam down my body. I tremble, already feeling violated and he hasn’t even touched me. Some fates are worse than death - being raped by the man who murdered my parents being one of them.
My hand clutches the small canister of pepper spray, the only lifeline I have.
Please God, help me. I pray, carefully releasing the safety. I press the pad of my thumb down as I quickly raise the can in front of me, aiming for his face.
He’s not expecting it and doesn’t realize what’s happening until the stream hits him square in the eyes. I fan the spray back and forth in front of his face to avoid missing my target as he tucks his chin and turns his head. His hands cover his eyes as he howls in pain, and I jolt from the room without looking back.
Barreling through the house, I retrace what I think is the way I came in. His shouts of agony follow me as I finally reach the door and unlatch the lock with shaking fingers. Yanking it open, I leap down the three front steps and pause to take in the surrounding area. The house sits amid woods as if it was plopped smack dab in the middle of a forest. There’s a one lane path we must have travelled on, but the sun's gone down and I have no idea where we are or what lies waiting at the other end. I only know this is my best chance at escaping. I run over to the white van parked in front of the house and try the door handle, but it’s locked.
Fuck.
Hearing a loud bang and angry shouts reminds me I need to hurry, and I bolt down the dirt path. My arms and legs pump as fast as they can and I’m thankful for the time I’ve spent on the high school track team.
A minute later I hear the van’s engine roar to life. I dart into the trees, moving inward far enough to provide shelter from his eyes, but still do my best to travel parallel to the dirt road. Peering over my shoulder I see the flickering beams of his headlights through the dense copse of trees as the van begins to move in my direction.
The faded daylight and thickness of the forest makes it difficult to see where I’m going. Branches lash against my limbs, slicing into my skin as I race along. My heart thunders in my ears, pounding like an urgent drumbeat. Each beat sends an S.O.S. pulsing through my veins.
Hurry.
He’s coming.
Run.
Every ragged inhale of air into my lungs is a harsh gasp punctuating the silence of the black night as I flee for my life. Each exhale releases a fear filled sob. Any second might be my last if he catches me.
Hurry.
Run... Run.
Someone... please... help me.
The toe of my sneaker catches on something and I clatter face first to the ground. My hip slams into the edge of a boulder on the way down, stunning me. Rolling to my back, my hand goes to the affected area, gently probing and checking for blood.
“I’m coming,” Sergei roars, as he jumps from the van and slams the door closed. The rustle of bushes being flattened by his powerful frame sinks my stomach. Now that he’s on foot he can find me in these woods. How can I outrun him when he probably knows this area like the back of his hand? At the very least he knows how to get in and out of here.
A muffled groan slips from my lips as I rise to my feet. Glancing ahead, the darkness stretches out endlessly and hope is fading fast.
Keep moving.
Breathing through the pain, I force myself to push on. When I’m so exhausted and feel like I’m incapable of taking another step, I think about my mom and dad, and how they’d want me to do whatever it takes to survive.
Jagged brush sharply pokes into my back as I turn sideways, navigating through a particularly dense thicket of bushes. Twigs protrude at awkward angles, snapping loudly and scratching deep furrows into my arms and legs. I ignore the sensation of blood trickling along my skin.
Once I break through to the other side, I notice lights flickering ahead through the trees. Forcing my fatigued and bloodied arms and legs to continue, I repeatedly chant just keep moving in my mind. Each step I take brings me closer to escape; I will not give up. I may go down fighting for my life, but I’m sure as hell not going to make it easy on him.
Five minutes later I’ve made it to a two-lane highway. I sob as I erratically run down the middle of the road, waving my arms hoping to flag someone down. I’m sure I look like a crazy person with my sliced-up legs and blood splattered face, but someone will notice me and stop. Worst case they run me over, at least Sergei won’t get the pleasure of raping and killing me.
It only takes a couple of minutes before a black SUV with blacked out windows stops next to me. I stumble toward the vehicle on exhausted, gouged up legs, sobbing hysterically. The back-passenger door flips open and just as I’m about to shout for them to help me, Agent Benton, a coworker of my parents’ steps out with his gu
n at the ready.
“Zoe, get in.”
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Acknowledgments
Thank you to every reader who purchased, borrowed or read Edge of Forever with Kindle Unlimited. Without you, I wouldn’t be able to live this author dream that I am.
Thank you to my PA, Diane, for all the things you do to keep me organized and get my books seen. I know how much work you put into the Edge of Forever release. With two releases taking place during a global pandemic and taking care of your family, you had your hands full. And now we can take a break. The duet is complete and we made it through. Thank you for getting so creative on promoting without revealing spoilers. I know it wasn’t easy and I appreciate you hanging in there. I’ll write a standalone next time just for you.
I have to thank my amazing editor and proofreader, Shauna Stevenson from Ink Machine Editing. Poor Shauna, once again she got my chapters late. And late at night too, lol. And yet, you still fit me in. I hope you’ll continue to be my editor after this one, lol.
Lindsay Becs thank you so much for beta reading EoF. I really appreciate all your feedback.
Marley Valentine, thank you for doing such a great job on the formatting of Edge of Forever. You always make my books look so great.
Thank you to all the members of my Facebook reader’s group Spoiled by Chance for hanging in there with me and waiting for this duet until I was ready to write it. Sometimes the stories we want to write aren’t ready to be written.
Thank you for being so incredibly supportive of me and my books. You guys have embraced my storyline choices from day one and your enthusiasm is awesome.
Thank you for all the shares you give my graphics and for recommending my books every chance you get. It’s an amazing feeling to have such a strong support system behind me every step of the way.
About the Author
Jacob Chance grew up in New England and still lives there today. He’s a martial artist, a football fan, a practical joker and junk food lover.
All his books are available on Amazon
THE QUAKE SERIES
QUAKE | QUIVER | DELVE | TIED | DELUDE | QUAKE DUET | DELVE DUET
THE BOSTON TERRIERS FOOTBALL SERIES
PENALTY | DRIVE | COACH | TACKLE | JOCK | SCORE
THE BOSTON TERRIERS HOCKEY SERIES
CHECKED | ICED
WORLD CLASS WRESTLING
TUSSLE | RUMBLE
KING UNIVERSITY SERIES
DEPRAVITY | DEVILRY | DEBAUCHERY
ON THE EDGE SERIES
EDGE OF RETRIBUTION | EDGE OF HONOR | EDGE OF FOREVER
STANDALONES
PUNCHED | CANVAS | MANTRUM
FIND JACOB CHANCE
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