She looks past me in search of something. “Where’s Lucas and Duke?”
“They’re safe. Don’t worry.”
“How did you find me?”
My gaze shifts from Cassie to the distraught girl who has her head buried between her legs.
“Is her name Jenny, by chance?”
Cassie peers over to her and nods. “It is. How did you know that?”
I catch wind of footsteps nearby. I quickly sink back into the darkness, and remain motionless until they pass. Cassie hangs her head lifelessly toward the concrete floor to not draw any unwanted attention.
The heavy-footed individual continues past us without stopping or breaking his stride.
“I’m with her brother. He brought me here,” I say.
Jenny lifts her head up from her legs, and her eyes widen. She tries to contain the relief that washes over her as she gets to her knees and comes near the wire.
“Donny is with you?” she asks.
I shake my head. “Not Donny. Shane. We’re not sure where Donny is.”
Jenny glances about wildly. Her head twists every which way possible in search of her sibling. “Where is he?”
“I don’t know exactly,” I reply. I peer to the right, past the edge of the crate. “He didn’t stick with me. Not sure where he went off to.”
The chatter of two different voices looms close by, which draws Jenny and Cassie away from the wire. They maintain their deflated state of hopelessness perfectly. I drift back inside the crates once more as the men approach the front portion of the enclosure.
This time, I have a much better view. I can see them clearly, and I think I’m far enough back to where they can’t see me.
The gentleman in the front leans forward and grabs the chicken wire. The tips of his fingers wrap over the steel strands as he smiles at his captives. He removes the red ballcap from his head and wipes away the layer of filth that has accumulated on his brow. His lips part slowly. The tip of his tongue probes the narrow crevices between his crooked teeth.
The other two men stay silent behind him with their rifles pressed against their chests.
“How are you girls doing in here?” he inquires. “It got awfully silent over here. I thought I’d better come over, and check on you.”
Cassie stares at the man without diverting her gaze. Jenny refrains from making eye contact as she keeps her head tilted toward the ground.
“We’re fine,” Cassie bluntly retorts. Her voice is thick with contempt and hatred.
He nods, places the cap back onto his scalp, and smiles happily.
“Well, I’m just glad you girls have finally gotten with the program here. Better to learn obedience now than with whoever you end up with. Not everybody left in this world is so sweet and charming as yours truly.”
Man, this guy is a piece of crap for sure.
Cassie’s face remains rigid and stern. Her lips are taut, and eyes narrowed at the man. I think from the stare she is giving him, she has offered her thoughts on the matter.
He checks his watch, and then nods. “Shouldn’t be too much longer here before we move out. We’ve got some road ahead of us so-”
The crackle of gunfire from outside the building catches his attention. Mine as well. He pushes back from the chicken wire and looks up into the air. His eyes move from side to side as he listens. He looks bewildered, and concerned.
A radio beeps, followed by the crackle of a voice coming online. I panic. I check my waist for the radio I had taken from them earlier, but quickly remember it’s in pieces on the floor back in the warehouse where Lucas is.
“Boss man, we’ve trouble out here,” a strained voice warns.
The man rips the radio from his waist. “What trouble is that?”
“We’ve got chasers inbound, Frank. They’re coming in through the fields and the road.”
“Okay. Handle it. You’ve got guns. They don’t.” He shakes his head as he secures the radio back on his belt, and glances back to Cassie.
“Sometimes, it is hard finding good help.”
A gut-wrenching scream of pain echoes throughout the building, followed by the continuous rambling of gunfire. That definitely came from inside the building.
Frank spins about on his heels and draws a concealed pistol from inside his black coat. He cocks the weapon and holds it in the air.
His men twist around with their rifles drawn and shouldered, searching for the source of the painful screech.
“Don’t stand there, go find out what it is.” Frank shoves the others forward, getting them moving. They dash away as more gunfire ensues. His radio goes off again, the voice more frantic than the last.
“Chasers have gotten inside. They’ve—ahhh!”
“Christ,” he growls. Frank doesn’t give the girls a second thought as he sprints away. Here’s my chance. Time to move.
I emerge out from the nook I was hiding in, and make my way carefully around to the front of the enclosure. Both Cassie and Jenny spring to their feet, and rush over to greet me. I locate the makeshift entrance, and discover a padlock is secured over the latch. I take a step back, and swing the machete at the lock. It takes me a couple of tries, but I finally manage to break it free.
Cassie spurs me to hurry with her hands moving rapidly. I go for the busted lock. The incoming yowls of a chaser rush toward me. I spin on my heels, and strike the creature across the top portion of its head. The blade digs in deep and knocks it off to the side.
Staying positioned with my back to the cage to keep an eye out for anymore chasers that may be inbound, I reach back, grab the lock, and slip it free of the latch. I discard the lock to my left, and pull open the wire gate.
Cassie rushes out, throws her arms around my neck, and squeezes tightly. She whispers in my ear, “Thank you, James.”
I hug her back, feeling the warmth of her body against mine. The clatter of a chaser rounding the corner of a crate pulls me out of the moment, and hurls me into action.
I push Cassie away, and thrust the blade forward. The tip tears through the red stained throat of the chaser and emerges out through the back of its neck. It gurgles on its own blood briefly before falling to the ground.
Cassie grabs the strap of the rifle around me and pulls up. I work it over my head, and give it to her. She shoulders the weapon and trains the barrel dead ahead.
“How are we supposed to get out of here?” she asks.
I point to the other side of the building. “There’s an open window at the top of that staircase. We can climb through it, and make our way down a truck that is parked next to the building.”
Jenny sinks into Cassie, and stays glued to her backside. The cacophony of gunfire causes her to flinch and shudder.
They head in the direction I pointed. I cover our retreat. Through the chaos and madness swallowing this place whole, I wonder where Shane is. I assume he is the reason for the chasers gaining access to the building.
Cassie moves swiftly from crate to crate, staying as far over toward the wall as she can. We stop briefly, and take cover from the chasers who are lingering inside the building among the stacks of crates. One passes by us and pauses. It’s scared and bloody head tilts back as its nose tests the air.
The painful groans of a man nearby catches the creature’s attention, and sends it on its way. That was close.
“All right, move,” I say.
The girls swiftly make for the staircase with me in tow. I glance back over my shoulder to cover our getaway. Something slams into me, knocking me hard to the ground. The machete breaks free of my grip. My back collides with the edge of a crate that burrows into my spine. A faint yelp escapes my lips as I grimace in pain.
“Are you freaking kidding me,” an angered voice snarls. Through the discomfort flooding my system, I glance up through tearful eyes, and spot a figure hovering above me. He reaches down and wraps his fingers in my jacket. He yanks me off the ground and shoves me back hard into the unforgiving crates. He rams h
is forearm just under my chin and leans hard against my throat. “And just who the hell are you?”
The side of his neck is bleeding badly. The flesh is mangled, teeth marks indented into his skin. He’s been bitten. Serves this asshole right.
“James!” Cassie races back down the stairs with the rifle laced across her chest.
“James, huh,” Frank says angrily. He turns his attention toward Cassie. He lifts his left arm in the air and fires his pistol. He chambers off a handful of rounds that pounds my skull like a sledgehammer. Cassie quickly retreats back up the stairs.
His gun finally clips empty. He glances at it and offers it a furrowed frown. He discards the weapon without care and turns to face me.
“Leave her alone, butthead,” I sputter while trying to breathe.
He offers me a sharp gaze, and draws back his free arm to punch me. I thrust my leg up and kick him in the balls. His eyes go up, and hands drop down to his private area. He stumbles back a few feet while cupping himself.
I gasp for air. My throat aches something awful. I rub the area as I try to swallow. It hurts.
Frank points at me with an unsteady hand. “You made the biggest mistake of your life, boy. I’m going to make sure those girls suffer at the hands of the worst people I can find.”
My gaze diverts to the ground and finds the machete. I don’t dwell on what I should do next. I just act on pure instinct, and my contempt for this depraved human being.
I kneel down, and grab the handle as Frank comes for me once more. I turn, and ram the blade through his midsection. The blade slides all the way through. He looks down in disbelief. I climb back to my feet. I brace my hand against his shoulder, and push him back. The machete slips out, coated in his blood. I was willing to leave without killing him, but he forced my hand.
His hands cradle his bleeding gut. He stumbles backward past the crates. Rapacious fingers grab the scruff of his coat from behind, and throw him onto the ground.
Frank screams and yells, fighting the voracious demon with every bit of energy he can muster. His legs kick in the air, arms swinging wildly as the unyielding chaser drops onto him none the less.
The creature forces its hands inside the wound in Frank’s stomach. Another arrives, then another to join in on the feast. I slip away from the gathering mass of dead and head for the stairs.
My legs are a bit wobbly from the skirmish. My back hurts, and my head is in a daze. Still, I maintain my hasty retreat through the crates and up the stairs. Cassie comes down, throws my arm over her shoulder. We step over a chaser that lies face down on the stairs before us. She aides me up the remaining steps toward the window.
“Are you ok?” she inquires.
I nod. “Yeah. A little banged up but otherwise good.”
“Sorry I couldn’t help out. Had to deal with that chaser on the steps.”
Jenny is at the top, crouched down, and watching as she motions with her hands for us to move faster.
The gunfire slowly ebbs to nothing more than sporadic crackles that pop off intermittently. The insatiable grunts of feeding chasers below loom in the air. An occasional scream of agony breaks the silence.
We hit the landing, and make our way to the window. I remove my arm from around Cassie’s shoulder, and lean against the small piece of brick wall between the two sets of windows.
Cassie rests the palms of her hands on the window. She peers at the truck, then reaches out her hand to Jenny. “Come on. You go first.”
Jenny takes her hand, and approaches the opened window. She leans forward slightly and cranes her neck toward the outside as she looks at the truck. The grunting and feasting creatures below offer ample incentive for her to get moving.
She carefully steps up on the metal frame and leaps across the gap to the truck’s roof. Cassie tosses the rifle over her shoulders and secures it in place. She makes her way up on the frame, and immediately disappears from sight. The sound of her landing on the truck’s roof a second later indicates that she is safe.
“James, come on,” she calls out.
I push away from the wall, and face toward the window. I step up and out over to the truck. Cassie moves to her right, allowing me enough space to safely step onto the truck.
My balance is still a bit off, so she grabs my arm and holds tight.
“He didn’t hurt you, did he?” she asks with concern in her voice.
“My back hurts, and I’m a bit rattled, but I’ll be fine.” I wince. “We need to keep moving.”
“Jenny?” Shane calls out from the ground by the driver’s side door.
Her face lights up. A smile of relief and joy overtake her to the point where she starts crying again. She carefully makes her way down the side of the truck to her brother’s open arms.
Shane embraces her and holds her tight. Watching the two of them warms my heart, and makes me yearn for the moment when I can embrace Cindy in such a manner.
Cassie climbs down the side of the truck, followed by me. She removes the rifle from around her and holds it tight. Shane releases his sister and glances over at me. “Did you see Donny in there by chance?”
Jenny shakes her head. “Did he come after me?”
Shane nods. “He did. I hung back with Mom and Grandpa while he came after you.”
Both Shane and Jenny finally cut their attention over to me. A hopeful gleam rests in their eyes. I lower my head, and shake it subtly. “I saw no sign of him, and whoever these people were, made no mention of having anyone else held against their will. I’m sorry.”
Shane fights back the tears as he grabs his sister tighter. I wish I could’ve found him as well.
Cassie turns and shoulders the automatic rifle. She pops off a single round that connects with an incoming chaser. Its head snaps back, and a red mist blossoms in the air.
More yowls from chasers creep closer to us. With discharging that weapon, they will surely come to investigate.
We make a mad dash for the field, and vanish within the overgrown verdure.
CHAPTER TWENTY TWO
The walk back to Lucas and the others is uneventful. We keep to the alleyways and tight spaces that the town offers, just in case any of the group’s men survived the chasers’ siege.
Nothing but the rustling of weeds and the wind whipping about fills our ears. The occasional grunts and growls from chasers ambling up and down the streets catch our attention, and halt our movement.
Shane and Jenny have been in a tight embrace ever since we fled her captors. They haven’t said much to one another. It’s just been more of being in the moment with each other. Happy to be reunited once more.
“So, why didn’t Lucas and Duke come with you?” Cassie inquires. “Did something happen to them?”
I nod. “They’re both still alive, and not too severely injured.”
A worried look washes over Cassie’s face. “What exactly happened?”
“The people that took you opened fire on us. Lucas got tagged in the shoulder. We were forced to flee and came across Shane and his mother and grandfather. They brought us in and patched up Lucas. He was beyond out of it and needed to rest, so I let him be and made Duke stay with him. Glad I did too. It would’ve been too dangerous for Duke to come considering what all I had to do just to get inside the building.”
“Well, I’m just glad that the three of you are safe.” Cassie gives me a half smile. “I’d hate to have to kick your butt for dying or anything like that.” She elbows me in the side.
Although Cassie is smiling, and seemingly in good spirits, I can’t help but feel horrible about letting those bastards take her. Once more, I have let down those that I care about. I should’ve done more. In the end, I am beyond thankful that she wasn’t hurt.
I half smile back, then lower my head as if ashamed.
She touches my shoulder. “What’s wrong?”
My head remains lowered. “I’m sorry we couldn’t stop them from taking you. I feel horrible about the whole situation. We don’t k
now what we would’ve done if we had lost you.”
Cassie’s smile remains. “It’s ok, James. The only thing that matters now is that we’re all back together again.”
I lift my head, and half smile at her. I still feel horrible, but glad we have gotten that out of the way. My guilt of it all was eating me alive.
Duke bolts out from around the corner of the building that Lucas and Shane’s family is hiding in. His long pink tongue dangles from the left side of his snout as he races toward us. A yelp escapes Jenny’s mouth. She scrambles out of the way as he darts right past her.
I drop to my knees, and hold out my arms. “There’s my good boy.”
Duke smiles from ear to ear. He’s super happy to see us. He slows his pace and jumps up on me, nearly knocking me down to the pavement. He goes for my face, licking any part that he can find.
“Oh, Duke. I’m so happy to see you.” Cassie rubs his head and hugs his neck. He steps off me and jumps up to Cassie as she continues to love on him. I sit up and get my feet under me.
“I think he’s happy to see us,” I say. My fingers race down his back as he stares up at us.
“I think that’s an understatement for sure.”
Out of the corner of my eye, I catch a figure coming out from the shadows of the structure. It’s Beverly.
She pauses at the sight of Shane and Jenny. Her furrowed frown and pensive stare quickly subside at the sight of her kids. Her lips quiver and eyes glass over.
Jenny breaks loose from Shane and dashes over to her mom. They hug one another, crying and sobbing. Beverly reaches out and motions for Shane to come to them. He hurries over and embraces them both.
“Come on. Let’s go check on Lucas,” I say.
We head toward the trio. They break apart and go inside. We follow close behind, making our way up the stairs to the space where I left Lucas.
Beverly and her kids walk in first, followed by me, then Cassie. Lucas stands near the window that faces the street. He’s favoring his arm, but otherwise looks to be in semi-good spirits. As in, there isn’t an angered expression smeared on his face.
Cassie rushes over to him. She carefully gives him a hug and releases him. She examines his wound, leaning forward and staring at the bloody shirt.
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