Jake couldn’t let his thoughts cloud his desperation to survive. Instead, he thought of Aby. It made him run harder even though his legs and his lungs burn. He wondered if maybe they should stop and fight. It was two on one and Megan wasn’t a great fighter, but it was better than running out of steam from running and being unable to fight for their lives. He almost suggested it aloud, but he knew that he was the reason they were running in the first place. Megan would never go for that idea.
The thudding of his heart and the sound of footsteps behind him fell in time with one another. Megan veered off ahead of him, clearly attempting to confuse the gang with sudden movements. Her body was more nimble than theirs and more capable of quick changes. Jake crashed after her through the trees, feeling less and less in control of his own movements as his body tired out. Aby kept rushing through his mind. If she was here, he’d stand beside her and fight. They could survive or die together. How could he convince himself to keep doing this when he wasn't even sure she was the light at the end of the tunnel? If she was dead, then all of these struggles were for nothing.
But he owed it to Megan to keep going. She’d be safe now if it wasn’t for him and his poor judgement. She’d saved his life. He couldn’t just throw it away.
They were running alongside the main road now. There were houses in view. Megan glanced over her shoulder at Jake and it was clear they were thinking the same thing. This could be their salvation. Maybe they’d find someone to take pity on them. Maybe they’d have a fighting chance if they could find someone to take their side.
Jake leapt over a garden fence and ran to a window to knock and try to catch someone’s attention, but in his eagerness, his shoulder crashed against the glass and it cracked a little before shattering. Jake couldn’t contain his shock, but Megan pushed him forward.
“Climb in,” she insisted. “It might be our only way to escape now.”
Jake did as she asked. He’d caused enough trouble. He winced as he scratched his leg on some glass, but he tumbled inside, looking around him. The house was dark without any lights, but it still seemed like it was abandoned.
Megan clambered in behind him, breathing hard. She wiped sweat from her brow.
“I don’t think they saw us go in here...we might have just slipped away from them.”
“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 had. Her hand snagged something warm and she heard a squeak in the dark as the rat scurried away from her. She retched. She really did hate those rats.
“Aby, I’m so sorry, I’m so sorry…” Peaches wailed in the dark. Aby shushed her.
“Peaches, enough. You need to be quiet.”
“Why? We’re going to die anyway…”
“Stop saying that,” Aby growled, still feeling around for the matches. She was beginning to lose her patience. If they ever got out of there, she knew she’d never trust Peaches instincts again. She was becoming a lot more trouble than she was worth. But that didn’t mean Aby wouldn’t do everything in her power to save her.
Her hands finally found the familiar matchbox and she breathed a sigh of relief. It was a beacon of hope in the darkness. She heard a creak of a floorboard above her head and another scream. There was no time to waste. She had to get them the hell out of there.
With difficulty, she struck the first match. Her hands weren’t very mobile, but she managed with a shaking hand to hold the flame next to the rope around her wrists, burning it away slowly. She couldn’t see much of her progress since her hands were behind her back and the flame was singeing her skin a little too, but she gritted her teeth and got on with it. She’d been to hell and back that day. A little heat was easily handled.
But the flame died out before she could release herself from her cords. She had to try again. Her heart was racing as she realized that it was much quieter upstairs now. Peaches was whimpering to herself again and sobbing.
“Shut up, Peaches,” Aby hissed. “You’ll attract his attention.”
“I’m sorry, I’m sorry, I’m sorry…”
Aby shook her head to herself. She was dealing with a madwoman at this point. The torture had made her come undone. Not Aby, though. The fact that she was still going was a testament to her strength. As she struck another match, she thought about Jake. He’d be so proud of her. He would encourage her if he was there with her. He’d say she was smart for stealing the matches. As Aby continued the slow process of burning through the cords, she clung to the thought of him. A reason to keep going. A reason to live.
Aby cursed to herself as she dropped her match from her shaking hands and the flame went out. She was close to half way through the rope and she wondered if she could rub the ties together instead to wear them down. She gave it a go, her aching muscles protesting as she awkwardly rubbed her wrists together. At first, she couldn’t tell if she was making any progress, but then she felt the ties loosen a little. The relief was so overwhelming that a sob escaped Aby, but she didn’t allow herself another second to feel sorry for herself. She continued rubbing away at the ties, her heart in her throat. The silence upstairs was becoming disturbing. She wondered if Tex had left to find another victim, or if he was taking a break. He must’ve been awake for hours, just torturing people. She felt so angry that she wanted to kill him, but all in good time. She had to overcome one hurdle at a time.
“What are you doing?” Peaches sniffed, finally catching on to Aby’s struggles. Aby continued to create friction with her ties.
“Getting out of these ties. I’ll help you with yours the second I’m done with mine.”
“You should just leave me,” Peaches moaned. “I’ll never make it out of here alive.”
Aby knew that getting Peaches out of there was going to be a challenge. Between her difficult personality and her new injuries, she knew it was going to make their escape more difficult. But that didn’t mean she wasn’t going to try.
“I’m not leaving without you,” Aby told her through gritted teeth. “This is going to work. I know it is.”
“How do you know?”
“Because I said so,” Aby growled. She felt the ties on her hands give a little more and she realized that she could now move her wrists further apart without straining. A few sharp tugs and she’d be free of her binds…
She readied herself to pull. She knew this was the quickest way of escaping her binds, but it was going to hurt. The motion wouldn’t agree with her sore body and her throbbing hand. But it had to be done. The silence was almost too much to handle for her now, knowing that Tex could come and find them at any moment. She gritted her teeth and yanked her wrists apart.
The pain was blinding. Her whole body seemed to be burning with pain, but she didn’t stop there. She wasn’t free yet. As she was still processing the pain from her first manoeuvre, she tugged hard on the binds again. This time, she heard the final threads of rope rip and she was free. She breathed hard, sweating profusely and blinking through the pain. She wanted to curl up in a ball and go to sleep. She wanted someone to take care of her and tell her it was all going to be okay. But she was alone. Peaches wasn’t going to help her or herself. It was up to Aby to get them both out alive.
Even though her hand hurt like hell, Aby immediately reached for the binds on her ankle and began to untie them. Peaches gasped when she saw through the dark what she was doing.
“You did it? You got out?”
“Shh!” Aby hissed. “Are you insane? Keep quiet. I’m coming to help you. Just be patient.”
Peaches did as she was told for once. Her bad hand was almost impossible to use properly so she used one hand to struggle with the ties. They were bound tight and in a complicated knot so the process took a lot longer than Aby would’ve liked. But eventually, she managed to untangle her feet. She stood up carefully, her legs shaking after the ordeal she’d been put through, but Aby felt powerful. She was alive, and she planned to keep it that way.
She rushed to Peaches who whimpered as she began to untie her hands. Aby moved her mouth close to her ear.
“If I get your hands free can you manage your feet?”
“Yes,” Peaches whispered. “What are you going to do?”
“The second I’ve got your hands free I’m going to look for a way out of here...one that won’t get us killed,” Aby whispered. She knew it was going to be nearly impossible. Going upstairs was out of the question. Tex had a gun, after all. He could shoot them if they tried to run - or hobble - away. They might have escaped one trap, but they were still in Tex’s grasp. They needed to tread carefully from there onward.
Aby finally managed to free Peaches with her fumbling fingers and Peaches sighed with relief, sniffling to herself as she got to work on her ankles. Aby stood up straight and glanced around the room. In the darkness, it was impossible to see any immediate escape. Aby forced herself to move toward the wall, feeling out for some kind of escape hatch. Rats scurried around her feet, but Aby told herself she had survived much worse. She couldn’t afford to let a few rodents stop her from finding a way out.
As her hands fumbled along the walls, her hands were met with cold glass. When she stared hard in the darkness, she saw that she was looking at a very dirty window. No wonder it had blended in. She found the latch and forced the window open, unable to contain a gasp as cold air hit her face. She never thought she’d feel it again. Tears stung her eyes. This was it. Their way out.
If they could somehow climb out, that was.
She heard a stumble behind her and turned to see Peaches barely able to hold herself up. Aby felt the hopelessness of the situation yet again. She was too injured to walk or fight. So was Aby, really. How were they going to get out of the window quietly and safely? First off they needed something to climb on to get up there. Then Aby would probably have to pull Peaches out with her. An impossible task.
But she was going to make it happen.
In the dark, she went searching again for something to use as a step. It wasn’t long before she found an old tumble dryer, but Aby didn’t think she could move it alone. Besides, it would make too much noise.
She carried on looking. Soon, she found an old rickety chair. She tested standing on it. It was wobbly, but it would be strong enough to support them as they got out of the window. She grabbed it with her good hand, tucking it under her arm a little and carrying it back to the window. She ushered Peaches over.
“Come on. We need to go.”
“I can’t,” Peaches groaned. “I’m in so much pain.”
Aby final
ly found it in her to have some sympathy and her features softened. “I know. But if you don’t come now, you’re going to die. We both are. We need one another. Come on, Peaches...please...one last push and we’re out of here.”
Peaches’ eyes were filled with terror in the dark. She looked ready to give up. But Aby’s words must have gotten through to her because she began to stumble toward the window. Aby gave her a reassuring smile and opened the window as wide as it would go. The damp grass just outside it smelt like freedom. She turned back to Peaches.
“I’ll go through first. Then I’ll pull you through.”
“Don’t leave me!” Peaches cried. She was being too loud again. Aby put a finger to her lips.
“It’ll only be for a second. We have to do this.”
Aby knew she couldn’t afford to wait another second for Peaches to protest. Groaning with the effort, her good hand grappled for the ground outside as she tried to pull herself out of the window. She felt Peaches giving her a push from behind and she silently thanked her as she wriggled out onto the grass. Her cheek brushed the ground for a second and even though she was lying in the cold, she felt a rush of happiness so intense that she felt she might cry.
She didn’t waste any time reaching her good hand through the window to help Peaches out. Peaches hand slid into hers and she began to wriggle through the window too. Aby kept fearing that Tex was going to appear and grab Peaches, tugging her back into the basement from hell, but a few moments later, Peaches made it out. Aby helped her to her feet and then gave her a quick hug. She was so relieved that they’d both made it this far, but she knew they weren’t safe yet. Peaches pulled away first.
“What now?” she whispered, her eyes fearful. Aby chewed her lip. She hadn’t thought that far ahead. But then it struck her. The one thing they needed was waiting for them on the driveway.
The End of the World Series | Book 3 | Survive The Destruction Page 11
