“Like Zack and Allan,” Kyle offered and saw by the tightening of the man’s face that he was right.
“I won’t tell. Ever.”
“If they’ve done something wrong…” Neil started to protest, unable to deny that he was being influenced by Kyle’s choice, but Kyle cut him off.
“It won’t work that way.”
“How then?”
Kyle looked at Ray, studying the set jaw and the calm pound of his pulse under the bruised skin. “You tell him.”
Ray flushed again, but spoke the truth. “You have to let me do it on my own as much as you can.”
“We have been,” Neil stated, thinking of all the times he’d overlooked Kenn’s extra hits and nasty words.
“Yeah, but I’m still alive and I’m not pretending with the Eagles anymore, like she said.” Ray slowly stood up. “I’m in love with Dale. You guys should know that. It’ll kill me to give him up… but I will.”
They watched him move toward his tent for another lonely night and there was an odd silence between them. Before the War, homosexuality was a hot-button topic. After the War, it only mattered once they’d come here. Now, it was in their faces, running drills with them and eating Mess under the same canvas.
Neil gave. “All right, I’ll back you up because he saved Adrian, but I don’t want to talk about…anything specific, okay?”
Kyle grunted, thinking they’d probably learn more about it than either of them wanted to before it was all said and done. Getting gays really accepted into the Eagles would make Angie’s trials look like nothing more than a bad dream.
Chapter Twenty
April 2nd, 2013
The Kraft Cave
1
Kendle knew she didn’t want to wake up, but the nightmares drove her to it.
She’d started out with the shark pulling her down, and then corpses with huge holes in them held her while glowing green eyes bit her repeatedly. Struggling to make sense of it, she also fought to remain asleep, instinctively knowing some parts of it were really happening. It was the sound of her own screams that jerked her brutally into consciousness.
“Aahhh….”
Kendle snapped her mouth shut as Ethan drew back, her blood dripping from his chin. Violent pain assaulted her body and she let the tears roll down her cheeks. She was still alive.
Slap!
His blow rocked her face into the stone wall, drawing blood from a rare place he hadn’t damaged yet and Kendle’s bladder let go. She cowered back in fear as he charged forward to deliver her punishment and she welcomed the grayness that swam over her vision. One or two more of those and she could be back with the shark.
Ethan’s teeth sank into her naked thigh and scraped a layer of skin, taking her scream and turning it into a piercing shriek that had him delivering the two required hits and more. She was at his mercy now and he had none.
Kendle had lost all sense of time. Unlike her ordeal on the ocean, when she’d been able to mark the passing days, this time her world consisted of the tormenting nightmares in the darkness and excruciating brightness of the pain when she was awake. During those moments, she struggled to get back to the soupy grayness that lie between both worlds, but always seemed to miss it.
Ethan’s entire face was bloodshot. He hadn’t slept much in the entire time he’d had her, too worried about extracting his pound of flesh, literally, before Luke found them. The gunshots had continued for two days and that meant only one thing. Her soldier had escaped and Ethan was determined that when he found the body, it would be unrecognizable.
He jabbed her harder, trying to jerk her awake again. Like with the others, it was getting harder and harder to do, even though he’d stopped spilling so much blood at one time, right after he dragged her from the tunnel. She was weakening.
If Luke doesn’t hurry up, he won’t see me alive again, Kendle thought, very careful to keep Ethan from knowing his last jab into her cheek had pulled her from the watery blackness. She knew he was scared of Luke, but…”AAAhhhh!”
Ethan’s teeth sank deeper than he meant them to and her blood, sweet and warm, flew down his throat. Moaning in ecstasy, he let her bash her own head against the wall and black out again.
2
He wasn’t coming. Kendle had realized it. Luke had given her up for dead. She would stay here until Ethan finally bit too far and hit a vein or she pushed him into accidentally killing her. That last one gave her a small measure of hope that it would all be over soon and she swam through the darkness more determinedly. The shark in here with her no longer held any power, and when it snagged her wrist, she smiled in relief and let it pull her under the comforting water where Ethan couldn’t follow.
“Did you know they think you can’t die?”
Kendle followed the salty voice as it spoke, not seeing its owner and not wanting to.
“The townspeople thought it was a miracle you survived, at first. When they found out about the rest, the stories started.”
Kendle could see the outline of a humanlike creature under the deepest rock on the ocean floor, but her mind couldn’t wrap around its size. How could a person fit under a rock?
“We came to look at you ourselves,” the form under the stone informed her, “and we have found the rumors to be true!”
Kendle shook her head in denial. “He’s killing me even as I dream this.”
The form’s voice became heavy with curiosity. “Do you wish to die, child?”
Kendle hesitated. “I want the pain to end.” She could hear the understanding smile.
”Then you do wish to die, for all life is about pain.”
“But he’s eating me!” she shouted desperately. “How can I survive that?”
“There was no choice for the others. They had to let the blood spill. A creature such as you does not.”
Kendle didn’t trust the form under the rock but asked anyway, “How?”
“A trade.” The voice was greedy now and Kendle sensed right then that the father of all lies, in whom she previously hadn’t believed, might be the miniscule shadow under the stone.
“My soul is useless,” she haggled. “Impure.”
“But your blood is not.”
She watched the rock shift ever so slightly.
“Share with us willingly and we will rise to slay your tormentor. You shall be freed!”
Kendle cringed back at the open evil in that tone and was horrified to find her mind wanting to say yes. Instead, she forced herself to wake up by doing the one thing she knew was guaranteed to make Ethan keep going until she was. She screamed for Luke.
It became a pattern of new agony, enduring as much of Ethan’s torment as she could and then sinking down into the depths to be tempted with powers she’d never dreamed of. Real or not, she was sure she would die as soon as the choice was made and the part of her soul that had kept her alive so far, stubbornly refused to give up.
Ethan’s illness was getting worse. Even with the workouts he was giving Kendle, the rage was overwhelming. He hadn’t left the hiding place since bringing her here and his state of deterioration wasn’t much above hers. In just seven days, he was weak enough to feel dizzy when enjoying his treasure and he’d come to the conclusion that he needed to go out for supplies. He was trying to keep her alive, make her last, and he was hungry all the time because of it. The others had gone fast, but with Kendle, he’d gotten his money’s worth.
Ethan didn’t want to leave her, but besides the supplies, he needed to know what had happened. If Luke was dead, like he should be by now, then Ethan would be free to go home and stock up before coming back and joining her in a final session of blood and death. If he wasn’t, then leaving her unguarded was likely to lose him custody of the spoils. So he made sure that if the soldier showed up in his absence, he wouldn’t be able to take her away.
Kendle scowled at the shark as it pulled her upward this time, making her go back. The voice under the stone had been telling her of a group of survivors
in her homeland and of how much they needed her. It had been offering to help her get there and Kendle had been close to agreeing.
“AAaaaaaahhhhhh!”
The pain was so severe that she hit the grayness head-on and floated there in limbo until she could breathe again. He had her chained, complete with a padlock. He’d left her here to die this way. Will collapsing, when the voice under the stone called to her, she took a quick fin down into the blackness and began fighting her own greedy nature as the devil tempted her.
3
Satisfied she wasn’t going anywhere, Ethan spent an hour observing the jungle around the door and seeing nothing, but normal Island life. Grinning - maybe LJ hadn’t even found this cave - Ethan hit the button and let himself out.
The second the door opened, Luke was there.
Ethan flew back into the small cave and LJ followed him inside with the certainty that the blood the sick playboy was covered in was Kendle’s.
Luke didn’t ask where she was, didn’t speak at all as he slid his knife out and he moved toward the rotting monster trying to pick himself up off the floor. After so long, and Ethan about to skulk away, Luke was sure she was dead and he was determined that her killer would soon follow… after he’d been caused some pain.
Ethan grunted in agony at the knife, but didn’t fight back as LJ sliced him deeply behind the ankles. It was over now, and the pilot had lost. There was no way she would live through everything he’d done to her.
Stopping any chance Ethan had of fleeing with the injury, Luke stepped back, getting set. He was going to enjoy th…
A gurgling moan from the back of the cave froze him in his tracks. “Kendle?”
Ethan’s horrible laughter cackled out. ”You waited! You waited and she was alive the whole time!”
Awful guilt flooded Luke and he punched Ethan with a powerful swipe that knocked him out. Luke kicked him in the ribs, nodded at the crack against his boot as he moved toward that awful choking sound.
“Kendle?”
The noise grew louder, more desperate and he rushed into the darkness with his knife tightly in his grip.
Kendle tried to scream at the sight of the bloody knife coming toward her, face turning purple, and Luke dropped the weapon in horror. He hit his knees beside her an instant later, already searching for the key.
Kendle’s blackened eyes had long since swollen shut, allowing only small glimpses of her cell. She cowered back as far as she could go, choking on the chain that was cutting into her neck.
Luke ran back to Ethan’s crumpled body, sure that’s where the key was. He found it on a rope around the bloody man’s throat and ripped it free. He delivered a harsh blow to Ethan’s ribs and felt another crack. Bastard!
Kendle was gasping from her place in the corner, wild, and Luke didn’t try to calm her down, not sure she would last through it with the tiny bit of air she was getting. He grabbed her under one arm, holding her bleeding body tightly while plunging the key into the lock.
“GGgrraaaaaaaaaaa!” Kendle’s scream seemed to echo in the cave forever as the collar fell off.
Luke held her close while she thrashed in pain and panic. “Jenna!”
The crazy woman stopped behind him. “My God!”
“Tie him up!”
Jenna smirked angrily and turned back toward Ethan’s unconscious form as Luke staggered to his feet.
Afraid to let go, Luke swung Kendle into his arms and carried her fighting, bloody body out into the sunlight. Too busy struggling to keep them upright, he didn’t see Ethan’s glowing green eyes pop open with a jerk as Jenna finished.
“Do we have a deal?”
Kendle was drifting along the bottom of the murky floor, held to the stone by a single finger of the shadowy form.
“I have offered everything you want.”
Kendle’s heart was bleeding with the losses she’d suffered. “But not what I need. Let me die.”
Finally tiring of her determination, the form let loose of her, but followed as she rose to the surface, once again guided by the shark. The form was a snake, and a man, and a beast with three heads that continued to tempt her.
“I will remake your beauty until you are beyond compare. I will lay cities at your feet and men will weep in longing at the mere mention of your name.”
Kendle let herself float to the top, weakening under the onslaught. She wanted that and this devil knew it well.
“I will let your lover’s life continue past its due time.”
Kendle winced, and kept going. Not even for LJ. The thing she wanted most, no one and no thing, could give her. Dawn was dead. Her twin could never be returned.
Kendle’s body shivered uncontrollably as she slid deeper into shock and Luke found his hands being shoved away.
“Get me a fire goin’.”
Jenna knew he needed to be kept busy and gave him easy instructions that took his stare off the gruesome scene, but she knew it was a moment he’d never forget, even if the woman lived, which Jenna doubted. She’d never seen someone with so many wounds.
Kendle thrashed under her hands, crying out, and Luke forced himself to hold her down so Jenna could clean and then smear gel over the bites. She came to abruptly as they were cleaning her head wounds and she immediately began scrambling to get away.
“Stop!”
Jenna’s harshly female voice got through to Kendle where Luke’s manly tones wouldn’t have and she stared at them in shock.
“Kendle?”
Her head swung to Luke, cringing in terror. “Eth..Eth.. Ethan!”
It came out as a piercing shriek that had Luke moving into the cave with determined steps. This was why the sick bastard wasn’t dead yet, he thought grimly. She needed to know, see it happen.
Luke grabbed the still man by the arm, blinded by his fury, and he grunted in sharp pain as Ethan’s knife blade sank into his shoulder.
He ducked backward avoiding a second swing meant to render him unconscious this time, and threw his own knife.
“Ugg!”
It stuck in Ethan’s gut and Luke resisted the urge to finish him off. He dragged the moaning man out to where Jenna had Kendle mostly cornered against the wall and was trying to calm her down.
At the sight of Ethan, Kendle began screaming again.
Luke swung lightly, knocking the unbound killer to the dirt at her feet, causing her shriek to be cut-off by surprise.
Luke used a vicious boot to the ribs to move the man away from her, deftly retrieving his knife with a fast jerk that sent Ethan’s mouth open in agony.
Kendle watch without blinking as LJ gave Ethan what she hadn’t been able to. Blood flew from the playboy’s face, spraying the rock wall and she stared at it. That was Ethan’s blood. Luke was killing Ethan.
Jenna wisely moved back when Kendle stood up, wobbling weakly on bloody legs. “Stop!”
Luke made sure Ethan was no danger before turning to look at her. He was prepared to take him into the jungle and finish it out of her sight and he was surprised again when she held her hand out.
Luke gave her the bloody knife without speaking, worried when she immediately delivered a nasty swipe down Ethan’s arm that jerked him from the blackness to the sound of his own screams.
Kendle grinned evilly, bloodlust flooding her devastated heart. “More!”
Luke moved back, nodding. “Whatever it takes, Darlin’.”
She was flashing forward before he finished speaking, letting the blade dig and then twist into the side of Ethan’s nose. Blood splashed down his chest as he knocked himself to the ground to get away. Kendle followed him forward, blade flashing relentlessly while Luke held the screaming man in place.
Scared by their behavior, Jenna slowly backed away, leaving the supplies. If they wanted her later, she would come, but not without a weapon of her own. These Americans were crazy!
Kendle kept going even after she had accidentally sliced too deep into Ethan’s neck and gave him release. Her arms and naked
body were covered in his blood and it was only as Luke watched those glowing green eyes fade to death that he considered the infection. Kendle had been exposed, presumably violated. She would catch the rage illness and he would have to lock her up to keep her from doing this to someone who didn’t deserve it.
As if she caught the thought, Kendle stepped back and threw up. She wobbled violently, knife falling from her gory hand as she slid to her knees. She stared up at him with a shocked survivor’s face and voice like the dead. “I’d like to go home now, please.”
Luke didn’t move fast enough to startle her, but he didn’t hesitate either, coming to her side with a hurt-filled smile. He had no doubt of which home she spoke. “As soon as you say you’re able.”
She nodded, lashes fluttering, and he caught her as she fell over. He laid her down long enough to finish bandaging her wounds and get the blanket from his bedroll. He cut a hole in it for her head and after sliding it over her, swung her gently into his arms and headed for the well-used dirt bike parked nearby. It would be slow going with her in his arms, but he had no idea how to help her. Not sure if the doctor in town would treat her or shoot them both on sight, Luke flew toward town as fast he could.
4
“Will she live?”
Kendle swam reluctantly toward the grayness, unable to remember what was there and scared to try. The voice below the stone was silent, but she felt him lurking, waiting for her to discover the latest horror and come rushing back. She didn’t feel anything that hadn’t been there already as she pushed through the gray and she was extremely careful to not let on that she’d woken.
“Maybe. Her wounds are healing at an incredible rate and there’s no sign of the infection.”
“And your theory on that?”
“I’ll share later, if she lives.”
Kendle jerked at the sudden bright light and felt someone come to her side.
“Kendle?”
Sure the sound of Luke’s voice was a trick, she squeezed her eyes shut. “I’m sorry, Ethan. Please, I’m sorry!”
Adrian's Eagles: Book Four (Life After War) Page 52
