by Skyla Madi
“This could be wasted effort, Jai.” Joel grunts, stepping over a big chunk of stone. “He could…he could die on the way.”
I’m a realist. I know Ted’s death is a possibility—almost a guarantee—but what kind of friend would I be if I just leave him here? If the worst happens and he passes on the way, then I want to make sure his mother gets his body.
“I know,” I groan, shifting Ted’s weight. “but I’m not leaving him here. He needs to be with family.”
Hate and disgust pick holes in my conscience. I shouldn’t have let him come. I should have made him stay at the lake house with Emily—or in the car at the very least. He shouldn’t have been down here helping me fight my battles. He spent his days directing traffic for God’s sake. How am I going to explain this to his mother?
Hold on, buddy. I squeeze him closer to me. We’ll get you patched up. All you gotta do is hold on.
Please hold on.
****
“We’re here.” Joel groan, his body close to giving out.
I grunt, forcing one leg in front of the other. My knee gives away and I stumble, pressing my hand into the dirt to stop myself from face planting. My muscles tremble and burn. Cramps linger, waiting to attack me the second I relax.
“Give him to me.” Joel says. “I’ll put him in the car.”
“Ted?” Huss calls as Joel shoulders Ted’s weight. “Shit.”
I straighten my spine, hissing as sharp bouts of pain shoot down my legs. Huss leaps from the car and slams the door shut.
“We need to get him to a hospital.” Monique says, hugging herself tightly.
Her hands covered in scratches and dry blood from the hike here. Mine too. I lost my gloves fifteen minutes in to entering the compound.
I pant, unbelievably relieved we made it back. Italy here we come.
Huss opens the back door. Lights flick on inside the car, revealing its emptiness. Joel hesitates for a second when he sees the empty back seat and glances sideways at Huss. I take a single step closer, then see the look on Huss's face. It has to be about Ted. Who else would it be about? Joel and Huss whisper as they gently slide Ted onto the empty back seat. I frown, confused, as Joel shuts the back door and turns his back to me, running his hands over his face.
My heart stops still as Huss turns to me, one of his hands stuffed into the pocket of his jeans, the other strapped in a cast and suspended by a sling against his chest.
“Where’s Emily?” I ask, trying to ignore the dread as it manifests inside of me.
“Jai…” Joel utters, rubbing the back of his neck. “Huss…Emily…”
He crouches low, hanging his head in his hands.
No.
Joel lifts his head, shaking it apologetically. I look to Huss for answers and all I get is a fucking stutter. I storm forward, the aches in my muscles no longer a prominent pain when pitted against the swell of my heart.
“Where is she?” I demand, closing the gap between us.
He backs up against the car, his palm exposed to me in surrender. “Jai. I—”
I lash out, punching Huss in the already swollen nose. Blood sprays his hood and covers my hand. I shove him against the car and hold him there.
“T-they took her.” He groans, squeezing his eyes shut.
My heart splits and I flinch. “Who took her?”
“Skulls men.”
I release him and clench at my chest, digging my fingers into the sharp, searing pain beneath my ribs. It’s not possible.
“How?” I whisper. “How’d they know?”
Realization dawns on me. I slowly turn around.
“Why didn’t they take you?”
He swallows, swiping at his busted nose. “They knew because I told them.”
“You f—” Growling, I whip around and slam my fist into his nose again.
Crying out in pain, he crashes to the ground. Anger, irrational and unavoidable, flares inside me. I advance on Huss, stopped only by Joel as he slips in front of me, planting his hands firmly on my chest.
“Jai. Come on. Hear him out.”
“I had no choice!” Huss shouts through his hands as he cradles his busted nose. “They threatened my son, Jai. My son.”
He’s never mentioned the fact he has a kid before. Why now? The first thing a parent does is boast about their child. Why would he keep that fact from us? Because he’s full of shit. He doesn’t have a son.
“Bullshit!” I growl over Joel’s shoulder. “You don’t have a kid!”
“I do! I do!” His lips tremble, stained with blood. “His name is Brandon. He’s seven—only seven. They knew where he lived, what school he went to, and the day him and his mother do their groceries. Jai, please. I-I couldn’t put my son in danger.”
“How’d they know where we’d be?” Joel asks. “We didn’t know until we were about to leave.”
He drops his chin to his chest. “I called them. Skull thinks by taking Emily, you three will come to him…so I gave him her. Like he asked.”
Whipping around, I yell, my shout ripping through the silent woods. Fuck! What the hell am I going to do? I leave her alone with Huss and this is what I fucking get? She’d have been safer with me in the damn compound. Go fucking figure!
I’m going back. I have to.
I storm around to the back of the car and pull open the trunk. I reach for a rifle and shut it.
“Jai, what are you doing?” Joel asks, walking over to me.
“I’m going back.”
“You can’t. Skull and his men have swarmed the place—you saw it. I don’t even know if Joker got out alive. It’s a suicide mission.”
“You don’t get to tell me what to do!” I shout, shoving him off me. “This is your fault! Yours! None of this would’ve happened if you hadn’t taken us to that damn bar! They wouldn’t have cornered Huss. They wouldn’t have had the chance to squeeze information out of him!”
He flinches, his brows pulling together.
“But it doesn’t matter anymore, right? You got what you wanted and I’m left to suffer…like always.”
“I didn’t intend for this to happen. This isn’t what I wanted for you…or for Emily.”
“We can help you get her back.” Monique cuts in.
I’d forgotten she was here. I turned toward her. Her determined, and slightly scared, little pout is almost laughable. She’s cute. Stupid, but cute.
“What can you do to help me? You’re just a child.”
She straightens her shoulders. “I’m nineteen…turning twenty soon.”
I roll my eyes. She’s not old enough to buy a beer, but she wants to help me fight a war? This isn’t fucking Xbox.
“Oh, that changes everything.” I narrow my eyes. “Why don’t you go and color in your coloring book and leave this to the adults.”
Her thin eyebrows pull together and she opens her mouth.
“Niq.” Joel cuts in. “Not now.”
She clamps her lips shut and turns away from us, her attitude thick in her stance. Joel takes the opportunity to pull the gun from my hands while I’m distracted bickering with his girlfriend. He points the gun at me, his finger firm on the trigger.
“You’re going to shoot me?”
“If it stops you from getting yourself killed.”
I lick my lips, shifting my weight on to my right leg. “Don’t do this, Joel. I can’t leave here without her.”
“Ted is dying. He needs a doctor. We have to deal with that first and then regroup.”
I shake my head, almost pleading. I knew this would happen. Deep down I know I knew. The old man practically warned me, but I didn’t listen. We were so concerned about me not making it back we didn’t even consider the possibility of her not being there when I did.
I have to do something.
I can’t leave her there.
“We’ll regroup.” Joel says, his voice low—unconvincing. “I promise.”
I drop my head, my chin almost touching my chest.
I tried so hard…how’d I fail her?
Sixteen
****
Kitty-Kat
Emily
Calloused fingers dance along my jaw and sweep the length of my neck before tapping along the rise of my breasts. I sigh, leaning into the touch. Why do I feel so terrible? Why does it feel like my brain is swelling against my skull? My eyes flutter open, revealing a thin layer of fog that obscures my vision. I close them again and they roll into the back of my head.
“Who hit her?”
That Australian accent. Involuntarily, I shudder at the strangely familiar voice.
Bang!
I jump as a gunshot rings out and liquid sprays against my bare feet. I blink as reality begins to set in. I shake my wrists and hear metal as it scrapes together. They’re suspended above my head. Groaning, I force my head up and blink some more. The bright spotlight above me burns my eyes so I squeeze them shut, letting my head fall.
More fingers caress me, switching from poking and prodding impatiently, to stroking me with utmost affection. Curiously, I blink some more, clearing away the Vaseline that has blocked my vision. I see his hand first...the tattooed bones and illegible letters. My hear sinks like a stone.
Stone. Jai?
My head flies up and I shoot forward, only to be caught by chains. No.
No, God. Please. No.
I shake my head, clearing away the last of my sleep. His tattooed mouth, the teeth, they curl into a devilish grin.
“Rise and shine.”
I shake my head as grief sets in, making me sob unashamedly. Tears fall from my eyes and land on my bare thighs, making clean circles in the dirt. Why am I naked?
He swipes his large, smooth hand from my eyebrow down to my chin and I close my eyes right before he snatches it in his fist and pulls my face forward. He holds me there for days—months, maybe. At least, that’s what it feels like. When I open my eyes, chills consume me and fear paralyzes me.
The skull tattoo. It’s as terrifying as I remember—even more so now I’ve done what I’ve done to him.
I’m a dead girl.
Skull chuckles, his smile stretching to his eyes. “You didn’t really think you could outrun me forever, did you, Kitty-Kat?”
To my family, my friends and my readers,
Thank you for allowing to write Jai and Emily’s story. Your infinite patience and kindness makes everything so much easier on me. I’m lucky to have you.
SKYLA MADI is an Australian writer from Brisbane, Queensland.
Skyla started her writing career fresh out of high school and at 21 she is a giver of both real and fictional life.
She is an Aquarian, lover of the written word and author of the #1 BESTSELLING Consumed trilogy.
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