It didn’t take too long for him to slip into slumber. Even with the big game he put on she could tell he was still fatigued from his injuries. Once she was sure he was out she slid out from under him and made her way to the door.
With one more glance at his beautiful sleeping face she slipped outside.
CHAPTER TEN
There was still no sign of Sann and with the doctor still sound asleep, Gemi found herself wandering around their makeshift camp. They had cleared some of the debris off the road, piling it by the weeping willow. The other two vans still blocked the road looking even more destroyed than she had remembered.
She found herself at the mangled van they had been driving in before the crash. The back was open, its contents falling out all over the ground. Gemi climbed inside, thankful that Jaxton had let her out before they began their journey and rummaged around for something to snack on. Buried under camp supplied she found what she was looking for.
Gemi laid her head back on the wall of the van as she savored her snack. Her eyes fell on a small duffle bag of supplies and it dawned on her, she could sneak away uninterrupted. The thought running away into the great unknown was an unexpected rush. But she felt torn. On one hand she had wanted to get away from these people since the first day. On the other, after everything that just happened with Jaxton, her heart was begging her to stay.
She turned the bag over and over in her hands as she mulled over her choice.
“Going somewhere?” a voice called from the entrance.
Sann stood at the doorway, leaning against the wall his face passive.
“Was thinking about it,” she replied.
“Well don’t let me stop you.” He waived his hand out motioning for her to go.
“Wow.” Gemi stood and slung the bag on her back. “Look I’m sorry about Kai, but her getting sent away is not my fault.”
Gemi attempted to walk past him but he threw is arm out blocking her way.
“Not your fault?” he repeated to himself. “It’s funny because all I can think is how fast things went to shit once we picked you up.”
“Move please.”
“Why? What are you going to do without your protector?”
Gemi pivoted to the side intending to move around him, but he shadowed her positioning his body in front of hers once again.
“You’re acting crazy, get out of my way,” she said thrusting her hand into his chest.
Sann’s eyes lit up with a burning intensity as he clinched his jaw. In one swift movement he brought the back of his hand across her face knocking her to the ground. Gemi blinked against the pain and dizziness.
“See,” he said stepping up in the van with her. “You should never lay your hands on other people.”
Sann reached down and wrapped his hand in her hair, dragging her back to her feet. He pulled her against his body with one hand wrapped around her midsection and leaned his mouth down to her ear. “I’ve put up with your pathetic woe is me routine for far too long.”
“Help!” she shouted.
He brought his hand to her mouth, pressing down hard to silence her scream.
“Do that again,” he growled in her ear, “and I will kill you. Do you understand?”
Gemi nodded her head in agreement as best she could with his hand still holding her head back.
“Good,” he said releasing her mouth.
His hand dropped to her throat caressing it before sliding down her chest. He kissed the side of her neck, sucking the delicate skin into his mouth as he roughly grabbed at her breasts. Gemi fought against him, trying to wiggle free of his hold, her head still fuzzing from the blow to her face. Angry at her attempts he brought his teeth her ear and bit down hard.
Gemi screamed in pain. Sann wrapped his hand around her throat. Letting go of her waist he swung her around and slammed her back against the wall. Her head cracked against the metal causing an ache to spread up to her eyes.
This wasn’t like trying to get away from Jaxton. Sann meant to harm her and planned on using any means necessary including the immense strength he possessed. There was no way she would fight him off of her, she needed to think and figure it out, but there was no time.
“What did I say?” he asked as his hand tightened. “I just kind of figured you were that type of girl. Oh well.”
The world went hazy as she fought to stay conscious. Her struggle becoming weaker as the lack of oxygen overtook her. The last thing she saw before was Sann smiling at her.
***
Gemi blinked hard as her senses returned. The room slowly became more stable, letting the nausea settle. She was still inside the van, but the light shining in through the doors was substantially dimmer.
Rough fabric caught her tongue when she tried to speak. Sann had gagged her in her unconsciousness. She made a movement to bring her hand to her mouth, becoming instantly aware that they were bound behind her back. She rolled to her side and was met with Sann sitting in a corner, smiling at her.
“Oh good, you’re awake. It wasn’t as much fun with you just lying there.” he said, pushing off the ground.
He straddled her body, tilting his head to the side. Gemi tried to pull away, crawling on her knees and stomach. Once again he grasped her hair, yanking her back hard. Tears welled in her eyes, her screams of pain muffled by the gag.
Sann let out a long exhale, “I thought you would have learned. You’re not going anywhere. At least this gag makes your presence a little more bearable.”
He ran his hand up her stomach his warm fingers making contact with her bare skin. It was then she realized he had torn apart her shirt leaving it to hang in tatters at her sides, revealing her bra.
“Now,” he said bring his mouth close to her ear. “Are you going to behave?”
Gemi nodded her head, whimpering as she tried to hold back the tears that were forming. There was no way she was going to give him that satisfaction.
“We will have to be quick now. Jaxton will probably be wondering where you went. It’s pathetic really.”
Sann ran his hands down to the edge of her pants, tucking his thumbs in and ran it back and forth across her skin.
“Do you think he’ll cry when he finds your body?” He untied her pants, sliding one hand inside and wrapping the other arm around her waist. “I’m going to gut him like a fish. It’s sad you won’t be here to see it.”
Gemi’s heart raced, forcing the sensation of his hands pawing at her out of her head, she focused on escaping. There had to be a way. He moaned in her ear, and from the noticeable hard bulge in his pants he was way into torturing her, but he was distracted she realized. She played along, letting out a little moan of her own letting her body fall into his, moving slightly on him. He loosened his grip on her waist giving her a little bit of flexibility as his mouth still moved on to her shoulder.
Before he realized what happened, she leaned forward and in one swift movement brought her head back up to his face. The back of her head made solid contact, the cracking of his nose echoing in the small space. He stumbled back in shock reaching up to catch the blood pouring out of his nose in his hands.
“You fucking bitch,” he growled.
Before he could come at her Gemi reacted bringing her leg up and catching him in his testicles. He fell back groaning clutching at his groin and momentarily ignoring his busted nose. Disregarding the way the room now spun Gemi dropped to the floor and with some struggle was able to slide her arms from behind her back to the front and over her feet. She pulled the gag from her mouth and gnawed at the knot that tied her hands. He came at her then, screaming nonsense into the air between them. Gemi rolled to her side as he launched at her, narrowly escaping him as he crashed to the ground beside her.
Abandoning the attempts at her bound hands, she stood and made a break for the doors. Feet from the exit a crushing weight pushed into her back, Sann’s arms wrapped around her waist as they came sprawling out of the van onto the ground. She tried to throw her hands up to
brace for impact, but with them bound there was nothing to stop her body from scraping across the hard dirt, causing her skin to split open on her forearms and shoulder.
Gemi gasped into the dirt. Sann had landed on top of her and used that to his advantage as he pushed her harder into the ground. His hands found the gag hanging loose on her neck and pulled on it. The fabric pressed into her throat further limiting the air she was taking in. Gemi tried to force him off, tried to find her footing to use as leverage before he brought her to unconsciousness once again, but the gravel on the road made it almost impossible to gain traction.
“What the hell?” a voice called to them, Gemi didn’t have to look to know it was Jaxton.
“She’s lost it. Quick throw me your gun!” Sann yelled back to him, his hands still pulling strong on the gag.
Jaxton moved his hand to the gun on his waist hovering there for a beat before taking a step towards them. “Why don’t you get off her and tell me what happened. She’s already restrained,” he said motioning to her bound hands.
The pressure on her neck decreased although Sann remained on top of her. Gemi breathed in desperate ragged breaths each one bringing her surroundings back into focus. Her lungs burned as they sucked in the cold sweet air, air that meant she was alive at least for the time being.
The hammer on the gun clicked back, Jaxton now stood mere feet from them and had the gun pointed at Sann. “I said get off of her. Then we can discuss this rationally.”
Sann complied rolling off of her and stepping a few feet back his hands raised in the air. Jaxton fell to his knees at her side.
“He’s… crazy,” was all she got out.
Sann swung a large piece of the wrecked van at Jaxton’s head. It caught him hard knocking him to the ground beside her. The gun flew from his hands clanking to in the dirt before sliding a few feet.
“God, do you know how long I’ve wanted to do that?” Sann said before landing a kick to Jaxton’s side.
Jaxton crumpled to the ground.
Sann paced back and forth muttering, his hands pulling and hitting at his head. It was almost as if he was having a fight with himself. He reminded her of a rabid dog she had seen once in an ancient movie, but he was a larger threat and they were his prey.
Using the distraction to her advantage, Gemi was able to pull loose the ropes that bound her hands. Slowly she crawled for the gun, praying with each movement Sann wouldn’t notice. Gemi stretched out her fingers finding the edge of the gun the cold metal under her hand making her heart race faster with a mix of relief and fear.
Doctor Askel rounded the corner of the van, stopping short he glanced between the three of them before dropping his eyes to Gemi. She frantically shook her head trying to tell him not to draw attention, but it was too late.
“Well, well doctor,” Sann said closing the distance to her. “Good for you to join us.”
He reached out and grabbed Gemi by her waist pulling her up from the ground, but not before she got a change to palm the gun.
“What are you doing Sann?” the doctor asked.
“Putting an end to this.”
“To what exactly?”
Sann laughed wildly behind her. He pulled a knife from his waistband and pressed it to her neck cold and hard. Gemi’s mind flashed back to the first day and how a madman had a knife pressed to her neck, the same wild monstrous look in his eyes. But this time there would be no snipers waiting in the rafters to save her.
Sann let out a grunt, she felt his head thrust forward and let go of her. The knife fell from her neck and to the ground beside her. Gemi turned to see Jaxton standing with the same piece of wreckage in his hands.
Quickly she moved out of his reach falling in line with the doctor. She produced the gun and pointed it at Sann, her whole body shaking.
He looked up at her his jaw clenched and his face full of malice. “What do you think you are going to do with that? You’re a scared wretched little bird. I will slaughter you. Rip you apart piece by piece before I move on to these two pathetic pieces of shit. Do you hear me? Do you he –”
Sann slumped to the ground, blood oozing out of the hole in his head as the echo of the gun bounced around him and the smoke from the barrel twisted up towards the sky.
CHAPTER ELEVEN
The world went dead quiet. Gemi stood with her arm outstretched, the gun still clenched in her hand making her fingers ache. Both Doctor Askel and Jaxton stared at her unmoving, but she barely saw them. She was staring straight at Sann’s motionless body. He lay in a crumpled mess on the ground, blood pooling around him, his flesh already turning a ghastly white. She couldn’t believe he was the same man she had met, so kind, full of life, and always smiling. Now he was nothing and it happened in the blink of an eye. Worse yet, it happened by her hand.
“Gemi?” Jaxton broke her out of her trance. He had his hands raised towards her, moving in her direction like you would if you were trying to catch a wild animal. “Gemi, can you put down the gun?”
She responded, dropping it as if it were on fire. “Oh God, I killed him.”
“Yes, you did.”
“I… I didn’t mean…”
“Gemi, look at me.”
She complied. He was standing close to her, his arms still out in front of him in a defensive posture. Without thinking, she launched herself into him, wrapping her arms around his waist and burying her face into his chest. He stiffened momentarily before relaxing under her. He wrapped his arms around her and pulled her in close.
“Thank God,” he whispered.
“Does anyone want to explain what the hell just happened?” the doctor asked.
“He just attacked me.” Gemi mumbled into Jaxton’s chest.
Gently he pushed her away from him and held her at arm’s length, “Explain.”
“I don’t know, I was sitting in the van eating a snack when he showed up. He started talking crazy and attacked me. When I woke up I was tied and gagged, I managed to get out of the van and the rest you saw.”
“He was acting like one of the chipped we saw in the town,” Jaxton said addressing the doctor.
“He is,” Doctor Askel said matter-of-fact.
“What?” Jaxton let go of Gemi and walked to where the doctor stood. “What are you talking about? I’ve known Sann since I was eighteen. He was at base when I arrived there.”
“Look I don’t know much. All I know was there was a project where they left chips in some of the military staff. They kept it at a lower threshold, mostly wanting to test the limits of emotions and to see if they could integrate them with no one noticing.”
Gemi and Jaxton stared at him mouths gaping.
“They basically wanted to see at what threshold would someone still have the ability to kill if needed. I never knew who was part of it. I just had inkling about Sann. I guess I was right.”
“It doesn’t make sense though,” Jaxton said. “It wasn’t like he had never felt anger, I’ve seen it. So why would he lose it?”
“Maybe we don’t know as much as we think we did.”
“We need to get out of here,” Gemi said finally finding her voice. “He was gone for quite some time; he could have told others where we are.”
“We’ll have to get off the main road.” Jaxton said as he moved to the van.
He grabbed a new shirt and tossed it at Gemi. They gathered what they could carry, stuffing the bags with what medical and food supplied they had left.
Gemi helped the doctor carry Sann’s body off the road and into the van. It felt wrong leaving him there even after everything, but they had not time to bury him with Allon.
Before heading out Jaxton grabbed Gemi and pulled her off to the side. He wrapped a knife holster around her waist, the long heavy blade hung down to her mid-thigh making her feel off balance. He grasped her hand and kissed her palm before placing the handle of a handgun into it and closing her fingers around it. Gemi’s wide eyes met his, questioning him.
“I trust you.�
� He planted a kiss on her forehead then turned to the doctor, “You ready?”
Gemi shoved the gun in the waistband of her pants, the cold metal sending shivers up her spine. She grabbed her gear bags and slung one on her back, the other hung from one shoulder. For as heavy as the bags were she knew that at most it would only last them a few days.
The three of them ducked off the road following the same path through the overgrown grass she had taken the day before. The further they walked the higher and denser the weeds grew making it hard to navigate in any one direction. As difficult as it was too see Gemi knew it would be just as difficult for someone to spot them, she was thankful for that.
No one spoke, their minds all trying to process the day’s events. Gemi was having a hard time trying to focus on anything else. As if on repeat the image of Sann falling to the ground kept running through her head. It was almost as if she was seeing it from a third person perspective, and each time the smile on her face grew when the gunshot rang out.
The sun was beginning to set turning the sky a pale orange in the areas that had no cloud cover when the grass opened into a clearing. They were standing on the edge of what looked like a farmhouse. A tall white picket fence lined the perimeter of the property. Inside the grounds were well kept, the grass cut to a perfect two-inch height. Different farming vehicles stood parked in a row on the left side of the yard.
They had come up on the property from behind, the back of the house standing right in front of them with what looked like a garage or shed sticking off to the side. The three of them walked together along the perimeter following the fence to where it met the front of the property. It ended where a long dirt driveway began. From where they stood Gemi could see that the house was dark on the inside which wasn’t quite that odd since the sun had not fully set yet, but it could also mean that the occupants were out doing god knew what.
“What do you think?” Jaxton asked.
“I think that we have limited means to be sleeping outside in an area that none of us are familiar with and with a storm coming from the looks of it,” the doctor replied.
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