Handfuls of Shattered Pieces

by Kerry Taylor

  I sat panicking, trying to decide if I should try to sit him up, or if it was better not to move him. I was so scared I’d make things worse. Deciding to get help first I started patting my pockets, looking for my cell. It took me a few minutes for my addled brain to remember it was in the bag I still wore. I opened the front pocket and pulled it out. I sobbed again when I found we had service. At least that was something.

  I dialled 911 and hurriedly told the dispatcher where we were on the highway and told her Kade was unconscious. She calmly told me not to move him and that help was coming. She asked me to stay on the line, but I hung up, needing to be with Kade. They were coming, it was all that mattered.

  I had just gotten back to his side when he started to stir. He muttered a few times, and started to raise his head.

  “Kade? Go easy. You have a head injury.” I cautioned as I put my hands on his shoulder and tried to gently help him ease up. He sat up straight and instantly held his head as he tried to look around. He turned to me with a groan and looked me over.

  “Livy…..you’re bleeding?” He seemed confused and dazed.

  “I’m ok. I called 911. Help is coming.”

  “What happened?” He tried to wipe the blood from his face, but it just kept on flowing. I opened my bag and pulled out some kleenex. I handed him three and he pressed them to the wound.

  “I don’t know. Th-there was something in the road. We ran over it and you l-ost control.” My voice was trembling and I could barely hear my own words over the thudding in my head.

  “Fuck!” He cursed. He started fighting to move, but his legs seemed trapped in the mangled front end.

  “Kade stop! What are you doing?”

  “That was deliberate…….Someone set that strip across the road for us!” He was frantic, fighting to get free, but he was trapped and I was terrified he would hurt himself.

  “What? Why would someone do that?” I asked.

  “To get to us…..to get to you.” He looked around the car as a shiver ran down my back.

  “Y…..You th-ink it’s him?” The words barely came out.

  “I have to get out of here!” Kade yelled and he started pulling at the twisted car trapping him in place.

  I looked around the car, but all I could see was pitch darkness. I saw headlights approaching a few feet above us where the road must be and I prayed it would be help, but deep down I think I already knew. I felt a cold wash over me and I knew evil was approaching.

  “Kade. I….I love you.” I whimpered. “T-Tell the guys I love th-them too, ok? And Keira, Evie and G-Grant…...and Xander.”

  “Livy, you are not going anywhere!” Kade raged as he started violently trying to fight his way out.

  “It’s too late.” I whimpered and then the car started to shake as someone fought to open my door from the outside.

  “No! Fuck! Where the fuck is my gun?” He started looking around frantically like it should be on him, but I knew, since we came from home, he never put the holster he wore for work on. It was still locked away in the box in his trunk.

  “It’s ok.” I tried to sound strong. “Help w-will come and get you out.”

  “Livy, you do not give…..” He didn’t finish as my door was ripped open and a balaclava covered face looked in.

  I screamed and wanted to scramble to Kade, but knew I needed to keep him out of it. He was trapped and vulnerable. I could deal with The Shadow taking me, but I could never handle knowing Kade was dead.

  “Stay the fuck away from her!” Kade roared as he fought to get free so frantically I was sure he would rip a leg off if it was an option.

  Hands grabbed my waist and started to lift me out. I glanced around to see the monster I knew so well, and then I realised.

  Kade grabbed my hands as I flailed and he started to pull, trying to keep me with him.

  “It’s not him!” I yelled to Kade, needing him to understand if there was any hope of them finding me again. “Kade…..it’s not The Shadow!” I got the words out just as the stranger ripped me from Kade’s grasp, and then ran with me in his arms. He was smaller than The Shadow, and much fitter. I fought, hitting and kicking out wherever I could as I screamed for Kade, but it did no good. In a matter of seconds I was in the trunk of a car and it was speeding away.

  I fought and screamed at first, kicking at the lid and sides of the trunk. Tears were streaming and I knew I was screwed. I didn’t even know who had me, let alone where they were taking me. All I did know was that if I was going back to The Darkness again, I would not have the strength to survive it again.

  COLE

  Kyle had driven to the hospital like a man

  possessed and neither Matt, nor I said a word, just as eager to get there as he was. Mom and Dad were on their way in too, Dad having received a phone call to say Kade had been rushed in from an RTA, unconscious, but stable. When he had asked about Livy they didn‘t have any information and we were all hoping like hell that was because she was sitting in a waiting room somewhere, shaken, but safe.

  “Kade Maxwell?” Kyle barked when we reached the information desk at the ER.

  “He was brought in from an RTA.” I added, trying to sound a little less aggressive than my brother, having seen the alarm on the young girl’s face when Kyle had spoken.

  She started typing and studying the screen, then she looked up at us again.

  “He’s being assessed right now. If you take a seat someone will update you as soon as they can.”

  “Can you tell us anything? Has he regained consciousness yet?” Kyle demanded and I knew he was just scared. We had already been through this once with Kade in the last couple of weeks. He was terrified we wouldn’t get our brother back this time.

  “I’m afraid I don’t know. I can call through and let them know you’re waiting though. They’ll come out to speak with you as soon as possible.”

  “What about Oliva Byrd? She should have come in with him?” Matt asked and we all waited anxiously as she once again typed away on her keyboard.

  “I don’t have anyone by that name and the EMT report looks like there was only one person in the car at the time of recovery.”

  “She wasn’t in the car.” Matt sighed with relief.

  “Then where the fuck is she? Kade wouldn’t have just left her alone anywhere.” I countered. It didn’t make any sense.

  “What if she got scared and ran from the car?” Matt asked, exactly what I was thinking.

  “Fuck! She could still be out there, hurt and alone.” Kyle growled.

  “We need to speak to Kade, see if he remembers anything.”

  “We don’t have time to wait for him to come round. If she’s out there she could be seriously hurt, not to mention freezing to fucking death!” I hated to think of her out in the dark somewhere alone, hurt and shivering, as Kyle described.

  “Let’s go then. Matt stay and let us know when you get an update on Kade.” I directed, knowing Kyle was struggling to keep his cool enough to be his usual bossy ass self.

  Matt nodded, so Kyle and I set off running back to the car. Dad had told us where the car came off the road when he called us, so we had a good idea of where we were headed, and it wasn’t far.

  “I never should have let her go to that fucking crime scene!” Kyle raged from where he sat in the passenger seat. Him allowing me to drive was a sure sign of how badly he was losing it. He never let anyone else drive, always needing to be the one in control.

  “We all let her go, Kyle. This isn’t your fault. It’s not anyone’s fault. They had an accident, that’s all. We’ll find Livy and both she and Kade will be fine. Just breathe man.”

  “I can’t lose anyone else Cole…..I just can’t.” He said quietly, a rare moment of weakness showing through his tough exterior, and it hurt to see my brother in so much pain. I hoped like fuck I was right and everyone was alright, for all our sakes.

  “You’re not going to.” I replied confidently. “Now come on, pull it together. We need your
army tracking mojo to find Livy. She’s gonna need you to be calm when we find her. She’ll be frightened enough.”

  A few minutes later, with a much cooler Kyle, we pulled up to a mess of a scene, with two patrol cars, several unmarked vehicles and a ton of cops milling around.

  “What the hell?” Kyle grumbled as I parked up at the back of the vehicles and we both jumped out.

  “What’s going on?” I asked Kyle as we walked side by side to the guy we both recognised as Kade’s boss.

  “I don’t know, but it can’t be good.” Kyle started running and I stayed in step with him. Two uniforms stepped forward to stop us as we approached the scene, but Kade’s boss recognised Kyle and approached.

  “Kade’s brothers, right?” He asked.

  “Yeah. I’m Kyle and this is Cole. What’s going on?”

  “This was no accident. The first uniforms on scene found a spike strip across the road. It blew Maxwell’s tyres and the car spun out of control.”

  Kyle and I looked at each other with the same deafening fear. I knew because I saw the panic I was feeling, reflected in his eyes.

  “Do you have anything so far? Do you know who did this?” I asked as Kyle stood frozen, his chest heaving, I guessed part through panic and part through anger.

  “I’m having all surrounding traffic footage pulled as we speak, and the immediate area around the crash is being combed for evidence.”

  “I need to look around. Olivia, the kidnap victim. She was in the car with Kade. We thought she just got scared and ran away, but this sounds more like someone fucking took her!” Kyle was clearly fighting to stay level headed, but his anger and worry were coming through. I got it. I was ready to lose my shit too. If anyone had taken Livy, we knew who it would be and who knew if we would ever get her back from that? The fucker had held her for eight years last time!

  “You think this was her captor?” Kade’s boss asked.

  “It had to be. Can I take a look around or not?” Kyle growled.

  “Yeah, ok. We’re done with the scene anyway for now.” Kade’s boss relented and I had to run to keep up with Kyle as he hurried toward Kade’s completely wrecked car. It had hit a huge tree and seeing the state of the driver’s seat, I wondered how Kade had come out of it at all. My heart sank at the thought we could lose him too.

  Kyle started wandering around the car, using the flashlight from his cell to study the ground closely. I had no idea what he was looking for, but I had every confidence he knew what he was doing. He was a very skilled, very dangerous guy. I just thanked fuck I was on his side.

  “Hey,before I head out, do you recognise this?” Kade’s boss came up behind me and handed me an evidence bag. I looked down at Livy’s phone in the pink case I had ordered for her last week. It was decorated with candy, and had screamed Livy when I saw it.

  “Yeah, it’s Olivia’s. Where’d you find it?”

  “It was in the passenger seat footwell. It was used to dial 911 after the impact.”

  “Have you listened to the call? She may have been on the line when she was taken!” I asked urgently.

  “I’ve requested the transcripts, but it’s unlikely she was taken during the call. If that was the case, the dispatcher would have sent more cars to the scene in response.”

  “Cole!” Kyle yelling across from the other side of the car pulled my attention and I hurried over with Kade’s boss following.

  “Someone took her.” Kyle whispered as I crouched down beside him.

  “How do you know?” I wouldn’t believe it, I couldn’t. The thought of never seeing my beautiful Olivia again was more pain than I could bear.

  “Footprints. The EMT’s came down the banking over there, and approached around the front of the car. These footprints come from back there.” Kyle pointed behind him. In the opposite direction of the EMT route he had pointed out. “They come down to the passenger side, then going back they’re deeper.”

  “Because he was carrying extra weight on the way back up?” Kade’s boss asked.

  “He was carrying Livy.” Kyle agreed and I had to stand up as I fought to breathe through my panic. That monster had our Livy again and who knew what he would do to her this time. Would we ever see her smiling face again? I had a sinking feeling we lost her for good this time and the pain it caused was crippling.

  CHAPTER 16

  OLIVIA

  I had passed out at some point, exhausted from the very long day and from fighting for my damned life to get out of that trunk. I had beaten the top and sides of it until my hands throbbed in agony. When that hadn’t worked I had screamed repeatedly for as long and as loud as I could. Still we just continued to drive and eventually exhaustion and my battered head gave in, and darkness overcame me.

  Now I was awake again and found myself no longer in the freezing cold trunk. I had been moved, without me waking, and I now found myself tied at my wrists and ankles to a wooden chair, in a bright, but starkly empty room. The walls were decorated in a cheerly yellow colour, almost mocking my misery as I struggled, hopelessly, to get free.

  I could see out of the window opposite me, into wide open fields. The sun was out, telling me I must have passed out for some time, since day had come around once again.

  I hoped like hell, the emergency services found Kade in time. He had been bleeding so much and he did not look good when I was torn away from him.

  I tried to maneuver my hands from the ropes again, but it was hopeless, they were too tight. I looked out of the window again. I was on the second floor, but I was pretty sure if I could just get free, I could get to the ground and flee. I’d do whatever it took to get away. No way I was going to just rollover and take what I had to this time. I’d die fighting to keep unwanted hands from me if I had to this time. Death would be a better option over what I had suffered for far too long before. At least this time I had fresh beautiful memories of my guys to think of as I slipped away. My time with them had been short, but it had been beautiful.

  Fast approaching heavy footsteps had flashbacks of The Shadow coming down the steps to me in The Darkness, flashing through my mind. I took deep breaths and fought them away, knowing I needed to keep my wits about me if there was to be any hope of ever getting home to the guys ever again.

  The door to the room opened behind me and I held my breath waiting to see if The Shadow would appear before me, maybe having had someone else grab me for him. My entire body was shaking with fear, adrenaline, and pain in my head. I could barely catch my erratic breaths as my chest began to heave violently.

  “You’re scared little mouse?” A voice asked. Words! Words were good. The Shadow never used words! I thought about the voice, trying to work out if it was familiar, but I knew I had never heard that nasally tone before.

  I tried hard to channel Kyle as I strengthened my body, sat up straight and replied sharply, with a strength I did not feel.

  “No I’m not scared! You better let me the fuck out of here now!”

  “I can’t do that Livy.” He appeared before me as he spat my name like it was poisoned. I wondered how he knew who I was, but then realised Kade had been yelling my name the whole time this maniac carried me away.

  The balaclava was gone now, and beady little pale blue eyes locked down on me. His face was thin and pinched, with a pointed nose and a mouth too small for his long angular face. His hair was pale too, almost white blonde and hung way too long down both sides of his face. It was ironic he had called me mouse, when he very much resembled a rat.

  He looked young, maybe mid twenties, and his body was lean and long. He was tall, at

  maybe six feet, with long gangly legs and arms, and dressed in the all black outfit of slacks and a button down, he looked intimidating. especially to someone as tiny as me.

  “You have to stay with me now, until it’s time anyway.” I did not like the sound of that last part.

  “Time for what?” I demanded.

  “For me to go back. I worked it out. I can go back and
I can save them.” He whispered, like it was a huge secret.

  “Go back where?” I asked.

  “Back, to the past, to save my family. I’ve been working for years and finally I found it, the way back!”

  “You’re talking about time travel?” I asked, shocked.

  “Yes. It wasn’t easy, but I worked out the component I was missing, blood. There has to be an exchange, something to gift to the universe for my ability to go back. It couldn’t just be any blood either, it had to be equal to me. It has to be a fair exchange. That’s why I set the puzzles and you, you came just like a little mouse, nibbling the cheese and scampering right into my trap.”

  “What are you talking about? There’s no such thing as time travel!” I cried, scared now. This guy clearly wasn’t playing with a full deck, “You can’t go back, you freak!”

  I wasn’t expecting the hard back hand I received in response to my comment. It hit me so hard across my right cheek I saw stars, then I cried out in agony as the chair tipped and landed hard on my badly broken ankle. The pain was unbearable as I lay tied to the chair, on my side, all of weight rested on that messed up ankle.

  “Do not talk to me like that!” The Froot Loop yelled angrily and I knew I had set him off. Great work Livy!

  “O…..Ok.” I gasped through the red hot agony. “I w-won’t. Just please…..please sit m-me back up.”

  He grabbed the top of the chair and roughly shoved it back up. I screamed as my ankle took the weight of the whole thing for a moment, then I was back upright and the agony was throbbing still, but less.

  “If you won’t help me go back, then you’re no good to me.” He said, sounding a lot like a sulking child. I couldn’t believe this guy was the one who had murdered three people, evaded the police and left those crazy complicated math puzzles. He didn’t seem capable of any of it.

  “Of course I’ll help you!” I hurried to assure him. I needed to bide my time. Kade and his team were looking for this guy. There was hope they would find me before this crazy drained me of my blood completely, which I had assumed was his plan when he said he needed my blood. I just hoped Kade realised this was the killer and didn’t waste time looking for The Shadow.