by Keta Kendric
Chapter Eleven
August
This day couldn’t have gotten here faster. If I could siphon the amount of anxious energy in my body, I probably could beat out Red Bull in the energy drink market.
The guards had entered the morgue once, searching for their missing comrade. Regina had hidden me, the gun, and knife inside her bedroom. Of all the places she could have placed me. I stood inside her shower with the gun cocked and ready to blow a hole in someone’s head.
At first, I thought she’d lost her mind, but the men never even crossed the threshold of her bathroom door, especially after she’d purposely sat a big box of tampons near the doorway and had singles of tampons and panty liners sitting out in the open.
Now, I sat impatiently in my closeted room, awaiting her return. The sound of her light steps registered along with the creaking of the walls surrounding me. When the door sprang open and Regina stumbled into the closet in tears, I tensed and curled my fingers into my palms. Were we going to be forced to shoot our way out of this damn cellar? I tugged her in and folded her into my arms, unsure of the reason, but hating to see her crying and upset.
“What’s wrong? Who the fuck am I going to have to kill?” I asked her before she backed out of my arms laughing as tears continued to roll down her cheeks.
“After some of the things you revealed about your life, I know you would be glad to kill that asshole cousin of mine.”
A laugh threatened to escape at hearing Regina curse, but her distressed state had caused me to worry. I couldn’t remember the asshole’s face, but the seething hatred Regina carried for her cousin, Sorio, wasn’t hard to miss.
“He made me get on my knees and beg him for my leave time.”
I leaned my head down to glance clearly into her eyes. “He’s going to die, Regina. He’s going to die in a bad way.”
She shivered while gazing at me through bloodshot eyes, tiny droplets of water still clinging to her long lashes. She’d picked up on the hints of darkness blazing behind my gaze.
“I believe you,” she whispered, her tone hushed like we were sharing a secret.
My declaration of her cousin’s fate seemed to have lifted her somber mood. It was either that or she was starting to know me well enough to realize I meant what I’d said.
“You ready to do this,” I asked her as I reached up and swiped a tear from her cheek. She nodded her head as she took in the dead guard’s attire I would later dress in. The man’s clothes rested at the foot of my bed as I gripped his gun, itching to put a bullet in somebody.
The bullet that had struck me in the head had put a tight grip on my fucking balls, but that shit was done, and I was starting to feel like my old self again. Regina had no idea I was crazy enough to attempt to kill every person on this farm, but I respected her enough not to risk her life to satisfy my twisted ego.
***
At three in the morning, we crept from the cellar door, into the stilted darkness. The unmoving air around us had me breathing harder. The cry of insects and the call of animals in the distant woods sounded hollow. The stars twinkled brightly overhead, despite the gloominess that encompassed the farm.
For the first time in five and a half months, Regina and I had decided to split up. She insisted on walking me out to the edge of the house. My goal was to make it to the barn and hang out until she was released to take her leave at daybreak. The plan was a good one, but the hardest part was getting to the barn without me attempting to kill anyone or without anyone killing me in the process.
“Stay close, Regina,” I whispered as we inched along the back of the house, creeping towards the bend that opened to the wide, dark space before us. The usual guards who stood at the front gate weren’t at their post, but it didn’t mean they weren’t roving.
Turning on my heels, I faced Regina. “This is it. I’ll see you later.” She inclined her head once and released a shaky, “Okay.” I didn’t have to see her face clearly to know she was crying. I gripped her shoulders in a tight hold, making her glance up at me. “I will see you again, Regina,” I said, my words firm and confident.
Dropping her shoulders, I turned and stepped out into the opening, knowing the tower guards could see me if they were watching. I hiked along the wide, dark expanse at a brisk pace, thinking maybe they weren’t paying attention since I’d made it halfway across.
My feet stalled, scraping against a few pebbles that rested among the thinned grass. When I allowed myself to believe I was home free, a bright light was flipped on, shining from the elevated tower, blinding and stopping me in my sneaky tracks.
Fuck! The shadowy wall of the barn called me, but I’d been caught. I was about a hundred and fifty feet short of my destination, but it may as well have been a damn mile. I glanced back at Regina, who hadn’t taken her ass back into the cellar like she was supposed to.
“Don’t,” I mouthed back at her, stopping her from revealing herself when she started to inch forward. The spotlight lit me up like Times Square on New Year’s Eve, but I hadn’t been shot yet. I turned slowly to face my destination and nonchalantly flashed a two-finger wave towards the tower like I’d observed the men do.
I continued towards the barn, knowing each step was possibly my last. The electricity of my determination powered my forward movement as I awaited the blazing impact of the bullet strike. Where would it hit this time? My chest? My back?
My shadow danced at the side of me as I gripped the gun I had shoved down the front of my pants. The sight of the barn demanded my gaze as my dangerous steps closed the distance. Eighty feet, sixty feet—only fifty feet remaining on my trek. Why hadn’t they shot me yet? Was the dead man’s attire I wore enough to have fooled them?
When the bright light was flipped off, the tension that had coiled in my shoulders eased, and I loosened my grip on the pistol. The shit had worked. Now at the side of the barn, I placed my back to the wall and scanned my dark surroundings before I moved and prepared to turn around the bend, not knowing what awaited me. A quick peek around the bend revealed a clear moonlit path to the barn’s big shabby wooden doors.
By the dim light of the moon, I discovered that the tall doors were cracked and not locked. Voices carried someplace in the dark. Leaning outward and away from the wall, I investigated and spotted the edge of a smaller building. The meth lab. I would have liked to engage the guards, but I couldn’t. I’d be risking Regina’s life, and I’d already done that enough times.
When my hands touched the barn doors that hung lopsided on their hinges, the loud creaking and whining they produced caused my head to dart back and forth. As soon as I had enough room to squeeze my way past the door, I slipped in. Once inside, I didn’t move immediately as I allowed my eyes to adjust to the darkness.
My gaze skimmed my dark surroundings, searching for Regina’s car. Although my mind hadn’t returned a hundred percent, bits and pieces of memories of me being tortured inside this place started to filter in. My head swiveled in the direction of the stall they’d tied me in. Being inside this barn was sharpening my memory about what had happened.
The loud creaking of the doors sounded, alerting me that someone was coming in. I tiptoed over to an old tractor in the corner and ducked behind it. One of the guards had entered the barn, and I didn’t know if it was one from the tower or one from the meth lab. It didn’t matter because I couldn’t engage either of them. Any incident now could prevent Regina from leaving this place.
The man crept through the dark barn. His automatic weapon was aimed and pulled tight into his shoulder as he made sharp, precise turns. A flashlight was affixed to the weapon lighting his path.
“Hey, Sawyer, is that you? You don’t have to hide. We thought you had taken off. The tower radioed that they thought they saw you. We spent a day searching for you.”
They were assuming that I was the man who had disappeared, —clueless that Regina had burned his ass alive. The way the man searched and had his weapon at the ready, Sawyer was no longer
their friend. He’d been placed on DG6’s hit list.
The man left the barn, but I wasn’t naïve. If Sawyer was on their hit list, the guard was headed back to report to the others. I had to find Regina’s car. She’d explained to me in detail where it was parked. I stepped out from behind the tractor and headed deeper into the darkness.
Silky spider webs clung to my face, but I brushed them aside and forced my eyes to keep searching. Light quick steps took me across the dirt floor of the barn. A large shadowy image came into focus deeper inside, near the center of the barn. It sat next to a large hay baling machine and tall stacks of what I assumed to be hay. I rushed towards the shape, which revealed a dark-color, four-door sedan.
Hoping the car wasn’t locked, I lifted the door handle with ease. When the back door popped open, I climbed in and reached over the front seat to engage the automatic locks. If the men came back, they’d likely check the car, so I searched until I found the latch that released the top of the back seat. It took swift maneuvering, but I squeezed through the tight hole that sent me into the trunk.
The air quality was stuffy inside the constricting space of the trunk, but it was tolerable given that I’d survived over four months inside my own head without the use of all my senses. Being inside the dark, stuffy trunk reminded me of that place, except this time I could feel. The hard press of the tire iron was in my back, and a prickly metal object clawed into my shoulder. My head pounded as a massive headache caused me to squeeze my eyes shut.
The sound was slight inside the trunk, but the groan of that barn door alerted me that the guard was back. The shuffle of feet scraping the hard-packed dirt of the barn floor grew louder as the steps grew closer to the car. Not so hushed chattering indicated that there were two this time. The car vibrated when the door handle was jiggled.
“Shit,” one of the men cursed. “Are you sure it was Sawyer?”
“I don’t know, but now, we have to stay in here until we find him or figure out that it wasn’t him.”
Fuck, I shouted inside my aching head. Now, I had company who wanted to hang out. If they weren’t going to search the car, it meant that Regina’s plan was still in play. Otherwise, I’d have to kill them and use the trunk as a body storage.
There was only one thing that eased my aches and pains when they were at their worst—thoughts of Megan. At first, it was her presence that kept me company in the darkness, but when my mind gave me the memory of her beautiful face, I considered it a gift.
When more memories of her returned, I couldn’t help thinking of her fresh peachy scent. I could see myself pushing my nose into her soft curly hair, kissing her soft plush lips, or caressing her silky soft body. I could sense the truth in her words when she’d stared into my eyes and told me she loved me.
Her images eased my headache and the stress of worrying about Regina. Was that asshole cousin of hers going to let her go? Was I going to have to kill everyone on this damn farm to get us both out of here?
Personally, I preferred the idea of killing every one of these bastards, but Regina had talked me out of it, insisting I’d get myself killed. She was probably right. It wasn’t that I didn’t have any regard for my life. I just couldn’t stomach the idea of not getting those bastards back for keeping her captive and for damn near killing me. Think of Megan, I reminded myself when my anger started to build.
It only seemed like moments later, but specks of light had started to sprinkle into the trunk. I’d gotten lost in my thoughts and must have dozed off. After listening for a movement, it appeared that I no longer had company.
Chapter Twelve
Regina
I’d paced a hole in my bedroom floor. My nails were going through hell as I gnawed them down to the quick. After August made it to the barn, I’d been able to breathe again. The blast from guns hadn’t sounded, so the guards must have mistaken him for one of their own.
Now, I had to face Sorio. I was more nervous about facing my cousin than I had been when the bright light was shined on August. Was Sorio going to give me my car keys? Was he going to go back on his word and not let me go?
The numbers on my digital clock changed from minute to minute. The seconds ticked by as I struggled with a bad case of nerves. My heart beat anxiously inside my chest as a cold sweat dampened my forehead. As soon as 8:00 a.m. flashed brightly in my face, I gripped the handle of my small carry bag and headed for the main house.
When I entered the living room, Sorio’s arrogant face met me first. Our eyes connected, and it took every muscle in my body to move me forward. Had he been sitting there waiting to torture me?
Sorio’s ten-year-old son, Edgar, was sitting in front of the television playing a video game as Sorio sat in the open dining area cleaning one of his guns atop the glass table.
He had seriously messed his son up. He’d taught the child to hate women, and the boy had called me so many bitches that I’d stopped acknowledging him altogether. His mother couldn’t handle him, so Sorio took him from time to time and exposed him to the vicious life he led. The kid was going to need serious therapy if he ever got away from his father.
My feet scraped the hardwood floor as I inched my way towards Sorio, gripping my bag in front of me as I eyed the gun in pieces in front of him.
Standing at the end of the table opposite Sorio, I waited like a dog with an abusive master. Sadly, I was willing to beg desperately for my car keys. Sorio continued to scrub the part of the gun he’d been cleaning, but his wicked gaze tormented me the entire time.
His sinister smile broadened, spanning from ear to ear, and all I could think about was tossing him into the incinerator and watching as he clawed and screamed for me to have mercy. The dreadful thought eased my frazzled nerves.
“Sorio, I came to see if I can get my keys, so I can take my leave?” my voice cracked as I was unable to hide my fear. His evil glare shot up and down my body before he sucked his teeth at me. I stood cemented in place, frozen in fear as I screamed internally for my brain to stop me from shaking.
He pointed at the seat next to him using the metal part of the gun that had the trigger attached.
“Come here and sit next to me, Regina,” he commanded.
The razor-sharp teeth of my nerves tore into me again. The idea of going anywhere near him stole the smidgen of relief I’d struggled so hard to grasp. I forced my body to move closer to him as my legs threatened to buckle under my mechanical movements.
My gaze landed on his smudged hand as he reached around the table and pushed the chair out for me. Taking the seat, I didn’t scoot it closer. My grip tightened on my bag in my lap. I held it firmly against my chest as I forced my gaze up to my cousin’s.
“I’m going to let you go, Regina.”
A flood of relief filled me, but I suppressed my excitement since Sorio’s gaze fell like shards of glass over my body.
“But,” he said, making my breath catch. His lips curled, baring his teeth as his gaze filled with chill-inducing evil. He glanced down at the expensive watch on his arm. “You have your black ass back here at eight o’clock sharp next Saturday morning.”
He reached around the table leg and gripped my thigh so tight that I knew I’d see his handprint there later. A tear slipped from my eye before I could stop it as I swallowed my yelp of pain.
“You know what’s going to fucking happen if I have to come searching for you, right?”
More tears slipped from my eyes as my bottom lip trembled. I nodded my head in the affirmative to his question. El Diablo had nothing on my cousin because he was the true devil. The amount of evil that resided inside him didn’t belong on earth.
He slipped my car keys from his pocket and slammed them down on the table in front of me. I jumped at his alarming action, so afraid that the trembles had taken over.
He raised his hand from the keys as evil bliss flashed in his gaze. A teasing smile surfaced before his snake-like tongue darted cross his lips. The sight of him made my skin crawl, and I was sure
boils had popped up all over my body.
“Get the fuck away from me, Regina, before I change my mind,” he barked, finally releasing my thigh.
He didn’t have to tell me twice. I snatched up my keys and ran for the front door. The guards knew the deal. They knew that if my cousin had given me the keys to my car that I was free to take my leave. When I pushed the front door open, the voice of the devil snatched at my back.
“Regina!” he called in a skin-peeling tone.
My feet came to a clunky stop at the edge of the door, my body stiffened with fear. The relief I’d felt flowed out of me, spilling to the floor before burning in the devil’s flames.
“Yes,” I answered afraid to glance back at him.
“Don’t make me look for you. I won’t be as nice as I was the last time.”
“I won’t,” I answered, knowing that if I made it off this farm with August, I was going to do whatever it would take to make sure I’d never return.
I shoved the door open and forced my legs to carry me faster. Before I took the steps down into the yard, I heard Sorio telling his son, “Now, that’s how you’re supposed to train a bitch.”
In my haste to get to the barn, I tripped over my own feet and almost fell twice, but it didn’t slow my pace. One of the guards called out in a teasing tone, “Have fun, Regina,” but I didn’t acknowledge the man. My mind was on one track, getting to my car, finding August, and getting the hell off this farm.
I shoved the noisy barn doors open and ran to my car. Snatching at the handle and finding the doors locked, I quickly disengaged them with one click from my key fob. I climbed into the driver’s seat and slung my bag over into the empty passenger’s seat.
“August,” I called out, hoping he’d gotten into the car. “August,” I called more loudly, turning to search the back of the car. I opened my door to get out to go and search for August, but one of the guards entered the barn and stopped me in my tracks.