“We should keep moving,” Jake said after the last dregs had been drained from the bottle. “We don’t want to give them any chance of catching up to us.”
Megan nodded and stood up, helping Jake pack away the last of their supplies. Now that the beer was finished and some of their food was gone, their supplies seemed meagre. They wouldn’t last long, she realized. The last of Megan’s exhilaration from their daring thievery was gone. Now, she was hit with another dose of reality.
“Things are just going to carry on being hard...aren’t they?” Megan asked. Jake didn’t answer, but that answered Megan’s question anyway. Jake was still in a dark place. She was still leading the way. Of course things were going to be hard.
They continued walking uphill. In her tired mind, it took Megan a while to gather that wherever the lake was, they weren’t walking toward it. They’d been told to head downhill. She stopped in her tracks and Jake looked at her in confusion.
“What? Why have you stopped?”
“We need to go that way,” she said, pointing to her left. “But head downhill as we do. That’s the most likely way we’re going to get to the lake.
“I don’t think that’s a wise idea,” Jake said. “If everyone is heading toward the lake then we’re only going to walk into more danger. We should keep walking uphill and find the main road. We can stick to the trees, but stay on the route. That’s the best way we’re going to find friendly communities...they won’t be hiding out in abandoned houses in the woods.”
“So you’re not even going to consider my idea?” Megan asked, folding her arms. “It’s the closest thing we have to our original plan and you’re just ready to abandon it? What happened to giving me some respect and trusting my ideas?”
“Your idea takes us closer to the gang,” Jake said through gritted teeth. “We want to walk away from them, not back in their direction.”
“They saw us head this way. They’re going to expect us to head to the road if they bother to follow us,” Megan retorted. “Besides, this time, if we have any sense, we’re not going to stop off at strange houses.”
Jake snorted. “Oh, so you’re blaming me for what happened? Nice.”
“I didn’t say that. I’m saying that we won’t make the same mistakes again.”
“Exactly, which is why we’re not going to the lake. We’re going uphill.”
“So we’re walking away from the one possibility we have of finding somewhere to heal, somewhere safe, somewhere that Aby might head to?”
“She’s not there!” Jake cried out. “Aby would stick to the roads. It’s what we’ve discussed a million times. It’s what we’ve done every time we’ve run into trouble…”
“And look where that’s got us,” Megan snapped. The pair of them fell silent, both quietly seething as they stared one another down. Their argument was entirely unproductive, but neither of them were backing down. Jake sniffed and turned his back on Megan.
“Well, I’m heading this way,” he said. “You can do what you want.”
He’d done it again. Given her an ultimatum. Once again, he was showing that he thought he knew best. Megan was seething. She desperately wanted to walk away. She was the one carrying the supplies. She was the one with any common sense left. But as Jake began to struggle on up the hill, she sighed and followed him. She didn’t know why. She was losing patience with him very quickly. She didn’t even know if she could consider him an ally or a friend anymore when he was always working against her. But her good nature wouldn’t let her abandon him. She could see why he wanted to follow this path. If he was sure Aby would head to the roads, then why wouldn’t he do the same? He’d do anything for her, clearly.
Even if it ended up getting them killed.
They walked for almost a whole day. In their battered state they made very slow progress, especially heading uphill, but it was progress all the same. Megan barely said a word to Jake, but she kept an eye on him. She watched how he was retreating into himself, barely eating or drinking, fidgeting every time they stopped for a break. He was a broken man, she realized. It seemed like it was only a matter of time before he went off the rails entirely.
Every now and then, Megan would whip her head around, convinced she’d heard something creeping around in the trees, but she never caught sight of anything or anyone. She knew she was getting paranoid, but she’d rather be paranoid than dead. She had reason not to trust the world around them, after all.
They pressed on as long as they could. They ate another strange, makeshift meal that barely lined their stomachs. Megan broke the silence between them to point out that they should ration to ensure they kept going for as long as possible. Jake simply nodded and didn’t reply further. They filled their beer bottles with water and covered the tops with tin foil that the gang had been using at their camp. Megan knew that drinking dirty water might make them sick, but boiling it to purify it would require building a fire, which Jake would never agree to. Megan hoped they’d find somewhere safe soon so that they wouldn’t have to drink the brownish liquid.
They slept a while and then continued. Megan found herself looking over her shoulder every few seconds, convinced that they weren’t alone.
“Jake...I really feel like there’s someone watching us,” she hissed. He carried on moving, his feet crunching loudly through leaves and branches.
“If there was someone here we would’ve spotted them by now,” he snapped. She didn’t try to protest again. She was tired of fighting with him, even though she was increasingly becoming the one who got things right.
But late that night, she knew for certain there was someone out there. She heard a cough in the dark that made both her and Jake turn around. It sounded like a deep cough...like someone who had inhaled too much smoke.
“They’re here,” Megan whispered. In the distance, they saw four figures emerging, dark, faceless shadows in the night. But there was no mistaking them. They were members of the gang. Megan ground her teeth together. Once again, Jake had led them into the lion’s den.
“Listen to me if you want to live,” she snarled. “We have to run. Now.”
Seventeen
Aby
Aby couldn’t stop sobbing. She knew she should be using the time she had left to make peace with her own life, or to find a way out of the dark, dank basement. But her hands were tied, literally. Tex really hadn’t been messing around when he tied her up. There wasn’t even a little wriggle room for her to get out. The ropes cut deep grooves into her wrists and ankles. The more she struggled, the tighter the binds seemed to get.
She could still hear Peaches screaming upstairs. Aby wondered whether Tex planned to kill Peaches before he started on Aby, or whether she’d soon be dragged up to be tortured too. He said he wanted to make it last. Aby was certain that he’d been planning this for a long time, and that meant he knew exactly what he was doing. He’d know how to push her to the limits of human endurance. He’d know how to make her feel every single thing he did to her without passing out. Aby shuddered, tears pouring out of her eyes. The whole thing was starting to look hopeless.
Aby wondered if death had been chasing her down since Pittsburgh. Every single time they escaped one horror, another followed. Maybe this was a sign that she had to give up. She was meant to succumb to death.
Or maybe it was the opposite. Maybe it was a sign that she was supposed to fight harder to stay alive. What use was she lying on the cold ground and feeling sorry for herself? Aby gritted her teeth as she heard a rat scurrying close to her head. She couldn’t go out like this. She had to at least try and find a way out.
What would Jake do if he was here? Aby asked herself. She knew he’d have a solution. He’d find some way to escape the ropes that tied her up. He’d find a makeshift weapon and unleash hell on Tex. He’d find Peaches and convince her everything was going to be okay. They’d all make it out alive and live to fight another day.
Ideas swirled around Aby’s head. She was getting desperate now
. Could she find something sharp in the basement to rub the rope against and cut it free? No, it was too dark. Perhaps if she waited long enough one of the rats might take a nibble at the binds, but the thought of them so close to her only terrified her...especially if they decided to bite her instead. Her knife was still attached to her ankle, but she had no way of getting it free. It was pretty much useless to her.
But something occurred to Aby suddenly. Peaches has stopped screaming. Aby’s ears hurt from the silence. Did that mean it was too late for Peaches? Was she already dead? Aby felt her skin turn cold. If Peaches was dead, how long would Tex wait before turning to Aby? How long would he be satisfied by his sick pleasure of hurting Peaches before he needed another hit of his high?
Aby heard footsteps above her, slow and steady. She knew right away that she’d run out of time. Tex was coming for her.
She was going to be tortured.
Daylight flooded the basement from above as Tex opened the door. He grinned down at Aby and she struggled uselessly against the rope around her hands and ankles. Her heart was beating so fast that it felt like it might explode. He took his time walking down the stairs, a form of torture in itself. He knew that every step he took terrified her. He knew the power in just approaching her. He could take his time because he had all the time in the world, even if hers was running out. Aby shuffled back away from him a little, breathing hard.
“What did you do to Peaches?” she asked desperately. Tex grabbed her by her shirt and began to drag her toward the stairs.
“Why don’t you come and see for yourself?” Tex laughed to himself. He began to drag Aby up the stairs, ignoring her cries of pain. She tried to wriggle from his grasp, but it was useless. She knew that even if she managed to get away from him, she was still never going to escape him. She’d run out of luck.
It was time to die.
Aby wanted to plead for her life, but her pride stopped her. She was dragged through to another room where she saw Peaches huddled in the corner, covered in blood and whimpering, but still very much alive. Tex through Aby down hard on the ground and her face hit it hard.
“Peaches kindly asked me to stop...and so I obliged. I’m not some complete monster,” Tex said, moving to a table which seemed to be full of tools. “I told her that I’d give her a little break for a while and let her watch the show.”
“I didn’t mean like this!” Peaches cried out. “Please, don’t do this. Don’t hurt her.”
Aby pressed her lips together, trying not to let him see her crying. But when he turned around and she saw the handheld drill in his hand, she couldn’t hold back the wail that escaped her lips. Tex advanced on her slowly and Aby willed herself to close her eyes, but she couldn’t. She was horrifically transfixed on his weapon of torture. He smiled at her.
“It won’t last for long...oh, it’ll hurt...but it won’t last for long, I promise,” he whispered. Then he began to untie her hands and Aby felt a rush of hope. If she had her hands, she could fight back. But the second her wrists were free Tex grabbed her wrist and pinned it to the ground with his knee. Then he grabbed the drill and within moments, he was moving it toward her hand.
“No!” Aby screamed, but there was no stopping him now. The drill penetrated her skin and whirred deeper until it hit bone. It hurt so much that Aby felt herself go blind, unable to cry out in agony. She felt the drill go deeper and deeper, severing everything in its path until it drilled through to the other side. Finally, a scream escaped from her throat and as consciousness was ripped from her, she heard Tex’s laugh and the fearful sobs of Peaches in the background…
When she came to again, it was because Tex was slapping at her face, trying to wake her up. When she opened her eyes involuntarily, breathing hard against the pain, Tex let out a frustrated groan.
“You weren’t supposed to pass out!” he snapped. “You’re supposed to stay awake for every little bit….Peaches was much better at that than you.”
Aby gritted her teeth, wishing she could kill him right there and then. She’d never had a desire to see someone dead so badly. This thing was getting personal now. Her hands were free now and she desperately wanted to strangle him, but her hand was spasming with pain from the drill. She’d never be able to hold him for long enough to choke him out. Maybe she could pray that he killed her now, quick and easy, but he looked far from done. As he headed back to his table, he found a new weapon of torture to taunt her with.
“No matter...maybe we can try something else,” he murmured to himself. “Perhaps you’ll respond better to this…”
As he turned around, Aby saw that he was holding matches. She felt herself flash back to the burning car she rescued Jake from only days earlier. She had hated the suffocating heat of it. Now, she was going to have to suffer it for real. She tried to make herself move away out of instinct, but the pain was too much. Tex struck his first match.
“Let’s try again…”
Swapping to her other hand, he pinned her down and let the flame consume the skin on her pinky finger. Aby began to sob once again as she felt the fire stripping skin away layer by layer. Tex tutted as the match burned out too quickly for his liking, giving Aby a moment’s reprieve.
“This would be easier with a lighter,” he muttered to himself. Still, he lit a second match and continued his work. Aby screamed louder than she’d ever screamed before. It was a different kind of pain to the drill, more insistent, heated rather than aching. Aby hadn’t realized how many forms pain could present itself in until then.
Breathing hard as he lit another match, Aby realized what she needed to do. He wouldn’t torture her if he thought she was passed out. Then maybe she could hatch a plan. As he pressed another flame to her finger, she forced her eyes to roll into the back of her head and then she lolled her face to the side, hoping her acting was convincing enough to get him to stop. She wanted to scream in pain so badly, but she forced herself to remain silent.
“Huh? Again? Wake up!”
She didn’t respond. She wanted to flinch away from him, but she remained limp and still. She heard him stand up with a grunt and then he kicked her in the stomach. It knocked the wind from her and she was in even more pain than ever, but she stayed quiet. She couldn’t let him think she was awake.
“Damn it!” he cried out. She heard his footsteps retreating and the door slammed behind him. She didn’t know where he’d gone or for how long, but she had to act now.
She opened her eyes and looked around her. She needed a weapon, or at least something to help her. But with her legs tied up, she wasn’t going to be able to get to his tray of weapons so easily. She might only have a few moments
And then she spotted her salvation. The matches on the floor. Quick as a flash, she grabbed them and stuffed them into her pocket, just as she heard the footsteps returning.
As he reentered the room she let out a loud groan, pretending to have just come to. When she opened her eyes she saw that Tex was furious. He bound her hands up again, at her front this time, muttering to himself. Then, he grabbed her by her hair and tugged her out of the room.
“Useless,” he muttered. “You’re useless. How am I supposed to have any fun if you won’t stay awake for it? You’re the worst torture victim I’ve ever had. I’ll stick to Peaches until I can find someone else...enjoy getting eaten alive by the rats in the basement.”
Tex tossed her like a rag doll down the stairs to the basement. She cried out as she fell hard on her arm, yet another pain to deal with. Then she was thrown into darkness once again as Tex shut the door behind her.
Aby knew she had to act fast. She didn’t want to die there in the basement. She didn’t want the rats to get her. Her hands were shaking badly from the pain and her arm felt out of place, but she reached in her pocket to find the matches.
They weren’t there.
Aby cursed. They must’ve fallen out of her pocket as she fell. Struggling against the pain and still only half mobile because of the ties around her wr
ists and ankles, she fumbled around for them. By the time she found the matchbox, she was clinging hard to consciousness. She knew if she could just light a match and burn away her ties she would be okay…
But the pain was too much. Her feeble fingers wouldn’t work in her favour. As she tried desperately just to light the match, she felt herself slipping away...
Eighteen
Jake
Running for his life was starting to feel far too familiar to Jake. As he and Megan raced away from the gang, he felt adrenaline rise in him once again. But he was running on fumes. He was tired of trying to escape. It felt like there was always something to run from and the thought was exhausting. Maybe he could just slow down...maybe he could just let the gang catch him and allow Megan to get away...after all, once again, he’d gotten her into trouble.
But his feet kept moving regardless. They’d had a good head start so in theory, they should be able to outrun the group of men. They were all bigger than Jake and Megan, built for force, not for speed. But the pair of them were injured. Smoke still clung to their lungs and Jake found himself getting breathless a lot quicker. Even though when Jake looked over his shoulder and saw that the four men were carrying large, heavy branches as weapons, they were gaining on them quickly. Unless the men lost stamina quickly, they were eventually going to catch up.
“What are we going to do?” Jake panted. “They’re nearly on us.”
“What else can we do? Just keep running,” Aby rasped. “And hope to God they don’t catch us.”
Jake knew that the plan wasn’t going to save them, but he didn’t have a better one. He felt like an antelope being chased by a pack of lions. Everyone knew what the outcome would be. Only the strong survive, after all.
And Jake wasn’t strong anymore.
He tripped up as he ran and Megan scurried back to help him onto his feet, but the precious seconds lost by the slip up were dangerous. The men were so close now that Jake could make out their faces closer. They were led by the one who had beaten him up. The one he’d rescued from the fire was the only one not present. Maybe he’d tried to stick up for Megan and Jake again...maybe they’d finished him off too…
The End of the World Series | Book 3 | Survive The Destruction Page 10