by Jenika Snow
“You do know what they’re going to do to you tonight, don’t you.” He didn’t phrase it like a question. Sparrow swallowed past the lump in her throat but didn’t respond. Was he trying to torment her, to make her more frightened? It was certainly working. She just continued to stare into his eyes. This man was running around with this fucked up crew, and that made him no better than they were. He continued to hold her stare for several long moments before the corner of his mouth curled. “I think you do, but I don’t think you know the severity of it.”
“I’m sure I have a pretty good guess.” Sparrow’s heart was beating a mile a minute. There was a part of him that reminded her of Mason. He was so calm, so detached, yet the air around him was charged, and the clear danger that came from was like a thick, suffocating cloak. “Get the fuck away from me.”
For several long seconds he just stayed right where he was, and when his smile grew she felt the knot in her belly grow, too.
“You see those men behind me?” She didn’t need to look around to know they were tossing back the bottles, slapping each other on the back, and gorging on meat they cooked over the fire. And what kind of meat they were eating was not something she wanted to explore. “Those men are vile fuckers, and they plan on tearing you up to the point that you pray for death.” He said it so chillingly softly that a bead of sweat dripped from her hairline because of how frightened he made her. “I can help you, though.” He placed his hands on the tree right beside her head.
“I’m sure you can, for a price.” She pushed her fear away, needing to appear strong even if she felt anything but. “And that’s not a price I’m going to pay.”
He cocked one light eyebrow. “I don’t think you’re really in any position to not accept my terms, princess.” He took a lock of her hair and rubbed it between his fingers. “The men behind me want to defile your body for the sole purpose of getting off. They won’t kill you, but drag it on, use you like you are their own personal toy.” He slowly lifted his eyes and held hers with his own. “I can help you avoid all of that.”
“And then what? I’ll be your own personal little toy?” She seethed out the words, not bothering to hide the disgust and hatred in her voice.
He pushed away from her and crossed his arms over his chest. “I want a companion for the road. It’s been a lonely five months since the infection spread.”
“I’m not going to escape these assholes just to be strapped with another one.”
He chuckled and slid his eyes up and down her body once more. She was filthy, but he looked at her like she was a damn T-bone steak and he was a starving carnivore.
He grinned, and it made her feel even dirtier. “I can protect you just as well as those two assholes you were traveling with.” He was silent for a suspended moment, and the sound of the men talking loudly and bragging about the nauseous things they planned on doing to her had the threat of vomiting rising up. “You really don’t have any other options here, princess. You can either take me up on my offer or these bastards behind me are going to fuck you every which way, and I guarantee it won’t be pleasurable.” She looked over his shoulder. Did she actually think Mason and Asher would come for her? They had only known her for a handful of days, and Mason didn’t even want her on the road with them. Mason was probably glad she was gone. Asher had been kind to her, but the two men had been together for far longer, had a bond, and she was just the third wheel of a woman tagging along.
But they saved you from the infected, asked you to tag along, and even seemed concerned when these barbarians took you.
She exhaled loudly. All of that was true, but then again why would they risk their lives for someone they hardly knew? Rescuing her now was far different from thrusting a knife in one of the sick. These men were alive and packing some serious firepower. Sparrow wasn’t a naive fool in thinking this man wasn’t just as deranged as the rest, but what other choice did she have? She had to believe in herself, had to trust that when this was all said and down she would be able to leave and be on her own. She would try, that was for sure. “Okay, since I don’t really have a choice, at least not one I want.”
He didn’t smile, didn’t gloat, and instead nodded once and leaned in close. She held her breath when their mouths were only an inch apart. “What are you doing?” He pressed his body fully against hers, and she closed her eyes and stayed still. This man was attractive, hard and strong and clearly sure of himself, but she didn’t want any part of his sick plans for “company”. There wasn’t any fire inside of her like she felt when she was with Mason and Asher. It was ludicrous to have such feelings for one man she met, let alone two, but none of that mattered anymore because they were long gone for sure, and Sparrow needed to think about her future. She was tired, but not tired enough to give up on life.
“I have to make it look convincing.” He moved his hands around the trunk until he was gripping her wrists. “I have to make them think that I’m on board with what they have planned.” A shiver of fear worked through her. She could feel his erection, but he didn’t press it against her, or rub himself on her body like some kind of motherfucker. Instead he started working with the rope that bound her wrists together. “Contrary to what you might think, I don’t rape women. It might have been a long fucking time since I’ve felt anything as soft as you, and even though I consider myself a monster, I won’t hurt a woman.”
“Damn, look at Collin getting all into the bitch. We gotta draw straws, man.” There was a chorus of laughter, and he lifted his head and looked over his shoulder. His profile showed his wide smile.
“I’m just sampling. Nothing wrong with that, boys.” There was a murmuring of agreement, and then the assholes went back to talking about all the nasty things they planned on doing to her, and slugging back even more alcohol. When he turned back and looked at her, his smile fell instantly. He eyed the side of her face, the area that still throbbed after that fat fuck back at the shop had punched her, and she clenched her teeth together. He didn’t say anything, just continued to work at the knot of the rope. When she felt it loosen and finally slacken, he stopped and leaned back once more. He moved one of his hands between their bodies and her eyes widened when he lifted the front of his shirt. But he wasn’t going for the button of his jeans, and instead showed her the small handgun that had been tucked into the waistband of his pants. The way his body was positioned made it so everything else was blocked from her view, but then again he was a big guy with wide shoulders. He moved his hand back around the trunk and placed the butt of the gun in her palm. “The rope is loose enough that all it would take for you to break away is one good wiggle. Don’t make a move until you hear the first round of gunshots. After that, you duck, and run toward the woods right behind you. They don’t keep anyone stationed back there because of the lake blocking off access. You get in the lake and start fucking swimming, okay?”
She looked to her right with just her eyes at the lake right beside them. It wasn’t very big, more like an oversized pond, but still, the water had to be frigid. But Sparrow would rather drowned or freeze to death than what her future held at this camp.
“You shoot any fucker that comes near you, and you don’t think twice, okay?”
She licked her lips. “Okay.” He sounded like Mason, but no, she couldn’t think about any of that right now. If she was fast enough she might be able to elude this Collin guy as well, but his grin told her he knew exactly what she was thinking.
“And don’t worry, princess, I’ll be right behind you. I know these woods like the back of my fucking hand, so thinking that you’ll make a clean getaway from me isn’t something you should get too excited about.” He stayed silent for a moment no doubt to let those words sink in. “I also want to remind you I’m the one helping you out of this situation.”
“Yo, Collin, come and have some shots with us.” The man that she had already pegged as the leader of this group shouted out. Everyone started clapping, and she closed her eyes and nodded.
“Good, princess. That’s real good.” He pushed away from her and stalked back toward the fire. Guys slapped him on the back, and he took a seat beside the “leader”. For another ten minutes Sparrow stood still, clenching and unclenching her hand around the butt of the gun, and wanting nothing more than to blow a hole in each of these fuckers’ heads. But she wasn’t a fool. For one thing she didn’t know how many bullets were actually in the gun, and secondly there were far more men holding rifles and knives that looked as long as her damn forearm. No, she’d do what Collin said, and pray that this worked. Once she was free from here all she had to worry about was getting away from Collin. He might have said he wanted company, but Sparrow wasn’t stupid. He wanted a hell of a lot more than that. If he was hanging around men like this, chances were he was no better than they were. He may mask it well, but she was better off and safer on her own.
****
Asher and Mason crouched behind a thick thistle bush. The blaze from the fire was intense, but it wasn’t the loud laughter of the men surrounding that fire that had them on alert. It was the fact that Sparrow was tied to a tree a few feet from these motherfuckers. The sun had already set, and the cloak of darkness blended them into their surroundings. They could hear the things these men wanted to do to her, vile and obscene things that had Asher’s skin tightening and his blood roaring in his ears. He felt rage like he had never felt before, and when he looked over at Mason, saw the other man’s fierce look of concentration, and the way he kept curling his fingers over the handle of his knife, Asher knew he was just as pissed. When they had made the trek through the woods, they had come up against a crudely made fence, and both of them knew on the other side of this barrier were the men who had taken Sparrow. There was no doubt in their minds, and already they had wasted too much time. They didn’t follow the fence completely around, but they assumed it went around the entire camp. They hadn’t seen any men walking the perimeter, so they tried to find a weak spot. The chain-link was older and rusty, and it had only taken them a matter of minutes to find a weak spot at the bottom of one section of the fence. It had been small, but after working at it they had been able to pull at enough that they could slip through.
If it was up to Ash he’d go in there and blow every one of their fucking heads off, but the fact was they were outnumbered in men and firepower, and they needed to be quiet, stealthy, and smart about this. Asher looked over at the big fucker that had spent an awful lot of time pressed up against Sparrow. The blond wasn’t like the other men. That was clear from Ash’s point of view. He kept his emotions in check, and wasn’t blatant in his actions like the rest of the scum that surrounded him. Asher didn’t know what his agenda was, but what he did notice was that the fucker had taken a special liking to Sparrow, and that didn’t sit well with him.
“We need to get her out of there, Mace.” He looked at the other man, and when he followed his line of sight it was clear he was looking at the blond guy.
“I agree, but we need to be smart.”
Asher grunted and looked over at Sparrow. She was alert, taking in everything, and he was damn proud of that. Shit, he had grown attached to her in just these last couple of days they had been together. It wasn’t something Asher had ever felt, and it certainly wasn’t something he was going to dismiss. He didn’t give a shit about what Mason said concerning the three of them. He had seen the way she looked at both of them. There was desire and the need to stay with them. He didn’t doubt she probably thought they had skipped town and let her fend for herself. Hell, Mason had even said he hadn’t been the one to offer her a place next to them on this journey, but they were about to change all of that, and Asher would make sure she knew that she did have a place with them.
“I don’t like how that blond asshole was all up on Sparrow.”
“Me either, but right now we need to get rid of these fucking guard dogs,” Asher said and looked over at where he saw one guy leaning against a tree smoking a joint. He had a shotgun hanging from his shoulder, but he was shit at his job since he was too worried about puffing and less concerned about the men that were about to kill him.
“How do you want to proceed?” He looked at Mason once again.
“We need to be quick and quiet in taking out the two by the outer trees.” He looked at Asher, and even in the darkness he could see the determination in his eyes. “I’m going to take the fucker on the left. You take the one on the right. No guns. I don’t want to alert the douche-bags that we are here until we at least take out a handful.” Mason lifted up his knife and pointed it to Asher’s thigh. He took out his own knife, one that was just as long and serrated at Mace’s, and grinned. “There is a small farmhouse about a mile and a half from that fork in the trail I showed you. You remember?”
Asher nodded, remembering Mason showing him that the trail that veered off from the far end of town.
“If you get to her first you take her there. Just follow it straight up and you won’t be able to miss it. I’m sure the path has been overgrown since it is clear these trails haven’t been used in years, but hopefully you won’t have a problem. I’ll meet you two at the house. Okay?” Mason went to stand, but Ash gripped his wrist and pulled his back down to his haunches.
“And if you get to her first you’ll do the same.” He said it hard with a bite to his words. “No one is dying tonight, except the motherfuckers that took Sparrow.” They held stares for a long moment, and then Ash reached for Mason and pulled him forward. Their lips pressed together, and he slid his tongue along first the bottom, and then his top lip. They kissed for several seconds, tasting the interior of one another’s mouth, but keeping their groans of pleasure to themselves. Ash cared about this man so much, knew that Mason felt the same way, and they were going to go about this safely. Mason grabbed Ash’s bicep and squeezed the muscle tightly.
Mason murmured against his mouth, “The three of us will be fine.” He pulled away. Their breathing was fast and heavy. “We can’t let them live, or they will just come back, all right?” Asher had already planned on killing every fucking one of them. He nodded, and Mason grinned. “I’ll start taking them out while you go to Sparrow. Kill anyone that stands in your way.” They kissed once more, and then Mason was moving silently toward the guy still puffing away at his joint. Asher stood and moved around the trees to make sure he wasn’t seen by his target. Mason was a military man, trained for these kinds of things. Ash may not have been trained by the government, but he knew how to kill a man with just a quick hit to the face. He squeezed the handle of his knife once more, and when he was close enough to smell the weed the guy was smoking, he took a second to assess his surroundings. The sound of a soft gurgled grunt told him Mason took down his target, but the noise didn’t go unnoticed by the guard a few feet in front of him. Before he could call out to see if his buddy was okay, Asher struck. He moved swiftly behind him just as the guy realized he wasn’t alone. Throwing an arm around his throat he slapped a hand over his mouth and brought the blade to his neck. In one quick move he sliced the guy’s neck from ear to ear, feeling absolutely no remorse for taking his life. It was either kill or be killed. These assholes deserved to die, just like the sick that wandered around aimlessly. They were humans that had strayed from being decent. Killing them was doing a service to everything and everyone that was trying to survive.
He let him fall to the ground in a silent lump and wiped off his blade on the back of the guy’s shirt. He lifted his head and saw Mason tilting his chin toward the group still huddled around the fire. Asher moved forward, parallel with Mason until he was hidden behind the trunk of a thick tree.
“This whole drawing straws shit for the pussy isn’t going to happen with Collin or me.” The “leader” that they had seen back at the shop spoke in-between guzzling back a bottle of liquor. “I have first dibs, and then my right-hand man, Collin, gets my sloppy seconds.”
He slapped Collin on the back, but the guy didn’t even crack a smile. Asher did notice that he glanced over at Sparrow. Collin, the blond that rubbed Ash the wrong way just by the way he looked, suddenly stood.
“What’s up, man?” the fuckwad leader said and looked around at the group of guys. They all started laughing at nothing, but Ash didn’t miss when Collin reached behind to the small of his back and grabbed the gun stationed there.
“I’m not getting sloppy seconds, Todd.” He spoke to the leader, and everyone stopped laughing instantly.
“What the hell, Collin?” Todd started laughing again. “All right, you can have her last then. You can get everyone’s fucking sloppy seconds. And I’m sure it’ll be all tore up by them.” He started chuckling, and a few of the other guys did, too, but there were some that glanced around hesitantly. “Besides, it isn’t like you aren’t accustomed to used-up pussy, not with the profession you used to do before the infection.” There was another round of laughter.
“It’s obvious you aren’t listening to what I’m saying. No one is getting her except me.”
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