"I'll be right back," Jack said suddenly, and took off out the door. He heard Joe curse behind him as he made it through the strange back ways of the place until he was outside again. He could see the cars. Anna was peering just over the bottom of the back window looking nervous, but Jack was scanning the area trying to find where Evie had gone. He started to panic out of concern for her, concern for the group, concern for the block. Then he heard a faint knocking, and he looked around towards the sound. His eyes fell on Anna who was pointing back around the house to the front. He gave her a nod of thanks and took off.
Evie was right. There were tons of them wandering around, and after what he just saw, he knew they were the ones from the beginning. Any that were still upright walked like they were in slow motion. Even at the sight of his movement, they could barely turn their heads and change directions. Surprisingly, they were the least of his concerns at the moment. Then he spotted her.
Every wanderer left out front had started off in her direction, but she already had fifty feet on them even as she walked slowly, almost aimlessly, down towards the long driveway of the property, still lined with parked cars. He jogged towards her, and notice her staggering a bit, like she was lost, but she knew this place better than anyone else here. When he was a few yards away from her, he slowed down, and called to her softly. She stopped, but stumbled a little as she turned around to face him, and he saw she had a gun in her hand. It was the little white one she told him about the night before.
"Evie?" He tentatively stopped and looked into her face. She looked completely somewhere else, lost in the circle of it all. Then he remembered what Nico said about her. How'd he see it in her if something bad enough happened. How did he put it? She'd start to leave. He’d been unsure when Nico described it, but now he understood. It wasn't so much about her getting up and going. It was about her turning off and shutting down. Overloaded.
"I know, but-” he said to her, his arms limp at his sides. "Please. Don't."
She looked up at the front of the looming and ostentatious manor and waved a hand at it like she was brushing it away. "They're all dead," she said it flatly, soft and matter-of-fact, like she had to hear herself say it.
His eyes fell to the ground for a moment then back up at her as she was still unfocused and staring at the house. "You knew they were."
The words made her turn to him, and everything she'd ever been through showed on her face. "I'm tired."
"I'm sure," he said, and he meant it. There were times when he thought he wasn't going to make it through before, and that was at a fraction of the fight she’d been battling herself, for what had to have been a year and a half now. Or was it even from the war she’d been fighting her whole life?
She rubbed at her face with her empty hand and spun back to the wood line exasperated. She looked up to the light blue sky, closed her eyes, and set her palms up at her hips like she was offering herself to it. The gun laid shining in the faint sunlight, and she just stood and breathed, seeming to wait for the gods to strike her down and make her decision for her. When they didn't, she dropped her head back down. She looked at Jack from heavy lids, then almost indiscernibly gave him a nod, and slid the derringer back into the pocket of her pants.
Behind him, those in the front wandered slowly towards them, almost there. Laila was coming over from behind the house, her machete already in hand at the sight of them. But Evie had already unsheathed a long hunting knife clipped to her pants and started walking towards them all. She made short work of each, and looked back up at the house again. Save for the bodies strewn about the entirety of the property, it just looked like a large, overdone house. Its front doors guarded against the gruesome scene she knew was inside.
Laila stopped next to Jack. "You guys need to get in and load up. Joe's almost done and Nate's ready to go in next.” She said it softly, no longer seeing an immediate threat in front of them, but she looked strangely at Evie.
"Yeah.” He took a deep breath and turned to head off.
Laila took his arm before he could pass her. "What's wrong with her?"
"The three.” He looked off into the woods. "They were her family."
Her arm slowly slid away from his arm as he went back to join the rest. He passed Cara on his way, Anna following right behind her. She was holding a knife one of them had given her, but she was right behind Cara the entire walk, her eyes darting all around in fear. Evie started to walk up along side the driveway again to meet them.
"We all set here?" Cara asked, worried eyes looking to Laila for some answers to what was happening, but the question was for Evie who stood in front of them. Anna’s eyes were still darting around like a madman. The knuckles on the hand that gripped the knife were white.
“I’ll go fill up mine, and if everyone else has theirs loaded, it looks quiet enough to make another run if there’s more to grab.” Evie said, still looking toward the house.
Cara nodded, and went to turn back, but Laila didn’t budge. She reached her hand out towards Evie and held it in the air.
“I’ll make a run back in, and do your load. I’d rather you be out here looking out for us and taking care of all this.” She tilted her head towards all of the bodies laid out on the front lawn, both still and moving ones.
Evie looked at her for a long time, knowing why she was really offering, and she had to decide whether she wanted to face them one more time. But Jack was right, she had already known. And now she’d seen it.
“Yeah, ok. I can do that.” Evie looked at her, and wanted to show her gratitude for the gesture, but her whole body was just so tired.
Laila gave her a sad smile and a knowing nod of her head, and turned back around. “Ok, Anna get your ass back into the car.”
Cara was already half way there, just a few yards from rounding the corner again to the back of the house. Laila started after her, and Evie took another look at the front to see if there were any left she needed to take care of still down on the ground. She turned back when she heard Laila loudly whisper Anna’s name.
She stood stock still, staring eyes wide and unblinking at the treeline. Evie sighed, figuring there was another one wandering back over. Maybe it was fresher than the ones left here. But when she saw Cara and Laila had both stopped too, their faces serious, she didn't know what to think, until she heard the voice call out.
"MacNamara."
She turned around to face him, hand on her gun, but she didn't pull it out of the holster. He looked almost the same. He was standing there in a dirty and torn khaki colored hunting jacket, a shotgun held across his body. He had lost his tan and his hair was more wild, not perfectly gelled over in a swoop like it used to be, but it was him. The voice alone told her that. The only real difference, other than the apparent loss of his usual bravado, was a pretty serious scar from the top of his ear to his jawline. But it was Logan right there in front of her.
They stood there for a moment, remembering the last time they were together. Then he spoke again.
"I always figured you'd come back here at some point.” He took a step closer to her. She stayed put, but Cara and Laila started back for Anna. "I thought it would be sooner though. Started to wonder if you'd even made it."
"Then why are you here?"
He scoffed and gave her a grin like when they used to mess with each other flirtatiously, but didn't answer her question. He took two more steps towards her. "I see you have some new people. I wonder…” Another step. “Are you doing for them what you were suppose to do here?”
She straightened just a bit, her jaw clenched. "Why? You gonna stop me again?"
He didn't say anything back for a moment. It didn't seem like he meant it the way it was taken, but how else could it have been? He took a deep breath and shook his head a little, swallowing. "That's not what I was trying to do back then."
She glared at him for a moment, then softened a bit. He looked sad, but she figured he'd always seemed a little bit sad to her. He never really stayed in
one place, or one agency. He was always trying to get a more important man to protect, and make a big name for himself. Always trying to be a hero, but never really succeeding, though not really failing. Just not doing well enough for himself to keep at it. It never would've ended well for him if all this hadn't created a new end. He always seemed out for glory, and now she realized what happened between them wasn't him really undermining her so much, as it was him saving the girl and walking off into the sunset. She thought that was even more pathetic.
"And yet, you seem to have done it anyway.” She raised her eyebrows at him trying to soften that blow a bit, but still needing to say it to him.
He took a few more steps at her again, then stopped about five feet away. He sat the butt of the gun on the ground and leaned on it, holding the top of the barrel with his hand. There was a little tension gone between them, but not much more to say. He looked behind her at Anna, Cara, and Laila. The latter two had placed themselves in front of the girl. He bowed his head to them in an attempt at a friendly greeting and gave a slight smile. They did not return either. He looked back to Evie carrying over the same smile, but making it a bit bigger for her. She looked at him, finally asking: "Where are your people, then?"
At first he scrunched up his brow like he was confused at what she meant, but when she continued to stand there, waiting for his answer, he finally obliged. "They know this is my business. They're staying away, until I'm done doing what I came to do."
She raised an eyebrow slightly. "And what's that, Agent Hart?"
He let his breath huff out. "Seeing if you were doing ok. Still in one piece. Strong as ever and seeming to be getting by just fine, I see."
"Then I guess we're done here, right?" She turned, starting to head away from him and towards the other three women waiting for her.
"I loved you, you know," he said it almost angrily, his face starting to contort into something more primal. He took two steps after her, and she stopped, still facing the three from the Block.
Her shoulders rose as she took a breath in, then she looked over her shoulder at him from the corner of her eye. "I know you thought you did." She picked up her foot to start another step away from her past. The look she saw on Cara's face told her what was about to happen before she felt the blow of the shotgun butt against her head. Their yelling died quickly in her ears as the blackness came for her again.
CHAPTER 25
The Cabin
She felt like she was flying. No, wait. Falling, until she hit the ground, and her eyes flash open just a bit. Slowly, her senses started to fire messages to her brain. Her head hurt like hell, but she’d felt something like that before. Her shoulders were aching too, and when she tried to change their position behind her back, she realized her arms were chained together there. She started to take in a man's voice, deep and rough and excited. Then the whimpering filtered in and the sobs and muffled screaming. She heard the man’s laughter. She tried to open her eyes more, but they couldn't take the sunlight that seemed to be shining directly on her face, and the light hurt whenever it got in under her lids.
"You never fail to impress there, Hart. You could get a policeman to buy meth from you if you had the need," the deep voice joked delightedly.
"Maybe, if it was a woman cop," another male voice said indifferently from the other side of the room.
The deep voice let out a hearty roar of laughter. "You've got a point there," he chuckled.
"I had a job. I did it.” She heard Logan over to her left across the space, and immediately started struggling to get up.
"Oh! We've got a live one! She's up! She's up!" The deep voiced man was hooting and hollering in celebration.
She could hear the other man she didn't know laughing to himself. She could tell he was only a few feet from her, and she wanted to lunge for him or tell them to go fuck themselves, but her legs weren't ready to work yet. When she tried to say something, she fully felt the gag tied around her face and over her tongue.
"Here, stand her up," the deep voiced man said, and she heard footsteps coming right in front of her.
When she was yanked up by her shoulder, her legs wobbled underneath her, unable to hold her weight. Her head lulled to the side sending painful bursts of light into her foggy vision. With the sunlight out of her eyes she tried to open them, but they felt like they were made of lead.
“Come on, girl! Look at me!” The deep voiced man gave her a slap on the cheek.
She heard the whimpering and sobbing around her stop, replaced by muffled gasps of fear. One of them shouted, but it was blocked by something, probably gagged too.
“Open those eyes now. Let me get a good look atcha.”
Her chest and head were heavy from the efforts to hold herself up and stay conscious. The hit wasn’t as bad as the first one Logan had given her, but it was still something she had to fight past. Her eyes rolled as she fought the involuntary spasms of her lids trying to keep themselves closed against the light. Finally, she managed to hold them half open, steady enough to get a blurry look at her captors.
“There you go! Hoo, not bad. The whole bunch here.” The deep voiced man looked over her shoulder to the rest.
She followed his gaze turning her head as much as it would let her. There were three more. Laila stood closest to her, off to her side with Cara behind her. Cowering on the floor in the fetal position was Anna. Immediately, she turned back to the man, glaring at him. Anger rose fiercely in her chest and expanded in her throat.
“Oh, no. You don’t like what you see?” the deep voiced man said, feigning sympathy. “Just wait until you see what we got waiting for you in the back.” He gave her a grin that would make anyone’s skin crawl.
Her whole body tingled with rage, and she wondered how long it would take before she would get the chance to kill him. She was still swaying a bit on her feet, but she stubbornly kept her stance in front of him. Her eyes had finally adjusted to the noon day sun shining in from the window by the door, and she realized she found herself in another hunting cabin again. It was different than before, slightly bigger. The room they were all standing in was fairly barren, but she noticed the eye hooks drilled into the walls, a few with chains already dangling there, waiting. Each one of them already had their hands bound, but so far she was the only one in the chains. She assumed Logan had already told them about her.
Logan Hart. At the far corner of the room was one worn chair and a stack of two old milk crates next to it for a table. He sat there so unaffected by the whole scene she realized that this was what they did. It was old news. Though it was an unplanned capture, they couldn’t have known she was coming. But they must take women all the time. And she knew he was part of what brought her to meet the people of the Block in the first place out at the storage units.
“Now where to begin?” The deep voiced man was broad shouldered with a dark, unruly beard, but he looked worn and haggard.
They weren’t living great out here. But it seemed it had its perks. He exaggeratedly looked around her to Anna on the floor. The poor girl was still holding her knees, face against the floor staring at the back wall. She had stopped whimpering and sobbing. She had started to rock just a little. Evie looked back to what he wanted her to see, and her face flashed with malice. She quickly took a step to place herself in front of him and block his view.
He started laughing. “You were right, Hart. She’s one tough bitch. I know the chief doesn’t like them broken in, but I think he might thank us if we had the gumption with her. It’d be doing him a huge favor this round.”
“I disagree there. He does not like used goods or bruised fruit. He’s warned you before.” Logan stretched his feet out and leaned back in the chair. He put his head back like he was trying to take a nap. “And if this is the specific type he’s looking for, he’s going to want her just the way she is. We need to be especially careful with her treatment up until we deliver.”
She breathed heavy. The gag caused her to work a little harder,
and the fury was making her heart pound. Her vision started to gray again at the edges, and she began to force herself to calm down. The throbbing of her head worsened with pressure, and if she didn’t level out she wouldn’t be able to do a damn thing for these people, or to these men. She stared at the deep voiced man in front of her like a focal point. She started to gather herself, when Logan spoke again.
“I do agree she will need to be taken down a peg if we are to have things go smoothly until the meet. May I suggest a more emotional approach? You’re going to have to wear her down mentally.” He looked down at Anna, then back to the man. “I think you had the right idea.”
The deep voiced man chuckled a deep throaty laugh that came out way too slow and quiet. The effect was completely unsettling. “Randy.” The man to the side of her looked at him lazily. “Bring the girl to the back room.”
Immediately the girl wailed, and Cara and Laila started yelling through their gags. He sighed and walked toward her. Evie didn’t hesitate. As soon as he got next to her she reared her head back and bashed him in the nose, making him squeal out in pain. He dropped to his knees, holding his face as blood poured through his fingers. Evie’s legs gave out as soon as she delivered the blow. Her head screaming in pain, she fell forward as the movement made her black out for just a moment. She fought it hard and started to get to one knee soon after she went down. With her hands behind her back, even with the fairly long chain, her head injury wouldn’t let her up all the way. Every time she pulled her leg up and tried to place her foot flat and push herself up, she would pitch to the side and have to regain her balance and faculties again.
The deep voiced man sighed heavily in front of her, a look of disappointment on his face. “Sorry, Hart, but I think we’re going to have to do this one my way.” He leaned over so he was just above her head, and his disappointment morphed sadistically into a look of pure delight. “I guess you just have to do what you gotta do.” He slowly raised himself back up and turned away from her, walking to the door that led to the back room he spoke of earlier. “Randy.”
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