A kick to the side startled me awake. A sob rang out, animalistic in its pain, and I covered my ears to try to block out the pain in the sound. My body throbbed and my throat seized as the sound stopped. I realized that it’d been coming from me and it jerked me into consciousness.
“Wake up, bitch. It’s time for dinner. Boss man doesn’t like the girls to get too skinny.” A rough voice sounded out and I was rewarded with another kick to the thigh.
I opened my good eye and pulled myself up to a seated position. The man was standing over me, a leer on his face. He was built like a mountain and had a face that screamed evil. It made my blood run even colder than it already was.
“You eat or I get to force things into that mouth of yours. You pick.”
I looked around and found a worn concrete floor under me. In front of me, a small tray held a small serving of rice and some sort of chunk of meat. I reached out with shaking arms and scooted the tray closer. “I’ll eat.”
My voice sounded hoarse and I felt the pain of speaking all the way down my chest. My whole body hurt. More than that, my heart felt like it was cracking open. I hadn’t wanted to wake up. I’d been dreaming of Jason. Jason, saving me. Jason, but an older version, like he’d grown up. Realizing that I’d left him and was back in the real world threatened to break me wide open.
“Drink, too.” He turned away from me and headed to the door at the other side of the room. “You stay here until morning. Franklin will come for you, then. If you scream, I shove something in your mouth to make you stop. If you try anything, I shove something in your mouth. You get it?”
I nodded roughly.
“Good. I don’t mind coming back in here. I like being the first man to shove his dick in a new girl’s mouth. I hear anything and I’ll come running.”
I stared at the food on the tray and nodded again. I just wanted him gone. I couldn’t think past his presence, couldn’t think past the threat.
The heavy door shut behind him and I heard a lock turn. I looked up and met his eyes through a small window at the top of the door. He scowled at me and then was gone.
The room had cinderblock walls that had been painted gray at some point and had since half chipped off. The door looked like thick, solid wood and had thick, metal hinges holding it bolted to the wall. Above me was a narrow window that wasn’t even a foot tall.
Even if I could’ve reached the window, it was too thin to escape through. Even if I could damage the door, I would have to face off with a bear of a man, unarmed, to escape. There was no way out. I was stuck. I pushed the tray away and rested my chin on my knees.
What had I done? No one was going to find me. I didn’t know how long I’d been out or even where I was. I had no way of letting anyone know what was happening. I was going to die, never seeing my family again.
I stood up and paced around the small room, fear moving me until I was dizzy. There was nothing else in the room, besides me, my tray, and a glass of water. I would just have to sit and count the seconds until Franklin showed up. Franklin who wanted to beat me, but not show me the mercy of just finishing me off.
Desperation clawed at me and I searched for some kind of weapon. I knew there was nothing, but I had to try. I even hefted the tray and swung it through the air to see if it would hurt someone if it hit them hard enough. It wasn’t great. Nothing was great.
I slid down the wall by the door and tried to go back to the dream with Jason. It’d been so real. I wanted to see him again, see him grown and still living. He was so handsome and funny. I wanted to experience him for longer.
When it wouldn’t come back, I let the tears fall. Shame and guilt for what I’d done to my family burned in my stomach, while anger at Franklin for what he was doing ate away at me. I felt so much sorrow for the girls. They were all kids, under eighteen, probably. My heart broke for what had already happened to them and what was surely to come. I felt helpless, sitting there, crying, unable to help them.
We were all doomed.
*
I’d fallen asleep at some point of my misery and woke up with Franklin standing over me. I cursed as my throbbing body broke into my awareness. Misery spiked though me and I clenched my jaw to keep from letting him hear me cry out.
Franklin grabbed my hair and yanked me to my feet. “I should kill you right now. How the fuck did you tell them where you were?”
I stumbled after him as he kept my head down and dragged me behind him, out of the room and down a long hallway. I didn’t bother answering him. No matter what I said, he was still going to be a sadistic son of a bitch.
“Luckily for me, my alarm system works better than Jagger’s. Not that his wasn’t sabotaged from the beginning. I could see him coming a mile away. Just enough time to get you out of here.”
Jagger was coming? Hope flared in me and I couldn’t help the gasp I let out.
“Yeah, lover boy came to save you. Imagine his disappointment when he finds my own army waiting for him and you already gone. He’s too late. I’m getting you out of here. The other girls were sent ahead of us, so he’s just running to his own death. I wish I was the one to do it.”
I jerked away from him, surprising him. I didn’t wait. I wouldn’t let him take me twice. I ran towards the end of the hall and threw myself through the door there. It opened onto a hot and dusty swatch of earth that I didn’t think twice about running across.
I could hear Franklin chasing me, gaining on me as the dirt turned out to be sand and my boots sank into it. I pushed harder, desperate to get away from him. I just had to find something, get my hands on something that I could hit him with. I just needed to buy time until Jagger showed up.
“Come here, you little bitch!” Franklin was seething, his words growled out through a clenched jaw.
I bit my tongue hard as Franklin tackled me from behind and knocked me to the ground. He immediately sank a punch into my side, but I wasn’t going to stop fighting and my hands weren’t bound that time around. I threw my weight into thrusting my hip out and knocked him off my back.
It was just long enough for me to roll over and then he was on me again. He raised his fist to hit me and I hit him in the throat. His punch forgotten, he grabbed his throat and coughed. I stabbed fingers into his eyes and scratched, determined to inflict as much damage as I could.
Franklin’s screaming felt like an ice pick to my brain, but I didn’t stop attacking. I dug my nails into his face and pulled down, drawing blood and leaving long lines of ripped skin. He wrapped his hand around my throat and squeezed, rendering me airless.
Still, I fought. I beat at his face with my hands and nails until his blood dripped onto me. I kicked my legs, trying to throw him off. I did everything I could to hurt him.
My vision started to darken and I thought of Jagger, of how close he was. While I’d wanted to die before, knowing he was so close made me take it all back. I wanted to live. I wanted to go home. Tears ran down my face as I tried to suck in a breath. All I could see was Franklin’s face above mine, still scowling, still baring his teeth at me as he choked the life out of me.
The pressure on my throat disappeared as a blossom of red appeared in the center of Franklin’s forehead. His body slumped down on top of me, trapping me against the earth.
I sucked in a breath of air, my throat screaming in pain as I did. I fought to get him off me, still hitting and clawing at him. I tried to scream, but no sound came out.
Then he was gone. I was being scooped up and shoved into a jeep. Jagger was there, yelling things at me, but all I could hear was my own heartbeat, pounding away in my ears. I stared at him, sure that I’d died and I didn’t know if I was in heaven or hell with him sitting beside me.
He sped us away from the building I’d been held in, away from Franklin. His eyes moved from me, to the road, to the rearview mirror and I saw his lips move in a curse.
I looked behind us and rested my head against the seat in defeat. There were two other jeeps chasing us. I could see the guard that had threatened me in one of them and I watched as he raised a large gun and aimed it at us.
A hoarse cry ripped from my throat and Jagger jerked the jeep to the right as a chorus of shots rang out. I felt Jagger grab me and shove me into the floorboard.
“Stay down!”
I bowed my head against the seat cushion and held on as the jeep jerked back and forth. The terrain grew rougher and I felt like I was going to be thrown from the vehicle at any second. I stayed tense, waiting for the moment we crashed into something.
“We’re almost in the clear. Just ahead there’s a line of men waiting to take these fuckers out, Lace. Hold on for just a little bit longer.”
I don’t know where he thought I was going. I was pretty sure I’d never be able to move on my own again. Between the pain radiating through my body and face and the crippling fear, I was damn near cemented into the floor of that jeep.
Shots pinged off the back of our vehicle and Jagger cursed some more. “Just a bit more.”
I felt like it was never going to end, but soon after his promise, shots rang out and Jagger slowed the jeep. He watched the rearview mirror and then slammed us to a stop. Before I could even ask what was going on, he was pulling me up and into his arms.
I cried out as he squeezed me, my ribs throbbing. My voice was barely there and I felt like curling up and passing out. Being in his arms let me know that I was definitely in heaven, though. Even if it was just a dream, it was a good one and I didn’t want to wake up.
“Are you okay? Fuck, your face.” He pulled back and looked me over, his eyes full of horror. “You’re not okay. We need to get you to a hospital. Jesus.”
I tried to hold onto him but I felt my arms slipping. “Girls. He had girls.”
Jagger nodded. “We know. We’ll compare notes later, okay. I’m going to get you to a hospital, baby. You’ll be okay.”
I trusted him. He’d come for me. I closed my eyes and let myself drift off again. He’d make sure I was okay.