Chapter Ten
Madison
We received one meal yesterday, so I know I’ll only have one shot at this today. For the first time, I’m thankful it’s Cori’s fingers Fernandez cut off. I need all of mine for the coming fight. We’ll both need our feet and it will be hard enough without shoes. I have no idea where we are, which means there’s a chance we’ll be running for miles. I can do it if Cori can. Hell, I’ll pick her up and carry her if she can’t.
I haven’t told her my plan yet because I want her to sleep as much as possible so she has enough strength for what I have planned. Right now, she’s sleeping like the dead. When I touch her flushed cheeks, she’s hot. Too hot. I wet a sheet strip and lay it on her forehead. She doesn’t stir and her breathing is ragged. She’ll die if I can’t get us out of here.
The section of metal shelving I removed is bent into a point on the sides and it’s flat enough that I can sit on it, hopefully without notice.
The waiting begins. It’s several hours before the driver, who Fernandez called Lucas, opens the door and enters alone. He’s carrying another tray. His eyes scan my body before meeting my gaze. He gives me a guilty look that’s bullshit more than anything. He raped Cori and didn’t seem to feel guilty then.
He rests the tray beside me without closing the door. He looks away when I try to catch his eyes. “Can you help me with Cori? I don’t think she’s going to wake up.” I can only hope that’s a lie.
The man glances at the door then at Cori. “Fernandez won’t like it, but what do you need me to do?”
Before his eyes return to mine, the shelving is in my hands and I rise from the bed and swing it with a heavy grunt. The sharp end does its job and slices into his neck. Blood immediately streams and then bubbles from the deep cut.
“You bitch,” he gurgles. He’s trying to stop the blood, but he’s already dead. I’d kill him again if I could. Then I decide I can. I swipe his legs from beneath him and he takes an earlier trip to the floor than he was going to. He lands with a garbled grunt. His eyes are wide open as he wheezes from his neck. I bring the metal straight down into his groin, burying it as far as it will go. He’s past screaming, but his eyes show pain and fear. Good. I lift the shelving again and drive it back down.
My hands are covered in his blood when the red haze of revenge lifts. I turn to Cori. Her eyes are wide open staring at me.
“We’re getting out of here,” I tell her. “I need you to keep up and stay behind me.” I lift my weapon, bend it back into the shape I need and then put my hand out for Cori and help her stand. “I need both my hands free when we walk out. Can you walk on your own?”
“Yes,” she answers. “I’ll fucking do whatever it takes to get out of here.”
“Let’s do it, then. If they stop us, I’ll attack and you run. Don’t stop running until you’re safe. One of us needs to get away and reach Moon.”
“I’m behind you. Don’t worry about me,” she says in a shaky voice that shows she isn’t in good shape.
I approach the door and peer into the hallway. I hold my breath for a moment and hear no sounds coming from the front of the house. I slowly walk down the hallway to a large front living room area. It’s a split floorplan, and the master bedroom where Fernandez took me to is past the kitchen and separate from this end of the house. The door to our freedom is on the other side of this room.
“Go,” Cori says when I glance over my shoulder to check on her.
I run and hear her breathing close behind me. The doorknob turns freely in my hand, but the door doesn’t open until I turn the deadbolt. No shouts come from behind us as we run outside.
The sun blasts down on us and I estimate it’s around three in the afternoon. Desert landscaping with small, sharp rocks takes up the entire front yard, so I keep us to the cement. It’s hot, but I barely notice. We run down the long driveway and hit the black asphalt. There are no sidewalks and the heat under my bare feet is almost unbearable. I grab a sobbing Cori and place her good arm over my shoulder. We’re in a cul-de-sac with no other houses in sight. Naked, we run down the street and turn the corner, which leads to another cul-de-sac with a house at the end. It’s our only hope.
The sound of a car coming toward us makes me look behind us. It’s dark and black and heading in our direction. My hand grips the metal shelf so tightly it cuts into my palm.
I’m ready to fight or die. We’re not going back into that house. The car hasn’t stopped moving when the passenger door flies open and Moon jumps out. A man I don’t recognize jumps from the back seat. Moon has me cradled in his arms a second later and the other man takes Cori.
“I don’t know where Fernandez is,” I whisper into my husband’s neck.
“We need the women in the car,” Alex says.
The solid warmth of Moon’s chest is more than my brain can handle and for a moment I wonder if I’m dreaming. My reserves are gone and exhaustion bites at my consciousness.
Moon takes me into the passenger seat with him and Cori is handed to Dax.
“Get us out of here,” Moon yells before he slams the car door behind us.
Alex floors the gas and the tires squeal as he turns the wheel, practically doing a donut to get us facing the right direction. With another punch of gas, he leaves rubber and charges the car down the road toward escape. I turn my face into Moon’s jacket and hold on.
Moon, my husband, my everything, holds me so tightly I can barely breathe. My burned feet and throbbing head are forgotten.