Willow, p.10
Willow, page 10
part #1 of Defy the Ravaged Series
With that, he left the room. I sagged against my binds and watched the other men file out behind him.
I was left alone for a few hours with the other woman. She didn’t say a single word to me. She wouldn’t even look at me. She sat on a blanket on the floor and rocked back and forth. I called her name through the gag, but she didn’t look up once. I cried and screamed but eventually got frustrated and started to work against my binds. My gag took a while, but I eventually got it past my chin using my shoulder.
My hands were tied to the water heater with a thin strip of fabric, and I tried to rub them against the pipe and the screws on the heater, but nothing was sharp enough. Frantic and terrified, I got on my knees and bowed my back, biting at the fabric. My wrists were raw and bloody, and my jaw was sore, but slowly, the fabric started to fray at the edges. I watched the tiny window at the end of the room as the sun fell. It was dark when I created a rip big enough that I could tear the bind free.
I turned, wincing in pain, and put my feet against the heater, kicking off it. My arms screamed in pain, but the fabric shredded in half. I fell back on my ass and grunted. I warily watched Alyssa as I stood on shaky feet, but she didn’t acknowledge my new freedom. I walked to the door and tested the knob, but it was locked.
I ran from the door, urgency eating at my feet, and tested the tiny window. It swung outward and looked barely big enough to fit through, but I was determined.
I scurried back to the woman and dropped to my knees in front of her. “Come with me,” I gasped. Her eyes were dead, her expression lifeless. I gently touched her hand, and when she didn’t flinch or scream, I pulled on her arm. She came easily to her feet with my coaxing. “Climb,” I urged her and helped her push her thin body through the window. She stood outside, waiting for me, still staring at her feet. I had to wiggle through. I was thicker than her around my middle, thighs, and ass, and she was no help. I scraped my skin raw, but I fell through the window.
Blinking away tears of relief, I grabbed her hand and inched around the side of the single-family home. We were in a cul-de-sac with large homes. Several of the homes had candlelight coming from them, so I inched backward away from the front of the houses. We would have to go through the woods in the back.
I inched along the wall again, peeking out when a shout came from inside. A door slammed open, and I took off for the woods. Alyssa was slow, and I had to drag her behind me. I didn’t know what was wrong with her, but I could guess. I had a feeling she had been dealing with those men a lot longer than me.
Branches whacked at me as I barreled blindly through the woods. Eventually, I slowed and stopped, crouching down. It wasn’t smart to run through the woods with possible biters. I didn’t have anything to defend us with.
I picked up a heavy branch and was about to start running again when I heard my name shouted. I looked back at the way we came and couldn’t believe my ears.
That was Jay shouting for me.
I grabbed Alyssa again and started running back to the house.
I crouched at the edge of the woods as the first gunshot rang through the air. Men ran from the house and started shooting out into the cul-de-sac. I saw several of them drop to the ground, but I couldn’t see Jay anywhere. “Low!” he shouted again.
I lunged forward but hesitated. That was when I heard it–the feral growl behind me.
I spun and saw the biter grab onto Alyssa. I swung the branch at its head. She screamed long and loud, and I hit it again and again in the head until it let her go. Alyssa ran off into the yard, and I chased after her, my chest tight and my hands shaking.
“Willow!” Jay screamed again from somewhere in front of the house. “Where is she?”
“Fuck you!” someone screamed back. The sound of gunshots drowned out Jay’s reply.
Alyssa ran blindly through the dark sky and out into the cul-de-sac. I slid to a stop as she screamed again and someone shouted for her to get down. Hands grabbed me from behind, and I swung wildly, gasping when I nearly stumbled into the waiting bite of a young woman. Her hair was long and tangled, and her business suit was shredded and dirty. Her cracked nails dug into my bare arms, and I threw both of us to the side into the bricks of the house. That jarred her loose from me, and I was able to hit her in the head with my branch; but looking behind her, I saw biter after biter coming from the woods straight for me.
The noise must have drawn them. I hit her again and ran out into the cul-de-sac. I crouched down as a bullet whizzed by my head, and I threw myself behind the porch wall of the neighboring house. There, I huddled and frantically scanned the street for Jay. Next door, the large man was standing on the porch, shooting at a parked truck a few houses down. Two men were returning fire, and although I couldn’t see who they were, I knew it was Jay.
Alyssa was lying facedown on the ground in the middle of the road, and I desperately wanted to go to her to see if she was still alive, but I couldn’t move from the porch without getting hit by a stray bullet.
I peeked around the wall and jumped back as a ravaged biter came ambling around the side. I backed into the door and fell through as someone flung it open from inside. Arms grabbed me around my middle, trapping my arms to my side, and I was lifted off my feet as a gun aimed over my shoulder and blasted a bullet through the biter’s head.
“I have her!” a man screamed in my ear. “I have her!”
The gunfire outside slowed, and the man inched me forward past the porch wall. I kicked wildly and threw my head back into his chin. He grunted and dropped me so quickly that my knees smacked across the sidewalk.
Ignoring the sting, I jumped to my feet, dodged a biter, and ran straight into the cul-de-sac. It wasn’t my smartest move, but the danger was at my back, and the ravaged were coming from behind all the houses. Also, most importantly, my salvation was just on the other side of the road behind a parked truck.
“Low! Watch out!” Jay screamed, and I yelped as a biter’s hands grabbed at my left side. The gunshots resumed, and the biter dropped down. I ran faster and nearly tripped over my bare feet in an effort to stop beside Alyssa. I dropped to my knees and rolled her over, praying Jay had my back.
She was gurgling on her own blood. She had a bullet wound in her chest, and I immediately put pressure on the wound.
“Low, no, leave her!”
“I can’t!” I screamed, crying as her now very alert eyes begged me to save her. I heard more shots, and then arms grabbed me from behind. I thought for sure it was a biter, but it was another man, and he wrapped a hand around my waist, yanking me from the bleeding woman. I made a feral sound and fought against the hands, completely ignoring the gun shoved under my chin.
When it was clear that I wouldn’t stop fighting, the man slammed the gun down onto the back of my head. The force of it was so strong that I toppled forward and hurled bile on the ground. I swayed as he backed away from Alyssa and her dead eyes. The large man stood beside him, shooting the dozens of ravaged biters around us.
My vision wavered in and out for long moments, only clearing when the street was littered with bodies and the gun was shoved back under my chin. I couldn’t hear anything over my captor’s heavy breathing, and I could barely make out Jay and Ren as they rounded the side of the truck with their guns aimed at us.
“Let. Her. Go.” Jay snarled as he took several threatening steps forward.
“Easy now. We let her go, and you’ll shoot us,” the large man chuckled uneasily.
Jay glared at him so fiercely the man behind me trembled.
The large man stepped forward. “We’re going to back away and get in our vehicle. We’ll drop your girl a mile down the road, and you won’t ever have to see us again.”
Ren snorted. “No, you aren’t going anywhere. Let the girl go, and we’ll let you walk.”
“See now I don’t believe you.” The large man scratched at his scraggly beard. “The way I see it, as long as we have the girl, you won’t touch us.”
“Last warning,” Jay rumbled. “Drop her, or you’re dead.” His eyes met mine, and I saw a promise in them. He had my back, just like he said he would. I saw the fierce determination there. The unwavering resolve. I would get out of this alive.
The large man looked to the man holding me, and he shook his head. “Don’t you let her go, boy.” The gun at my chin trembled.
I jumped when a shot rang out, and then I fell to the ground. Another shot went off immediately after the first, and then the heavy man on top of me was being rolled off. I gasped and choked on air and rolled to my stomach. Gentle hands pulled me up, and I shook them off, limping to Alyssa. I dropped back to my knees and put pressure on her wound again.
“Low,” Jay said quietly by my side. “She’s gone, baby.”
I shook my head, gazing into her dead eyes. It was all my fault. If only I hadn’t pushed her to come with me, she would still be inside, and we could’ve gone in and gotten her. But no, she was out here, lying dead on the street because of me.
“Let her go, Princess.”
I physically couldn’t take my hands from her body. Jay gently wrapped me in his arms and cradled me to his chest.
“We can’t leave her there, Jay,” I whispered. “We can’t leave her.”
“We don’t have time, man,” Ren said low, “we’re fucking surrounded.” I looked past him and saw the biters still coming from the woods. Over Jay’s shoulder, there were more of them. Jay cursed furiously and hefted me farther up his chest.
“We can’t just leave her lying there!”
Jay shushed me and ran down the street. I gripped his shoulders and looked back behind us as several biters ran for her and the others’ bodies. “Jay, go back!”
“I’m sorry, baby,” he panted. “We can’t.”
“Jay! They’re eating her!” I screamed and tried to wiggle away.
“Fuck,” Jay and Ren both cursed. Jay wrapped his hand around the back of my head and shoved it in his neck. I pushed against him, but he wouldn’t move it. My legs wrapped around his waist, and my fingers dug into his shoulders. I sobbed against him, shaking and completely hysterical. I didn’t know her. I had barely heard her talk. But I felt like I owed her. It was my fault she was dead, and I couldn’t even bury her.
“We can’t outrun them,” Ren panted.
Jay nodded against my head and turned sharply. “There.” I looked to the side and watched Ren run ahead and into an auto shop. The door slid down after Jay and me, and then I was dropped onto a table.
Ren and Jay searched the shop’s garage bay and barricaded all the doors. I sobbed quietly and wiped at my wet face while they searched through the shop. Jay placed a first-aid kit by my thigh and then rolled between my legs on a stool.
He grabbed my wrists wordlessly and started to clean them. My tears dried as he worked. I stared off at the bay door while he wrapped them. He moved onto my face, carefully cleaning my split lip and cheekbone and then my knees.
There was a crash, and I jumped so high my head hit the wall behind me.
“Ren,” Jay growled and cradled the back of my head.
“Sorry,” he muttered and tossed Jay a bottle of water.
Jay uncapped it and lifted it to my lips. He held the bottle to my mouth until I pushed it away. Then he cradled my face and lifted it to face him as he stood between my thighs. “You okay?”
I shook my head. It felt too heavy for my shoulders. Jay ran his hands down my neck and fingered the gag still hanging there. His jaw clenched, and he fumbled with it until the fabric fell from my neck. He rubbed my neck lightly and then searched my body from head to toe.
His hands ran up my side, and I looked down at my thin nightgown. I shivered. It wasn’t much protection, and I didn’t want to think about why I was wearing it. What they had planned. What Alyssa went through. My chest bucked, and a sob scraped out of my throat. I didn’t want to think about the last few days of her life. I couldn’t imagine going through that and then dying as she had, so close to freedom. It could have so easily been me.
Jay hushed me and pulled me from the table. I went to him willingly, wrapping myself around him. He walked to the wall and slid down it, holding me in his lap. I straddled him, but it wasn’t sexual. He was the strong force holding me together. I sobbed and sobbed into his neck, and he kept me tight against him as I expunged days of terror and panic.
His hands rubbed my back and neck, and his soft little hushes and sleep baby’s lured me to sleep.
Chapter Twelve
When I woke up, I was still in his arms. A rough sweater covered my shoulders, and Jay had moved me until he was cradling me against his chest. One hand was lying limp on my thigh, and the other was curved around my shoulder. I groaned and rubbed my sore eyes into the soft fabric of his shirt.
“Sleep good?” he asked in my ear.
I nodded and curled my hands into his shirt, burrowing against him. I stretched my toes and winced at the pain in my ankle. I looked down and saw that it had been wrapped tight. I vaguely remembered the large man stomping on it but hadn’t given the pain much thought until now. I must’ve been favoring it enough for Jay to notice, though.
“Hungry?” He asked. His lips brushed my ear, and I shivered as his warm breath danced down my neck. I shook my head. I couldn’t stomach anything.
His hand tightened around my thigh, but he didn’t move me. His thumb moved in soothing circles.
“Where’s Billy?” I croaked. My voice was trashed. I sounded like I had smoked a hundred packs in a day.
Jay stiffened, and his thumb stopped its circles. “Looking for you. We split up.”
“How did you know?” I asked and sat up, stretching my back.
“He followed them to this area then lost them. He came back and got us.”
I nodded and fixed the nightgown on my shoulders. It had drifted down, baring most of my chest to him. I blushed when I saw how far it had ridden up my thighs. His eyes burned into the side of my face while I fixed myself.
Waking up, I started to feel embarrassed about my current position. I shifted off his lap and onto the floor next to him.
“Who was she?” Jay asked.
I winced and rubbed my arms. “Her name was Alyssa, and I think they did bad things to her.”
“Did they do bad things to you, Princess?”
I looked up into his enraged gaze and shook my head. “Not what you’re thinking.”
That didn’t seem to appease him.
“I’m fine.”
Jay grunted and shot me a look full of disbelief.
“You awake?” Ren grunted from the opposite side of the garage.
Jay kept his eyes on me as he answered. “Yeah.”
“Sun’ll be up soon.”
Jay got to his feet and helped me to mine. I limped behind him as he met Ren at the front of the garage.
“Not much here, but I got her some boots.” Ren handed me a pair of workman’s boots. They were at least three sizes too big, but they would be better than nothing. Ren’s eyes dropped to my chest, and I pulled my arms through the scratchy sweater, zipping it up.
I bent to stuff my feet into the boots, but Jay knelt down and lifted my foot. I grabbed his shoulders before I fell and let him push the boots on. He was extra careful with my bad ankle. He rested each foot onto his thigh and tied the laces tight. After he did my bad foot, he rubbed my bare calf and looked up at me. “Can you walk?”
I nodded. I would be slow, but I could. Jay couldn’t carry me everywhere. He squeezed my calf again before patting it twice and standing. He grabbed my hand and nodded to Ren.
Ren looked between us with his brows hiked up his forehead. Then he lifted a backpack I hadn’t noticed he’d been carrying. He handed Jay a gun. “I reloaded it.”
Jay nodded, and we walked to the bay door. “They know we’re in here,” he said to me. “Don’t leave my side.” I nodded and squeezed his hand tight before releasing it. He looked down at his hand and stiffened but relaxed when I got really close to his back like I had in the apartment. I grabbed his gun holster and took a steadying breath.
Ren lifted the door and immediately started firing. Jay moved slowly as we inched forward. There were at least twenty biters outside, and I tried not to panic. We inched forward, and my boots moved through blood and lifeless bodies as we moved away from the garage. Once we had an opening, we had to run. There was no way we would last. If sound drew them, then the gunfire was only going to attract more to us.
I tried to keep up with Jay, but my ankle was much worse than I had thought. I was slowing down.
He grabbed my hand and pulled me up, throwing me over his shoulder.
I bounced on his shoulder as they ran. Eventually, they slowed, and Jay put my back to a building. Ren ripped open his pack and tossed Jay an ax. Then, he tossed me a slingshot. I gaped at him. “Wasn’t a bad idea,” was all he said. Then he winked at me.
Biters were mere yards away, so I didn’t bother asking where he got it from and dropped to my knees. I dug through the dirt and came back up with a handful of heavy rounded rocks. Aiming for those farthest from us was instinct. Jay and Ren lunged forward and started hacking at those closest to us while I shot at the ones farther away.
Some went down with one shot to the head, but others I had to aim for more than once. I tried very hard to ignore the blood splatter and brutal attacks coming from Jay and Ren. They went at the biters with a ferocity that shocked me.
I took out another biter and then looked around, stunned at the number of bodies at our feet. But there weren’t any more biters coming for us. Jay and Ren panted and looked back at me. Their faces were coated in blood. I turned around and vomited all over the ground.
Jay grabbed my hair and rubbed my back as I gagged over and over. “We gotta go,” he said gently.
I nodded and let him pull me behind him. We walked for a while, occasionally stopping to take out a biter or hide from a group of them. Ren checked every vehicle on the road, but none of them had keys, and Ren said it would take too long to hotwire.
