Page 100 of Run From Me

The guy walked away with my phone and all hope was gone as they started to drag me away from the building. I fought and fought, but my feet were bare and there were too many of them trading off. Too many hands on my skin. Too many groping me and too many forcing me into the car.

A buzzing sound filled my ears, and for a moment I thought maybe I was going crazy, but no. That was the sound of motorcycles. Not many, but some. The roar of the engines was close. Maybe two or three? I just prayed it was the Spectors.

“Fuck, they’re blocking the exit,” I heard someone say.

“Just get her in. We’ll run them over if we have to.”

I tried to scream, but a hand clamped over my throat and I gagged instead.

More bikes could be heard in the distance. I couldn’t tell for sure, but by the sound of it, they seemed to be going well beyond the speed limit. It had to be the Spectors. It had to be, because if it wasn’t, well, I couldn’t think that way.

Life was cruel, but I refused to let myself think that just when I’d finally found something good, it would be ripped away.

“Fuck, there’s more of them,” I heard someone say from the car.

The fingers against my throat pinched. I struggled to breathe, and I kicked out of instinct. My foot connected with somethingor someone, and the guy behind me let me go. I coughed and my eyes watered as I caught my breath.

No one was stopping me from righting myself at least, and I could finally see out of the windshield.

I could see the headlights of at least a dozen bikes, and then one pulled through the lot of them. I watched as the lights illuminated him from behind as he got off the bike. He was nothing but a silhouette, but it was a silhouette I would have none anyway.

His gait, the width of his shoulders, and the way he held up a middle finger? It was my Xander.

“Xand—” tThe guy behind covered my mouth and cut off the word again.

All I could do was watch.

The guy took off his helmet as he walked closer.

“Where is she?” I heard the familiar voice call out.

“Who? The whore you think you have some kind of claim on? She’s ours. You go about your business, and we’ll go about ours.”

The car rocked as something large hit the front of it.

“Shit, they just shot him,” said the guy holding my mouth shut.

“There’s more of us than there are you. I’d let her go,” called out Xander, his voice closer this time.

The guys around me were swearing, and finally someone yanked me backward, my ass meeting the pavement when my hands couldn’t reach out and catch me.

“Get up, bitch. I’m not dying for some shitty pussy.”

This time I heard the silenced bullet as someone shot closer to me, and the body in front of us hit the open door and fell to the pavement.

“Call her shitty pussy again, I dare you.”

The guy had me in front of him like a shield. I should have been worried, or maybe just frustrated, but when I saw how close Xander was now, I got a boost of confidence.

“Oh, you’re in trouble now, Viper dumbasses,” I taunted.

The hard object to the side of my temple though? That ruined the rest of the show, and I saw nothing but black as I slouched in an asshole's arms.

THIRTY-ONE

xander

“Xander,you can’t keep me locked up forever,” Cali protested again.

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