Page 24 of Zero

They ran for what felt like hours—it was probably ten, fifteen minutes max—tossing me between them a few times like we were going over fences. My senses came back to me slowly, my mind was trying to figure out where they were taking me, until I was sitting on a smooth surface. The bag was quickly taken off and something else was put over my head.

A helmet?

That's when I noticed it was King strapping the helmet on and I was on a bike. My wrists were untied, and Boogie sat in front of me tying my hands together.

“What’s going on?” I squeaked. I looked around, seeing a body off to the side. “Is that Perry?!”

His neck was at an awkward angle, his vacant eyes looking at me and I had to look away.

“He touched you.” Boogie shrugged like that explained everything. “No one lays a hand on you.”

I looked at King who also shrugged.

“Can you please tell me what the fuck is going on?” I snapped.

They didn’t say anything.

“Answer me.” I growled.

“We are taking back what's ours,” King finally said. “I don’t think you need to be taking that tone with us either. Did you forget who we are?”

“No, I can’t leave.” I shivered, pulling against the restraints. “Please don’t take me.”

“Settle down or you’ll make us fall while we drive,” Boogie snapped.

“I can’t fucking leave,” I said, trying to get up, my panic was going nuclear. “Please, I have to go back, or they will die, and I can’t let them die again. Please.”

I sobbed, my entire body shook from crying. They started to argue until my hands were released. I didn’t give them a chanceto decide that they needed to tie me up again. Swinging my leg over the bike, I ran towards where I thought Christmas town was at.

The helmet was obnoxious, but I didn’t know how to take it off and I ran with it on. I pushed myself harder, wondering why the hell I was running back to the place I hated the most. It was the girls, I couldn’t leave them, it wasn’t fair to them. I had failed all the ones before them.

“Little One, get your ass back here,” Boogie snarled.

He was annoyed and that pushed me even harder, weaving in and out of the trees. If they caught me they’d hog tie me and make sure I never left.

“Doll! I’m going tie you up and spank you until you apologize for this shit,” King yelled.

There was a short chain-link fence, I climbed slower than I would have liked, falling when I didn’t get my foot over high enough. I rolled on the floor getting up quickly, seeing Boogie so close I ran again.

The town came into view, and I decided to break into the back, hoping they hadn’t replaced the loose lock I used to get out last time. Glancing behind me they were walking like the fucking psychos they were, stalking me like prey as if theyknewthey would catch. It wasn’t a matter ofifbutwhen. A thrill shot threw me and I was insane for getting aroused.

The door handle jiggled, loosened with each jerk, finally popped open. I walked into our storage unit of all of our old Christmas decor, pulling the door shut about to slip the dead bolt when one of them yanked on the door. This was bad, I shouldn’t have led them here, if we got caught, we would all be killed.

“Little One,” Boogie growled, pushing the door open.

I let it go, running through the storage room that resembled a maze. It hadn’t been organized in years so there were thingseverywhere, the helmet on my head made navigating things on the floor more difficult.

“Fucking pain in my ass.” I was yanked backwards, dropping a few Santa Clauses to the floor.

We stilled, waiting for someone to hear us. I didn’t wait; I took off, hearing them cursing behind me. This is when I felt alive, and it had been so long since I had felt anything other than anxiety and dread here at Christmas Town. I wished they could keep me, I wanted to go with them, I needed to go with them.

“Come on, Doll,” King snarled right before I was tackled. “You’re such a fucking brat and you are going to get us killed.”

“You’re the one who tried to kidnap me,” I whispered, as we landed in white cloth we used as snow, flinching from the bruises Kris left me last night.

We struggled or I should say, I struggled. He unclipped the helmet, pulling it off, and I groaned from feeling free. It only lasted a second before I tried to move as he pinned my hands above my head.

“We are trying to save you,” he growled.

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