Page 5 of Red Fire

I chuckle. It comes out sounding like a threat. Good!

“If I had a female in my cabin, you would hear her…smell her.” I pray that she keeps her mouth firmly shut. If she wakes up and so much as fucking twitches, she’s dead. It won’t be an easy death.

4

Octavia

My eyes open. I’m about to moan when I hear them arguing. Gruff-sounding men.

Men? What? Where am I? Why do I hurt all over?

It all comes back to me.

The crash.

The huge, tattooed guy who looked at me like I was edible. Like he wasn’t going to use cutlery whilst eating me. Like he might just tear me limb from limb. He threw me over his shoulder as if I was a thing rather than a person and ran off with me.

He was naked.

Holy hell!

Naked!?

Why?

Then there was that other guy chasing after us…I think he was naked, too. Don’t they have clothes on this island? Having said that, I didn’t get a good look at him on account of beingjostled so badly. I can’t remember much after that. I think I may have bumped my head. It’s throbbing.

Again, I want to moan, but I hold it in. There is something inside me telling me to be very quiet. I look around and gasp softly, making powder puff up around me. White powder? Come to think of it, I smell ash and fire. Where am I?

It doesn’t make any sense. None of this makes any kind of sense.

I look up and see a huge cast-iron pot. I’m lying in a stone fireplace. I’m covered in soot and ash. Why the heck am I in a fireplace? I frown. I look around the wooden cabin. It’s small and rustic, with carved statues everywhere. They’re on shelves, on the floor…on just about every surface. Each one depicts a different type of wildlife; their features are so real it’s as if they could come alive at any moment. There’s a bed in the corner covered with a patchwork quilt that is a burst of color against the plain walls and wooden floors.

“…isn’t here,” someone outside snarls, sounding aggressive. It pulls me from my thoughts. “Do you see a female?” The men continue to argue. It sounds like it’s happening below me, which is weird.

“She could be up there,” another one of them yells. I’ve never heard such a deep voice in all of my life.

Up there.Iamabove the ground, then.

She.They’re talking about me. I know it.

There is more arguing but I can’t make it out. There are several of them. They’re all male. At least, I haven’t heard a woman speak at all. Just gruff, rude-sounding men.

“There is no one up there. You can climb up and check if you want,” the first one snarls, sounding vicious. I thought the other had a deep voice. This one is deeper. “Know that if you go up and my cabin is empty, I will break you. You will bleed. You might not survive it.”

Holy shit!

Holy freaking crap.

Where am I? Who are these men? Who talks like that? No one who is remotely civilized.

“Go on!” he yells. “Go up. Go and look! I dare you.”

I hold my breath. I don’t dare move. Not even so much as a muscle.

“You’re sure you didn’t see a female?” one of the others snarls.

“I’m not going to answer that,” he snaps back. “I’m going to get on with my day now. You decide what you want to do. I’ll be up there.”

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