Page 9 of Ruthless

“Leave it.” My words slice into the air—final and deadly.

“Fine.” His jaw clenches as he sucks in a deep breath. He’s not happy about my decision, but as he exhales, I see the tension fade away just as quickly as it appeared. He’s letting it go and moving on. “Savages ‘til the end and all that shit.” He nods and then points a finger at me. “Just don’t ask me to change a shitty diaper or clean up any puke. That’s where I draw the line.” He pulls out his pack of cigarettes and goes to light one up, but I jerk the whole pack out of his hand before he can even take one out and throw them in the sink behind him.

His jaw drops as his head jerks from the sink and back to me. “What the fuck? Kennedy ain’t even here.”

I reach into my back pocket and then shove a pack of Juicy Fruit into the palm of his hand. “Here. Take this instead.”

He swipes it out of my palm and throws his hands up in the air. “Aw, come on, man. That was a brand new pack.”

“It’ll be good practice for you.” I shrug.

“Asshole.” Axel groans as he shoves half the pack in his mouth and stomps off out the door, leaving me alone for the first time in days.

Everything around me is quiet—too quiet. Most people prefer it this way. I fucking hate it. There’s a reason I let the others talk as I fade into the background. They drown everything out, making it easier to forget the hell that replays in my head every night. Sleep never comes easy for me, no matter how hard I try. Or at least it didn’t until I met a tiny Irish brunette.

I’ve been so wrapped up in our shit for the last two days that I haven’t thought of anything else, but what happens when the dust settles and things go quiet again? In the silence is when all of my demons come out to play. I just hope they don’t end up killing us both.

CHAPTERFOUR

Zane

The heat from the block wall seeps into my back as I burrow against it and keep watch. Sweat drips down my face, but I keep my eyes open and ready for anything. I’m not worried about what I can see. It’s what lies in the darkness if you peel back the layers and look deep enough that should.

“You see anything?” I whisper to the back of Isaac’s dark head as I glance back and do another perimeter check. We’re shrouded in darkness, but it’s the deathly silence that can scream the loudest back at us.

“No movement on the north end.” He sets down his night vision scope and speaks into his mouthpiece. “Our end is clear. What’s your six?”

A small burst of static floods my ears, followed by Isaac’s voice. “South end is all clear and secure.”

“Roger that. Let’s move out,” Isaac whispers back.

The soles of my boots scrape against the sand as I crouch down and follow behind him. Two shadowy figures on the left mimic our movement as Grady and Nelson do the same and join us once we reach the outhouses.

“Ugh, that fucking stinks.” Nelson cringes and buries his nose into his shoulder.

“It’s not as bad as that Carpet Viper den Savage stumbled across last time.” Isaac shakes his head at Nelson and scans the area.

“Yeah, fuck that.” My pulse pounds in my neck at flashes of running into one of those fucking Carpet Vipers hits me, and I shiver at the thought. Thank fuck we’re out in the dead of night when they’re asleep.

“Suck it up, Staten.” Grady flips him the finger, showing off the wolf tattoo on his middle finger. It’s just the head, and we’ve been teasing him for years because he was too much of a pussy to get the whole thing.

“Eat shit, Rodriguez,” Nelson fires back.

Grady rolls his eyes and cranes his neck in the direction of the main building, focusing on why we’re here.

Besides the outhouses, a few mud huts line up along the farthest side of the main building. Other than that, it’s desert for as far as the eye can see.

We crouch down, guns at the ready, moving as stealthy as we can from the outhouses until we’re pressed up against the side of the building. Chunks of concrete are chipped away from the sides of it. There are a few lights on in some of the windows. The ones without glass have been boarded up.

Our backs slide across the side of the building, the roughness of the blocks snagging on the fibers of my uniform as we round the corner and near the front door. The rusty metal glares back at us—a taunting menace of the horrors that are hidden behind it.

Isaac mouths his orders and goes to open the door but stops when we see movement. A small figure is hunched in the shadows at the foot of the door. The closer we get, the more he comes into view. It’s a young boy, who appears to be no more than twelve, huddled up in a corner. The dirty rags he’s swimming in are a poor excuse for clothes, and his feet are bare.

When he lifts his head and sees us, I put a finger up to my mouth, signaling for him not to make a sound. His dark eyes hold mine for a brief second, and then he gives me a slight nod of his head, letting me know that he’s understood me.

I hold my hand out to him and motion with my fingers for the boy to come to me while Nelson comes closer to me. The boy hesitates briefly before crawling on his hands and knees to where I’m crouched down in the dirt.

Grady and Isaac shift toward the door, ready to open it, but my focus remains on the boy and getting him away from the shit show that’s about to commence.

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