Page 91 of I Am Salvation

Chapter Twenty-Five

Dragon

Seventeen years earlier…

I settle down onto the thin mattress, thankful to have made it through the first day. Well, half a day.

Until our door opens.

And a low voice speaks.

“We came to initiate the new meat.”

The voice is gravelly, like rocks tumbling down a steep incline. A silhouette fills the doorway, tall and broad, its edges blurred by the gloom of the hallway beyond. Zach doesn’t say anything, just throws a glance my way, a silent warning.

I sit up straighter, clenching my fists around the threadbare blanket. I can’t see clearly who it is in the half-light. Zach’s bristling at the intrusion is enough.

“Initiate?” I croak out, trying hard to keep my voice steady.

A laugh from the shadows makes my blood run cold.

“Yeah,” another voice says, this one higher-pitched and with a dangerous lilt to it. “Everyone goes through it. Even your buddy Zach here.”

I see them clearly now—their faces marked by harsh lines and cruel smiles.

Neither Mike nor Zach say anything, and the others in our room stay in bed, their eyes shut tight. Are they asleep? I don’t know.

Already I know they’re in self-protection mode.

Whatever is going to happen to me, they’ve already been through it. And they sure as hell don’t want to go through it again, so they’re keeping out of it.

“What do you want?” I demand, making my voice sound like my father’s used to when he was mad as hell at me for banging my drum too loud in the garage.

God, my dad. I try not to think about him. I last saw him five years ago in that courtroom when he and Mom gave me up. I was only eight.

I’m thirteen now. A man in some cultures.

But looking at these two big guys in my doorway, I know I’m no man. I’m a kid.

I got into some fights at the other group home. Sometimes I got my ass kicked. Other times I did the ass kicking. Nothing worse than a fat lip or a black eye ever happened to me, but there’s an evil gleam in the eyes of these guys.

I learned early on at the other place never to show fear.

I need to put that into practice right about now.

“Pipe down, boy,” one of them responds. His voice is a low growl, and his eyes, almost hidden in the shadows, glint with an unpleasant amusement. “We just want to give you the grand welcome.”

“Is that so?” I force a laugh out of my throat. It sounds harsher than I intend it to, but I can’t afford to show vulnerability. Not here. Not now. I harden my gaze as I look at them.

“Yeah, you better listen to Tully,” another one says with a humorless smirk. He’s smaller than the first one but still bigger than I am by a mile. “It’s a simple initiation. Nothing you can’t handle.”

He and Tully approach me slowly, each step echoing ominously in the room. They move like wild animals stalking prey. I’ve seen that on TV at the old home on Animal Planet.

I grip the blanket tighter, trying to keep myself steady. My only way out of this situation is through it, and that means I have to fight.

I jump down from the bunk, dropping the blanket onto the floor and standing tall. I’m not as big as they are, but another thing I learned at the other home is that I can use my size to my advantage.

“All right.” My heart pounds like a jackhammer. “I’m ready.”

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