Page 63 of Forever Filthy

“You scream. We die.” I swallow audibly and nod. “Do you know what this is?” he asks as he waves his hand. I nod as terror envelopes me. “Say it,” he demands.

“I-it’s a suicide s-switch,” I stutter out. The devil just smiles. He’s wearing a vest wired with explosives and has a suicide trigger in his hand, his thumb is on the button. If he releases that thing, we’re all dead.

“You do as you're told and I won’t kill everyone in this house.” Horror splays across my face as I think about Nova sleeping next door.

“Okay.”

“Get dressed. You try anything and you won’t like what happens,” he threatens.

“I won’t, I swear.” I climb out of bed and rush into my wardrobe. I ignore him watching me as I change quickly into a pair of yoga pants and a random shirt, then I pull on some trainers.

“Lead the way.” I do as he says and slip out of my room with him right behind me. I shoot a glance at Nova’s closed door, grateful that she is a heavy sleeper and hasn’t woken. The silver lining through this whole thing is that he doesn’t seem to want her. I don’t doubt that he knows she is here. When we reach the living room he shoves me toward the front door. Hope fills me. Nial and his partner are outside, they may not be able to shoot him but surely they would have been trained for a situation like this and at least know how to subdue him.

My hope dies when we step outside. A scream lodges in my throat at the sight of Nial and his partner laying on the ground in a pool of their own blood. Both their throats have been cut. Tears fall instantly, they died trying to protect me. I look around wondering where the fuck the night time guards are, there should be more of them but then it hits me.

The guards are loyal to Thomas.

As we round the corner I spot a car idling there with the back door open. “Get in,” he snarls. I do as he says and balk at the sight of the person in the driver's seat.

“Leo!” I screech in astonishment. I haven’t seen him since my brother and the guys beat the shit out of him and he was forced to take the remainder of the season off and missed out on playing in front of scouts.

“Shut up, bitch, this is payback,” the asshole spits out as Thomas climbs in beside me. I press against the door as far away from him as possible. Leo drives like a fucking lunatic and I’m forced to grip the door handle or risk slamming into Thomas and his finger slipping off the trigger. I keep watch and make sure to stay alert, as we exit the city limits panic begins to take root inside me.

“Where are we going?” I ask. Thomas strikes out and back hands me right in the mouth. I cry out as the metallic taste of my own blood fills my mouth. I cup my hand over my mouth and turn to him.

“You stay fucking silent, cunt.” He sneers, I flinch away from him as tears fill my eyes. I didn’t think this through. I thought I could handle him finding me and finally taking him down, but I was wrong. I’m fucking terrified and no one knows where the fuck I am. David and Nova are the only two who will know I am missing and that won’t be until they wake which is hours away.

I close my eyes and picture three faces, their smiles bring me some comfort. A pang hits me as guilt swims inside me, I won’tget the chance to tell them how much I love them and that I did all of this for them. All the lies and secrets, it’s all for them.

When the car jerks, I snap my eyes open to see Leo has taken a dirt road, I can’t see anything aside from trees and open land. We are in the middle of fucking nowhere, even if I do escape where the fuck can I run?

It feels like this road goes on forever but he finally comes to a stop out front of an old hunting cabin that looks like it has been vacant for years. Leo kills the engine, then climbs out. I don’t dare move even when he opens my door. I cry out when he reaches inside the car and drags me out by my hair. I try to lengthen my strides to keep up with his longer ones but it’s no use, I can feel strands of my hair being torn out. We stop for a second as he opens the door, then I’m being dragged by my hair again. The inside of the cabin is dark and I can’t make anything out, but Leo doesn’t seem to need any light, he yanks me forward and I cry out but then he releases me and I fall to my knees.

“You’ll get what’s coming to you,” Leo vows before slamming the door closed. I hear a lock click into place and whimper. I look around the dark room trying to see but my eyes have barely adjusted as I hear something move. I shuffle backward and try to slow my breathing.

“Who’s there?” I rasp out.

“Vivian?”

I gasp and begin crawling on my hands and knees across the room. When the tips of my fingers brush against something I stop and slowly run my hands up her legs. “Tate?”

“Y-yeah,” she stutters out.

“What the hell are you doing here?” I whisper shout.

“When David and I left we were run off the road, when I woke up I was in here.” I inhale sharply as horror washes over me.

“Where’s David?” I snap as I grip her arms and shake her, a stifled whimper escapes her and I force myself to release her and calm down. “Tate, where is he?” I ask in a calm tone.

“I don’t know. I haven’t seen him or anyone since I woke up. I don’t even know where the fuck we are, Vivian!”

Fuck!

Oh my God, our rescue now relies on Nova who has no fucking idea what to do in a situation like this! No, that isn’t true, she would call Vox and my guys, they will find me. I just need to keep us all safe until they get here. I shuffle over beside Tate and lean my back against the wall as a resigned sigh escapes me. Why the fuck did I have to go and play hero? Why couldn’t I just tell them the truth instead of trying to prove to them that I am strong?

Oh, that’s right because you had to try and prove you were able to fight your own battles so they wouldn’t see you as weak!

I close my eyes and try to breathe through the melancholy. I put myself here and there is no one else to blame except for myself. I shouldn’t have tried to play savior, I should have just trusted in my guys to have my back but I let our past cloud my judgment. Now my error doesn’t only affect me, it has cost two other people I care about.

---