Page 112 of Patching Over

FIVE

Jingles

“Son of a bitch, we just missed them, again,” I snarl.

From the look of things, we are probably only an hour or less behind them, which is obvious from the fact that there are plates of food, some only being half eaten, some full, as if they’d just been served in their dining hall, plus, the pots on the stove, which still have unserved food in them, and which are thankfully turned off, are still hot as fuck to the touch.

“Spread out, let’s check the entire property thoroughly, they may have left people behind as tribute,” Kracken commands, popping his knuckles as if he’s readying himself to serve up a beatdown. “Because so far, we’ve seen the evidence of that at the other locations, they’re not kind to the people they’ve taken.”

I shudder as I nod; we’ve seen the evidence of abuse; bloody smears across the floors, discarded clothing that was torn to the point of being shredded. So far, we haven’t found any bodies, but there have been a few fresh graves dug on the backstretch of the property when it was explored further. All I know is that the men overseeing these fundamentalists are sick, masochistic fuckerswho deserve nothing more than to be put so deep underground that their bones will never be unearthed.

But that’s a dilemma for another day. Today, we’ll search the latest location, and hope we find something, anything, to direct us toward where they might’ve gone this time. “Got it, Krack,” I finally reply.

We head back to the front of the building before splitting up, with Kracken going to the office and infirmary area based on the blueprints Hawg sent us while I examine the cells that are used as rooms for the unlucky individuals who’ve been kidnapped by these assholes. One of the reasons I’m still encouraged that Belle, at least, is still alive is because at every location so far, we’ve found hidden messages, usually concealed in the kitchen.

The first one said, “Sleeper, hurry up, please.”

We’ve also found some that merely state, “Belle was here. Hurry up, big brother.”

So, my eyes are peeled, because Belle may be hurt, which I suspect after seeing evidence in the rooms I’ve seen that I’m confident are hers, but she’s still doing what she can to let us know we’re heading in the right direction.

My phone rings as I’m in the last cell, which I determine to be Belle’s. She’s carved a message into the wall that says, “Mo is hurt. Find us, please!” and in the bathroom, when I turned on the hot water, the mirror fogged up and she wrote, “Not sure we can hold on much longer, Mo is giving up, and I’m hurt too.”

Looking at the caller ID, I’m surprised to see it’s Kracken calling. “Brother, everything okay?” I ask, taking pictures of the mirror since I put him on speaker.

“No, it’s not, need you to haul ass down to the infirmary, while I call Brick. I found one of the girls.”

My heart accelerates when I consider it could be Belle whose injuries are so serious it has Kracken’s voice sounding almost scared. In all the years I’ve been around the club, he’s never shown an ounce of fear. Despite some of the shit we’ve come up against, he’s always been strong, almost invincible. So, the fact that he’s shaken, has me gearing toward a petrified state of mind.

As I run down the abundant maze of halls toward the infirmary, I keep chanting, “Please let it be Belle, please let it be Belle.”

Finally, reaching the hallway where I know they have their sick bay, I slow down and focus on getting my breathing under control. By the time I breach the doorway, I’m able to take a breath without gasping. “What did you find, Brother?” I ask as I walk toward where he’s crouched next to a hospital-style bed.

He turns horror-stricken eyes in my direction, his hand clutching the still one on the top of the covers. “Moira. I found Moira.”

Looking over his shoulder my breath stutters in my chest. She looks rough on the outside, but it’s the blankness in her eyes that worries me the most.

What did they do to her? And what the fuck are they doing to Belle? Fuck. Sleeper’s going to go nuclear when I call him, something I dread with everything in me.

CHAPTER

SIX

Belle

“Move it, slut!” Alvin yells, smacking me across the blade of my shoulders with the rifle he’s holding in his hands. “We’ve got to get out of here,now!”

“Why?” I stupidly ask, which earns me another hit. I feel the skin split, agonizing pain hit me instantaneously, and I know that my shoulder is now likely dislocated because of the strength behind his brutal attack.

“Because I said so,” he sneers. “I don’t have to explain shit to you. Now, move it!”

I try to speed up my pace, but all the injuries I’ve sustained before this, combined with the current pain thrumming through my body, has me feeling like I’m fighting for each step I take, and that I’m walking through molasses. Of course, this earns me another smack, which has me emitting a small shriek of pain despite my best efforts to keep my anguish hushed. I don’t like showing any form of weakness, especially to these abusive assholes, they don’t deserve to hear my cries of agony.

He chuckles behind me, thoroughly enjoying my despair… a little too much. The sinister sound emanating from his chest causes fear to ramp through me, and shivers begin to take hold, pebbles rise on my flesh, triggering my entire body to react and shudder. The problem I’m having right now, aside from the fact that my injuries are slowing me down, is I haven’t seen any evidence that Moira is with us.

Curiosity plagues me, however, I don’t dare ask the fucker behind me if she’s joined us, but I vow to find out the answer, or die trying. She’s my ride or die, and so far, I know I’m dropping the ball on my end of the sisterly relationship we’ve nurtured and grown. Not by choice, of course, but still, the guilt is eating at me right now.

As we’re loaded into the vans and trucks like cattle, shocked and prodded every time one of us slips or stumbles, once again, I vow to bestow my own brand of vengeance upon each and every damn one of these assholes. The pain, anger, and rage coursing through me is what is fueling me, those afflictions are the only things that are keeping me going at this point. Toss in the fact that I’m almost positive Moira was left behind, and I’m almost nuclear, it won’t take much for me to detonate.

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