Page 57 of Purgatory
Fuck. I’ll never forgive myself if something happened to her. It would be my fault. Plain and simple.
She came looking forme.
For some reason, even after everything I've put her through. Even after I told her she didn’t have a chance. Even after... I almost killed her... She still cared enough to come after me, regardless of the danger. She saw my darkness, saw the real me and still pushes to be with me and the shadows of my soul.The sentiment takes my breath away.
I can’t deny her anymore. Fuck, I can’t deny it to myself anymore. The cold hard truth is that she’s made a home for herself in the black pit of despair that resides where my heart used to be. Where I thought love could no longer live. How wrong I was. And now I have to find her, hold her in my arms, shake her and tell her how stupid she is for trying to find me. Then kiss the ever-loving hell out of her face because, no matter how much I try to fight it, I love her stubborn ass.
“Hold up, I think I see something.” Cole’s voice comes in over the radio. My heart starts racing at what he might say. Relief if they’ve found her safe. Paralyzing fear if it’s anything else.
It almost feels like an hour goes by when it’s really only a few seconds when I speak, urging them to pull me out of the suspense I’m drowning in. “Cole, did you see anything? Give me something, man.” It’s Hawk that responds.
“It’s her bat... Cole’s looking around for her but it’s her bat in the middle of the road.” My heart skips a beat. That was probably her only mode of protection. She wouldn’t leave that just anywhere. Not unless...
“Hawk, look around the road. Do you see anything next to or near the bat at all? Do a twenty-foot radius check.” I send a silent prayer to anyone willing to listen that my suspicion is incorrect. Unfortunately, my gut feeling wins again. Hawk’s voice comes in staggered and wavering.
“There are tire tracks. Big ass skid marks like someone left here in a rush... Jax...fuck, man... there’s blood... there’s blood on the bat and on the ground. Shit, Jax do you think someone took her?”
My heart skips at that. My vision darkens as the beast inside takes over with complete resolve, directing my path and setting me in motion. “I know where she is. Keep heading thisway on the main drag. She's at the dead end of Magnolia Road down my way. I saw the fuckers drive their truck there earlier but didn’t see any other vehicles besides theirs. I’m going after her now. I’ll see you guys when you get here. Keep your radios on but wait for my word to approach. I'm going in silent. Out.”
Before they can argue with me to wait for them to go in as a team, I turn on my heel and switch my radio off, placing it in my pocket and grabbing the AR-15 from my back. I don’t have the willpower to wait for them to get to my position. Not when these guys could be doing God knows what to Aly. Luckily, I’ve managed to pack a mini arsenal on my body. I have a feeling I’m going to need it.
Turning down Magnolia Road, I know it’s about a mile and a half until it reaches the lake and their camp. I speed up to a run, knowing the distance is nothing compared to what I’ve done in the past. Sadie’s right there with me, running at my side, knowing we have a job to do. We make it there in no time and I slow to a creep as I take in the property.
It’s a single-story ranch, with a wraparound porch, overgrown garden to the side of the house and garbage all over the damn place. Fucking slobs. I also count three pick-up trucks parked out front.
Those might come in handy...
I start to count the number of bastards I’m going to have to deal with. There are a few outside smoking, but those are just the ones I see, not counting the ones inside the house. And the one person I want to see, I don’t. Yet.
It isn’t until I hear a scream coming from inside the house that I know it’s her. She’s here. The absolute terror I feel from her wail makes my blood run cold and my mind run on autopilot. I give Sadie the command to stay where she is and set out to do what I came to do.
These motherfuckers took her but I'm about to takeeverything from them. They have no idea who I am or what I'm capable of. I’ll open up the gates of Hell for them myself and welcome them down with open arms. They’ll beg for the Devil before I'm done with them.
Chapter 38
Alessandra
Pain. All over. Everything fucking hurts. My head. My arms. My ribs. Even my fucking toes hurt. I can’t even open my eyes all the way, let alone utter any coherent words. What the fuck happened to me?
The last thing I remember is that I was walking down the main drag, headed to Jax’s place, or at least in the direction I was told his place was in, and then, boom. Nothing. Why can’t I remember anything?
The clarity in my mind is slow but I start to realize that I’m on the floor. The cold, hard surface must have settled into my bones, making even the smallest movements painful. I try to lift my hand to ease the dull throb on the side of my head when I realize my hands are tied together in front of me. Thick, course rope secures both of my wrists as well as my ankles. The rough fibers digging into my skin the more I twist and try to wiggle my way out of them. Needless to say, my efforts are futile.
I decide to take a break from the stupid ropes and force my eyes open just a little to look at my surroundings. The pain from the single light in the middle of the room makes me wince but I force them open anyways. From what I can see, it looks like a basement. Hard cement floor, storage totes, a work bench off in the corner and my broken ass in the center of it all.
The floor above me creaks and I pause, taking in what I can hear, utilizing any senses I have to figure my way outof this absolutely fucked up situation. There’re voices. Lots of them. And the footsteps creak from all over the ceiling. Great. As if being bound on the floor wasn't bad enough. I’m also outnumbered.
All at once, like a spark in my hazy brain, the fog from the evening seems to clear. The truck, the assholes that jumped out of it and surrounded me, then the haymaker to the head that finished the night for me, taking me to whatever part of hell this is.
Who kidnaps someone and keeps them in a basement? Do people honestly still do this shit? Do they not realize there’s a fucking zombie apocalypse going on right now and they don’t need to do this shit anymore?! The zombies have filled all of the killing jobs, find a new occupation, dickwads! Fuck’s sake, why couldn’t the zombies just kill off these assholes and leave the nice people alone. Is that too much to ask?
I nearly jump out of my skin when the door to the basement opens and four guys stomp down the stairs. I take them in one by one, trying to force a straight face but I’m sure all I’m projecting is disgust and dread. I know I'm not supposed to judge a book by its cover and all that, but looking at these guys, I'm definitely judging. Nothing about the way they look or carry themselves indicates happy sunshine and daisies. No. They reek of sadistic fuckery and genuine grade A asshole douchebaggery.
I try to scoot back as far away from them and as close to the wall as possible but all that does is make them laugh amongst themselves. The evil gleam in their eyes as they see my fear only makes it worse. The short one, who looks like he had to borrow five teeth from his neighbor just so he could have enough to eat a dick, turns to the one in the middle, waving a hand at me.
“Lookey what we found on our way back from town. Thought you might like a snack, seeing as Deena’s not aroundanymore. Just be careful, she’s scrappy, this one. Bitch got me fucking good,” the man grunts, holding the bandages on the side of his head.
Haha! That's right! I bit off his fucking ear when he grabbed me. Serves him right, ass hat.
