One of the men hesitated, his gaze raking over my bare skin. “You sure?”
Grandma smiled. “You still want to keep your fingers, don’t you?”
She turned toward the car. The men grinned as they watched her leave, their eyes flicking back to me like predators studying caged prey.
Then...
One of them stepped forward, unbuttoning his pants.
A sick feeling twisted in my gut.
“We shouldn’t be doing this. The Pakhan will have our heads.” One of the men’s voices trembled slightly.
I squeezed my eyes shut, willing myself to disappear.
A twig snapped somewhere behind the trees. The men didn’t notice, but my stomach twisted in unease.
Another crackle. A rustle. Was someone there? Or was my mind playing tricks on me?
The man was still smirking, his hand reaching for himself...
Then... A blur of silver.
For a moment, there was nothing. Then a scream, high, raw, inhuman.
My eyes snapped open just in time to see blood spraying in the air, an arc of red painting the dirt.
The man fell to his knees, clutching his groin. A choked, agonized sound wrenched from his throat. Half scream, half gurgle.
His dismembered flesh lay in the dirt.
A knife had severed his dick clean off.
Terror lanced through my spine. Who?
A shadow moved beyond the trees.
Another whistle.
And then... another scream.
The silence was deafening.
The others took a stunned step back as the man collapsed, howling in agony.
“What the...?”
Another knife.
This one buried itself in another man’s throat before he even had time to react.
Panic erupted.
Gunfire exploded from the trees.
Men screamed, scrambling for their weapons. One dropped before he could even aim. Another took a bullet to the knee, collapsing as blood gushed from his shattered leg.
The trees weren’t empty.