Page 89 of Nobody Wants Me
Victor
I don’t know how The Butcher had found Freya, but she had.Running into that dark exit, at the unknown, I didn’t know what I would find.
Ivan was behind me, as was The Beast, but neither of them could stop me.I heard the grunts, and something soft and feminine, and I charged toward the sound.That was where I found Freya.Hands wrapped around her neck, she pressed her fingers against the man’s eyes as she tried to fight back, and the man screamed.
I didn’t wait.Pulling out my knife, I went to him and slid the blade right across his neck.He dropped to the floor, and I didn’t have time to hold back, as another came rushing through.With Freya at my back, I sliced my blade down as The Beast and Ivan joined us.
Two men came.
Three.
Four.
It was like they were never ending, but then there was another explosion and there was no time to waste.This cave was coming down.The Butcher had sent the explosion and had warned Ivan he only had a short amount of time to get here.
I didn’t wait, and grabbed Freya, cradling her in my arms as I ran.She didn’t fight me, and I knew the fight had long since left her.There was nothing there.She was almost weightless in my arms, and I was aware of the blood coating her jeans.Freya had taken a beating.My wife, who had admitted on more than one occasion that she couldn’t stand pain, had taken a beating.
I didn’t know where The Butcher was.
My wife was all alone, and the walls had started to crumble as we ran out, and just as we made it out, a cloud of smoke, along with rocks and debris, hit me in the back, and I fell to the ground, holding Freya.I held her, marveling at her in my arms, and I didn’t want to let her go.I loved her so damn much.Silence fell between us, and then I don’t know, she pulled out of my arms and looked at the locked-up cave.No one was getting in.No one was getting out.I saw the helplessness in her eyes.She looked at that wall, and I knew The Butcher hadn’t made it out.She had sacrificed herself for my wife.
Freya gasped and I saw her hands clench, and then she charged forward, and tried to attack the stone and boulders, but it was no good.
“Baby,” I said, going to her.
“She’s in there, and she can’t be in there.She can’t be dead,” Freya said.“She ...saved me.”She sniffled, and then slammed her hand against the boulder.“No!I refuse to accept this.She can’t be dead.She can’t be.”
“She knew what she was doing,” Ivan said.
Freya turned to him.“No, no, that can’t ...she is a good person.She is ...so much more.This can’t be happening.No.This is not fair.She is a good person, and she doesn’t ...no, she came for me.She came for me, and she killed him, and ...”
“She’s gone,” I said.
Freya looked at me.“But I’m not worthy of that sacrifice.I’m nothing.I’m no one.She ...shouldn’t have done it.”
And I pulled her into my arms, she fell apart and sobbed.I had never truly listened to heartbreak.I had felt it from my mom and my sister, but I’d rather go through that pain again than listen to the pain my wife was feeling.She was hurting.I didn’t want her to hurt.All I wanted to do was protect her from what she was feeling.
The Butcher had saved my wife.She had died for her.
Looking at the boulders and rocks, The Butcher had known where Eric The Tool kept his bases.She had known every detail.I don’t even know how she had known, but Ivan had told me she had a score to settle.This was her settling that score, but it had come at too high a cost.
My wife was broken, but I knew without a shadow of a doubt, The Grid and the debt was over.And I had The Butcher to thank for that.
I don’t know how I was going to make this right for my wife.I only knew the pain was not over yet.
****
Freya
One Month Later
Wounds healed.Bruises faded over time.
But there was nothing for the mind.The mind was a cruel place to be.I hated mine more than anything in the world.I couldn’t stop replaying that moment as we were fighting to survive.The Butcher told me to go.She begged me to leave, and I ran.
Staring out across the frozen lawn, I’m aware of the gazes that stare at me.Victor had the house rebuilt and changed.Security was even tighter.The threat of The Grid was gone.
I don’t know the details and if I was honest, I didn’t care.I could go out in the garden, and I did, but I didn’t go to sit with Rafael, or to walk with him.
