Page 7 of Savage Love
“Okay,” I sniffle. She puts a knife and sheath on my hip before leading me out of the room.
We rush to the back door, and she shoves me out as soon as she pulls it open. She simply points toward the tower off in the distance before shutting and locking the door behind her.
Suddenly, I am alone. Every second of this terrifies me, but I start sprinting anyway. I keep to the shadows and move as quietly as possible. I am clutching the knife as I rush toward the north tower. I don’t know what awaits me, but anything is better than Vinny. Surely Lyra wouldn’t send me toward anyone worse than Vinny, right?
As I round the corner, I run directly into a man in red. It’s plain as day that I do not belong wearing black clothing. As soon as he reaches for his radio, I plunge the knife into the side of his neck. I am just as surprised as he is. Our eyes go wide, and he hits his knees when I pull the knife out.
“I’m sorry. I’m sorry. I’m sorry,” I chant quietly. “I can’t stop. I’m so sorry.”
I can hear him gurgling on blood as I grab the radio and sprint away from him. Within seconds, I hear an all-call on the radio. The window is closed, and I no longer have a distraction.
“Alert! All channels. Astra Lavender is on the run toward the southernmost tower. Five feet one inch. Waist-length brown hair. She has the leader’s crest on her left wrist,” a robotic voice calls out. It repeats it over and over again as I run. Vinny must have come back for some reason, and Lyra gave false information as to where I went to give me more time, but I am taking this as I am out of time. I don’t want to get comfortable. I will die before I let them capture me. The second someone finds the dead police officer, they’ll know I went this direction.
The tower and connected wall come into view, and I push myself harder as I run through the field. The door to the guard tower is open, so I dive into it. It is pitch black, and I take the opportunity to catch my breath. When I can breathe without gasping, I start to feel around to see if there is another way out.
I find the staircase but skip past it and keep going. All I feel is brick, but there has to be a way out to the other side, right? How else do you get out? I know the southern tower leads to the mountains, but I have no idea what is beyond the north wall. How in the fuck am I supposed to get out of here if there is no way out? This doesn’t make sense. Maybe Lyra was just trying to get rid of me. Maybe it was a test to see if I would run from Vinny. I am not sure of anything anymore. She seemed so believable when she told me I was meant for greatness. If shewasn’t lying, then she’s currently being raped by eleven men in my place. She won’t survive ten other men like Vinny without being given a chance to heal. Who will tend to her? She always took such good care of me. If I were a better person, I would go back and try to save her. She deserves freedom, too. Why couldn’t we both run? If there is no way out, I should go back for Lyra.
As soon as I decide to go back, I am reminded that I still have the radio when it starts screaming in my pocket.
“North tower! North tower!” a voice screams into the radio.
“Who’s there?” A voice calls down from above.
“Shit. Shit. Shit,” I say with a hushed tone as I frantically look for a way out that isn’t back into the city or up the staircase.
“Hello?” the man calls out as he descends the stairs. I can hear his boots on the metal as each step creaks under his weight. As he gets closer, I ready my knife. I am not getting raped or beaten again. I don’t deserve this. If I don’t want to be here, why not just let me go? I will die before I spend another moment in this godforsaken place.
Panic stabs through me when a hand covers my mouth, and I am backed against a wall. Anger instantly rushes in, and I swing the knife at whoever has their body pressed against mine. They are massive, but I don’t care. I’m not letting anyone hurt me again. I’m tired of being in pain. I’m tired of being used only to get nothing in return.
They catch the blade of the knife in their hand and move me along the wall toward the staircase. I start to panic, but it seems as though I am under the stairs now. “Keep quiet, Astra,” a deep and gritty voice whispers.
Fuck almighty, that’s a nice voice. I let go of the knife, and he gently slips it back into the sheath on my hip as the man on the stairs reaches our level. The man pinning me against the wall keeps his hand over my mouth but relaxes when I stop trying to fight him. I can feel his hot breath on my neck, and it’s suddenly… intoxicating. Every part of my body that is touching his is tingling, and it forces me to relax.
“Good girl,” he whispers in my ear. The man from the stairs hangs around for a bit but eventually goes back up the stairs. As soon as he is far enough away, the man who is standing with me takes a step back and pulls the radio out of my pocket. “I didn’t expect you to grab a radio. My apologies for frightening you.”
“Who the fuck are you?” I demand quietly. “I almost stabbed you.”
“I am Zev,” he says with humor in his tone. “Ready to go?”
“Are you going to hurt me, too?” I ask.
“Do you want me to?” he asks.
“Excuse me? Who in the fuck…” The man abruptly pushes me back against the wall, and my voice catches in my throat.
“Do you want me to hurt you?” he asks. “I don’t mind, but I cannot promise pain will be the only thing you feel with me.”
“I…” I try to talk, but I come up empty. The longer he stands here with his hands on my waist, the more something new emerges.
“Zev,” another man says with a hushed tone. “Stop trying to fuck the poor girl and come on.”
Oh… Oh no… Who in the hell did Lyra send me to? Did I just go from one rapist to another? How badly will it hurt when he takes me? I am becoming hyperaware of every part of him that is touching me. There is an unmistakable erection pressing into my belly, and panic swells inside of me.
“Fuck. Right,” Zev says as he quickly steps back from me. “Let’s go. Can you…”
“I’ll walk with her. Go on,” he says gently. I can hardly see anything still, but as Zev moves away, another man comes forward.
“Are you going to press your dick against me, too?” I ask coldly.
