"Sorry, but this drop has already been spoken for." It was a man's voice, thick with phlegm.
I put my hands up, dropping my hold on the lid. "Okay, no problem," I said. "I don't want any trouble." My voice was unsteady as I gave my response.
"You're a pretty young thing," the man behind me said. He thrust his hips against me, pushing me into the dumpster. I gasped as he pushed my head down, smacking it against the metal.
"Get off me!" I yelled at him.
"It's been so long," he said, still holding the knife to my throat so that I couldn't move.
"Wait a little longer," I replied.
"No," he gruffed, and I heard a zipper drop behind me. "Now's good."
I felt the hand not holding the knife against me try and reach up my skirt and pull my tights down. My mind reeled as it tried to process what was about to happen to me.
At that moment, something inside of me broke.
I didn't care that he was holding a knife to my throat.
I didn't care that he could end my life, because my life already felt over.
Whatever happened, I was absolutelynotgoing to be raped in this back alley tonight.
I grabbed the knife quickly with my bare fingers while he was distracted. I could feel my flesh give way to its sharp edge. I could smell the metallic scent of blood as I wrestled the thing from his hand.
None of it mattered.
I wasn't going to let this happen.
The next moments were all a blur. I turned on him as he tried to throw a fist into my face. Somehow I moved out of the way, and I plunged the knife deep into his stomach.
"You fucking bitch!" he cried out in pain as he tried again to throw another hit at me.
This one was slower, and I was able to dodge it more easily. I pulled the knife out and shoved it into him again. He went down, and time felt like it was moving both at the speed of light and excruciatingly slow.
As I moved the steel in and out of the man's body, the only thought I had was how much I hated Aksel Michelson.
* * *
AXE
What was supposed to be little over a four-hour drive from Boston to New York turned into an entire fucking day.
That kick to the ribs had done more than just break a few, and I had to stop several times on the drive before I passed out. I couldn't risk going to any of the doctors that I knew. With Will having turned, there was no telling who I could trust now.
In fact, there was only one person that I could trust, and that was Zoey.
I'd ditched the car and thankfully had enough cash on me to purchase a beater from a shady used car lot that was happy enough to get rid of the 90s Saturn that I was currently driving. It was certainly a far cry from my previous rides, but it was inconspicuous and I knew it wasn't bugged.
I double-checked to make sure that anything I was carrying couldn't get an internet signal. That meant no phone, no way to call Zoey, and no way to connect with the outside world.
I was absolutely terrified that something had already happened to her. If Will was smart, which he was, she would have been his first target. I only hoped that I wasn't too late in getting to her.
If I needed to get the cops involved in order to secure her safety, I would. Even if it meant that I would certainly go to prison.
It was worth it to me.
She meant everything to me.