CHAPTER14
*Crack*
The sound of bones breaking is the only thing keeping my rage at bay. I’m doing my best to not kill every person here. I have five left out of the ten that were found alive. Three were borderline too far gone by the time I got to them. Two of them were just fucking whimps and died way too quickly. Some may call them pussies, but a pussy is way stronger than these will ever be. The five remaining are not talking though, which means I get to play with more of my toys. Man 1 and 2 seem to be the most plausible to get answers out of, so I’m focusing on them. I step just out of their line of sight to cause their anxiety to spike. They already know what I’m looking for, I just need them to get with the program.
“Where the fuck is she?” I say from behind them.
“I- I- I- don’t know,” Man 1 blubbers.
I walk around him and swing the mallet I had just picked up. It hits his shin with a satisfying thud and the man cries out. I turn to Man 2, who looks like he might vomit.
“If you’re gonna puke, can you at least give me a heads up? I wouldn’t want to hurt you even more for getting that shit on me.”
Man 2 rapidly nods his head yes in understanding.
I scratch my chin, contemplating my next move. I pull out a pair of pliers and grab his fingernail.
“You have about five seconds before you lose it. Where the fuck is my wife?”
“Please,” he pleads.
“Hmm, never heard of it,” I say as I tug the nail off. It takes a little jiggling before the nail finally rips away from the skin, but I manage to get it.
Now both are sobbing as I walk away again. I go back behind them as I look at my tray full of materials.
After a couple of hours of fun, I’ve only got two of the men left. Man 1 and Man 4 are left over, the others have died from blood loss or just other injuries I’ve caused at this point.
I’m about to go for another tool when Man 1 finally speaks up. I knew he was going to be a talker eventually.
“Wait,” he gasps. “I’ll tell you where she is.”
I walk around to stand in front of him. He drops his head in defeat, or because he’s just too scared to look me in the eyes at this point.
“Please, just let me go though.”
I shrug. I’ll tell him whatever to get the information I want, but I think we both know that there’s no way he’s walking away alive.
“Boss man knows Robert wants him dead. He also knows that you want Robert dead,” he starts. “He wanted us to ambush the house and kill him before you got to him. He wanted to steal Briar so that you have nothing left before he kills you.”
“So where is she?” I ask through my gritted teeth. My patience with them is running thin.
“I-I don’t know. He talked about taking her to one of his houses, but I don’t know which one. Now please, let me go,” the man begs.
I don’t even bother to respond. I pull out my gun and put a bullet through his skull. I walk over to Man 4 and pinch his cheeks before he finally screams out. I take the opportunity to reach into his mouth and pull out his tongue. I pinch the tip of it to keep hold of it while I pull my pocket knife out of my pants. I flip it open and in one fluid motion, cut his tongue off.
“Since you had nothing to say anyway,” I say to him.
He screams and then passes out, from what I assume is pain. I’ve never had my tongue cut out, but I can assume it doesn’t feel good, even for those of us that like a little pain.
I throw the muscle on the ground and stride out of the room.
It’s time to go find my River.
I’m groggy as I open my eyes. I recognize these walls, but my eyes are so heavy it’s hard to keep them open. My mouth feels dry, and it’s hard to move my tongue. What the fuck is going on. I grasp for the edge of my bed to help pull myself up. I force my eyes open and truly look around. I’m back in the bedroom that I spent twenty years sleeping in. I’m confused and my head is spinning. I roll out of bed and move as quickly as possible to the bathroom, my legs reverting to muscle memories. I bend over the porcelain throne and dry heave into it. I hold my head in my hands and try to figure out what the fuck happened when someone clears their throat from behind me.
“Fuck,” I scream and jump. I whip around to see my father standing there.
“Father?” I ask. “What’s going on?”
“You’re here for the time being,” he announces.
“What? No. Seriously, where’s Ezra?” I say groggily.
“Hopefully dead by now,” he says matter-of-factly. “I found out his piece of shit father wanted me dead, so I was the first to strike. I killed him, and I’m going to kill his sons as well. I will take over his empire.”
I don’t know what to say. I stare at my father, and he just shrugs. He turns around to walk away, and I get up to follow him. I stand too quickly, and my head starts spinning again. I have to hold on to the wall for balance. Once I don’t feel like I’m on a merry-go-round, I take off after him. I hit my doorway and dropped to my knees because of some unexplainable pain. My whole body feels like it’s seizing, and I have this feeling of electricity racing through me as I bring my hands up to the source of the pain and feel a chunky collar around my neck. It feels almost like a bike lock cable, and it connects in the back with some sort of locking device. There’s a thicker part on the side, and it’s the same side that seems to have prongs biting into my neck.
“What the fuck,” I manage.
I look up to see my father standing there, chuckling. “Hurts like a bitch, doesn’t it?” He continues to stand over me. “You see, I put an electric fence up. It’s activated by that collar around your neck, so you’re confined to this room. You try to leave? Well, good luck. It will shock the shit out of you.” He pulls a remote out of his pants. “And this makes it so I can correct you anywhere I’d like.” Just to prove his point, he pushes a button on it to send another current through me. I scream out and try to pull the collar away from my skin, only to find it doesn’t move far enough away for the prongs to not touch.
I watch as my father laughs and walks away from me. I knew he was mean, but I never thought he’d use me to get to the Hayes family.
Here’s to hoping Ezra comes and saves me, but in the meantime, I have to fight.