Corded (Corded Saga #1)(4)

 

"I hope you don't leave soon. I'd miss you." Thomas smiled in that way that brought his dimple out.

 

"I'd still come home, and you could come over anytime." Jonathan lived less than five miles from us. He was further away than Benjamin but still within walking distance.

 

"I know, but it wouldn't be the same." Thomas picked up the letter again.

 

"Throw out that letter. I don't want to see it."

 

"Are you sure?" He turned the envelope in his hand.

 

"Absolutely. I'm going to go check on the animals."

 

"Want help?" His offer sounded forced. He still didn't have his full energy back.

 

"No. Have some lunch. I'll be back soon."

 

I walked out toward the barn but didn't make it even halfway there before I heard the sound of a truck coming down the dirt road. I doubled back to the house, hoping I could reach my hiding place in the attic. I looked for Thomas in the kitchen but he'd left. I prayed he wouldn't be hurt again. There was no way the traders would spare him a second time.

 

I searched the house top to bottom when I heard Thomas calling from the front door. "We need to go!"

 

"Why? Where's Father?" I hadn't heard the bell. My father always rang the bell.

 

"He's trying to hold them off. I promised him I'd get you out." He ran upstairs to where I stood frozen with fear.

 

Thomas may have been younger, but he was much stronger. He dragged me down the two flights of stairs and out the back door.  

 

"Come on!" Thomas pulled on my arm again, leading me through the cotton fields.

 

"What about Quinn and Bailey? I'm not leaving without them." I dug my heels in the dirt.

 

"We have to leave." He pulled on me harder. "Benjamin is with them. We have to get you away."

 

"No." Self-preservation meant nothing when Quinn and Bailey were at risk. I'd promised myself when Bailey was born I'd do anything to protect her. I wasn't changing my mind.

 

We crept through the fields, taking the longer but safer route to Quinn's new home. She'd been living there with Benjamin for over a year now, but I still wasn't used to it. Quinn had left willingly, eager to start a more exciting life. I wondered if she would have been as willing if she'd know how quickly she'd become pregnant. Bailey was a blessing, but raising a girl in our society was torture. If our future was bleak, hers was terrifying. Things were only getting worse.

 

Even before we reached the barn, I knew we were too late. The loud male voices carried far over the otherwise silent landscape.

 

Thomas's hand tightened on me. "We have to turn around."

 

I shook my head. I needed to find Quinn and Bailey. "No."

 

The men were congregating around something, laughing as they smoked a substance that I knew wasn't the tobacco Benjamin grew. The smoke smelled earthier.

 

We needed to get closer. I tried to step forward, but Thomas pulled me back.

 

"No. Turn around," Thomas hissed. His fear came through in his voice and his shaking arm. The fear wasn't for him.

 

Quinn's screams moved me to action. I elbowed Thomas with enough force to release my arm from his iron grip. "Look for help. They'll kill you if they get you." I prayed he wouldn't try to be heroic. He'd be of much more help, and might stay alive, if he ran back the way we'd come.

 

I made a dash for the back door of Benjamin's house but didn't get far. This time it wasn't Thomas holding me back.

 

"What do we have here?" A low and gravelly voiced asked. I froze, hoping beyond hope he wouldn't believe it was possible to find another girl. They'd found Quinn, and I prayed they hadn't found Bailey.

 

He pulled off my hood, causing my long wavy blond hair to fall down my back.

 

"Another blonde, and a young one too." He yanked on my hair, pulling me back into his chest.

 

"We've hit the jackpot, boys." The men broke out of their circle and moved toward me. In the process they revealed two bodies. I fell to my knees, heaving as I watched a man kick the bodies of my father and Benjamin.

 

"Kayla," My father crocked out my name.

 

"A fighter, eh?" One of the men grinned, and I knew what was about to happen. My body convulsed as I watched him step on my father's neck, snuffing out the last bit of life he had left.

 

"No!" I screamed. My entire body shook in anger, hurt, and loss.

 

The man holding me laughed. "Sorry little girl, they were in our way."

 

The cruelty in his words and eyes made everything worse. How could these men have no remorse for killing the innocent? Something died inside me that day. I knew I'd never view the world the same way again.