Stay(22)

Zane laughed and jumped in front of me. His fingers tightened on my arm, the pain biting into me until I was sure blood pooled under the half moon marks left by his fingernails.

“I like it when you fight,” he groaned. With his free hand, he reached up and took a fist full of my hair and stepped closer, brushing his waist against mine. Jackson turned around, face blank. He didn’t care what happened to me.

Then Zane let me go. He laughed and turned his back to me, purposely flashing the silver gun tucked into his pants. My heart was in my throat. Nerves tingled throughout my body, and my teeth chattered.

“Come on,” Zane ordered and paced ahead.

I looked at the ground, blinking back tears. Jackson waited until I was a few feet in front of him to follow. The invisible wall of the cage closed in on me. I was sandwiched between Zane and Jackson. Their body heat suffocated me. Mixed with the humid air, it was nauseating.

We crossed the yard and stopped by a gate. Jackson dug a key from his pocket and unlocked it. He pushed it open and stepped aside. Zane took a hold of my arm again, forcing me to walk close to him. A gravel path cut into the forest, which started just several feet from the white fence.

The gate slammed shut behind us. A useless sense of hope fluttered through me. I wasn’t fenced in. I could run away.

And get shot.

There was nothing I could do. There was no escape. I felt like I was walking to the end of a plank, precariously hanging over shark-infested water. When I jumped, sharp teeth would rip into me and the cold water would steal my breath away. The monsters would take everything from me, leaving me shivering and naked in the water. The only difference was that tonight I would be pulled from the icy darkness and forced to do it again. There would be no release from death, only pain.#p#分页标题#e#

Thinking of a plan of escape, I closed my eyes and continued to move forward, my pace subconsciously slowing down. Lily had said that Jackson and Zane would go back to the house while I worked. I had to run then. What other choice did I have?

Zane jerked me forward. The toe of my shoe caught on the uneven path and I stumbled and tripped.

“Seriously?” Zane huffed under his breath.

My throat tightened with fear and I blinked back tears. Zane scuffed his shoe, sending a cloud of dusty dirt into my face. I coughed and turned my head. He stepped away, laughing.

Jackson stopped next to me and extended a hand. I traced my eyes up from his fingers. He had a bruise just below his elbow in the shape of a large handprint, as if someone had grabbed him and twisted his skin. Did he do Nate’s dirty work and that was why he was always injured? Maybe he collected unpaid money and got in a lot of fights. The black t-shirt he wore was faded and worn, and his dark eyes glazed over, hiding back his emotions. The emptiness on his face frightened me.

Ignoring his offer, I put my hands on the ground and pushed myself up. Jackson’s eyebrows pushed together and he studied a vine of poison ivy that twisted around a maple tree. He stepped away from me and bit his bottom lip. Zane grabbed my arm and pulled me forward again. I didn’t fight him. Really, the sooner I got into the trailer, the sooner I could put my plan into action. I took a deep breath and tried to steady myself.

Just like Lily said, it felt like we were miles away from the farmhouse by the time we reached what was called ‘the trailer.’ Really, it was a brand new RV, and it must have cost a lot of money. Yellow light spilled from slats in the mini blinds. An old blue Cadillac was parked behind it.

Zane kept a painful hold of my arm as Jackson knocked on the door. The blood drained from my face. It was as if I was waiting to see the face of my executioner, but he wouldn’t kill all of me. Only part of me would die and I would be forced to carry the black and festering hole with me for the rest of my life. It would be a constant reminder of what was painfully taken from me.

Just seconds later, the door opened revealing a tall man with shoulder-length brown hair squished beneath a straw fedora. He wore a dark blue Hawaiian print button up over a white undershirt. He looked to be around my father’s age. Wrinkles formed around his gray eyes when he smiled, taking in the sight of me.

“I can take it from here, boys,” he spoke, his words slurring together. He beamed at me, his teeth crooked and yellow, and took a swig of something from a silver flask. I felt like I was going to throw up again.

Jackson’s shoulder’s sagged and he backed off of the RV steps before turning and trudging down the path. Zane stood to the side, his sky-blue eyes dark in the fading sunlight. His full lips curved into a twisted smile, and he backed away.

The man in the trailer extended a hand as if he expected me to take it. I held my arms close to my body and didn’t move. The man let out a gritty huff and heaved his large frame down the first metal step and snatched my wrist. He gruffly yanked me up the stairs and slammed the RV door behind us, flicking the lock into place.