The Last Legacy (Season 1): Episodes 1-10 (52 page)

“So, you just want pussy?” Jim asked. The word rolling off his tongue felt like acid to my face. I hated him. This wasn’t the Jim I knew. I climbed to my knees so I could see them speaking.
 

“Hell, yeah. We already got into that red-headed bitch. You got more?” John asked. He pulled out a water bottle from his back pocket and poured it over his face. Dirt mixed with the water and ran down his face like a mudslide. He wiped his jaw with the back of his hand and then funneled the remaining water into his mouth.
 

“The girl from the house, she’s still here.” Jim glanced over his shoulder. I lowered my head and pressed my back against the wall. He gave me up. Holy shit. There was no denying that he played me now. He just fucking told John, his brother, the guy who attempted to rape me that I was inside these walls.
 

I pulled in two quick breaths. The world was too silent. Had they caught me peeking? I was dead if that was the case. I struggled to swallow the saliva in my mouth, gasping as I felt my heart pick up, my fingers stick together. I couldn’t have a panic attack right now.
 

“She good?”
 

“She’s all right. Nothing to kill for. We got another red-head. The sister. I’ll let you know how it is.” The men all broke out in carefree laughter, and I snuck a peek again, thinking they wouldn’t catch me. I squeezed my lips together and dug my teeth in, using the pain to distract my twisting stomach.

“Let’s go.” John grabbed Jim’s forearm and tugged him forward a little. Jim put his hand on his handgun. I recognized the man with the large axe. He stepped forward with the axe raised as if a threat. I caught my breath.
 

“I’m not going with you yet.”

“Well, why not? You said yourself these sorry ass bitches are worthless. They goin’ to end up killing you anyways. Might as well ditch ‘em. Or do we have to kill ‘em all before you smarten up?” John stepped backwards, shaking his head with his eyebrows pinched together. The likeness between Jim and his brother was jarring.

“You know, you always were a pathetic little runt. Never could be a normal boy. Dad was right that you’re some socially awkward freak. Maybe we should kill you for pissin’ me off. I’m the boss here. You don’t fuck with me.” John shoved Jim’s shoulder back. Jim stood with his shoulders near his ears, his fingers twitching with every word.
 

“I’m not fucking with you, John. I just—fine. I’ll go with you in the morning. Okay? Leave them alone, and I’ll go with you.”

“And you bring the girl.” John smiled, his crooked front teeth yellow with stains. I didn’t realize I had stopped breathing. This was the moment of truth. If Jim agreed, he had betrayed me. If he denied them, then I might be safe. Either way, we’d have to run and this time actually leave John behind.
 

“What girl?” Jim asked. His voice raised more than normal.

“Your girl. Don’t think I don’t remember the way your whipped ass acted ‘round her. I want her. I claim her. And if you want your little butt buddies to live, you’ll give her to me and watch.”

The air thrummed with tension. John puffed out his chest out, fiddling with the handle on his gun. The two men, Axe Murderer and the Asian, both stared with their faces unchanged. It literally hurt me to pull in a ragged breath.
 

“Deal.” Jim held out his hand to John. John shook it, sealing my fate. I would become a sex slave if I stayed. How could Jim do this to me? Tears raced down my cheeks, fleeing my body that was going to be ravaged and taken captive.
 

“Let’s go have a drink; then you can go home to your misfits.”

“But—”

John shook his finger in Jim’s face. “What did I say about going against the boss?” He laughed, grabbing his stomach. “I’m just fucking with you. But we’re having that drink. We got your favorite, Jim.” John wrapped an arm around Jim’s rigid body, and they walked down the street towards the house at the end of the road.
 

I sat down hard on the floor and cried. My entire body ached, preparation for the torture that was no doubt going to come. I couldn’t let this happen. I had been a slave to the system for most of my life. I wouldn’t allow it again. I just wouldn’t. I had to do something. And crying wasn’t helping in the slightest.

I wiped the tears off my face hard, letting my anger materialize. The uneasiness in my stomach just wouldn’t fade away. As I stumbled out of the room, I vomited into a corner. It was too dark to see it, and we’d be long gone before the smell bothered us. My head was fuzzy, random memories and thoughts zipping around, torturing me.

We had to run. I had no doubt John was still going to kill them. Probably Marcus would be murdered, same as Gavin. Jim might be able to convince them to keep Gabe since he was strong and educated. They’d fuck with Scarlet and Sandra, just like they’d fuck with me.
 

We might as well die at the hands of eaters. Hell, I’d rather go out that way. I ran down the stairs, trying not to make too much noise. I couldn’t alert the men down the road of what was happening.
 

I woke Gabe first. I shook his shoulder until he darted up with a knife in his hands. His eyes softened when he saw it was me, but then taking in my appearance, he glanced around, worried.
 

“What’s going on?” he whispered as he stood up from the love seat beneath the front window.
 

“We don’t have much time.” I was unable to hide the panic in my voice. “The men we saw last night know Jim. It’s his brother. I don’t know if Jim’s with them or not. They’re going to take the women and rape them, and kill anyone else. I just listened to them talking. Jim’s down the road with them having a drink. We have to leave.”

Gabe put his hands on my shoulders to settle me down. I shook my head since he wasn’t understanding the severity of the situation. We literally didn’t have time to waste. We had to get the fuck out of there.
 

“Explain it again,” Gabe said very slowly, like I was stupid or slow.

“We’re going to be raped and killed if we don’t get the fuck out of here. Now!” I widened my eyes, the tears spilling again. Marcus was going to lose it. Same as Scarlet. “The men who raped Scarlet are coming for us in the morning. We’re dead if we don’t leave.”

“Where are we going to go?” He ran his hand down his face and let out an exasperated sigh. He let go of me and walked to the front door, peeking through the cardboard to make sure it was clear.

“Anywhere. We just need to leave now.”

“There’s a fire station two miles, maybe more, up the road. It’s the opposite way as the guys’ house. We could get there and then down to the boat. Does that work?”

“Anything away from here at least gives us a chance.”
 

“Okay.” Gabe kissed my forehead and ran into the living room. Gavin had already woke, most likely because of our hushed whispers. He looked at me behind Gabe with curious eyes.
 

“We are in danger,” Gabe said loud enough for the entire crew to hear. I bit the inside of my cheek as I clasped my hands in front of me, picking at my cuticles. I stood in the background like a scared scorned child. Gavin woke Scarlet and Sandra.
 

“The men that hurt Scarlet are here. We don’t have much time. But we can make it out alive if we hurry. We’re going to a fire station a few miles up the road. We’ll break into two groups so we’re not as loud. Does everyone understand?” A beat of pure silence was all it took to understand how horrible this night had become. And to think we had just started talking about staying here for good. I made these people hope, and I crushed it by trusting Jim. I shook my head.
 

“I know where the fire station is,” Sandra said as she rolled her sleeping bag. She didn’t look scared like Scarlet, who already began crying off to the side. She was stronger, more mature. She did well under pressure, and maybe it was because of her past.
 

“Perfect,” Gabe said as he fastened his backpack over his shoulders, clasping the lock over his chest. “Sandra, you take Scarlet and Gavin. We’ll take Marcus. We’ll go the street way, you all through the woods. It’ll be safer.”

With my sleeping bag and backpack, I ran into the kitchen and shoved cans and bottles into whatever empty space I could find. I knew it was a bad idea to unpack like this. Scarlet soon joined me, and in two minutes flat, the food was packed.

“We’ll be okay,” Scarlet said as she placed her hand on my forearm. I nodded despite the fact that I strongly believed her to be wrong. She herself had sensed the danger that had come. I ran to the living room and woke Marcus, who was sleeping as soundly as the dead.

“What’s wrong?” Marcus muttered as he awakened.

“We’re leaving. I have all your things. Just put on your shoes, buddy.” He rubbed his eyes, moving too slowly for my liking. But he did what he was told. He pulled his way-too-big jacket over his shoulders and grabbed my hand.
 

We stood, waiting for Gavin and Gabriel and Sandra to be ready. I didn’t know how much time had passed, but I knew we were running out of it. Gabe was last to be ready, but finally he nodded, and we all dispersed.
 

Scarlet, Sandra, and Gavin went out the back door. It shut with a quiet whisper, and I nodded to Gabe. We were going out the front and walking between houses, closer to the road. If we were caught, we were screwed. But at least it wouldn’t be all of us.
 

“Be super quiet, okay, buddy? We need you for just a few more minutes.” Marcus looked up with his emerald green eyes and nodded. The look on his face made me want to cry it was so innocent. But Gabe opened the door, and the race began. I couldn’t worry about how terrible a life this was for Marcus or how he’d never see his family.

Gabe held up his hand in a stop position and peeked out the front door. The road sounded and felt deserted. There was no yellow light or loud yelling. Nothing like when I saw the men dancing in the street. It felt safe. But I knew that wasn’t true.
 

Gabe nodded at Marcus and me. I smiled down at Marcus, squeezed his hand, and stepped out into the dark night. We immediately took a right and jogged in the opposite direction of the water, and the men’s house. I refused to look over my shoulder, focusing on the future instead of what was happening in the past.
 

Voices shouted from behind us. The whisper of their breath brushed my back and send shivers up and down my body. I didn’t know who was yelling or why, only that we needed to put as much space between us and them as possible. We rounded the corner of a house six up from Sandra’s. The backyard covered us so my heart slowed just a tiny bit. I held Marcus’s hand tight.
 

“It’s just two blocks more,” Gabe said as he broke into a jog. I nodded to Marcus, and we picked up our pace, following right on Gabe’s heels. I could tell from the sweat on Marcus’s palm that he was nervous, but he didn’t make a peep, his lips pressed into a thin line.
 

As we took what Gabe said was the last turn, a loud explosion sounded off behind us. Immediately my mind went back to the bombs that dropped at the beginning of the war, flashbacks of being in my house, alone and scared. I wasn’t that girl anymore. I refused to act like her. Not giving Marcus a second to think, I pressed forward, tugging his hand.

I figured it was a station similar to the one three blocks down from my house in Hartford, but I was wrong. It had two garage doors and was two levels high, not too deep either. It didn’t look safe—on the end of a road, no fence surrounding it, no covering on the windows. But it was our rendezvous point.
 

Gabe walked around the back with his gun raised and called us over. We filed in—me first, then Marcus—and then Gabe shut the door. I couldn’t see anything past my fingers, the entire room cast in thick blackness.
 

“They’re not here yet,” Gabe said as he pointed his flashlight on the ground. I glanced around us. We were in a small kitchen, stove and microwave and not much more. There was a table with chairs in the corner, and I walked over, sitting Marcus down beside me. I didn’t want him out of my sight.
 

“We wait until they get here.” I steepled my hands, my elbows on the wood table, and breathed in and out through my nose, trying to calm down. My mind still hadn’t wrapped itself around what was going on, the betrayal, our fate.
 

Someone knocked on the door not more than two minutes later. My heart slammed against my chest. Gabe ran to the door, although I couldn’t see him. The handle jiggled, and the wood of the door creaked. Marcus’s breath exhaled loud as his chair scraped against the cement floor.

“It’s us.” Scarlet’s annoying whiny voice had never sounded better. Gabe flicked his flashlight on and pointed it to the ceiling, the yellow beam lighting the room slightly.
 

I jumped up from the table and wrapped my arms around her. She hugged me back, nodding her head. She moved past me when I let her go. Gavin limped over to Marcus and whispered to him.
 

“Guys, look at this,” Sandra said from the front of the station. Gabe grabbed the flashlight and pointed it to her. She was against the garage door, looking out the small rectangle window in the front door.
 

We all went to her. I stood on my tiptoes, peeking over her shoulder. Dark gray smoke tainted the previously clear night. Far off in the distance was an orange glow—flames licking towards the stars.
 

“Is that the—”

“My house.” Sandra turned and ducked around us. Scarlet chased after her. I ran my hand down my face in a gesture that reminded me of Jim. I sighed and shook my head, trying to throw away his memory. We had nowhere to go. We wouldn’t survive.
 

“Lana, can I speak to you?” Gabe asked, his hand on my elbow. I nodded and followed him back into the kitchen. He pulled me into a corner and whispered so no-one else could hear. “We need to come up with a plan, but first I think I need to know what we’re in for.”