Total pages in book: 111
Estimated words: 106092 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 530(@200wpm)___ 424(@250wpm)___ 354(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 106092 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 530(@200wpm)___ 424(@250wpm)___ 354(@300wpm)
“You sure we shouldn’t make them watch?” Mike asks and then laughs when Hailey shrieks. “Five bucks says she’s a virgin. I fuckin’ love virgins.”
“No one wants to see your baby dick,” Gunter says with a smirk. “Put her in the truck with you and Nicky. There’s rope in the bed of mine.”
As Mike begins manhandling Hailey toward the trucks and Nicky backs away from us to go with him, Aaron and Kellen snap into action.
I keep my stare on Hailey as Kellen smacks Mike in the head with a large stick. Surprised, Mike bellows, releasing Hailey in order to face off with Kellen. But, shockingly, Kellen is quicker and tackles Mike to the ground. Aaron knocks Nicky off his feet. The blur of both Kellen and Aaron attacking two of these dickheads zaps me into doing the same. I rush Gunter, grab hold of his shotgun, and shove with all my might.
Boom!
The shotgun blasts, vibrating my hand that’s wrapped around it as me and Gunter crash to the ground.
I can only hope I was quick enough to save Jesse from the discharge of the weapon.
Please, God, let me have been quick enough.
Kellen
Another gunshot goes off, echoing all around us, but I have no time to see if anyone got hit. Mike clearly didn’t spend the past few days locked in a flooded building with little to eat, drink, and with zero sleep because he’s not easy to take down. I managed to disarm him, but he’s landed several dizzying punches across my jaw.
There are more of us than them.
They’re not taking Hailey or hurting any more of our people. We’ll make sure of it.
Since no one is screaming in pain or grief, I’m hoping that means the discharged weapon didn’t strike anyone. I continue wrestling with the younger man, trying my damnedest to get the upper hand. He manages to flip me onto my back and produces a pocketknife out of nowhere. The dull blade presses into the side of my neck, no doubt bruising the flesh but not puncturing it.
I manage to knock the knife out of his hand. A sharp bite across my skin makes me grunt, but it’s shallow enough I know it’s not anything to be worried about. Mike gets his hands around my neck, but then I flip him until he’s beneath me, pulling from his tight grip. I land a punch on his nose, cringing at the sound of breaking bone. Mike groans and gurgles as blood gushes from his nose.
“Don’t. Fucking. Move.”
Every muscle in my body goes rigid as the masculine voice booms from above me. It takes all of two seconds to realize the shotgun barrel entering my vision from the right is not pointed at me but at Mike. I glance up to see Kyle shakily holding the weapon.
Jumping up, I leave Mike on the ground, moaning in pain, as I quickly take in the state of the rest of our group. Tyler has a shotgun pointed at Gunter, who’s sitting on his knees, and Aaron has Nicky’s rifle pressed into the little shit’s back.
We overpowered them.
Thank God.
Judy and Dan now have both their kids pulled to them, the four of them all crying but clearly grateful for the turn of events.
“What do we do?” Kyle asks, bitterness in his voice. “Kill them?”
My stomach twists at that thought. I don’t want to be like these pricks.
“He said there’s rope in the back,” I grit out in a near whisper. “Tie him to the back of the smaller red truck.”
Kyle, only seemingly mildly disappointed at not being able to make a mess of Mike’s skull, nods and then orders the man to his feet. Tyler also has Gunter rise as well. Jesse takes the opportunity to kick Gunter hard in the balls.
“What the fuck?” Gunter snarls and then gags, spewing barf mixed with chewing tobacco all over the ground. “You smashed my fucking nuts!”
Tyler smirks at me as he forcefully pokes the gun into Gunter’s back, urging him toward the back of the smaller vehicle.
Wayne and Gerry join to help tie the men up. These assholes threatened to kidnap and rape that poor girl. None of us are going to go easy on them. Only when the three dickheads are trussed up painfully to the bumper of the truck do we finally ease up as a group.
“Search the red truck,” I bark out to Kyle and Hope. “Take what you can. We’ll be using the other truck to get the fuck out of this place.”
While they start searching the red truck, I stride over to the blue extended cab Chevy and open the back door behind the driver’s side. The truck is a goldmine of supplies. A tactical bag bulging with handguns and ammo sits on the seat. Two more shotguns lie across the floor.