I nod. “I got it. I’ll get you out, too.”
She shakes her head. “That wasn’t part of the plan, Beast. I reached out to Ringer to get you in here. You plant that C4, and you blow this place apart with or without me with you. Got it?”
Swallowing down, I cross my eyebrows. “All right. Why?” I ask, searching her eyes.
“They stole everything from me, Beast. But the most important thing they took from me was you. They kept me after I had you. They kept me bleeding in a cell while you grew. It must’ve been a year later when they’d done some digging into my school work, seeing I was a smart kid when it came to science. As always,” she says and I end it for her, “They used your strongest suit,” I say, nodding in understanding.
“Yes, I’m sorry. I kept them away from you. Manipulated the system by saying I would kill myself if they touched you. We had an understanding. They stay away from you and your father, and in return, I stay alive to cook their potion,” she says, her eyes a deep ocean blue that is weighed down by sadness, loss, and heartbreak.
“But I’m tired, Beast. I’m tired,” she reiterates, resting her palms on my cheeks. My heart begins to fill with warm razors blades that cut through the ice wall I’d built within me.
I clear my throat. “I’ll get you out. You can come with us, once this is over. You’ll be safe.”
She wipes the tears from her eyes. “Maybe.”
The door bursts open and Kurr walks in with his switchblade, the same switchblade I’m all too familiar with. My abs contract and I squeeze my eyes shut tightly.
“That’s enough of a reunion, don’t you think?” He chuckles and Courtney steps back toward the door. “Yeah, I do.”
He chuckles again, scattering through the ornaments on the table. “So,” he begins, sharpening his knife. “Now that you and mother dearest over there are well acquainted, what do you say we get into some good stuff, break you back down again? You have it in there still Beast. You’re far too good a vessel to be wasted on a Motorcycle Club. Do you know the number of kills you had?” He laughs to himself, stopping his sharpening to bring his eyes to me. “I do!” he whispers excitedly.
My eyes narrow as I slip the sharp knife down into my palm a little more, twisting it around so the sharp side is pushed up against the rope. I begin cutting slowly, trying not to bring attention to my hand. If this fails, we will be fucked. I need to get to the basement underground, and the only person who can get in and out of that basement is Kurr’s finger.
That’s where they keep all their weaponry and explosives. If I can get to those, I can blow this place up in one go and the rest of the people in it. The ones who wanted to get away had ran when we blew up the watchtower. All that was left now was the soldiers who were too far gone to help anyway.
“Do you want to know?” he asks, cocking his head. “I’ll tell you anyway because I’m feeling generous.” He laughs, placing the knife down on the table. I see Courtney look at the knife as he walks up to me, his hands in his pockets. I shake my head slightly at her, signaling her to not do what I think she is about to do.
“Six hundred and forty-nine,” he whispers harshly, his breath running over my bare chest. My breathing heaves and I spit to the ground. “You think I give a fuck? I don’t.”
He laughs, spinning on his feet and walking to the table again. “That right there, son is exactly why you’re perfect for this life.”
Carrying on my cutting, I get through the rope, jolting under the release of the tension. He turns his head to Courtney, walking up to her with a knife in his hand. “You see, little scientist. We have your formula now and we don’t need you anymore. Consider yourself… freed!” He swipes at her chest and I lunge forward, wrapping my arms around his neck in the sleeper hold, he jabs me in the ribs before jumping at Courtney again.
He grips onto her and she screams out, “Beast, run!” I turn my head to see four other men barge in through the doors. I get to my feet and rush toward them. Bringing my hand up, I slice one of them clean across his neck, blood pouring out in rivers down his throat. I turn around, round house kicking another in the chest, causing him to fly across the room and smash into the opposite wall.
The other man that was standing there runs at me, slicing me across the chest in one sweep and I step back, throwing my weight into my right hook, landing him down cold on the floor.
I look to Courtney, who’s standing there with a machete. She must have got one on top of Kurr during all the commotion. “Leave Beast. More are coming.”
“You can come, too,” I say, rushing toward Kurr and bringing my knife down to his finger, slowly pushing the sharp side of it into his skin, sinking deeper and deeper into his flesh slowly. His screams howl out and I laugh, spitting in his face.
“Beast!” Courtney screams again. “So help me God, son. You need to go and do what you came here to do!” The door smashes open again with another group of armed soldiers bursting in. One swings his fist right into my cheek, dropping me to the ground before they’re pulling me up and dragging me across the floor to the door. I look over my shoulder at Courtney.
“Finish him!” I yell. “Meet me outside in thirty minutes!” The door slams shut halfway through my sentence and one of the guard’s jab my stomach, causing me to heave over, the metallic taste of blood spitting out of my mouth. Looking up, I count how many men are next to me. One on each side, one in the back and one in the front. My eyes drag to the belt buckle of the fucker who laid one out on me to see his heat packing on his belt. Smiling, I quickly pull my arm out of his grasp. I take hold of the gun quickly and shoot the guy who was holding a gun on me from behind before elbowing the other one in the head and shooting a round in the rest of the soldiers who were left standing. Dropping the now empty gun, I make my way down the cold corridor, ducking and hiding between walls. Pushing the finger into my pocket, I keep walking to the stairway that I know leads you down to the basement. I’ve only been in there a handful of times, but I remember exactly where it is. I round the last corner and hit the steps, dropping down them two at a time. Taking the finger out of my pocket, I push it up against the little glass pad that sits beside the door and wait as the red light turns green and the heavy doors beep, opening them up wide.
A smile stretches wide across my mouth. “Time to blow shit up.”
I’m driving down the road that leads to the compound where Beast is located when I cringe inwardly in my seat. Hella is going to lose his shit, but I need to do whatever I can do to help him. Set up or no setup, there are a million things that could go wrong and Beast is in there alone. I didn’t tell the boys I was leaving. I merely got into my car, headed home and collected my duffle bag that has my bow and arrows in. Not the arrows that Beast wanted me to use, but the modified ones that are more like little Tasers that snap into you, knocking you out for a couple hours.
The bumpy road jolts under the tires of my car and I look into my rear vision mirror again to check no-one is following. My heart hums with fear but beats with excitement. I need to be wherever Beast is and I don’t care for the repercussions right now. Turning down the dirt road, I swing to a halt and park it under the nearest tree. Getting out of my car, I throw my hoodie over my head and step my feet down onto the gravel, the crunching of stones squashing underneath my Chuck Taylors. I didn’t have time to change clothes. Lucky I was already in my skinny jeans and tank top. All I had to do was put on a hoodie. Placing the duffel bag on the road and using my car as cover, I pull out my bow and the arrows, slipping them over my shoulder in its satchel. Closing my door, I crawl to the front of my car and peer over the bonnet, narrowing my eyes to take a good look around.
“Psst!” a sound comes from the bushes and I turn my head quickly, pressing my back up against my car, my heart zaps in my chest.
“Meadow! Are you kidding me?” Jada whispers angrily though I can’t see where she is.
“Jada?” I whisper back, looking into the tall bushes trying to find her.
&n
bsp; “In the crack, second stick to the left. Hurry,” she urges and I follow her orders, stepping into the little crease that breaks through the bush. You wouldn’t know unless you knew she’d been through it. Her firm grip wraps itself around my arm before I see her, pulling me down onto my ass.
“Ouch! Jada,” I scold her, wiping the dirt from my pants.
“What, are you doing here, Meadow?”
“What are you doing here?” I shoot back at her.
“I couldn’t just sit around and wait for their genius plan. Beast is in there alone,” she offers sadly.
“I know,” I say, dropping the duffel bag. “Are we going in?”
She nods her head. “I am, but if something happens to you, Beast will kill us all. I can’t have you with me.”
Narrowing my eyes, I shake my head. “Are you kidding me? There’s no way I’m sitting out here waiting. I am coming with you, Jada. Don’t fight me on this.”
She pauses, searching my eyes. “Fuck, I am so dead for this. All right, so here’s the plan. We go in and clear the outside, Hella said that Beast is hitting the basement to light the place up with the explosives they have down there. He can ignite it from outside the building, but we need to clear it out for him. He will have had to fight his way out and around that place, who knows what condition he’s in. He’s supposed to meet the boys under the old tower.”
Nodding my head, I clutch onto the stem of my bow. “Okay, got it.”
She looks at my bow and smiles. “I hope you’re prepared to use that?”
I drop my eyes and shrug. “I had Beast get me Taser arrows. It knocks them out for a few hours.”
Her face scrunches as she shakes her head in disbelief. “You are so not prepared for what’s about to happen,” she answers absently.
“Hey, I have seen some shit too you know. I watched my dad get murdered and enjoyed it. Trust me, I’m not a soft little butterfly.”
Her head tilts. “There’s more to this, I can tell.”
“How do you think Beast and I met?”
“Huh, maybe one day you can tell me,” she offers with a small smile.
“Maybe. Let’s go.”
We both shuffle out from behind the bushes, keeping our eyes locked on the building in front of us.
“It’s huge,” I say in a whisper.
She nods her head, our shoes crunching over the stone gravel road. “You have no idea. Follow my lead and be ready.”
I nod my head, swallowing past the ball of nerves. I’m terrified about what could happen, but I know I’d do almost anything for Beast. That includes walking into a death trap apparently.
Running across the road, we kneel down and begin moving along the wire fence. “How are we going to get in?” I whisper to her as we shuffle along the fence line.
She looks at me over her shoulder, smiling. “No doubt Beast added the same hole as he did when they escaped the first time, and when they rescued me.”
“Right, okay.”
We continue our shuffling along the fence line, my breathing deep and ragged from anticipation and fear.
Jada stops, placing her hand on the corner of the fence, pushing until a hole comes through. I smile, shaking my head. “How the hell did Beast fit through that?”
She pushes it more and it stretches double.
I smile. “Ah, that’s how.”
Jada slides through first with me following closely behind her. Standing on my feet, I load up my bow, having it sit armed on my hand before we continue walking toward the main building that sits in the middle. To the far right corner, there’s a half tower that stands near a pile of rubble, showing that it once stood tall. I scan around the other side to see four buildings that look like identical houses which sit next to each other in a vertical line. If you peer to the back of the monstrous building that sits in the middle—where we are currently moving along with our backs pressed against the concrete—you can see a group of white tents that are scattered across the grass with a bonfire in the middle. There are armed people walking around the tents casually, chatting. Which is a good sign—I hope. Following Jada, who has her Samurai sword out, we round the first corner where two men are standing against the wall. Drawing up my bow, I aim it at the first man, shooting him right in the chest, his body drops to the floor in vicious fits. The other man who was standing beside him drops his cigarette and charges toward us. I load up again and shoot him quickly in the chest where his convulsing body joins his friends.
Jada turns to me, eyebrows raised. “Meadow, these are bad people, you have to let me at ‘em.”
Dropping my bow slowly, I nod. “I know, but it would’ve been unnecessary for them. They were an easy takedown.”
“Don’t do it again, let me have one.”
“You’re a little scary,” I mumble through a smile.
She laughs. “I’ve been told that all my life. Come on, we’ll round the building, get as many down as we can.”
Nodding my head, I load up my bow again and walk beside her as we make our way around the other side of the building.
I’m walking back up the stairs after tripping all the C4 they have down below and taking an M16 when I hear talking vibrating through the door on the other side of the stairs. My stomach contracts and the bruising that’s formed over it pulsates under the tension. The metal door swings open and before they can see where I am, I aim my gun, rapidly pulling the trigger and hitting the first soldier right between the eyes before pointing my gun to the one next to him, replaying the same action. Both their bodies begin tumbling down the steps and I jump over them by gripping onto the railing before running up the rest of the stairs with my weapon drawn and the control trigger to the C4 in my hand. Rounding the corner, I point the gun around, securing my surroundings before continuing through the dark alley and toward the back exit door. Gripping on the long metal bar, I push it open to four men who are standing around smoking. They see me and drop their smokes. One pounces on me and I jab the back of my M16 right at his jaw before landing a back kick to the man standing behind me. I swing a right hook to the other man standing beside him and then pointing the gun up, shooting the fourth man in his forehead before swinging my gun around ready to shoot another, only an arrow whips past my face instead. I turn my head to the side to see Jada and Meadow standing there looking like Charlie’s fucking Angels.
Meadow shoots both of the men within a matter of seconds and I drop my arms to the side, my jaw about to crack under the pressure I’m placing on it.
“And what the fuck do you think you’re doing?” I say to Meadow while making my way to them both.
She shrugs, actually fucking shrugs and I think I want to kill her.
Softly and sensually with my cock, that is.
“You were in there alone, and the boys were taking ages. Beast, there’s no-one left out here, we took care of them.”
“Well… Meadow shot them with her cute little Taser arrows and I took care of the ones that seemed like a threat.”
“You what!” Meadow screeches beside her and I roll my eyes. Walking to her with my gun in my hand and the bow in hers, I wrap my arm around her waist and pull her body into mine. “Don’t you ever, play that hero shit with me ever again, understood?” I growl.
“Beast? You can pull that in the bedroom, but not out here, not when I knew you were alone.”
“I’m a big boy. I can handle my shit, Meadow. We’ll talk about this later. Where’s Hella?”
“I don’t know,” Jada answers, looking at Meadow with guilt smeared on her face.
“You two snuck out didn’t you?” I answer absently.
Meadow shuffles on her feet, looking to Jada with pleading eyes. “Don’t look at her like that. You’re in deep shit when we get home, Meadow.”
Squeezing the remote control in my hand, I flick it between my fingers and Jada steps up to me. “Wait till Hella gets here. This is it. Kurr will be dead and this entire operation will be shut down.”
I nod my
head, pulling Meadow into me more. “Agreed.”
I’m kissing Meadow on the top of her head when a loud roar of bikes sound, coming down the dusty driveway. Gripping onto her hand, I pull her toward where they’re coming from and Hella jumps off his bike, throwing his helmet down and rushing to us.
“You!” He points to Meadow and I chuckle. “You are going to be the death of me. Fuck, I’m so sorry, brother. She fucking slipped between my fingers. Your new name is Slippy,” he says, looking at her in frustration.
I laugh, pulling her into me. “Yeah, all right. Let’s blow this joint up.” I smile at Hella and he nods.
“Where’s Courtney?” Hella asks.
I shake my head, jaw clenched. “I told her to meet me here in thirty minutes. That was over thirty minutes ago now.”
Hella glares at me, running his hand over his chin. “What do you want to do?”
“We can’t risk it.”
He nods. “Then bombs away.”
I chuckle, ignoring the tug I feel pulling on my heart. “Bombs away,” I state, flipping the cover off the button and pressing on the red button. The ground shakes under our feet as we duck for cover behind the old watchtower. A loud bang rips through the air and I press Meadow’s head into my chest, covering her ears from the piercing rings of the aftereffects. Standing to my feet, the air thick with clouds of smoke, metal and fire, I run my finger over Meadow’s face, tracing a finger down her porcelain skin before running it across her lips. “Are you ready?”
She nods her head. “Yes, I’m ready.”
I chance another glance at the pile of rubble and scorching flames, laying a kiss on my two fingers, and I salute the mother I didn’t get the pleasure of knowing.
Walking out the gate, I point to Meadow’s car. “Jada can take your car back. You’re riding with me.”