“Stay back,” she snarled, swinging the pipe as one of the men who had been chasing them stepped closer.
The men laughed. “She is a feisty one,” another man called out. “I wonder how she’s going to look bent over.”
“Jesse,” Taylor whimpered as she pressed her back against her older sisters. “I’m scared. I don’t want to die like this. I… please, don’t let them…”
Jordan swung the rebar she held in her hand, striking one of the men who got too close. His angry howl of pain seemed to incite the other men who started yelling at each other to move in closer. Jordan cried out when one of the men grabbed the end of the long metal rod she was gripping, jerking it out of her hands.
Jesse attacked the men who were reaching for her sisters. She hit as many as she could before they overwhelmed her. She felt her tunic rip under their hands. In the background, she could hear Taylor’s high-pitched scream.
“No!” Jesse screamed as she felt hands trying to drag down the pants she wore. She kicked out again, catching one man in the groin but another took his place. “No!” She screamed again as she fought with everything in her.
She cried out in pain as she was pressed down onto the hard ground. Sharp rocks bit into her back and shoulders. Her arms burned from where she was being pulled. Her legs were forced open. Hard fingers bit into her flesh.
“Please!” She sobbed. “Please, don’t!”
Additional screams filled the air. It took a moment for Jesse to realize that they were not coming from her sisters. The sound of bones breaking and tortured cries of agony rained around her. It took a moment for the men holding her down to realize that the sounds were coming from their own.
Jesse felt the bodies holding her down release her. Some in panic, some as they were thrown away from her. Jesse’s frantic eyes locked with Hunter’s for a brief second before he turned and sliced through the throat of a man who stumbled too close.
She forced herself to roll over onto her stomach and rise up. Her eyes searching for Jordan and Taylor. She saw another Trivator warrior attacking three men. Her eyes swept the area until she caught sight of Jordan’s dark blue shirt. She pushed up off the ground and staggered over to where Jordan lay curled up in a ball, her bloody hands over her head. Harsh sobs shook her sister’s body.
“Jordan,” Jesse choked out, touching Jordan’s shoulder. “Jordan, we need to find Taylor. Please, help me. Taylor…”
Jordan’s slowly lowered her hands and looked up at Jesse with tear-filled eyes. She had blood near her hairline and the beginnings of a bruise was beginning to form at her temple. She nodded and held out her shaking hands to Jesse.
They both looked frantically around. They stumbled over several bodies as they searched for Taylor. Jesse held Jordan when she turned with a sob at the sight of the brutality. Jesse felt no regret for the way the men died. They had planned a much worse fate for her and her two younger sisters. Her only concern was finding Taylor.
A low cry was pulled from Jesse when she saw the still body of Taylor lying near the rubble of a building. Saber stood holding a man by his throat. It was obvious both of the man’s arms had been broken. With a sickening twist, he snapped the crying man’s neck and tossed his body aside before bending down over Taylor’s small broken body.
“Taylor,” Jordan cried out, stumbling forward.
Jesse stood back. The weight of despair and failure filling her at not being able to protect her sisters. It was too much. If Taylor was dead, she didn’t want to go on. She could never survive the guilt at being unable to protect the little sunshine that warmed her world.
“Jesse,” a deep voice said harshly.
Jesse flinched violently when warm hands reached for her. She jerked back a step, uncaring of the sharp stones that cut into her foot from where her boot had been ripped off. Nothing mattered anymore. She knew shock was setting in as her body suddenly felt like it was encased in ice and she couldn’t stop shaking. Her mind felt like it was splintering into a million pieces.
“It’s all my fault,” she panted as her teeth began to chatter. “I should have stayed to the south of the city. I shouldn’t have tried to find a vehicle. It is all my fault.”
Hunter grew concerned when she paled even more. He reached out again, this time slowly. His eyes swept over the wounds on her skin. She was bleeding from her temple, cheek and lip. Her tunic was ripped and hanging off of one delicate pale shoulder. Dark bruises were forming on her exposed arm and more blood ran from her shoulder. Fury burned in him. He glanced around at the bodies of the human males who would have destroyed something so beautiful and fragile. He wished he could kill them all over again.
His eyes moved to where Dagger was holding Jordan. Saber was checking Taylor. He nodded in relief when Saber looked up and briefly nodded. Jesse’s little sister would live.