I lift my head a bit, trying to see what’s behind me, but it’s caught his attention. He can see what I am trying to do, and he isn’t too happy about it. I watch helplessly as he leans over me and grabs my long, thin hair into a ponytail.
With an excruciating yank of force, he pulls my by the root of my scalp towards the front of the trunk while screaming, “Get out, bitch! Get out.” I tumble out of the car and onto the cement and gravel ground, falling straight onto my wrists and elbows. I cry out a bit as he picks me up again by the hair, forcing me to stand to face him. He comes toe to toe with me, pressing himself up against my chest and body. His voice lowers as he says, “You’ll do what I fucking say and when I fucking say it. Or else, you’re going to have a lot of problems with me and my boys. Do you understand me?”
I nod enthusiastically. I can sense from the way he touches me what he is hinting at, and I am not risking that. Not tonight. Not tomorrow. Not ever. The name of the game is survival first, rescue Maddie and Erin second, and save myself last. And if that means following orders and staying peaceful, so be it.
“Good. Now get walking.” He spins me around by my waist, facing me towards the door.
I walk at a clip towards it with him following behind me. I can hear his breathing rise as we get nearer and the sounds of men celebrating become clearer to me. Whatever’s waiting for me isn’t going to be pretty.
The door opens and the smell of dirty bodies, ashes, and piss fill my mouth and I begin to gag. There’s barely a light, only a few small, dingy windows with glass blocks trapping out the clear light to guide me. Still, I can see the men I go pass leer at me as they lick their lips and laugh to themselves. They all know who I am. I am the girl who slept with Cal Ross, the vice president of the Mustangs. And I’m a piece of meat to be devoured by them. That’s more than crystal clear.
One of them chuckles as he says to the man behind me, “Oh come on, boss. Let’s just have a taste of her or that sweet piece of ass that’s with her. I don’t mind mine almost dead.”
Another voice shouts out loudly, “That’s cause the only time you can get it is when they’re almost dead!”
The man behind me ignores him and opens a metal door. He turns me around and reaches out my hands. I try not to look at him, or any of the other men panting and staring, as he places metal cuffs around my thin wrists. He spins them tight, and I can feel the cold, hard steel push into my skin. Before I can complain or ask him to loosen them a bit, he turns me around again towards the open door and kicks me hard against my butt and thighs.
My body falls with a hard bang, and I am just barely able to catch myself on the landing of some concrete stairs. I slowly pull myself to sitting and crouch towards the one window of the room, hoping I can see better if I have some source of light. But the sound of my knees and hands crawling on the pavement awakes something as I hear a cough and a whisper from the far side of the room.
“Hello? Hello? Who’s there?” It’s Maddie! Her voice is tired, completely overwhelmed. I’ve never heard her so terrified of anything, even when the house she was living in was getting shot up by the Coyotes in a vicious attack.
“Maddie! It’s me! It’s Miss Springer. It’s Michelle. Where are you, sweetheart?” I try to keep my voice low, but I am too excited to hear her, to be near her.
“I’m over in the far corner. I can’t walk. I think my leg is broken or something. It’s all twisted. Can you come here?”
I change course and head straight towards her, my hands searching for her in the dark. But I don’t find her body lying on the cold ground. I find Erin’s. I shriek a bit, scaring Maddie even further. “What is it? Is it Erin? Is she okay?”
I bend down near Erin’s face and listen to the soft breaths. They’re weak and far apart, but there’s air and a heartbeat. And for the moment, that’s the best news I can get outside of Maddie being alive. I turn back to her, continuing to crawl towards her. “Erin’s going to be okay. She’s just knocked out from the hit. But we have to get out of here, okay.”
I find Maddie’s leg first. She’s right. It’s twisted back in an unusual way, and I can feel the thick pulse under the swollen flesh. I tell her to hold onto the wall as I pull it out from under her and around towards the front. I then rip off the sleeve of my flannel shirt to wrap around the top. She cries out as I tie a large knot around the muscle.
As she begins to sob in pain, I pull her head into my chest, kissing the top of her head. I whisper to her slowly, steadily, “It’s going to be okay, Maddie. Your dad is going to find us, and I’m going to think of a way to get us out of here. Just you wait and see. We’re going to make it.”