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  “There you go, princess. Get nice and comfy and I’ll be back for you later,” he said with a laugh.

  He shoved the stool over between the next set of hooks and motioned Alex over. “Your turn, Red.”

  Alex had been studying the ropes that Dara was hung up with and she knew how to save herself the shoulder pain. She climbed the stool and turned around before Popper had time to manhandle her. When he hooked the first loop over the hook, she quickly twisted her wrist to get a grip on the rope and did the same with her other hand. She had practiced on the rings and bars for hours in gymnastics and knew she could hold her body weight with her arms positioned properly. Popper stepped back and eyed her up and down.

  “You won’t be so calm once the fun starts later,” he taunted and kicked the stool out from under her feet. Alex was ready for it and tensed her arms. She let out a sound of pain so he wouldn’t know she had control and he gave an evil chuckle.

  “That’s a small taste of what’s to come, baby girl.”

  The boys had stayed silent while Alex and Dara were strung up but as they were herded out of the room, Quinn looked back at them.

  “Stay strong. We’ll find a way out of this.”

  He received a hard shove out of the room for his words and then the door closed, leaving the girls alone.

  Alex slowly eased the tension in her arms, lowering herself to the floor and taking her weight onto her toes. She kept her wrists turned and her grip on the ropes so she could raise herself again if she needed to. Alex looked over at Dara and saw her friend had her head sagged forward.

  “Are you okay, Dara?” she asked in concern. Dara slowly lifted her head and Alex wasn’t surprised to see that instead of defeat, rage blazed from her eyes.

  “I’m going to kill all of these motherfuckers,” Dara said through gritted teeth.

  The girls heard banging, crashing and curses from the next room and painful moans. One of the boys was taking a beating and Alex thought it sounded like Josh.

  “Okay, bendy girl. Is there anything you can do to get us out of this? I saw what you did with the ropes. It has to be soon before they start in on us. My arms are already on fire,” Dara said.

  Before Alex could answer, loud heavy metal music came blaring from the other room. The girls looked at each other in confusion. How did these guys get a working stereo? Shaking her head, Alex tried to think of any way to get out of the ropes.

  “There’s nothing I can do like this,” she told Dara, having to raise her voice over the music. “Without some kind of leverage…” she trailed off as the short biker named Rat came into the room.

  He was as dirty and greasy as his friends. When he was bringing them into the room, Alex was surprised that she was taller than the man. He walked up between them and looked them over.

  “Popper’s busy havin’ fun with your boyfriends and Skull sent the other guys out to town to bring back some friends of ours to join the party tonight, so I thought I’d come in and keep you from getting lonely. Maybe get myself a little taste of what’s to come later,” he told them with a leer.

  Alex had been wracking her brain to think of some way to get out of the ropes and as she looked over at the disgusting man, it came to her in a flash. She just needed him to come over in front of her. She tensed her arms and raised herself up as if she was on the rings and taunted him.

  “So what exactly do you think you’re going to do with us, little man?” she asked him with as much contempt in her voice as she could muster.

  His face flushed with anger at the “little man” comment and he rushed at her. As soon as he was in front of her but still a few steps away, Alex tensed her whole body and split her legs bringing them up on either side of him and then clamped them tightly on either side of his head so her body was jackknifed. Her shoulder joints and wrists were screaming in pain at the strain. The backs of her knees were resting on the short man’s shoulders and Alex kept her legs board straight and used the leverage and her strong stomach muscles to lift her upper body straight up. As soon as she came level with the hooks she lifted her arms, the loops of rope clearing the hooks. She then brought her arms across her chest and did a half twist sideways. Her arms shot out downwards so she would land on her hands but with her legs still clamped around the man’s neck, he came with her to the side and they ended up in a heap on the floor.

  The whole maneuver had only taken seconds. Alex found herself giggling and couldn’t help thinking, “What a crappy dismount.”

  She shoved the man off her and jumped to her feet.

  “Holy crap, Dara! Did you see that? I can’t believe that worked. I mean, that never should have worked outside of a movie!” she exclaimed in disbelief.

  “Yeah yeah, you’re a freakin’ bendy superhero. Don’t you think you should get his guns before he wakes up?” Dara joked.

  The disbelief cleared from Alex’s face as she dropped back down to the man. She rolled him over and had one gun out of its holster and was reaching for the other when she looked at his face. He was staring at her with a shocked look on his face. Alex fell back in surprise and pointed the gun at him. It only took a second to realize that he wasn’t staring at her at all. There was no life behind the man’s stare. He was dead. His head was canted to one side and Alex knew his neck was broken. The gun sagged in her grip and she let out a soft, “Oh.”

  “Dara, I think he’s dead. I killed him. I broke his neck,” she said in a shocked whisper, staring at the dead man.

  “Alex. Alex, look at me,” Dara said sharply. When Alex looked up and met her eyes, she continued in a softer tone. “My arms really hurt, Alex. Can you help me get down, please?”

  Alex kept her eyes on Dara as she rose, not wanting to see the dead man’s shocked expression. In a trance, she went to the table and got the step stool and brought it over to Dara to stand on.

  As soon as she was free, Dara went over to the body and pulled the other gun out of its holster. She then used her boot to flip him over so he was face down. She turned to Alex and put a hand on her shoulder. She could feel Alex shaking and she knew she had to get her back in the game if they were going to get out of this.

  “Alex, I want you to really listen to me. Are you listening?” She gave her a little shake. When some of the shock had left Alex’s eyes and she was focused, Dara continued. “That man was going to rape and torture us before he killed us in the most painful way. He put a dog collar on a child and beat him. That man was a monster. You killed him and that makes you a hero. Do you understand? By killing him, you saved me. You helped save all of us. You did the right thing and now I need you to put it aside because we need to go in there and save the boys and I’m going to need you for that. Are you with me?”

  Alex took a deep breath and looked down at the gun in her hand. She pulled the slide back and chambered a round.

  “I’m with you,” she said with a stronger voice and a firm nod of her head.

  Dara smiled. “All right! Rat said that Skull sent the others into some town. I counted nine to start with, so with Popper next door, Skull and the two women that means we only have four more to deal with before the others get back. The music is going to help but I need…” She scanned the room and found what she was looking for on the futon. Dara went over and grabbed a throw pillow and brought it back. “Okay, we’re going through that door and I’m going to shoot Popper right away. I’ll shoot through the pillow to muffle the bang. Between that and the music, no one should hear it. You be ready to shoot anyone else in the room. We get the boys free and then we go out to the main room and, well, we’ll play that by ear. Boys free first, okay?”

  Just as Alex was going to answer, the song that was playing came to an end. They clearly heard Popper in the next room taunting one of the boys. As soon as the next song started, Alex put her hand on the doorknob and looked to Dara. Dara put the pillow over the end of the gun, took a deep breath and then nodded. Alex turned the knob and shoved. She stayed to the side so Dara could go th
rough and as soon as she had passed, followed her into the room with the gun raised, ready for anyone else that might be in the room. There was a muffled bang and then Popper crumpled to the floor. Once he was down, Alex had a clear view of Josh who was tied to a chair. His face was a mess of swelling and blood. Just as she was going to rush to him, he came free of the chair with a bloody knife in his hands.

  “Damn it! If I knew you guys were going to rescue us, I wouldn’t have cut the hell out of my wrists getting free,” he said through mushy lips and collapsed back into the chair.

  Alex grabbed a wooden crate and slid it under Quinn’s feet. As soon as he was getting free, she rushed back to Josh. Grabbing his wrists, she turned them over to check the damage. They were bloody but none of the cuts were very deep. Alex whipped her sweatshirt off and then took her tank top off. She put her sweatshirt back on and reached down into her boots for the Swiss army knife she had put in there earlier. She cut up her tank top and used the strips to bind up Josh’s wrists. She looked up to check his facial injuries and saw that he was wide-eyed.

  “What?” she asked him in confusion.

  “I just saw your boobs!” he said and grinned, causing him to wince from his split lips.

  Alex couldn’t help but laugh. Captured by bikers, tied up and beaten bloody and Josh was still Josh. She leaned over and kissed him on the cheek. “Well, consider it your reward for almost beating us girls to the rescue,” she teased.

  He leaned past her and looked to Popper, who was on the floor in a heap. “Is he dead?” Josh asked.

  Quinn had helped Cooper down and he went over and gave a hard kick to the man’s ribs. When the man flopped over and made no sound, Cooper took a closer look.

  “Yup, she shot him straight through the heart.”

  He turned to Dara who had cracked the door and was peeking out into the main room. She eased the door closed and turned to the group.

  Josh gave a wave and told her, “Nice shooting, Tex!”

  She gave him a quick grin and turned serious. She looked everyone over and in a determined voice said, “Okay, guys, I’m ready to get out of here. Skull and his girlfriend are in there on the couch but I don’t see the other woman. The rest of the gang was sent to town to bring friends for their party so we need to get going before they get back. Alex and I have handguns and Cooper took the one off of Popper. There’s a sawed-off shotgun over here in the corner you should grab, Quinn. Josh, your eyes look kind of swollen so maybe stick with the knife for now. I say we just go right out with guns aimed and if they go for weapons, we shoot them. Quinn, go to the left. That’s where the boy went for beer so maybe the other woman is back there. Everyone agree?”

  Everyone nodded and once Quinn had his weapon, they rushed out into the main room and spread out. Quinn went left and disappeared into another room. The rest all pointed their guns at the two on the couch. Skull sprang to his feet and the woman was quick to follow. He stood there glaring at the three guns pointing at them. Talking was impossible with the loud pumping music so Josh walked over and shut the stereo off. The silence was intense after the loud music and everyone paused for a moment. Alex saw the abused boy make his way closer to see what was happening.

  Skull looked the group over and laughed. “I can’t believe the brat pack got the drop on my guys. What did you do, tie them up back there?” he scoffed.

  “They’re both dead and so will you be if you give us any trouble,” Dara informed him in a cold voice.

  “Yeah, right! You kids don’t have it in you to kill anyone. Put those guns down before I slap you silly,” he threatened.

  Skull caught movement out of the corner of his eye and saw the child inching closer to the kids. He lashed out with his foot, sending the boy flying and thundered, “Get back in your corner, Dog!”

  Alex had time to think- “You shouldn’t have done that”- before there was a loud gunshot and Skull flew back and crashed down through the glass coffee table, his chest pumping blood. The woman started screeching and went to her knees, trying to pull him back up. When she realized he was dead, she stood with a furious face and turned on Alex.

  “I’m going to mess you up for that, bitch,” she screamed, spit flying out of her mouth.

  Alex didn’t know why the woman was yelling at her. She lunged toward Alex and another gunshot sounded, sending the woman to the floor.

  “Wow, Dara’s on a rampage,” she thought, turning to look at her friend.

  Dara was looking back at her with surprise on her face. Alex looked to Cooper and Josh. They were all looking at her with surprise. She looked down at the gun in her hand and started to shake. She had shot them. She had killed another two people without even trying. Alex sank to her knees and started to sob.

  Cooper came up and gently took the gun from her hand. He rubbed her back and tried to console her. “It’s okay, Alex. You did the right thing. You did good.”

  Alex barely heard him. She was so overcome with everything that happened today she felt lost. It was a small hand that crept into her own that brought her back to herself. She looked into the child’s eyes and he croaked out a hoarse, “Thank you.”

  She remembered the silent vow she had made to him earlier and she had to smile at him because his eyes were no longer empty. His eyes were filled with hope.

  Chapter Thirteen

  When the shooting had started in the main room, Quinn had been in the kitchen. He had found the biker woman, Sheila, halfheartedly plucking feathers from one of the chickens they had brought from the house on Ghost Road. He was disgusted to see that they had killed all the chickens for one meal instead of using them for eggs. It was such a waste of a future food source.

  With the shotgun pointed at her the woman was a crying, whining mess. She had tried to bargain with Quinn to let her go by offering all kinds of lewd activities. Quinn was disgusted with the woman and he ordered her to shut up. There was a roll of duct tape on the counter so he used it to bind her arms behind her back and had ripped a piece off to cover her mouth when she started to babble about kids and how it wasn’t her fault and they couldn’t blame her.

  He stepped back and asked her, “What kids? What are you talking about?”

  She smiled at him, which only made her look more grotesque with her smeared makeup and snot hanging from her nose.

  “If I tell you, will you let me go?” she whined.

  Quinn brought the shotgun up and placed it against her forehead. In a cold voice he offered, “Or you could tell me and I won’t kill you.”

  The woman squeaked and tried to scoot back away from the barrel of the gun. “Okay, okay! I’ll tell you! You don’t have to get nasty. They found a bunch of kids on the highway a few days back. They were stranded in their school bus. Skull brought them back here. He was going to ransom them back to the town for supplies. That’s where Dog came from. He’s the sheriff’s son and he mouthed off a lot so Skull was having some fun with him.” She let out a giggle at the boy’s torment that made Quinn want to vomit.

  “Where are they?” he asked menacingly.

  Once she told him where the kids were he turned the gun around and hit her in the head with the stock, knocking her out. Quinn had never hit a woman in his life and was raised to always respect and protect them but he made an exception for this one. She wasn’t a woman to him but an animal.

  Back in the main room, the others had spread out to check all the other areas and make sure they were alone. The boy hadn’t left Alex’s side and clung to her hand. He had told her his name was Luke but that was all Alex could coax out of him. Cooper had taken his shirt off and handed it to Alex, who put it on the boy to cover his damaged body. He seemed to snuggle into it and curled up against her. Everyone came back into the room reporting that the place was empty.

  Just then Quinn came back in. His face was pale and his hands shook. He took in the two bodies on the floor with satisfaction and then looked to his friends.

  “I need some help, guys. We need to grab
as much water as possible and come out to behind the house. Can someone go out front and keep watch? We don’t want to be taken by surprise if the rest of the gang comes back.” Quinn waved them to follow him.

  Cooper went out front to keep watch and check on the camper and truck. The rest followed Quinn back through the kitchen. They all stepped over the unconscious woman and stopped to grab water bottles from the stack of cases piled in the corner. Quinn told them what Sheila had said to him about the kids and that he had gone out to the shed where they were being kept.

  “When I opened that door, the wave of heat and the stench that rolled out almost knocked me off my feet. I thought they were all dead but the fresh air must have revived them because they started to move and groan. I pulled them all out into the shade. They need water badly,” he finished and raced out the back door, arms filled with water bottles.

  When Alex saw the eight kids leaning against the shed in the shade, she felt the tears start to roll down her face. She couldn’t understand how anyone could do these horrible things to children. The sadness she felt at killing the three bikers left her and her heart hardened on the spot. She wished she had killed them all.

  They were careful to only let the kids have small sips of water between wiping them down with the cool water. They carried them one by one into the house. Josh dragged the two bodies out of the main room and they placed the kids on the couches. Dara found a box of granola bars in the kitchen and once the children started to perk up she passed them out with orders to eat slowly or they would get sick. Other than being dehydrated and overheated, none of the kids seemed to have been abused. Luke had taken the punishment for being the sheriff’s son and for his feisty attitude. Alex left Luke in charge of monitoring his friends' water intake and spread out with the others.