last time, splitting my lip. I can feel the blood drip down my chin and neck. He growls and gets up, walking out of the door. I close my eyes and wait for this new recruit to arrive. There isn’t anything that he can do that could be worse than what I’ve already endured.
Shortly after they leave, I hear the door open, but refuse to open my eyes. From the ground, I can hear the sound of footsteps stopping right beside me and the sound of clothes rustling together as someone sits next to me.
“Interesting predicament you’re in here.” I tense. I recognize the voice—the voice that had haunted my dreams. The one that had terrorized me through high school.
I open my eyes and stare angrily at Adam. Using all of the strength I have left, I try to scoot back, but can barely move. He looks at me and smiles wickedly. I struggle harder to get away from him. He crawls closer to me and punches me in the stomach, knocking me on my side. Rolling me onto my back, he straddles me, inhibiting movement.
“Why don’t we finish what we started last summer, eh?” I struggle harder, but freeze when I see the dagger in his hand. He reaches down and unzips my sweat shirt and pushing one side off of my shoulder. I gasp as he presses the dagger to the side of my neck, applying slight pressure and dragging it down to the edge of my shoulder. Blood oozes out of the wound and drips down my back. He pins my hands above my head with one hand and bends down, trailing kisses down the cut.
Reaching the end of the cut, he moves away from my neck and looks at me. His face is covered in blood. My blood. I want to throw up. It is repulsive. I feel tears start running down my face again and I start screaming, trying to get out from under him.
“Now, now. Calm down, Ryanne.” When my struggling increases, he says. “Fine. I didn’t want to have to do this. I’d rather see your reaction, but either way will be fine with me.” He brings his hands up and grabs me around the neck, cutting off my oxygen supply. I try scratching his arms to get him to loosen his grip, but it causes him to squeeze harder. I continue grasping at his arms until I feel mine go limp. My eyes roll into the back of my head.
I can still hear everything around me and feel the pain running through my body, but can’t move or see. Adam’s laughter echoes around me. I hear the sound of the cell door being thrown open and Adam’s body weight is thrown off of me. Grunts and the sound of punches being thrown echo through the room. Then it gets quiet.
I am quickly losing consciousness. Strong arms reach under me and lift me up.
“I’ve got her! Bragden, clear the exit.”
Chapter Sixteen
I feel someone’s arms around me, cradling my limp body against his chest. He is jogging, trying not to jostle my body too much. In the distance I hear the sound of running water. The closer we get to the stream, the more I come back into awareness. I can feel all the injuries on my body. Every movement sends another wave of pain through me.
Coming to a stop, near what I assume is a small creek, I feel myself being lowered to the ground. I hear what sounds like fabric being ripped and then something cold and wet is placed on my face. I gasp at the sudden coldness and jerk away. Opening my eyes, I try to reach out and hit whoever is near me, wanting to get as far away from everyone as I can. I roll over, ignoring the pain that shoots through my stomach and arms, and attempt to crawl away. It is a pitiful attempt, but an attempt nonetheless. Arms come around my waist and roll me over.
“Ryanne, Ryanne! Calm down. I’m trying to help you.” I try batting the person away. Steady arms pin my arms above my head. I turn to see who is holding me down and gasp in surprise—a pair of mysterious gray eyes stare down at me.
“Liam?” I croak. I can feel more tears getting ready to spill out of the corners of my eyes. Tears of happiness.
“Yes, now please stop fighting me. I want to wash some of the blood off