link fence, making it rattle loudly, exciting the dog even more.
“What is it, mutt?” a man asks.
“Hey, I think I hear them over here,” someone else says, voice aimed in my direction. Surely, they’ll hear me if I try climbing the fence, and from the look of it, it appears that barbed wire lining the top would keep me from moving over it swiftly.
I decide that I’ll need to find a break in the fence or a gate before I chance slipping out, or at least get some distance between me and any onlookers before I give it a try. I round a corner and see the gate open wide enough for someone to drive their car through. I just have to reach it and slip out into the night. Once out there, the darkness will aid me instead of hindering me. I’ll be able to run away before anyone can find me.
As I reach the open gate, I step through it a moment before I hear footsteps. Someone grabs me, tackling me to the ground. I slam down hard, my head hitting the ground, making the headache I already have rage.
“Got him,” Shepherd calls, and I realize that this man just kept me from reaching my freedom. I thought he had some humanity to him. I thought he was different from the others, but I see now that he’s just the same as the rest of them. Worse, maybe.
“What the fuck?” I ask, and I hate how desperate my voice sounds. “What the fuck? You could have let me go. Please, just let me go!” I fight against him, but he grabs my arms and pins them down.
“Knock it off,” he says as he holds me there.
“Please, no one’s here yet. No one will see. Just let me go. How could you think this is fine? You really won’t let me go?” I sound so desperate and this time it isn’t even fake. Why can’t I fight him? Why can’t I get away?
He uses his weight to keep me down as he pulls his phone out. “I got him. We’re out by the gate. What do you want me to do with him… okay… yeah…”
A moment later, the front door opens, and Tony comes out while shaking his head. “My, my, my. You’re a slippery little asshole, aren’t you?” he asks as he walks over to us. “Good job, Shepherd. I didn’t even know you were out here.”
So he wasn’t even ordered to catch me? He just did it for shits and giggles?
Tony kicks at me but doesn’t make an actual attempt to hit me, so his foot stops short. “I’m too tired to deal with this shit tonight. Shepherd, he’s yours until further notice. It’s clear you’re the only one who can contain him,” Tony says as he snaps the handcuff on me before handing it to Shepherd.
Shepherd just stares at it. “I have to handcuff him to myself again? If I knew that, I’d have let him run.”
Tony laughs as he gives Shepherd a hearty pat. “Just suck it up. It won’t be long until we can just get rid of the kid,” he says.
I’m yanked to my feet before Shepherd cuffs me to him and drags me inside. I don’t willingly walk after him, and instead, I drop my weight and force him to pull me. Tony smacks the back of my head, making my vision blur because of my earlier beating.
“Get walking or I’ll make it so you can’t walk,” Tony snarls.
I start walking as I realize that I’m honestly afraid he will. Exhausted, scared, and in pain, I let Shepherd drag me back to his room and shut the door. He’s silent as he goes into the bathroom. He wets a washcloth and hands it to me, but I turn away from it. I just want this to end. I just want this all to go away. He tosses it onto the counter and leads me back into the bedroom where he strips and crawls into bed before dropping a blanket on the floor.
“I take it you’re mad at me. Or maybe your voice box finally broke. I can’t say I’m irritated by the silence.”
I continue to ignore him as my anger for him burns brightly.
“Are you mad I stopped you?” he asks.
I stare at him in the dim light from the bedside table. It looks like a piece of shit, just like everything else in this room. It’s like everything in here has