Within His Reach

Chapter 10

BRIAR POV

My scalp throbbed as I was yanked out from underneath the bed, my only shelter being torn from me. The brute responsible for hurting my poor head so much looked about 40 years old and had a gun slung over his shoulder. Seeing the weapon instantly shut me up. Images of how Theo had shot my family flooded my mind, causing me to screw my eyes shut and my screams were replaced with sobs.

This was it, I was going to die. Just like my parents and brothers had. I'd be shot and then tossed in some ditch to hide the evidence.

"You're gunna stay quiet, got it?"

I was too frightened to even form an answer, my whole body was just shaking and it became impossible to process anything around me other than the gun that was literally inches away from my face.

A harsh slap from his grubby hand was all that I needed to wake me up from my shock like daze. My cheek burned from his hit and I felt the corner of my lip begin to bleed. He'd hit me hard. I blinked a few times to get rid of the dizziness that came over me and tried to stay balanced on my feet.

My senses finally came to me. Whatever this man wanted with me, it wasn't good. I had no idea where he'd take me and what he planned to do to me once I was where he wanted me to be. Sure my life with Theo was crap too, but at least I was familiar with it. It was predictable. With Theo as long as I obeyed him then I was spared from most of the torture that I knew he was capable of throwing upon me. But these people? There was a strong possibility that they were even worse. I had to fight, it was my only hope of staying here.

So I began to scream, just how I wish I had all those years ago when Theo's father first took me away from my home and locked us away in that dungeon. I had to make up for all of the times where I could've stood up for myself and use that rage to get away now. It was my only option.

"NO! NO! HELP ME! SOMEBODY! NO!"

I screamed and the man began to haul me up and toss me over his shoulder with a careless thud. My ribs crashed into his shoulder, I was instantly winded and I let out a strained cry. God that hurt, I could've sworn I'd heard a rib crack.

It took me a moment or two to recover but once I did, my fists were against the man's back and I pounded fiercely. I kicked too, anything that could help me get out of his hold.

I felt blood rush to my head as we started to move out of the bedroom and through the halls, down the stairs and outside. I bounced with every step the man took, me slung upside-down over his shoulder like some sort of sack. I could see the others too, people following us outside. And the bodies. So many bodies were lying bloody and dead on the floor. Their blood was smeared on the walls, as if they'd been painting with it. Where the hell was Theo and his men? I knew that there was no way they'd been killed that easily. The army that the Emberson family had created was practically indestructible. My mother had told me stories about them during our time of captivity, they'd kill off hundreds of enemies with skill and perfection. Whereas these guys seemed like...amateurs.

Their uniforms didn't match up in the slightest and their guns looked old and dirty. There was no way that they could've won this fight. But then why was Theo nowhere to be seen. I begged that he hadn't left me to flee. Surely he wouldn't have! Not when he worked so hard to keep me here in the first place. It couldn't be over. This couldn't be the end to my life...not when I hadn't experienced anything good yet!

I gasped when a sharp spank landed against my ass.

"Be quiet"

But his aggressive action only seized my struggles for a few moments. A new hope ignited inside me when I realized that if I got away from these men and Theo was nowhere in sight, perhaps I could be free! I'd have no money, home or friends but at least I'd have my life back.