Kick, Punch, Dance?

Chapter 19- Make It End

~Tess~

"You know, you're proving tougher than I though you'd be." is what I thought Carter said to me. It came out "Yo naw yo prboing, touger, than I fought yub ee."

Just a bundle of sound coming in through bleeding ears. I had passed out about two hours ago, and I was just now regaining consciousness. Though, I couldn't feel a single thing.

Wait no that's, not true. I could feel everything. It was just so overwhelming that I couldn't take it all in and process it all, so I shut down. 

I could feel all four broken ribs, crushing my lungs no less. I could feel each and every cut Carter had given me. All one hundred and twelve of them. And I could feel the bruises to my stomach, legs, and back. 

 I could still feel Carter's hands on me. It was a sick feeling, and I had given up all hope after cut eighty seven, and broken rib number 2. Declan still hadn't come for me. I was still in this hell hole; enduring this torture. That was the worst part. 

"What do you say Darling?" Carter asked bending in front of me. "You ready to take a flight upstairs? Ready fro me to end all of your pain? Ready to die? Just say the word, Tess, and I'll make it all go away." 

My head hurt like something else. I could barely feel my body, and the pieces I could feel, hurt like nothing I'd ever felt before. That's all I could think about. My head could only think, feel, and comprehend  Pain. That and how badly I wanted it to end.

 So for the first time since I was ripped from, my bedroom from my life, I let go of my defiance, my stubbornness, and my will to carry on. 

It took every ounce of strenght I had and then some, but I lifted my head, looked Carter directly into his black eyes, and spoke the words of Quitters. 

"Make it end. Please make it stop."

 ~Declan~

I watched as one of Carter's goons fell to my feet. I saw the red marks around his neck where my hands had been. It was a quick twist of my strong hands around his feeble neck, and his dingy life force was released from his body.

I grimaced as he laid lifeless at my feet. I didn't like killing. Granted I was good at it, but I didn't particularly enjoy it.

But this was personal, and Carter was going to feel my pain. Tess's pain, and a whole new level of indescribable pain. 

Stepping around the man on the floor, I made my way to the stairway that led down into the basement. Tatum was already there, cleaning blood off his hands.

"How many?" I asked not stopping. He knew I was asking how many lives he had taken.

"Eight. You?'

"The rest."

"You killed nineteen men in the time span of a half an hour?" Tatum looked at me like I was crazy.

"And I'd kill one hundred more if that's what it took. Now lets get down there. Oh and Spade," I said stopping to look at him. 

"Yeah?"

"Carter's mine." I said and continued down the hallway. 

Once at the end of the stair, we came to a set of double doors that had two guards standing in front of it. The one on the left had a key hung around his neck. I gave Spade a few signals, and together we took the men down. This time we only knocked them unconscious. 

"What do you say Darling?" I heard Carters voice, and my hands shook so badly that I couldn't get the key into the lock. 

"You ready to take a flight upstairs? Ready fro me to end all of your pain? Ready to die? Just say the word, Tess, and I'll make it all go away." Carter spoke softly and Tatum had to take the key away from my hands and unlock the door for me. 

I swung the door open just in time to hear my baby girl say in the most broken voice I'd ever heard,  "Make it end. Please make it stop."