Too Far

20: Her

I woke up to a shooting pain in my knee. My legs were tied down to a bed, making the pain worse, and so were my hands. There was a man with shaking hands poking around in a hole in my right knee, sending even more burning agony through my leg. "Hands off!" I cried out, but it was mumbled and disoriented.

He looked over, his eyes wide and a slightly terrified look on his face. "I have to get the bullet out," he explained apologetically, digging a little more. I tensed, but that only made it worse. "Stay still!" he ordered feebly.

"Don't touch me!" I retorted. His tools suddenly came out of my knee and I cried out in pain until I saw a crumpled piece of metal held in the clutches of the tool. "It's out. Leave!" I snapped, my breaths heaving at the nearly unbearable pain lancing from my knee. There were tears stinging my eyes.

The doctor, looking hesitant, finally turned and scurried from the room. I took the chance to look around. My pant leg was ripped to reach the wound, and my hands and legs were bound tightly to the bed. The paint was peeling and there were broken windows surrounding. It looked like an old office or something, and the roof was high. It must have been a warehouse of sorts.

I immediately looked out the window. We were surrounded by forest, but the air smelled much too salty for us to be inland. I remembered that we'd driven for hours before he turned around. I was positive he hadn't turned into the direction of home, but the direction of the ocean. It had only looked like we were going back home because of the route he took.

White, hot fury ran through my veins as my fists clenched. I felt my nails dig painfully into my palms, probably drawing blood, but I couldn't have been bothered. I silently wondered who shot me, as I'd taken Robbie's gun and those two men had been held at gunpoint when I was shot. The bullet seemed to be in my kneecap, as it had been fired just as I turned to run, so they must have sent some sort of message to their colleagues that we were going to this warehouse. They'd met me when I ran.

Frustrated, I let out a single shout of rage and looked tested the restraints. There would be no undoing them without a knife or something. They must have paid off the doctor to keep quiet about us, or threatened him.

"You look terrible," I heard a familiar voice snort. I turned an icy glare on Robbie, who was holding a gun. "I had to hand it to the guy that shot you. He chose the perfect place." His eyes strayed to the messy wound on my knee. I would probably have to have surgery if I lived through this encounter. A replaced kneecap, no doubt, and maybe even a few ligaments were torn.

The pain was unimaginable, but it wasn't as much as the fear I was feeling. "Didn't someone once tell me only the weak shot legs?" I asked, hating how choked my voice sounded from the pain. "Makes it easier because they can't run."

"Yes, well, the chase was getting a little tiresome," he replied, unbothered. "One doesn't have to be strong to kill you. Only persistent."

"I suppose we're even," I muttered, smirking. "I shot you and now you've got back at me. You can let me go, now," I said seriously.

"It's so much more than that," he scoffed. "Do you know that you have singlehandedly brought down my entire business? The government will be monitoring me like crazy! I'll have to be even more careful, now," he said, sounding very affronted.

"I thought it was my job to gloat about my accomplishments," I said, mocking humor. "But here you are, rubbing my work into your own face. I'm beginning to think that, even if you do manage to kill me, I'll still win."

Robbie cocked the gun, his eyes narrowing. "Don't make me put another hole in you."

"It's all the same," I muttered, shuffling in the single pillow to get more comfortable. "Shoot." I was going to die anyway.

He was silent as I closed my eyes, trying to make myself as comfortable as I could with the restraints still binding my limbs to the uncomfortable bed. "Do you know," he began, a smirk in his voice, "how gratifying it is to see you, a girl who has escaped death even more beautifully than any man I've ever worked with, lying in front of my gun, resigned to your fate?"

"Don't be too proud," I said, not opening my eyes. "It wouldn't matter if it were you, a simple criminal, or anything in between. I'm done running."

"Give up, did you?"

I knew he was just trying to trigger my anger and make me go off on him, but I felt nothing but the dull pain thumping in my knee. "I just realized that it was silly to keep running and trying to live when my life isn't a life I really feel like living anymore. I'm a waste of time." It was only partially true. I didn't have a life worth living, but I had people I wanted to live for. Of course, I already missed Emmett dearly, though I'd grown accustomed to not being able to have the people I loved.

Selena, though, was someone I had not seen in years. I knew what she looked like, of course, because I stalked both of them in the pain of their absence. I just wanted to talk to her. Did she hate me? She'd known I was alive when I hobbled off into the woods. She knew I'd left of my own accord, and I deserved her spite for that.

Even her yelling would be welcomed, as it was much preferred than being held before the barrel of Robbie's gun. I knew he would fully shoot me in a nonlethal area if I irritated him enough.

"That sounds like giving up to me," he said smugly.

"Alright," I shrugged, heaving a sigh. "If you came in here to gloat, it probably isn't going to make a difference. You can leave now."

"Haven't you any questions?" he asked, sounding polite. I knew better.

I opened my eyes, rolling them and looking back at him. He'd put his gun back away and was now leaning against the doorway. "How rude of me. How is your head?" I asked, matching his polite tone.

"Slight headache, but no otherwise negative side effects."

"I would ask where I am, but I already know," I said, bluffing slightly. Robbie's head tilted, his eyes twinkling.

"And where is that?"

"By the sea," I said simply.

He snorted. "There are over ninety five thousand miles of coastline in the U.S. You'll have to be more specific as to which area we currently reside."

"Probably close to the Chesapeake Bay area," I decided, estimating the time we'd driven.

Robbie rolled his eyes and sighed. "As much as I enjoy these chats, there is somewhere I must be."

"I'll miss you dearly," I said earnestly.

He paused, throwing me a smirk. "Though I may not be here to oversee, you can trust that there are many alternates to killing you. We don't have to kill you to exact revenge, Louise," he said spitefully.

Though that sent an icy chill down my spine, I feigned indifference. "I can't wait," I promised.

He nodded goodbye and left, leaving me to my thoughts. I wasn't left alone to my thoughts for long, though. A few men appeared a second later, stony faces covering the real menace that wanted to show.

Let the party begin.