Gunpowder and Lead (Savage MC book four)

Prologue

Grace
Present day

Taking a deep, panted breath in an attempt to calm my heartbeat I looked down at the looming ground below the two storey window I was currently standing in. While my hands gripped the window frame I could feel them slowly slipping due to either the blood or sweat that coated them. I didn't think about the scene behind me,  instead I ignored the severity of my situation. I focused on the chance I had at escaping, at getting back to safety.
"Dino?" One of the men called from downstairs and I nearly lost my footing as horrific fear scorned through me. I was running out of time. They would wonder where he was. The fight between us would go unnoticed; they were used to the sound of me crying and fighting back but usually when it silenced, whatever man had entered my room would return downstairs again. It had been over five minutes since silence had descended over the room. It wouldn't be long before they came to investigate. My head automatically swung towards the sound the other side of the closed door, my eyes catching on the body of Dino lying still by the bed, blood pooling around his torso. The knife I had robbed from the downstairs kitchen last night was still planted in his chest. He was steadily bleeding from the other knife wounds I had inflicted before that final one where the knife stayed planted. Bile rose in my throat as I fought back the sickness, still shocked at what I had done. The sound of shoes on the stairs had me jumping off the ledge, hurling towards the ground, biting furiously on my lips to hold in my scream.
I slammed into the dirt feeling my knees buckle under my weight before my face cracked against the pavement. My skin split open from the impact, fresh blood coating over the blood that already covered my face. I didn't give myself pause to feel the pain, I pushed myself up, ignoring how my body rejected the movement. My right leg was badly injured, faltering under me as I ran for the woods under the moonlight, hearing nothing but the fear in my breathing. I wouldn't be safe until I had disappeared in the darkness of the trees, hidden in their shadows. Reaching the edge of the woods I thought I could feel some relief but just as my mind began to feel hope, I heard the doors of the house slam open only seconds apart from each other, yells coming from the four men who had remained in the house. Terror took the legs out from under me, my knees ripping apart on the stones and branches that littered the forest floor. I pushed myself up again with a keen whimper of pain mixed with unadulterated fear. I don't know which way I ran I just know that I kept moving forward, my lungs screaming out for more oxygen, every inch of my body fighting any movement. I could hear them coming behind me, branches crushed under their feet like little bones, they moved far faster than I could in my battered state. Yells rung out behind me as they called for me to stop moving. I ignored them, pushing myself further faster. Branches reached for me from all sides, scraping at my face and bare arms as I ran almost blind in the pitch black of the heavily shaded woods.
A gunshot rang out, tearing a scream from my lungs as the bark of the tree to my left flew everywhere as the bullet embedded itself deep into the trunk. I veered to the right automatically, my body fleeing the bullet, my hands raised instinctively to protect my head. A stupid mistake on my part, one I would vastly regret over the coming next couple of days no doubt. It was only a second of a difference as my body turned to the right but it was only one second that they needed to catch up with me.
A split second before my body was forcefully thrown to the left, the silhouette of a tall man hurled at me from the right, colliding with me and taking me heavily to the ground. I instantly screamed a blood curling scream as I fought his hold with all my might. It did me no good as not a few moments later, the other men joined us, restricting my movements. I felt my tears soak my face, knowing what was coming to me now that I had tried to escape. I very rarely saw Hammer, he usually left me to his men. He only came here when I did something wrong. I'd imagine I'd be seeing him very soon, working on the fact that I would still be able see out of my eyes later; I could feel the swelling of my cheeks.
"Stupid bitch!" I heard right before I got a mouthful of dirt as Kip, I could recognise the faces closest to me, on top of me backhanded me violently. I coughed up a mouthful of blood, almost positive I had bit through a part of my tongue. My ribs screamed in protest at my harsh breathing. The other two men grabbed my arms dragging me up to my feet before moving us back out of the woods towards the house. The last man stood on the phone, no doubt explaining the situation to the MC.
"Fucking bitch, Ham is going to be fucking pissed, Grace. You've killed a brother, you're times near up." Kip spat angerily at me, his words causing the men holding me to squeeze sickeningly tight on my arms. I couldn't think of the hours ahead of me. I simply tried my best to close off my mind, praying some way, some how the Savage MC men would find me before it was too late.