Broken Dreams (38 page)

I gasped when I saw them.

Chapter 18

brilliant pair of emerald eyes danced in the darkness of the cellar.

“Back up! Now!” Henry shouted to all of us. Everyone took a couple steps back, except for me. That probably was one of those moments that I should have listened but, of course, I had other plans.

“Mom! Mom, are you in there?” I yelled in desperation.

“Get back!” Henry growled at me, while he yanked me back by my shirt. Henry had his Sig aimed at the eyes. “Come out! Now!”

“I knew you would get here eventually, Liam.” The voice was deep, and rumbled like thunder when he spoke. It made my skin crawl.

“I said, come out now!” Henry growled.

An overgrown gorilla of a man climbed up the stairs and hoisted himself up to the ground with zero effort. Henry still had his Sig trained on him. I scrambled, trying to get to the cellar. I needed to see if my mother was down there.

“Elaina, no!” Nick grabbed me and held me tight with his good arm. “I won’t let you down there.” I struggled with an intensity that only I possessed, but he was much too strong for me, even in his weakened state.

“Nick, take the others to the truck now.” Henry didn’t take his eyes, or his Sig, off the overgrown gorilla. He was standing in front of Henry with his hands on his hips, grinning like an asshole without a care in the world. His clothes were filthy, but he looked strong and healthy. There was certainly no suffering on his part.

“No! No, I have to see.” I began crying. “Please.” I clawed at Nick, begging for him to release me from his unyielding grip.

“Nick, take them now!” Henry had a look about him that I had never seen before. He looked like he was out for blood, and not in the way that he needed to continue living. Thomas voluntarily ran to the truck, and Nick grabbed Claire’s arm and dragged both of us with him.

“Ah, Sophie. You are looking especially delicious, love. Come here so I can feel you next to me again. I have missed your luscious body. I could go for a quick one right now just seeing you. You miss me plunging into your fanny, don’t you?” He winked at her. She didn’t move a muscle, and worked hard not to show her fear.

“Sophie, go! Keep an eye on them.”

“I am not leaving you alone with this piece of shit.”

“I’ve got this. Go. Now.”

“Henry…”

“Go now, goddamn it!” He had never sounded so ferocious. She knew he meant business. The rage burned deep inside of him, and he wanted to make Kellan pay for everything he and the rest of the head-fucks had done to Sophie…for everything they had done to the both of them.

Sophie backed off and headed toward the truck, but she kept Henry in her peripheral vision.

“What the fuck are you doing here, Kellan?”

“On assignment, of course. Why else would I be in this splendid paradise?” They were eyeing one another, neither one giving in. It was nothing but a contest of who was more dominant.

“Where’s Elaina’s mother?”

“Downstairs.” He smirked as he thumbed over his shoulder.

“Is she alive?”

Kellan laughed. “Of course she is. How do you think I’m still moving around so freely?” He rolled his neck, and smirked in a sinister way.

“Go get her.” Henry’s voice was calm, but commanding.

“Well, that might be a problem.”

“Go get her now!” he demanded.

“Well, you see…what happened? Ah, yes. That’s correct.” His sarcastic tone turned explosive. “She’s gagged and tied up! Sound familiar?! I have her tapped. She’s ready for another draw. You needing some?” He stood in front of Henry with his body relaxed, even though there was a gun aimed right between his eyes.

I broke free from Nick, and ran past Sophie. She tried to grab me, but missed.

“What do you want from me?” Henry asked.

“Henry! Where is she?” I screamed, running up to them.

“Elaina! Get back in the truck!” he growled.

“No!” I was scared for my mom. I wanted to find her, see if she was alive. Henry was focused on Kellan. Sophie came up from behind me, grabbed and held me in a bear hug.

“Ah, now, let her stay. We can have some fun. Two is always better than one.” Kellan had an evil grin plastered on his face. “She is quite beautiful. That long, silky black hair would do wonders for me, brushing along my body.” He let out a sinister chuckle.

“Answer my fucking question! What do you want from me, Kellan?”

“Ah, yes, where was I…?” He looked down just enough to shade his eyes, and he was rubbing his chin. “Ah, that’s correct.” With his eyes only, he looked up at Henry. He was pure evil. “Roger wants you to come back to the complex.”

“I don’t work for him anymore.” Henry’s words came out in a snarl.

“Right. He said you would say that, but here is the problem.” Kellan stepped forward and pressed his forehead against the muzzle of the Sig. He brought new levels to insanity. “You can never quit working for him. My instructions were that if you did not come with me peacefully, I was to… How did he put it?” Kellan pushed harder, and Henry’s arm began to buckle under the strain of his massive weight. “Bring you back in a body bag, which is what I’m going to do.”

“No!” I screamed while still being held back by Sophie. “No! Leave him alone!”

“Well, isn’t this a scene? Did that upset your little whore? She
is
rather foxy. Oh, the things I could do to her.” Henry’s arm was shaking. His anger began to bubble up to the surface. “You cannot out power me and you fucking know it!”

Then it happened. It was so quick. Kellan pushed Henry down to the ground, his Sig went flying in the air, and he was on top of him, raining blows down. He didn’t have a chance. Kellan’s huge body was straddling him, pinning him. Henry struggled, trying to hold Kellan back so he could get a few punches in, but Kellan out-powered him.

“Nick!” Sophie screamed for him to help. She still had me in a death grip, with her dagger-like claws digging into my forearms.

“Stay here, you two,” Nick commanded. He took off running toward Henry. Sophie was trying to look for a good shot while they were rolling around the ground, holding me back at the same time.

Kellan was punching Henry so hard I thought I could hear bones cracking. Time was moving in slow motion, then everything went silent. I could only see the scene in front of me.

“Henry!” I screamed until I was hoarse while fighting and clawing, trying to free myself from Sophie’s grip. Nick grabbed Kellan and he swung at him. He landed a couple good punches, but nothing seemed to faze Kellan. He was in the zone, and he looked to be enjoying every moment of it. He growled at Nick and shoved him off.

Kellan was beating Henry to a pulp. I had a feeling that was how Henry was beaten into submission many times under Roger’s authority. Kellan grabbed him by the throat and brought him up to his face. Henry was covered in blood. “Had enough yet, you worthless piece of shit?” Henry just looked at him, gasping for air while blood ran from every orifice in his face. “No? Was that a no? Oh, good, because I wasn’t done yet!”

He was on his knees, pulling him up and slamming his head into the ground. I was paralyzed. Just when I thought this fucker was going to kill him, I heard two pops that echoed deep within my mind. He let go of Henry and swayed for a moment, then fell on top of him.

Sophie and I spun around, and there stood Thomas, pale and as gaunt as anyone could be, pointing a Sig toward the situation. At that moment, I became forever in debt to that hairy-palmed little twerp.

Nick got up and ran over to Henry. He pulled Kellan, who was shot in the back and thigh, off of him. Kellan lay on the ground groaning, drifting in and out of consciousness.

I could do nothing but watch. My feet felt like they were made of lead.

“Henry! Henry! Come on, Henry. Wake up!” bellowed Nick. He was listening to his chest, looking for a pulse. “Come on, man! Don’t you die on her! Don’t you fucking dare!”

Sophie finally let go of me and ran to Henry. I collapsed on my knees before I could even take a step. I was screaming, mixed with sobs, but I couldn’t hear anything that was coming out. It was like a nightmare, and no matter how hard I tried to scream, no sound came out. I felt Claire grab me and hold me close to her. Everything was still happening in slow motion.

Nick cradled Henry. He looked lifeless, like a ragdoll. I started throwing up because I was crying so hard. I saw Nick open Henry’s eyelids. Oh, god, I was losing him.

Then I had a moment of clarity. I had to make Kellan true dead for what he did to Henry. I became like a caged wild animal. Claire yelled in my ear, “Elaina! Calm down!”

I was like a pissed off honey badger. I scratched and clawed my way to Henry, and nothing was going to get in my way. Claire couldn’t hold me back any longer. Nick was listening to Henry’s chest.

“Come on, man. Come on!” Sophie had dropped down at his side, sobbing.

I finally got to him. I grabbed his lifeless, icy cold hand. I had a newfound strength, and I shoved Nick away from him. My adrenaline was pumping fast and furious through my veins. “Get away from him!” I laid my head on his chest, trying to listen for a heartbeat. I was too panicked to hear anything except my own heart pounding in my ears. “Henry, Henry, please. Please come back to me!” His beautiful face was such a bloodied mess. His eyes were already bruised and swollen. Blood was trickling out of his nose and mouth.

“Henry! Please! Don’t leave me!” I cried out. I beat on his chest. I laid my head back on it, and I heard his heart thud a couple times. It was slow, but still going. “I can hear his heart beating!” I shouted. I laid my head back on his chest, and it seemed to be beating faster.

Henry began to cough, and blood misted out of his mouth. He moaned. Nick rolled him on his side to help keep his airway clear. Then I heard him trying to say something. “Lai-na...,” he whispered.

“Oh, my god, Henry.” He reached up and stroked my face. In all his pain, he was trying to comfort me. He couldn’t open his eyes all the way, and his breathing wasn’t sounding great, either. “We need to find him some help!” I was panicking. Henry needed medical attention right away, but there we were in the middle of a motherfucking apocalypse.

“Elaina,” said Nick, “there’s no one around.”

“Love…it’s okay.” Henry mumbled between his teeth. He hissed as he tried to speak through the pain.

“I know there’s no one around! And
no
! It’s not okay, Henry! It’s not okay,” I cried. His eyes kept slowly opening and closing as much as they could. He was drifting in and out of consciousness. I held his beautiful, bloody face in my hands.

“I love you so much. Don’t you dare leave me. Please. Henry, please, can you hear me?” His eyes opened slowly, meeting mine. “I love you. You are my world. My rock. My everything. Please, don’t leave me. Please, I beg you. Whatever it takes. I will do whatever it takes to fix us.”

I laid my head on his chest and sobbed, sick with worry. It tore me up to see my strong, gentle, loving man dying. He wasn’t going to leave the world not knowing how I felt. It all just poured out of me.

“Henry, Henry, please listen. If it wasn’t for you, my world would be dark. I would have perished already. I don’t care what has happened, or what you are. I love you. Please! Stay with me. I’m so sorry I doubted you. I’m so sorry I left you. After I gave you back my ring, I regretted it completely. I love you so very much. Please fight. Fight, Henry. You have to fight for us.” He tried reaching for my face again, and then closed his eyes slowly.

While he was still conscious, Claire was trying to assess him. “Henry, tell me what hurts.” She was trying to get him to talk to her. He tried to laugh, but he grabbed his chest. “Your ribs? Chest?” She pressed down on them with a gentle hand and he cried out. It sent him back into an unconscious state. “He may have cracked ribs. I’m not one hundred percent sure. They could just be severely bruised. I don’t know. All I know is that he must be in a lot of pain for him to keep passing out from it.”

Claire called out for Thomas, but he stood in shock, still with the Sig aimed. “Thomas, snap out of it! Go get the bin in the back of Henry’s truck. We need to stabilize his chest.” Thomas didn’t move. “Thomas!” She screamed. “Oh, fuck it.”

Claire started to get up, then Sophie jumped up and ran to the truck. I was always amazed how fast she could move in those spiked heels. She ran back with the bin in hand, and started digging through it. She found a couple rolls of wide elastic bandages.

“Elaina, I need your help.” I shook my head, still crying. “We need to cut off his shirt and roll him so we can try to stabilize his chest with this bandage.” Nick leaned down and helped. He pulled a knife out of Henry’s pack and cut his shirt off. He was bruised all over and had many cuts, some deeper than others. Henry cried out in agony when he woke up as we tried to roll him.

I was worried what would happen when we were bandaging him up. We didn’t have anything to keep him straight. Nick was at his head, his arms under Henry’s back, trying to keep him straight while Sophie and Claire wrapped at a feverish pace. Because of the bite on Nick’s arm, he grimaced every time he rolled Henry.

“What if his ribs poke his heart or something?” I was melting down. All rational thought was gone. All I could envision was all of his ribs broken loose, swimming in his body, lacerating every organ.

Claire looked at me. “That’s the risk we have to take. We have no other options right now. We’ll try to be as quick and as careful as possible. We need to make sure the bandage is taut.” I was so scared Henry was going to bleed out, or worse. The thought of him turning ate me up inside.

Kellan was still moaning and drifting in and out of consciousness just a few feet away. The blood from his wounds was seeping through his clothing.

I decided I was going to kill that motherfucker. Henry suffered enough pain and humiliation because of all of the shit they had put him through. I was going to dish out some major revenge, and it was going to feel so damn good.

I got up and walked over to Thomas, took the gun away from him, and walked back to Kellan. No one noticed me because they were so busy working on Henry. I kicked Kellan in the ribs as hard as I could. He gasped and began coughing.