Charity's Warrior (38 page)

Steve never acted like this before. There was never any sign of this craziness. Until now, his biggest flaw had been being a bore. He didn't have any visible ambition or drive, no goals. Seeing him now, it was as if someone else had put him on like a suit. It looks like Steve, but that's all there is.

Crazy or not, he has me trapped and I won't last very long this way.

There was a thump and the sensation of being pushed. Justin and his crew are trying to push us off the road. We fishtail to the left a bit.

They need to hurry!

They need to get me to a hospital. The blood is soaking the sheet, and I feel weak. I'm dizzy too, from not breathing right.

I suddenly choke and cough, and blood splatters through my nose onto the back of the chair in front of me. The rest of it is in my taped mouth with no way out but down, so I swallow it before it makes me choke again.

Steve manages the car back under control and laughs at himself proudly. Each moment he runs, I am closer to death, but he is oblivious. I don't think he even remembers I'm back here.

The engine screams again, running scared from the giant black beasts running it down. Younger, stronger beasts with bright eyes and steel teeth hungry for a meal.

They bump us again, hard, and I feel the car going sideways. Steve must have learned a few things from Xbox; he let off the gas, but didn't make the mistake of braking. He turned into the slide and waited to feel the tires catch before gunning the gas, pulling the car right out of the spin.

"Wooohoooooo!" Steve yelled, laughing. "That's fuckin' right, Baby! That's how you do it.”

The rocking and twisting is tossing me around the seat, but I clearly do not matter. Nothing matters right now. Steve doesn't even care for himself.

The car lights up again, the SUV's headlights closing back in. Steve punches it, but the lights keep getting closer. Moments later I feel the contact again, the crunch of metal. I hear the black beast's growl. This time there is much more power, Justin is done playing. We turn sideways again, but I can still hear the SUV, still feel the banging and pushing.

We finally got completely sideways, and I am thrown to the floor.

The car pitches and I am on the ceiling next to Steve.

The bastard is still laughing. He's flopping around on the ceiling while his car rolls out of control, and he doesn't see how real it is.

We rolled further and it shot me to the back where my head hit the window and brought on the blackness.

WHEN MY EYES OPEN
again, I'm lying on asphalt. There's glass everywhere, little cubes glistening in the lights, and chunks of metal and plastic. The sound of helicopter propellers are roaring into the night, muffling frantic shouts and other sounds I am too incoherent to understand.

It's like waking up in a war zone. Someone is moaning in pain, and it's surreal to realize it's me. The air is thick with engine exhaust and burnt rubber, and a black helicopter is trying to land in the center of the road about thirty yards away.

Someone is touching me now, fiddling behind my back. My hands and ankles come free and I hear the chains being tossed away. It's not relieving at all, not with all the other intense pain and emotions that I'm feeling.

I'm gently rolled to my side, but that is excruciating on my chest, as if I'm being kicked, making me cry out. That's when I realized the tape is gone. I hear Justin's voice, and that dulls the pain, or at least the idea of the pain.

"I know it hurts, Baby, but we have to keep the blood from pooling into your other lung. I've got you now. No one's going to hurt you again. I love you. Be my Warrior, and you'll be fine," he said.

I began to cry. Just to have one more chance to hear him call me Warrior was more than I had expected. At some point along the way, when I hadn't even realized it, I had come to believe I was not surviving this. With every bit of hope that Justin would save me, there was the doubt he would get the chance. Steve firing a gun at my chest changed me from thinking I would probably die, to knowing that I am dying.

If Justin doesn't get me out of here soon, that's still going to happen.

"I love you so much," I cried. "I prayed for you, Justin. I was so scared and I just kept thinking if you didn't come for me, no one would," I told him.

It was so hard to talk. I'm out of breathe and struggling from that little bit.

He wiped my tears. "Don't cry, Warrior, you're safe now." His hand was softly rubbing my face. "He'll never touch you again. We'll get you out of here in just a couple minutes, as soon as the helicopter is ready."

I heard Lena's voice call out to him. Behind Justin, I can see her and some of the others. They have someone between them that they toss out, stumbling toward us.

Steve.

"I'm not leaving you, Charity, I'm right here," Justin said as he fixed my hair and stood up.

I fight to stay conscious, but the darkness is creeping in.

Steve looks a bit banged up, but fine. Of fucking course
he's
fine
.
He's standing on his own and puts his hands up to fight when Justin turns toward him. Justin was on him in two steps. Steve took a swing that Justin ducked away from easily before unloading two or three punches to Steve's face that brought him to the ground unconscious.

The darkness moved in closer on me, but through the tunnel of vision I still have, I see Steve's face. His nose is more than an inch off to the left and ripped and bloody on its right. He looks like he was caught mid-yawn, and I think that means his jaw is broke. There's also a rip in his cheek that will need stitches.

"He's mine. Tie him up and put him on an IV. Keep him alive until I get to him," Justin ordered as he came back to me.

I feel his hand putting pressure on my wound. "The helicopter's ready. We're going now, Babe." His voice is distorted, like we're under water.

Justin lifts me himself and begins to carry me. The last thing I see is Lena and the others loading Steve's limp body into the back of one of the SUV's. Then the tunnel closed completely.

"H
ow is she today?" I heard someone asking. Their voice is very far away, hiding in a thick blackness.

"She still hasn't woken up, but the Doc says her vitals are strong, better every day."

That one was Justin, I'm sure of it. They were talking about me, but I'm confused as to why—and why they were talking in terms of days.

Was it possible that I've been lost in the darkness that long?

"The swelling in her head is gone?" the other voice asks.

"It's down. We just have to wait and see if there is any residual damage," Justin adds.

"And how are you holding up?" the other voice asked. It's starting to sound like it might be Lena.

"I almost killed the love of my life. This is all my fault. If she's not okay—I'm not okay," he answered. He sounds absolutely miserable.

"Justin, you know that isn't true," the female voice said. "You saved her life. We did the best we could, the best that anyone could. Her ex-boyfriend did that to her, not us—not
you!
"

"If I didn't push them out of control, they wouldn't have rolled, and she wouldn't have hit her head," Justin said flatly.

"If you didn't stop them when you did, she would have drowned in her own blood. You heard the Doc when we brought her in. He was barely able to stabilize her, and that was a few hours before the trouble with the slow swelling in her head. He told you himself, five more minutes and there would have been nothing he could have done. Five more minutes, Justin, and you would've lost her."

Justin doesn’t reply.

"She's going to be fine, Justin. It's just a matter of when. You need to snap out of this now! She's going to need you when she wakes up. I can't imagine the questions she's going to have. The truth is going to be hard as hell, for both of you; you've got to be the strong one because none of it is her fault. You finally started to grow a pair with her—she deserves to have you use them."

Yes, this was definitely Lena.

"You're right," Justin consented. "She's my Warrior, and I've got to be hers, too."

My heart is glowing. I can't see it through the darkness, but I feel its heat.

"Damn thing is," Justin said, "I was telling her everything that night. She deserved to know."

"Not everything, right, just the things that affected her?" Lena asked.

"No—everything," he said. "I don't want to hide anything from her. She deserves better than that."

"Justin!" Lena snapped.

"Lena, you know it's too late now, anyway. After what she witnessed out there, only the truth will makes sense. Her
insurance agent
boyfriend just tracked down her kidnapper with a trained team and a helicopter. You have a good cover story for that?"

Lena didn't say a word at first. The silence was tangible. "Point taken," she said at last. "You better be damn careful. And be prepared to shut us down for a while if she doesn't take it well."

"I'm ready for that," Justin said. "I'm ready to give
all
of it up if that's what she needs."

I don't know exactly what they're talking about yet, but I expect that Lena is going to be pretty pissed off hearing that. I suddenly feel like I've destroyed something, maybe even ruined a friendship.

I hear a rustling sound, like what you would hear rubbing the shirt on someone's back.

"I'm so glad for you Justin. You've finally seen what you've been missing," Lena said softly.

I can picture her standing next to him as he sits in some barely comfortable hospital chair. She has one of her strong hands on his shoulder, and they're staring at me, trying to smile, while they hope I do something, blink an eye, anything. And I
really
wish I could give them that comfort.

After a long silence, Justin asks, "Her ex?"

"Still alive, like you ordered. He's secure, not going anywhere," Lena answered. "You sure you don't want us to get rid of him? You won't leave her side, but you don't know how long this could take. Maybe you should let us handle it so you can forget about that part? We can make it as painful as you want?"

"No," Justin growled, not a single pinch of doubt in his voice. "He's mine. When I think about what he did to her...I'm going to rip him apart of my own bare hands. I don't care if he has to wait days or weeks. Nobody hurts my Charity like that and leaves this world without suffering. What would you do Lena, if that was the love of your life laying there?"

Lena's voice came out soft and understanding. "You're right. We'll keep him until you come. But you need to be prepared—this guy's so far off his rocker he doesn't know what a rocker is. He won't care that you're hurting him; all he wants to do is kill her and then himself. He keeps screaming that they have to go together."

I'm struggling now, desperately, to give them a sign, to tell Justin what I want him to do, but it seems hopeless. I have no voice in this endless nothing, but I am being consumed with fear and anger.

There must be a way.

"He'll care about himself more once I start," Justin said flatly.

"I know," Lena responded, "I've seen you do it. I'll just feel better for Charity—for both of you—when this guy doesn't exist anymore. It's not safe for her the longer he lives. We've dealt with some really bad people before, but this guy is certifiable. I get the creeps around him."

I try to remember what it feels like to speak. I can't feel myself, my face, my lips or tongue, but I think if I just try, if I go through the motions, maybe it can work.

Nothing happens. I try harder, I try screaming.

Nothing.

I'm more frustrated right now than I am afraid. My body refuses to obey me.