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Sure enough there was some type of round metal contraption sitting on top of a makeshift rack. The fire lit beneath it licked up the sides.
From where we were standing you could hear the bubbling of water inside of it and clearly see the form that had been submerged. Upside down and body bent at an awkward angle, dangling from a thick chain, the heated water covered someone’s entire upper torso.
“Is this some new age torture method?” Addy asked.
“No, just not used for your dietary needs. They can cook the organs to perfection this way,” Maliki explained.
“How do you know this?”
“I had a thing with a cannibal.”
Addy and I both turned to look at him. That didn’t bother as much as the fact that I was under the impression he and Gwen had been together since he was a teen.
“One of the last things I expected you to say,” Addy quipped, speaking low.
“There’s a door,” Zane interjected, gesturing to the right backside of the house.
“You think they’re keeping them inside?” Addy asked him.
Something pinged from the far end of the backyard, cutting off his response. There was so much random bullshit scattered about and laundry hanging to dry, that it wasn’t possible to tell exactly which place the sound had come from.
“There’s something back there,” Greer stated the obvious.
“Take your gun out and keep it ready, watch the gate and the door,” Zane ordered him. Then to us, “Stay close and be careful.”
“Let’s go.” Maliki placed his hands on my hips and made sure I walked in front of him, staying behind Addy.
“You know you don’t always have to take the rear.”
“Yes I do. You never need to worry about what’s behind you.”
I weaved around a bent metal lawn chair. “What about what’s in front of me?”
“We’ll handle that together.”
I’d actually been joking but his response could not have been any less serious.
“You’re kinda sweet, you know that?” I said softly, taking a quick peek over my shoulder.
Zane laughed quietly, apparently not agreeing with my analysis. “Maliki isn’t sweet. He’s one of the meanest motherfucker you’re ever going to meet.”
“He’s in love with your pussy. And you…I guess.”
When my newly acquired boyfriend didn’t dispute either claim I found myself glaring at the back of Zane’s head. It made so much sense why the two of these assholes were so close.
We ducked beneath a few dingy sheets strung up on a clothes line, coming to a pause when we emerged at the very back of the yard.
“It’s like a kennel,” Addy said, gesturing to a long fenced in enclosure.
Night was rapidly approaching and with the sky almost black it was hard to see all the darkened corners of the cage. What was visible, were rusted chains drilled into some type of heavy metal object and a thick padlock securing the gate.
“There’s someone in the back,” Maliki stated quietly.
Another ping sounded fr
om that general direction as if to confirm what he had said.
“How did you know that?”
