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Seeing the midnight black Escalade, I unhook the keys that are hanging on the hook and beep it unlocked. Adding up the numbers in my head, I growl in frustration. Stupid Nate obviously wasn’t thinking. How the hell am I supposed to fit them all into the SUV that only has seven passenger seats? Popping the trunk, I lay the seats in the back down flat and then slam it shut, walking back to the driver seat. Starting the car, I place my phone into the holder and speaker dial Nate.
“You good?” he answers.
“No, Nate, I’m not fucking good. It’s 3:00 a.m. and you call me to pick you guys up from God knows where in a fucking seven-seated car. By the way, I usually need caffeine in the mornings before I can even function, and I’m not a fucking morning person. Let alone a 3:00 a.m. person!”
“You done?” he questions casually.
“I’m going to kill you.”
“Sis, you’re on speaker.”
“I don’t care.”
He laughs.
“Tell me where I’m going,” I snap.
He yaps off the directions as I drive. As more time passes and more directions get spoken, it sends me deeper and deeper into the outskirts of town. “So you’ll get to a dark gravel private road to the left. Do you see it?”
Chills creep down my spine. “What? Yes.” I look from left to right, and I’m pretty sure I’m seeing shadows whip past my windows and weaving into the trees on the side of the road.
“Good girl.” He pauses. “Take that turn.”
Something doesn’t sit right with what he’s saying and his tone, but it better be worth it, and they better be in trouble, or I will so be telling on him.
If I’m still alive, that is. If not, I’ll just come back in ghost form and tear up their lives.
Pulling down the dark, eerie, bumpy gravel road, with nothing but the bright headlights of the SUV guiding my way, I swallow down my nerves. What the fuck is he doing, and why the hell did he tell me to come down here?
“Nate?” I whisper. “Maybe I took the wrong turn.”
Silence.
“Nate!” I yell at the phone. “This isn’t funny.”
“I’m not laughing, sis. Keep going. We can see your headlights.” What am I doing? I’m basically relying on the fact that Nate and I had bonded a little and our parents are together. I’m not sure those facts are worth my life. No, he wouldn’t. I’m just being paranoid. The only time, except for school, when I didn’t bring my fucking pistol either. I sag in defeat. My dad will not be impressed with my not carrying, and my mom will no doubt be screaming at me from the other side about how these are the reasons why she and my dad educated me so much on firearms. I’ve failed as a fucking daughter. I scoot up in my seat.
“Nate, I don’t fucking see anything up here, but ja— oh my God!” I slam on the breaks, all four tires locking up in a skid. I squeeze the steering wheel tightly, banging down the locks on the doors. “Nate!” I yell into the phone.
Silence.
Slowly, I look up out the front windshield, the thick dust from my tires interrupting the dust still floating in the air, and that’s when I see it again.
Ten men.
Ten dark hoodies covering their faces.
Ten—
“Nate?” Understanding sets in. Ten.
Slamming the gear into reverse, I’m just about to floor it backward—to hell with anything or anyone behind me—when my driver window smashes into a million pieces, the tiny shards of glass falling onto my lap. I scream, my hands coming up to shield my face just as an arm slips inside and pops up the lock.
A deep chuckle breathes over the back of my neck as a leather gloved hand wraps around my mouth. “Hello, Madison. You may not know us, but we know you. We want to play a game. Here’s what happens if you lose….”
I BITE DOWN ON HIS palm, knowing it won’t do anything with the glove protecting it, but I refuse to go down without a fight. He laughs, pulling me out until the air is dragged out of my lungs, and then he drops me. My back slams against the gravel road. Hair flies across my face as dark hands come down toward me again. Fear drives my body into autopilot mode, so I launch my foot out, kicking, lunging, and tossing myself around. I won’t go down without a fight, that’s for damn sure.
“What the fuck are you doing?” I scream at them.
Scooping my legs under his arms, he swings me over his shoulder effortlessly.
“Nate!” I scream for him. “I’ll kill you. I swear to fucking God, you’re dead!”
“Not if we kill you first. Shut the fuck up.” Big shoulders continue to carry me down the dead road until he stops.
