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Chapter 23
Declan
The prison was shadowed in the waning sunlight. Gray stones composited the dull exterior as well as the two, identical pinnacles on either side of the entrance. A separate building, this one surprisingly modern, stood a little distance away. A wrought iron fence greeted me as I walked up and stood beside a guard tower.
One glance through the diminutive window confirmed that the guard was dead. His intestines were separated from his body.
The humid, Georgian air caused my clothes to stick to my skin. The pungent smell of decaying flesh permeated my nostrils.
An ominous warning was painted in blood over the entrance to the prison.
Beware of Zombies.
Frowning, I considered the dauntingly large structure with calculating eyes. From this distance, I could see figures moving erratically in the fenced-in yard. Ragers. A whole lot of them by the look of it.
I knew, without any doubt, that stepping through this gate would lead to my inevitable death. It was practically mocking me.
Indecision made me pause.
Was I ready to die? Was I ready to leave this world and the girl I loved?
The girl I loved who didn’t love me in return?
I thought of the man inside of the prison, the man I was going to kill.
My father.
“Father” was too sentimental of a term to describe that horrid being. We were only related by blood and looks.
The last time I had seen him, fifteen or so years ago, he had the same long brown hair I used to have. His belly had been large, protruding over the waistband of his jeans, and his eyes had been glacial. This was a man who hadn’t seen warmth and certainly didn’t know how to distribute it. He was cold, unyielding, and cruel. His fists always had to be pounding into a face, either my own or my mother’s, and his lips spewed a constant barrage of poison.
The very last day I had seen him, he had been attacking my mother. Allison had been held tightly in her arms, the little baby blissfully unaware of what a monster her father was. Mother had tried to shield my sister the best she could, but the gesture was futile. One particularly hard hit from my father's drunken rage sent them both sprawling. Mother had obtained only a few bruises, but little Allison’s head had ricocheted off of the hardwood floors.
She had died on impact.
It was that memory, that image of her tiny face, that gave me the courage to move forward. I was going to die. It was something I accepted with an icy detachment. Fear no longer consumed me. Instead, it gave me the courage and strength to do what had to be done. That monster didn’t deserve to live, either as a human or as a Rager. He was an insect - an insect I was determined to squish underneath my boot. For once in my life, I wouldn’t be the victim around that man. That monster. I would be a fighter. A survivor.
I was going to join Allison and Addie in death.
Maybe, just maybe, that action could redeem myself from failing her - failing them both - in the first place.
* * *
Addie
The boy they led into my room had dark, onyx black hair. A gag was shoved into his mouth, and his hands were tied behind his back. Whimpering, the man’s eyes rapidly flickered from face to face.
“What the hell is this?” I directed my question towards Ryder who was currently leading him into the room.
“Whothe hell,” Doc corrected snidely. I rolled my eyes but didn’t humor him with a response. Folding my arms across my chest, I accidentally pushed my ample breasts up. I had forgotten I was only wearing a lacy black bra that left little to the imagination. Calax subtly - read as: totally not subtly - pulled my blanket up to cover me.
“This is Kai,” Ronan supplied, waving his arm in “Kai’s” direction.
“Why is Kai tied up with a gag in his mouth?” I asked. “It’s not some kind of kinky sex game, is it?” Really, I had to get the important questions out of the way.
Ryder released Kai quickly, a grimace on his handsome face.
“Kitten, you’re the only one I want to tie up.”
