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I’d gotten back to my apartment just before three, and after showering, I wanted nothing more than to face-plant in my bed to sleep for the next twenty-four hours.But that would have to wait.I needed to grab a sandwich and then double-check that everything was locked up before I could relax enough to sleep.
Upstairs, I threw together a ham and cheese sandwich and devoured it in four bites before cleaning up the mess I’d made.It was a communal kitchen, and I didn’t want any of the residents in the apartments on the second and third floors to have to clean up behind me.They had enough on their own plates to have to wait on me too.
Grabbing a bottle of water, I chugged it down, then tossed the empty container in the recycling bin.I checked all the doors and was about to go back downstairs to my apartment in the basement when I got an alert on my phone that there was movement at the gate.
Opening the security app, I hit rewind on the recording and watched as an unmarked van dropped off what looked like a bag of trash right in front of the gate.Whoever it was must have been aware of the cameras because they wore ski masks over their faces and gloves on their hands as they tossed the bag on the ground.I had no way of knowing who they were or even their ethnicity from the footage, even though the spotlights had been triggered and glared down on them and their late-model white van.Annoyed, but too tired to deal with illegal trash dumping, I was about to close the app when I saw the bag wiggle.
“Fuck,” I muttered and took off running.
Leaving the door wide open would set off the alarm, which would wake up and most likely trigger some of the residents, but I couldn’t worry about that when I needed to get to whoever had just been dropped at the gate.
The main house was five hundred yards from the gate, and I ran barefoot down the paved driveway.All the security lights were set off as I rushed across the property to the only entrance.I had to punch in the code to get the gates open, and as I waited for enough room to get out, I tried to get a better look at the wiggling bag.
A muffled whine hit my ears that were already pounding with the blood rushing through my veins.It wasn’t a plastic trash bag, as I’d assumed from the video, but more like a huge duffel-style sack.The moment I had enough room to squeeze through, I was pulling my knife from the sheath strapped to my leg to cut the zip ties that kept the zippers locked together.
As soon as I got the bag open, I saw matted dark hair and a naked back that was covered in bruises and slashes.Hands were tied with the same zip ties, as were her feet.Her hair reached all the way down her back to the top of her unclothed ass, and I made quick work of getting her untied before carefully turning her over.
If she was someone from town, there was no way of knowing because her face was beaten so badly, she was unrecognizable.Cursing, I dialed 9-1-1 with bloody fingers.Just as the dispatcher answered, her eyes snapped open, and I saw terror in their light-blue depths.I didn’t know if it was the stark fear in her eyes as she looked at me or something else, but when our gazes locked, I felt like someone had punched me in the gut.
Ignoring the sensation, I focused on helping her.
“Shh, easy.I’ve got you, sweetheart.”I tried to soothe her, but my voice must have scared her because she began to tremble.“Fuck.I need an ambulance,” I informed the dispatcher before giving them the address.“And Sheriff Ben Davis.Now!”
Hanging up before they could ask more questions, I dropped my phone and then carefully placed the woman—girl?—back on the ground so I could pull my shirt over my head.Using it to cover her nakedness, I then started examining her for injuries.Her shallow breathing suggested lung distress, possibly broken ribs.I saw bruises on her stomach, one of which looked like a bootprint in the harsh glare from the security spotlights on the gate.Her jaw was so swollen I couldn’t tell if it was broken or not, but when I touched it, she flinched and gasped with pain.
“Can you hear me?”I asked, pulling the shirt down over her hips before checking her legs.Maybe a broken ankle.There were also slashes on her thighs like on her back, and blood shone from between her legs and on her dark curls.My hands began to shake with rage just looking at that sign of abuse, and I felt her trembling harder.
Knowing I needed to rein it in so I didn’t put her into shock from fright, I tried to keep my voice low.“What’s your name?”
“N-N-Nishia,” she said from between clenched teeth.My hand went back to her jaw, and I realized it was most likely broken after all.That was going to require surgery.
“Nishia, I’m Jack,” I told her.“I’m going to take care of you, okay?You’re safe now, sweetheart.I’ll keep you safe.”
“Promise?”she whispered, gasping, and I heard a wheezing sound from her chest.Blood dripped from the corner of her mouth, but I didn’t know if it was from her lips, or internal bleeding.I had no way to determine just how badly she was injured, and I gave a silent “thank you” when I heard the sirens in the distance.
“I swear.”
Her eyes rolled back into her head, and she began to seize.
“Fuck, fuck, fuck,” I muttered, holding her head still as foam bubbled from her mouth.Carefully, I rolled her broken body to her side.“Nishia, stay with me.”
Please.
By the time Ben arrived, the EMTs had Nishia loaded into the back of the ambulance.She wasn’t stable, but there was no way of getting her that way with what few supplies they possessed.
“What do we have, Jack?”my cousin by marriage asked as he jogged over to me.
“No time to give you a detailed report,” I barked.“She’s fucking dying.Make sure everything is locked up here, call my mother, and then meet us at the hospital.”
The sheriff didn’t question my giving him orders.One look at the fragile body in the back of the emergency vehicle, and he was raising dust as he got shit done, while I climbed into the back with Nelson, the chief EMT.Between the two of us, there wasn’t much room to maneuver around, but I was able to help him, given all the first aid training I had.
“Her veins keep collapsing,” he griped as he stuck a needle in her arm.“I’m having to shoot this shit straight into her veins without an IV.Poor kid.She’s already been through hell.”
Creswell Springs was a small town, yet it felt like it took forever to get to the hospital.It wasn’t until the driver braked hard in front of the ER bay and I jumped out to help Nelson pull the gurney out that I realized I was still barefoot and shirtless.Ignoring any discomfort to my feet, I helped push Nishia inside, where Nelson gave a report on her condition.
“Let’s get a CT, X-rays, and start a central line to get fluids in her,” the doctor ordered the nurses.“Hannigan, is she one of yours?”
“She is now.Don’t worry about the cost.Sanctuary has her covered.”
