AllFreeNovel
Share Us
Kicking back against them, I keep my eyes on their horses. If I want to survive, I can’t let fear consume me. I must focus on my escape. If I can manage to kick myself free, I can mount one of the horses. But it would take too long to untie them. I’d have to run for my life. Tears flood my eyes. There’s no way I can outrun them, but I will give it my best shot.
In all my kicking, my dress flops about until I can feel wind on my bare behind. One of the men hisses. Another groans. “Blimey, what a sweet quim.”
“I’m feeling for cherry. Something sweet and red.” Another whistles and grins.
“Quick, grab her hands, you big lug!” someone else yells.
No. With one big pull, I tug my ankle free. I stun myself, but I shake off my shock and take off running.
“You know, I quite like the chase,” someone yells.
“You can run, lass, but you can’t hide!” Another laughs.
I’m huffing as I push my body forward. My lungs burn, threatening to give out, but I’d rather run myself to death than stop for a breath. I don’t pause for a glance behind me. Their heavy feet advance, and I hear a whip slashing the wind.
“Hiya!” someone yells, and horse hooves join the charge. One horse pulls to a stop before me and when I spin to run in the other direction, I’m closed in by horses on all sides.
“Now lass, there’s no way out, is there?” the sticky-haired man says as he dismounts his horse. “You’re not going to get out of this, so you might as well enjoy it.” He advances toward me, and I gulp. The sun is setting and soon, I’ll be trapped in the dark with all of them. A chill sets in, and my body shakes uncontrollably.
“Aw, come on, sweetheart. There’s no need for all that,” he says. “I promise you’ll have fun. And if you behave, we might just take you anywhere you want to go afterward,” he says. “Sounds like a fair exchange, right?”
I shake my head, resorting to pleading. “Please,” I mumble shakily. “Don’t hurt me.” My voice sounds so tiny and helpless, it sickens me.
“We’re not going to hurt you. Are we, lads?” He reaches for my face, running the back of his smelly, dirty fingers against my cheeks before looking behind him. I take my chance to reach for the pistol in his waist, but he turns back around and catches me before I can grab it. The kind act he’d been performing falls away, and he twists my arm, turning me so that he stands behind me.
“We were going to try our best not to hurt you but since you can’t play nice, neither will we,” he grumbles in my ear. “Grab her arms and legs. I’m going first,” he says.
I’m seized. My limbs are stretched out on either side of me. Trying to pull away is pointless. “Please. Don’t. Just kill me instead. Please. Please!”
“Trust me, we plan to do just that when we’re done with you,” the sticky-haired man says as he rips my dress away from my body. The fabric tears into my skin, wounding me. I struggle against their hold, and my body flops like the top of a canvas cloth flapping in the unforgiving sea wind.
“This one’s quite the fighter, isn’t she?” one of the men holding my arms grunts as they wrestle with me as if they’re wrangling a herd of cows. Collectively, they shove me into the ground. My head slams into the earth, and everything goes silent for a few seconds as the sticky-haired, scrawny scalawag mounts me. He slaps me in the face.
“Submit!” he says before slapping me again.
I can taste blood and spit it in his face.
“You know what? I’m going to like this,” he says, pushing up my dress.
My life flashes before my eyes. I don’t see any other way to fight. I try kneeing him in his marbles, but my legs are being held taut. “Get off me, ass wipe!” I scream. “Get off me! Help! Help! Help!!!!!!!” My vocal cords shake like the strings of a violin about to pop off.
The man laughs, positioning himself between my legs. I can feel his nasty prick brushing against me, and I want to kill him. “No one’s going to hear you out here,” he says, just as there’s an echo.
“Olivia!!!” My name reverberates through the forest.
It’s the beast and at this point, I don’t know whether to feel relieved. Oh, it’s hopeless. No matter how this plays out, I’ll end up tortured and murdered in the end. There’s nothing I can do about it. The beast might end up applauding them for taking the task off his hands. Hell, he might even employ them for good measure. But his loud echoed voice plays out in my favour for a few relieving moments as the men, startled, hop to their feet. I hop from the ground, quickly adjusting my skirts.
“Don’t you make a sound, or I’ll shoot you,” stinky breath says to me as they all reach for their pistols.
“Is that a promise?” I ask, and he hisses.
I’m getting ready to run, as they all prick their ears like hounds do, when one of them grabs me and pulls me to his side. “You hear that?” he whispers to the other men, and they shush him.
Hooves, lots of them, advance toward us. Oh, how wonderful, to face doom from all angles. I’m tempted to scream just so stinky breath can shoot me and save me from the torture I’ll surely experience at the beast’s hands. He won’t go easy on me, I know it. But I think, sadly, that I’m all out of hope. There’s no more fight left in me.
Chapter Nineteen
Adam
