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Now that wehad a name and an address that wasn’t too far away from where we were, we had a destination. I was worried about what was going to happen when we got to Jeff. Was Amber going to be okay? And lastly, if I did manage to get her out of his clutches, would I then have to keep her safe from Tony as well? He seemed quite convinced that she was guilty. What would he do because of that assumption? Would I be able to keep her safe with Tony around?
It was a lot to wonder, and we had a few hours on the road ahead of us. I could still try to ditch him somewhere. I thought about it and then decided that whatever felt right at the time would happen. I kept looking to Tony to see how he was feeling about it all, but he was like always, no emotions and I could see that he had a lot on his mind. He wasn’t sharing with me, because he knew that I wasn’t going to be happy about his thoughts, certainly not if they had anything to do with this being Amber’s fault. I wasn’t going to hear it and he knew it.
So, we drove in silence, both of us making plans that the other one wasn’t going to like. I hoped that it worked out the way I wanted it to, yet I had no proof of that being the case. I just had hope. A whole lot of hope.
* * *
We gotto the address that we could find associated with Jeff and the Evisceration Unit. That is what they called themselves and that was what their tattoo was supposed to mean. Since we knew who it was that was attacking us now, we knew that there were only three in the unit left and that was if they had all followed Jeff in his madness. They very well could have, so we had to figure that it would be three more to deal with. That was a number that I could live with and when Tony finally said something about leaving no one alive, I hoped that he wasn’t talking about Amber.
“Who do you mean?” I asked cautiously. I’d made myself pretty clear about Amber, but that didn’t mean that he heard me. I might have to make it clearer to Tony, but I didn’t want to think about that. He was my commander, but he was also a man that I didn’t necessarily like, even if I respected him. How would I be able to feel any kind of respect for him if he was now talking about getting rid of Amber for good?
“You know what I mean, Frank. I know that you think that Amber is not involved, but she is. You would do yourself a favor by getting rid of her like the rest of them.”
I couldn’t believe what he was saying, but I knew that he wasn’t joking. He had every intention of doing something horrible to her and I told him in a menacing voice that if he touched her, I was going to kill him. I meant it too.
“There will be enough people to kill today, Frank. If we need to settle a score later, so be it.” Tony got out of the car before anything more could be said. I wanted to continue the conversation, but not here, not right now. We were outside of the only house that was registered to Jeff. It was derelict, like Jeff had given up on life a while ago. That jived with what Tony had told me about him, so I felt like we were in the right place. It was too quiet though. I swear I just needed to know if Amber was here. I didn’t care about settling a score. I was sad and mad that my unit had been killed obviously, but Amber was the only one that was truly on my mind right now.
The outside hadn’t been mowed all summer or fall by the look of it and that meant that there were several places to hide as we were going up. Both of us were trying to get into situation awareness. I had a bad feeling; the place was too quiet. I felt like if Amber was in there and alive, there was no way that she would have been that quiet.
“I mean it, Tony, don’t touch her.” I started to say more, but he reprimanded me and told me to get my head on straight. I wanted to say that I was fine and thinking clearly, but I wasn’t. He knew it. If I was thinking clearly, I would have called the cops and brought them here, but that wasn’t what was going to happen. I wanted to take care of Jeff myself, determinant on how he took care of Amber. If she was okay, they might be able to live, if not, there was no way in hell I would leave them to draw breath after I was done with them.
The house was lit up from the inside and since it was dark and the windows weren’t covered in a way that made sense for what they were doing, we could see right into most of the house. It was out from the road and away from neighbors, so maybe they were unafraid of being found out. I just saw it as a great place because no one was going to hear their subsequent screaming.
Tony counted out to me, and I could tell by the look in his eyes that he was ready to go. I reminded him again that while I didn’t care to take out any and all of them, Amber was off limits. I’d said that ten times in the last hour on the way here, but I didn’t care. I wanted to make sure that he knew. Amber was mine, period.
21
Amber
Iwished that I hadn’t tried to escape. That feeling was cemented by the need that I had to go pee and now I couldn’t even do the simplest of things. I was here, stuck here, until they wanted to let me go. I didn’t know why it took so long to wrap my head around it, but it was going to be okay. I kept telling myself that, so I wouldn’t be so depressed. This was a depressive time and it all seemed to be pointless.
Several times I thought I heard someone else in the house, but I wasn’t left to wonder. I didn’t see anyone except my captor, and he made himself rarely seen. I wouldn’t be surprised if it was part of my punishment, since being tied to a chair all day and night wasn’t enough. I didn’t know how long I was there for, days and nights went by several times, but they all blurred, and I had no idea how long it was.
I was alerted from a deep sleep, something I didn’t think possible in the sitting position I was always in. I didn’t know how uncomfortable a person could be and still be fine. That’s what I learned, and it was a very strange lesson to be taught. I couldn’t say that I liked it very much.
There was yelling, fighting, and then there was this eerie silence that made me wonder what was going on. It was hard to pretend like I wasn’t concerned. It was the sounds of war, then nothing, like everyone was dead. I didn’t know who to root for, though it was likely no one that was part of the family that took me, would ever be okay in my mind. Some things were just unforgivable.
I wanted to call out, but who did I call out to? I didn’t even know the guy’s name that was watching me. I just knew that he was the reason that I was strapped down to this chair. I needed to talk to him though, that’s obviously what it was.
The words were almost out of my mouth, when another thought occurred to me and then I had no idea how I was supposed to act. What if the people he was fighting with had won and they were even worse? It wouldn’t be wise to assume that whoever else was there, would be better people. To be fair, Jeff and his guys were not the greatest, but I was still alive, and I didn’t know if that would be the same thing when it came to the others. I was stuck between the overwhelming desire to call out and roll the dice, or just wait and see what happened. They would be gone soon, then I would figure out a way to get out there and then I could go home.
Finally, I said “Hey,” loudly. I heard my voice resounding off of the rest of the place and I tried my best to not freak out too much inside. It would do me no good. I needed to keep a cool head, so I could figure out what it was I was supposed to be doing to get out of here. I had to get out of here.
I waited for the man that was quick to act but slow to anger. I found him cruel, and it took me having to wait so long, as more of the same. He wanted me to have to pay for it a long time. That’s just how he was. It was annoying to say the least.
I shouted out again, telling him that I was just making sure that everything was okay. I didn’t care if he was okay or not, it was the curiosity of it all that made me say anything at all. I had long since given up on being saved or rescued. I hadn’t thought that it would be anyone to save me, so when I saw Frank and he had this look of grief on his face, but he was there, coming toward me, my heart felt like it was about to burst. Before I could do anything else, I asked him if he was really there. It just came out.
“Yeah,” he chuckled and touched my face gently, “I’m here.”
I wanted to get up and wrap my arms around him, but I was strapped to the chair and even when he was able to get my hands off of the chair, I still could barely move. I’d been there for too long, in the same position for too long, and it was hard to function when I felt like that.
Frank didn’t make me wait to be in his arms. He pulled me in close and kissed me gently. I knew that everything was going to be okay. I’d never been so happy to see someone in all of my life and when he pulled away and really looked at me, I asked him again if he was real. I couldn’t believe he was here, he was actually here!
“You’re okay.” Frank was wiping away tears from my face that I didn’t even know I’d cried. I was just worked up and my arms hurt like they were so heavy and hard to lift up, but it was just from being that way for so long.
Before I could say anything else to Frank, another man came in and he had the same look as Jeff’s men. I didn’t like him instantly. He reminded me of someone that was going to hurt me or cause me trouble. I didn’t know him, and I didn’t want to know him.
“Frank, there is someone behind you,” I warned, nodding so that he would look before he was hit over the head and this little reunion of ours was over. It felt over to me.
