Fifty-eight: Lives on the line

Temperance

"You don't have to do this," My throat burning as my words barely make a sound. The dry blood caked on my skin is slightly chipping away. My body smells like blood and body odor. My hair is oily and filled with blood. My face is swollen, my eyes barely able to open. I only wonder how I’m not a corpse.

"We don't have to. But we want to." Vicki replies, changing the cloth on my stab wound.

I’m almost surprised she heard my words seeing as how she couldn’t seem to care when I was screaming.

I’m tired of being in this room with these people. Anyone in my situation would be. The only problem is Alec would be in danger if he tried to save me. My freedom and safety isn’t worth his life.

Did my father give him our whereabouts already? Alec could be on his way here already.

Then all of a sudden, I hear the all-too familiar sound of a gun go off. I tense up, fearing that it is Alec. Of course he would immediately rush to save me, putting everyone’s life on the line just for me. What a selfish thing to do.

Vicki looks up at me with a smirk and stands up, grabbing her gun out of her waistband. If I could open my eyes further then slits, they would be wide.

"No, no-no. Vicki please. Please don’t hurt him." My voice trembles with tears streaming down my face. She sprints out, leaving me crying to myself. If I could scream right now, I would.

My life is such a mess.

***********************

Alec

Guns are firing at me without any opportunity for me to get a hit on them. Luckily for me, the people that are shooting are outnumbered. The only problem is that we don't have any idea where Temperance is. We don't know if she is hurt or dead already.

"Shit!" I hear a yell behind me. I turn around to find Ethan covered in blood, the crimson color seeping from his shoulder and onto his shirt.

"There's more than just a few people here, Alec." He puts his hand over the wound in pain.

Does Temperance's buyer have a gang? Did any of them have one?

If only I remembered his name, I could find everything I wanted on him.

I duck behind a counter as a bullet flies over my head. Several of us have to take cover to avoid getting shot at. The reinforcements aren't here yet. We didn’t expect to need any. We thought it would only be a few dumb adults. But apparently, There's a lot more than that.

A scream hits my ears, sounding like it’s coming from a female. Is it Temperance? I thin my lip on the thought of her voice.

I shake my head, whoever had screamed isn’t Temperance. It sounded more of a mock than a cry for help.

I look at my men, who look back at me, some still shooting. What do I do? What should I do?!

"Cover me!" I yell at the men. They nod, and in no time, I am crouching to avoid bullets. I know where the scream came from. Down the hall. Down the stairs. It was loud and clear.

Even if it’s a trap to get me to where the enemy is, I’ll gladly walk into it if that means I can get Temperance.

I walk down the stairs slowly. Every time my foot hits a stair-step, there is a loud creak. I fear I will break the stairs and come tumbling down.

My finger is on the trigger, and my heartbeat is so loud I can hear it in my ears. I wonder if whoever is down here can hear it too.

I find myself at the end of the stairs, looking down a long hallway with no lights. There’s a door on the right of me that I can hear faint crying in.

I swiftly turn myself into the doorway, my gun extended as my eyes search around the room. As soon as my eyes lay on Temperance’s father my gun follows.

I glance around, my face falling as I see Temperance looking so beat up. Her head is hanging with her hair in her face. She is bleeding.

Her father has a gun to her head.

"Let her go!" I yell at him. He smiles and lets out a laugh shaking his head as if I am the pathetic one. "VICKI!" He suddenly yells.

I expect Temperance to flinch like she always does with loud noises, but she doesn't. She doesn't move at all. It’s like she isn’t conscious. What did he do to her?

"Please let her go." I plead. The one known as Vicki comes out with a gallon of gasoline. I thin my lips, the image of this place on fire burns into my brain

Vicki looks at me, her eyes cold as she pours the gas around Temperance. Erin steps into the room, watching as the gas is being poured on her step daughter, soaking her beaten body in the chemicals. Erin pulls out a thing of matches and hands it to Temperance's dad.

"You're her father! Why would you do that to your own daughter?” My teeth grind against each other. From behind me, I hear footsteps running down the stairs. I keep my eyes on the two by Temperance. With my gun still pointed at her father's head.

"She deserves this. She's the one that killed her mother and her unborn sibling." He fumbles the package filled with matches.

I didn't know she had an unborn sibling. And I don't think she knows either.

"We were once a happy family. Until she ruined it." He spits, glaring at his unconscious daughter. My eyes catch Erin sneak out of the room after hanging Vicki the box of matches.

"I hate when people blame their children for things out of their control." I hear Ethan speak behind me, I want to turn my head to assess his wound but I stay still. "Oh no. She deserves it, you little shit." Temperances father pulls out a match.

Then without hesitation, I pull the trigger. Two shots go off. One from me, hitting her father in the head. One from Ethan, hitting Vicki in her arm. I watch as her father's lifeless body falls to the floor. Vicki screams in pain.

Then two more shots ring out—none from either of us. I know who it was aimed at, though. The two are missing from this scene. Austin and Erin.

I run over to Temperance and place my finger to her neck, checking her pulse. As I do that, Ethan grabs a key of her dead father and takes her out of handcuffs.

She is beaten badly. If I hadn't known her for as long as I have, then I probably wouldn't be able to recognize her.

I pick her up bridal style, her head hangs off my arm, and her hair is ratty and covered in dry blood.

"I feel like we should've tortured them." Ethan sighs. I nod to agree with him. Torturing them would have been way better. But in a moment like that, it was either those freaks or Temperance.

Whenever we get to everyone else, they gasp at the sight of the girl in my arms. My gang is bloody, some shot, a few already on the way to our medical room, taken by the reinforcements we needed.

We are a mess. But that's what happens when you risk lives for the ones you love.