Page 82 of Burn With Me

I was going to help. I’d planned on beating the living shit out of the man and then setting the house on fire. However, there was something so poetic about how his body was sprawled on the bed, thrashing as the girl pulled with all her strength, choking the life out of Benny.

His eyes found mine and silently pleaded for help. Instead, I placed the end of the bat on the floor and continued to watch the show until his body stopped twitching. Benny stared up at the ceiling. The girl was still yelling and pulling and making one hell of a racket, not that I blamed her. Making my way to the closet, I opened the door and grabbed two sweaters and socks from the drawer. There was another drawer with boxer shorts in it, and I tossed one set at the girl, quietly staring from her corner perch before moving around the bed.

The girl seemed more like a feral animal than a human. She snarled at me as I squatted down.

“If you want to live, then put this on and follow me out of the house. It’s set to explode in…” I glanced at the timer on my wrist that was synced to the bomb. “Twelve minutes.”

I held out the clothes to the girl, and she stared at them and then up into my eyes.

“Why should we trust you?”

It was the stupidest move I’d ever made, but I pulled the ski mask off my face and purposely turned my head to show off the ragged scar on the right side of my cheek.

“You have no other reason other than to know that I, too, was abused.” I turned my eyes back to hers. “And now I kill those that hurt others. You’ve also seen my face, and I must trust that you keep my identity a secret.” Dropping the clothes in front of her, I pulled the mask back into place and looked around. “Where does he keep the key for your cuffs?”

“Over there,” the girl pointed to a box on the tall dresser in the corner. Dumping the contents, I found the keys and returned to the quiet girl. At first, she was shaking but held out her hands. The cuffs fell away, and I stood and made my way to the second girl. Her eyes were still warry as she finished pulling on the clothes I’d given her. She held out her hands, and I slipped the little key into the lock, freeing her.

Benny let out a dying wheeze, and although he was good and dead, the sound made the girl jump. But I smirked as she balled her hand into a fist and slammed it into the middle of Benny’s face.

“Fucking asshole, I told you I’d make you pay,” she growled and then flicked her gaze up to me. “My name is Raven, and that’s Cindy.” She pointed to the girl that was like a mouse in comparison to Raven.

“DW. Okay, let’s go.”

“What about all the other guys?”

That gave me pause. “How many are there?”

She shrugged. “Usually ten or more in the house.”

Well, that didn’t give me a good feeling. I never bothered to check the basement and there was no time now.

“Is the basement soundproof?”

Again, Ravan shrugged. “I don’t know, but that’s usually where they take people to kill them, and we never hear anything up here.”

Okay, that was a good sign, but I wasn’t taking any chances. Making my way to the bathroom, I pulled it open and stared at the short roof that lead to the backyard.

“We better go this way.” I pointed. “We really need to go. We don’t have much time left. Whoever is left in here will die in less than five minutes.”

That got the girls moving. Cindy was first. I helped her up and out of the window before doing the same for Raven. The window was a tight fit for someone my size, but with a hard push, I was able to squeeze through and then looked around before jumping down to the ground.

“One at a time, jump, and I’ll catch you,” I whispered. A light turned on inside one of the other rooms besides the kitchen. Shit. “Hurry up.”

Cindy jumped, and she gave a little scream as I caught her, setting her down on her socked feet. Raven was next, and I caught her easily as she leaped off the roof.

I could hear yelling inside, and knew that the two guards in the kitchen had been found. It wouldn’t be long before they headed upstairs— it would be their final minute. Not caring if they wanted me to or not, I grabbed the girls around the waist and lifted them off the ground as I ran for it. I counted down in my head and hated that I was setting off all the motion detectors as we went.

Ten

We reached the walkway.

Nine

I turned the corner and sprinted toward the next street over.

Six

I burst out onto the next street over.