Total pages in book: 36
Estimated words: 33444 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 167(@200wpm)___ 134(@250wpm)___ 111(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 33444 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 167(@200wpm)___ 134(@250wpm)___ 111(@300wpm)
He shouted, pushing himself to his feet. Once his weight was off me, I crawled as best I could to the corner of the room and tucked myself into a ball. It was all I was capable of. I couldn’t even cry. Oh, tears poured freely from my eyes, but I didn’t have the strength to sob out my fear and frustration.
I thought there were screams all around me, not only in this room but in others nearby, but it was hard to tell. The more I tried to move, the more the room spun. Somewhere in the background of all that, and the ringing in my ears, I knew a fight raged. Was it more men coming to chop off the legs of someone else? Oh, God!
Then someone grabbed at my arms. I was helpless to stop them. I thought I was even more groggy than I had been when I was about to be raped. Whatever drug they’d given me had started to take hold. It was only the adrenaline coursing through my veins that kept me conscious.
“Hold on, honey. We’re gettin’ you outta here.”
“P-Please…” I managed to gasp out between embarrassing whimpers. “D-don’t h-hurt me.” It was a pitiful attempt at begging, and I knew it. But I had nothing else. No energy. No clarity of mind. I didn’t know what to say to appease this man.
“No one’s gonna hurt you. I’ve got you. Takin’ you back to the States. You’re safe.” The man’s voice was deep and rough. It wasn’t soothing in the least. In fact, it was nearly as frightening as the voices of the men who held me prisoner here. The only difference was I understood what this guy was saying. At the moment, he was saying all the right things, but what if that was to get me to cooperate?
“No… D-don’t h-hurt m-me…” I could barely breathe. My heart pounded and my guts churned. If I’d had anything in my stomach I would have puked. My insides rebelled at being moved. The way my head swam didn’t help matters either.
He didn’t say anything else, but it wasn’t long until a harsh wind blew into my face. There was no rain, but it reminded me of home when a tornado was about to hit. There might not be rain, but the gale carried projectiles and blew so hard it would have probably knocked me off my feet. I vaguely remembered hearing the howling wind but had been too terrified to really notice.
“We’ve got to get to the airfield!” a man beside us yelled. “I doubt even Deke can take off in this shit!”
“We may need to find shelter and wait it out!” The guy carrying me had to yell to be heard over the roaring of the wind.
“Smoke says he’s hoping for a break in the weather. Something about the outer bands having an uneven edge? I don’t know.” I was able to open my eyes and focus just as an old, light-colored pickup of some sort pulled up and skidded to a halt.
“Get ’em in the back of the Humvee. Not too comfortable, but it’s protection from the wind. Rain’s comin’ too.”
The next thing I knew, I was being shoved into the back corner of an enclosed vehicle. I thought the same man had hold of me, but wasn’t sure. I looked up at his face, trying to see through the haze over my vision and in the dim light.
He wore a combat helmet, as well as a dark T-shirt and a bulletproof vest over his shirt. A full beard obscured his lower face. Tattoos covered his arms and crept up one side of his neck which glistened with sweat. I could feel his strength where I lay against him as the truck jolted forward. About the time we took off, rain started coming down. There were a couple of small windows, one of them close to me. Water distorted the view as rain pelted against the glass, though it was possible my vision was simply too fuzzy to see. Combine that with the jostling of the vehicle as they sped over the rough terrain, and I had no idea what was actually going on outside.
The guy took a bottle of water from someone and twisted the top off it. “Can you drink for me?”
Was he kidding? I wanted water almost more than I wanted my freedom. I nodded, and he placed the mouth to my lips and tilted the bottle gently. I tried to gulp it down, but he forced me to go slow. If I’d been strong enough, I’d have grabbed the bottle and done it myself, but I couldn’t make my arms move. It felt like they were weighted down, or tied. No matter how hard I tried to move them, I couldn’t seem to lift more than a finger.