Marked: Chapter 24

It’s pitch black in here, but there’s enough light from the hallway that I can see three figures lying on the floor.

Gasoline and oil smells fill my nostrils, dragging up memories I don’t have time for. Fighting back the flashes of figures walking through shadows, echoes of screams long past faded into the darkness, everything in me clenches.

This place is a war zone. Demons and monsters clash, and only the strongest will survive.

Proudly, my demons walk with me as I move toward the three figures folded into themselves on the cold, concrete floor.

“It’s gonna be bright as hell. Cover your eyes,” Zack announces just before he flips the lights on.

“Shit.” The girl in the middle puts her hands over her eyes. “Too bright.”

“Can you turn them down?” I look to the switch. There’s no dimmer. Of course not, it’s a mechanic’s shop. There’s on or off.

“Sorry. No.” Zack frowns, then turns his attention to the three women. The one on my left is asleep, the one to the right is a tearful mess.

“Oh god.” I run to the sleeping one. “Is she all right?”

“Who are you?” the girl in the middle demands. “Don’t touch her!” she screams at me when I reach for the sleeping figure.

“See. I told you I heard screaming,” I say to Zack.

“Don’t touch her!” Chains rattle as she lunges at me.

“It’s all right.” I back off from the sleeping figure. “We’re going to get you out of here,” I say. Zack helps me get back to my feet and pulls me away from the girls.

“They’re scared, let’s give them a second,” he reassures me. “They don’t know who we are.”

I nod, looking them over as terror bubbles up in my stomach.

“This is the place, Zack.” My whisper is hoarse. “I was there.” I point to the middle girl. “Quinn was there.” The sleeping girl. “And Mom, when they had here in here, was there.” I point to the oldest of the three women.

“You’re not there anymore, little bird,” he reminds me. He’s so patient with me.

“You were here?” the girl in the middle asks, dropping her hand from her eyes and blinking against the light. They’ve been darkness for days, maybe longer. It’s going to take a while before their eyes adapt to any light.

“I was. Right where you are.” I nod. “I know you’re really scared right now, but we are here to help you. The others aren’t coming back.” I step toward her. “They are never going to hurt you, or anyone, again.”

Dirt clings to her blonde hair. It’s matted and tangled all around her head. Black smudges cover her cheeks. Dried blood is everywhere; on what’s left of a nightgown, her arms, her chin, her thighs.

I groan when I see the dark brown spots on her thighs. How many times did she have to endure their touches? My insides clench so hard at the anger boiling up, I’m afraid I’m going to vomit.

“He hurt you so badly,” I whisper squatting at her side. “Don’t worry, I hurt him even worse.” I hope I did these women justice.

“You hurt him?” she asks moving her gaze to Zack who is digging through tool benches.

“The first thing we cut off of him was his dick,” I assure her with a smile.

Her lips spread into a grin. The white teeth are a stark contrast to her dirty face.

“Which one was he? The big one?”

I nod. “Vince. Yeah. Artie’s gone too; he can’t touch you again.” I pick up the thick chain links. They’re heavier than I remember. My ankles had bruises from the shackles for weeks. The same marks are on her.

I touch the purple splotches. “We’ll get these off. I promise.”

“Thank god you’re here,” the older woman finally speaks, wiping her dirty hands across her face. She’s as filthy as the other girls.

“Are you their mom?” My tone flattens. History repeats itself.

“She is, and she’s not doing good. She keeps talking gibberish and then she’s reasonable. I think we were left in the dark too long.” The girl points to the sleeping figure. “That’s Jackie, she’s my sister. They hurt her the worse. I tried to keep her awake, but she keeps sleeping.”

“Jackie. Got it, and you?”

“Charlie.” She sits up a little more, wincing with the movement. “That’s our mom, Sharon.”

“I’m Harley.” I try to smile. “I’m going to check on Jackie, all right?” She needs to feel comfortable with us. It’s going to be hard for her to trust anyone after what they’ve endured. I won’t do anything that she doesn’t give the okay to. It’s obvious, between the three of them, she’s been carrying the strength. Without her, they would have collapsed into their terror much sooner.

“Yeah.” She nods. “I think her ribs are broken, be careful.”

“Okay.” I crawl over to the sleeping girl. She’s completely naked, covered in bruises from top to bottom. I brush her hair from her face and her eyes slowly blink open. “There you are.” I smile softly. “We’re not going to hurt you.”

She licks at her dried, cracked lips and gives a tiny nod.

“I’m so tired.” Her voice barely registers, it’s so soft.

“It’s all right. You rest. I’m going to find some water while Zack, that’s my boyfriend over there, he’s going to cut these chains off, all right?” I gently move her arm away from her torso, and see the dark purple bruise over her ribs. When I touch her, she jumps. “Shit, sorry. Sorry. I won’t touch that again. I think your sister’s right, they’re broken.”

“Me too.” Jackie winces. “They kicked me so many times when I wouldn’t–” Tears roll down her face, leaving clean streaks among the grime and dirt of her cheeks. “So then I did. I let them–”

“Not your fault,” I say firmly, just like Zack did for me. “Nothing in this place was your fault. You survived. That was your job. And you did it. You survived.” I’m not sure who I’m talking to more here, these women or myself.

She licks at her cracked lips some more and nods.

“I’m gonna find water. Zack’s got the bolt cutters. Just do what he says, okay? He’s a little scary looking but he’s a good guy,” I assure them. “He’s the best.”

“All right.” Jackie nods again, and slowly shoves herself up to lean back against the wall.

“There’s what looks like a break room over there. Maybe there’s a sink.” Zack gestures to a door in the corner of the room as he kneels down by the naked girl.

I freeze every time a chain drops onto the floor. Trying to distract myself, I focus on grabbing the water bottles from the mini-fridge in the break room. Leftover burger wrappers litter one of the tables, and the trashcan is full of beer cans. These assholes were here, watching these girls in their hell from the window of the room, while having burgers and beers.

The urge to kill them again overwhelms me.

Another chain clanks to the concrete, and I freeze.

Deep breath in.

Slowly let it out.

I’m free of this place.

And now they are, too.

Zack has them freed by the time I get back, and I hand each of them a bottle of water.

“Thank you.” Charlie opens the bottle and starts gulping it down.

“Slow,” I tell her. “Or you’ll throw up.” She stops drinking and nods.

Jackie can’t hold the bottle long, so she takes small sips then puts it down. She’s so pale beneath all the dirt on her face.

“I have people coming.” Zack brings blankets from wherever he found them, and hands one to each of them. “They’re going to take you to the hospital.”

Charlie takes the blanket and scoots over to her sister, wrapping one around her naked body.

“See, Jackie, you’re gonna be fine. We’re going home.” Charlie hugs her.

Sharon pushes herself up to her feet and staggers over to her daughters. Tears roll off her cheeks.

“I’m so sorry, girls.” She sits between them, pulling them to her.

“Did you do this?” I accuse her with a hard tone that I can’t hide.

Sharon turns her exhausted eyes up to me. “What?”

“Did you sell your girls to these people?”

“No.” She shakes her head. “The man I’ve been seeing…I think it was him. I’m positive it was him.” Her expression hardens. “He can’t get away with this.”

“He won’t,” Charlie promises. “Who is coming? Your boyfriend said he has people coming?” Charlie asks me.

“I have two men coming, Jax and Casper.” Zack squats down by the huddled women. “They are going to take you to the hospital, and they’ll stay there until you feel safe. If you tell them to leave, they will. If you ask them to stay, they will. Their job is to protect you until you’re ready to be without them. For however long that takes.”

“You said they’re all dead, though.” Charlie turns her eyes to me.

“They are. But that doesn’t mean you’re done being scared.” I frown. The fear lingers. It stains your soul if you try to ignore it. When you shove the demons beneath the bed, they’ll haunt your dreams. It’s better to let them into bed with you. Let them keep you safe.

She nods. “They’ll stay with us when we go home?”

“They don’t have to stay with you inside, but they’ll keep watch on the house, on you girls,” Zack explains. “You’re the boss. You tell them what you need. It’s their job to do it.”

“And what about Steven?” Charlie’s voice hardens. It’s easy to see the strength in her. She’s kept them strong during this nightmare.

Zack looks up at me over his shoulder.

“When you’re ready, if you decide you want to deal with him, Casper will tell you how to get in touch with us,” Zack says.

“Are you not staying now?” Jackie asks when Zack gets back to his feet.

“There’s one more monster to deal with,” he tells her.

The door opens behind us and the girls gasp, huddling together even tighter.

“Hey guys.” Zack walks off to greet his friends. They’re all just as tall and big as him. And dangerous looking.

“This is Casper,” Zack introduces the bald one. He wears the same cluster of black and red roses on his forearm.

“That one is Jax.” Zack points to the dark haired one. His tattoo is on his neck, right over his Adam’s apple.

If I didn’t know they were the good guys, I would be frightened.

“You’re not the police then.” Charlie tightens the blanket around her shoulders as she stands next to me.

“No. We’re not the police. But, if you want them, we can call them,” Casper offers.

“No.” The word is given hard, without hesitation. “They’ll get in the way.”

I wrap one arm around her shoulders.

“You did good, Charlie. You kept them as safe as you could.” She needs to hear it, and when her body softens, I know I was right.

“I wish I’d been there when you cut off his dick,” she says.

“He cried like a baby,” I promise her.

“I hate him. I hate all of them.” The venom in her voice is enough to kill, I think.

I squeeze her a little. “Hate them for as long as you need to. But don’t forget to let some love in later, when you’re done hating. Love for yourself. For your mom and sister.”

“Mom’s boyfriend did this,” she says with disgust. “We’re sure of it.”

“Like Zack said, when you’re ready, you’ll get in touch with us.” I pat her shoulder. “Will you be okay with these guys?”

“Charlie?” Casper steps up to us. His eyebrows are up high, like he’s trying to gauge her reaction to him, and his voice is soft. “We’re going to take it from here, if that’s all right with you. It looks like your sister needs medical attention right away. We can go to a hospital, or I have private doctors that can help. It’s up to you where we go. Either way, me and Jax are with you as long as you need us.”

She slides her gaze to me.

“Zack wouldn’t let them near you if they weren’t good guys,” I assure her.

“All right then,” she whispers, but there are tears in her eyes. “The hospital will have to call the police, won’t they?”

“Sometimes they will, sometimes they won’t. But with the three of you showing up with these types of injuries, my guess is they’ll want to,” Casper explains patiently. “But again, if you don’t want to talk to the police, you don’t have to, even if they get called.”

“It’s okay. You can go to the hospital if you want. You have no reason to trust any of us, but I promise you’re safe now.”My words are just that, words. It’s going to take more than just a promise from me that she’s safe before she’ll be able to believe it. Trust will take even longer.

“The hospital is fine. If we want to leave, they’ll let us, right?”

Casper nods. “I won’t let them keep you against your will.” He reminds me of Zack, the way his promise sounds so concrete. He won’t let anyone hurt them.

“What should we do?” she asks her mom.

“I think you’re right, let’s go to the hospital.” Sharon nods.

It’s going to make things a little more difficult for them, because they’ll have to answer a lot of questions. But they have every reason not to want to go anywhere private with these guys. Hell, even leaving here with them is risky.

“All right. We’re gonna get you comfortable, then take you by ambulance to the hospital.” As he speaks, Jax wheels in a gurney for Jackie. She’s the most injured.

“Harley, we’ve got to go. Let the guys do their thing,” Zack whispers in my ear, tugging on my arm.

“Yeah. Okay.” I hug Charlie then look over at her sister and her mom. They’re leaning against each other. Sharon is holding her daughter in her arms, stroking her hair. “Okay.”

“These guys can get a hold of us right away, if you need something. All right?” I squeeze her hands.

Tears well up in her eyes.

“It’s all right, Charlie. It’s over.” But not really. It won’t be, until every image of what’s happened to her, to her family, has been processed and she can beat them down again. The physical part is done, but the rest of her journey is just beginning.

“Okay.” She flicks away a tear as Casper brings another gurney over to her. “Thank you. Thank you so much for finding us.”

Casper easily picks her up and lays her on the bed, immediately covering her with her blanket and getting her comfortable.

“They’re going to be okay, little bird,” Zack assures me as he opens the passenger door of his car for me.

“Maybe we should let them come when we talk with Jimmy.” I watch through the window as Casper eases Charlie into the back of an ambulance. Jackie’s next in line.

Zack gets behind the wheel.

“They’re not ready for that yet. They need to heal a bit first. Don’t worry. Charlie reminds me of you. She’ll get in touch when she’s ready. Then she can really heal.” He puts the car in gear and tears out of the parking lot behind the mechanic’s shop.

We’re fifty miles outside the city in a tiny-ass town. Not a single house or business for fifteen miles in either direction.

Even if we’d been able to get out of the shop, we’d have been too lost to figure out how to get home.

“Jimmy’s next, right?” I watch the shop fade into the sideview mirror.

“Tonight, little bird. We check in on him tonight.”