“No…NO!” I screamed and scrambled backwards.
But that didn’t stop them.
They spilled through the doorway, spreading out like a plague as they came for me. One had a syringe and a gun in his hands, the other had both open as he reached for me.
“No fighting now.” He grunted before he lunged.
But I did fight, drawing on that desperate need to survive. He lunged for me and I clenched my fist then swung, giving it my all.
My knuckles hit warm flesh as the blow collided with his cheek. His head snapped sideways, causing him to stumble slightly before he caught himself. When he turned back, his gaze was savage.
Terror gripped me. I shook my head and scanned the room, desperately searching for a weapon. But there was nothing, just a plastic jug and a cup. I grabbed what I could and threw my pillow at him before I pitched the jug of water at his head.
He ducked, letting the jug fly past and hit the wall. Water dribbled down as I spun and raced for the doorway. But the other one was there, lunging to grab me around the waist and lift my feet from the floor.
Instinct kicked in, making me yank my feet up before I drove one back, slamming my heel against his shin. He let me go with a roar and I dropped to the floor. Only this time I didn’t run. I turned on him and snapped my fist out to connect with his nose.
Crunch.
His head jerked backwards and those dark eyes were dazed as I drew my arm back again…until a sting came at my other shoulder. The plunger was fast. I shoved backwards, swinging around and slashing my hands through the air like a wounded animal. Because that’s what I was at that moment.
Cornered.
Frightened.
And alone.
“Easy now.” The guard with the syringe urged. “They told us you’d fight.”
I shook my head as the sight of him blurred when he took a step toward me. My pulse skipped while terror howled inside me.
“No.” I slurred. “No.”
Darkness rose, stealing my movement as the guard I’d punched came closer. Still, I forced myself to lift my head as he neared. He swiped the back of his hand under his nose, then swung his arm back, arcing through the air.
I was too weak to fight.
Or move.
Slap!
I stumbled sideways as agony ripped through my skull. My hair lashed my face, covering the movement. But it didn’t matter, not as the drug they’d injected warped my mind. Warmth slid from my nose as the room swayed and I was yanked forward.
“No!” I bucked, trying to fight as he picked me up and hauled me over his shoulder, carrying me out of the room like a sack over his shoulder.
“Stop.” I clawed the doorway, but we were gone, stepping over the dead guard as we left.
Blood splatter was neon red all around me. It marred the walls and the floor as Coulter’s guard left track marks in his wake.
“No!” I bucked as he carried me along the corridor and turned. “NOOO!”
I fought, kicking and thrashing until he yanked me down. Agony burst through my feet and speared up my legs as they hit the floor. There was nothing I could do as my knees buckled and I fell to the floor. His hand was in my hair in an instant, yanking me upwards.
Tears came, blurring his face along with the drug.
“Fight me again and I’ll knock you out and do whatever the hell I want with you. How does that sound?”
The words chilled me all the way to the bone.
I stilled, and slowly lifted my tear-filled eyes to his.
“That’s what I thought.”
My searing scalp pulsed as he released his hold on my hair and lifted me over his shoulder again. I couldn’t fight him anymore. Instead, I held on as the drug slammed into me and I was carried along the hallway toward the conference rooms.
The two-way crackled and Walker’s roar was deafening until the guard reached down and switched it off. “No one is going to save you anymore.” He muttered and turned along a small corridor.
The faint sound of voices spilled out as a door opened, and I was carried inside. But those voices soon quieted as my attacker pulled me down off his shoulder and steadied me when my feet hit the floor.
They surrounded the massive table. All the commanders…and Coulter himself.
It was that same sickening stare that had found me before as he slowly rounded the edge of the table and came toward me.
The door closed with a thud.
My heart sank to the floor.
“Strip her.” Coulter demanded.
I didn’t have one to fight or even two, four of them came for me, yanking the straps of the red bodysuit and tearing the lace until there was nothing left. I screamed, slapping their hands, clawing what I could, until I was bare.
Until there was nothing left.
I wrapped my arms over my body, covering as much as I could as Coulter lowered his gaze, taking in every inch of me. “You are a goddamn masterpiece, aren’t you?”
A sickened, choked sound ripped from me.
“Do you think I’m stupid?” He murmured and stepped closer. “A fool, perhaps? Do you think I don’t notice the way they are around you? The looks, the subtle touches.” He met my gaze. “He’s marked you as his, I know it.”
I flinched from his touch as he brushed a strand of my hair, his voice so calm. “And for that alone, I want to destroy you. Get her onto the table.”
I bucked as the guards grabbed my wrists and lifted me.
“NO! NOOO!” I screamed until fire lashed my throat and then punched my feet out, thrashing in their hold as I was lifted and slammed onto the hard table.
Stars danced in my eyes as I was yanked down toward the edge.
“Hold her wrists and ankles.” Coulter growled as the sound of a zip came. “You can all have what’s left.”
Cheers filled the room. Roars of “Fuck yes!” drove searing acid into the back of my throat.
“No…no…nonono…NOOOOOO!” I howled, wrenching my gaze to each one, desperate to find someone who’d stop this. Please…please, don’t do this!
But there was no one.
Their grins.
Their excitement.
Was everywhere.
I wasn’t someone to save here. Not like their wives, or their girlfriends, or their mothers. No, I was a thing to be used.
And I couldn’t fight them all.
Their hands were steel shackles around my wrists, forcing my fists above my head. I slammed my feet against the table as they dragged me all the way to the bottom, kicking out as much as I could. The thud of my blows warbled, turning distorted and strange.
Faces moved in and out of focus. The burn of the table against my back from where they’d dragged me. The tear of tendons as they forced my legs open.
But it was the lights overhead I felt the most.
The blinding glare buzzed and stung as shadows moved around me, brushing the insides of my thighs. Hands touched me, mauling my breasts, parting my slit.
“Oh fuck, that’s what we want.” One of them moaned.
But those lights above me hummed loudly, growing more insistent as their fingers pushed in. I focused on that buzzing as it became a roar.
Whoosh…whoooosh…who-o-shhh my pulse became distant.
A tug came.
Followed by a pushhh.
Those lights above bounced…thrusting…throbbing and that push turned brutal. Pain followed, pain and the movement of my legs, lifting, stretching as wide as they could go…but those lights above ignited, turning blinding.
Grunts followed the violent movements.
But they were faint.
So faint I barely heard them at all.
Something cool slipped down my cheek, the slick trail turned cold in its wake. I tracked the sensation as the hold around my wrists clenched tighter as the wetness raced for my ear and slipped inside.
“I’ll make sure there’s nothing left by the time the truck comes tomorrow.” Someone said.
But I didn’t care anymore.
Because I wasn’t here.
Not in this room.
Or this building.
Or this body.
I was long gone.
