Page 161 of Scavenger's Oath

Eerily calm, Zane crouches beside him. “Tell us where the farm is. Or we’ll start getting creative,” he warns, eyes glinting with sadistic hope.

“P-please… y-you don’t understand—” the weasel whimpers

Phoenix exhales hard, eyes wild and unfocused. Then his face hardens before he lifts the knife and stabs it into the guy’s thigh.

He screams, shaking in the ropes. “PLEASE! They’ll kill me!” he begs. “You don’t understand who you’re dealing with!” The panic makes his voice wobble, but he still won’t give in.

Zane laughs bitterly. “We’llkill you,” he states, with a hint of amusement. “We saw which direction they went. It’s only a matter of time before we find her anyway.”

The three of us are like wolves circling, teeth bared, but the little doe we’re supposed to protect is gone. If I close my eyes, I can still feel the weight of her hand on my chest from last night, a warmth that’s already fading.

Rounding the chair, I yank the knife out of his thigh. Screams ring my eardrums again but I need him tosqueal.

The fucker’s chest heaves, eyes rolling wildly. He coughs, muttering something about ‘the farm’ but not giving the location.

I shove the tip of the blade deep up one of his nostrils and cut right through, slicing his cheek as it puckers in pain. Gore sprays onto Zane’s face, his hair dripping with it.

“Where?” I snarl, holding the knife to his other nostril.

“I couldn’t tell you if I wanted! You’ll never find it! It’s a two-hour drive. Down a beaten track off the highway. It’d take two days to walk from here!” the weasel shrieks.

“Then you’re wasting our time,” Zane growls, standing and snatching the knife from my hand. He grips the scum’s hair, yanks his head back and drives the blade into the guy’s eye.

Bloodcurdling screams fill the atmosphere. Then Zane twists it deeper, cracking the eye socket to reach the brain. The body slowly stops twitching.

Finally, Zane steps back, wiping the dripping steel on his pants and smearing the crimson across his chest like war paint.

Holy shit. He snapped before me.

He looks like the lunatic we found three years ago. Right now, I’m glad to have the psycho on our side.

“A two-hour drive narrows our search radius. This prick was just trying to buy them time to get off the highway,” Phoenix seethes. His hands are shaking but his eyes are dead.

“The truck has to make this trip,” I bite out, pushing past Phoenix and storming to the armoury.

Hearing them enter behind me, I start grabbing my gear with shaky hands. Knives, guns, grenades.Forget something? Fine—I’ll rip them apart with my teeth.

“I’ll check it over,” Phoenix says, cold but vibrating with rage. “We find them. We burn every fucking shack in this state if we have to.”

I look at them both, and I mean it when I say it. “No one touches her and lives.”

Phoenix meets my gaze with something cold and calculated settling over his face. “We don’t stop. Not until they’re all dead.”

Zane’s still panting like a bull. “I’m gonna tear them limb from limb.”

They have no idea what they unleashed.

We’ll go to war for Ivy. We’ll get her back, and rain mayhem on that farm.

Chapter 53

Ivy

The truck bed rattles under me, their shadows blotting out the sky as they reach to haul me out.

Others are already pouring out of the house to see who just arrived.

Metal rakes my spine as they yank me by the arms. One of them laughs as I cry out, grabbing a fistful of my shirt and pushing me over.