Page 163 of Scavenger's Oath

It smells exactly the same. Mould with strong undercurrents of body odour and old blood.

The floor groans under us as we move down the hall of the old decrepit farmhouse, symbols painted on the walls.

My feet snag on old nails pushing their way out of the tired floorboards. I glance up, looking down the hallway and my breath catches.

The siding.

That loose piece of clapboard near the back kitchen wall. The one I pried free with my bare hands, inch by inch over weeks. It’s covered with an extra plank of wood now.

No way out.

Did Jade ever make it out?I can’t see or hear her. She must’ve, and continued running like we planned—after I failed to meet her.

It took me two days to find the town that became my salvation. It was a miracle they were the first people I came across.

I just need to hang on for two days, until they find me… maybe less if they have a vehicle.

I can do that.

They shove me through the same battered door, the locks on the outside rattling. The iron bed and bare mattress haven’t even moved, chain still bolted to the bedpost.

My throat tightens as hopelessness starts to weigh down my heart again.

The rust on the bucket in the corner has bloomed bigger,browner, but it’s the same. Everything is the same.

Derek kneels beside me as the others leave and gently brushes my hair back like he’s playing with a doll.

“I can’t believe you actually ran,” he murmurs. “I thought we had something special.”

I stare at him, saying nothing as he wraps the shackle around my neck and locks it.

He smiles as if he feels sorry for me, then drops the act and snarls before slapping me hard.

“Stupid bitch,” he snaps, standing and kicking the door closed behind him.

The locks on the door click and I curl into myself on the bed.

The mattress beneath me groans, a low creak of old metal, like it remembers every night I cried into it. My elbow stings, cheek throbs. My face is wet, and I don’t even know if it’s blood or tears.

I had fought so hard to escape, walk through fields and forest until I was exhausted and delirious. After waking up near a collapsed barn on the edge of a ghost town, I’d crawled into an old car and prayed for death.

That’s exactly who found me. Death. A Nightmare. And the Devil himself.

And I loved it. I love them.

Now I’m back in hell. After everything. After hope had just begun to bloom. After planting seeds and smiling at the sky like the future belonged to me.

Even if that’s no longer true, I don’t belong to Bennett anymore.

I belong tothem.

And whether or not they come for me, my heart will never be owned by anyone other than them.

Morning light filters through the window but I’ve been awake for hours.

Sitting on the edge of the bed, my hands tremble in my lap, face aching from yesterday, probably already bruised. My body is sore, stomach painfully hollow, skin throbbing where rough fingers gripped too tight and gravel grazed me.

The sheet under me scratching my thighs like steel wool. I don’t know where my old blanket is gone but I don’t dare ask.