Chapter 24

24

Tank

E verything fucking hurt . I was soaked in my own blood, and bruises littered my exposed skin. My dick was raw, my balls fucking ached from how much I'd been forced to cum, and my ass was brutalized. I'd been ripped open, and I knew I was bleeding from my rectum. I needed a fucking hospital—not the bullshit medical care they were giving me. I wasn't being given time to heal, and pain medicine wasn't going to fix what they were doing to me.

They were torturing me just enough to nearly kill me, but they refused to toe that line too much.

I clenched my teeth when the woman's dry pussy slid down my cock again. Staring up at the dark, moldy ceiling, I forced myself to breathe deeply, doing my best to ignore the pain. A low growl of pain rumbled in my chest when she dug her fucking nails into one of the many open wounds on my stomach, scooping up blood to use as lube.

Jesus fucking Christ.

"You used to be such a talker, sweetheart," she murmured. When I didn't respond, she gripped my chin, her sharp, claw-like nails digging into my skin hard enough to make me bleed. I blankly stared up at her, refusing to give her anything. It would only please her.

I wasn't that scared little kid anymore. I wasn't desperate to please anyone. I wasn't afraid of death.

At this point, I was welcoming it with open fucking arms.

Carter had informed me two weeks had passed. Two weeks of being tortured. Of being raped. Of being fucking brutalized.

Two weeks that they also hadn't gotten their hands on Beck and Clarke because my family was protecting them. And every goddamn day, they punished me for it, but I welcomed that with open arms, too. I'd endlessly suffer if it meant they always remained safe.

She snarled and slapped me hard across the face. I worked my jaw around, my skin tingling, heat blooming across my cheek. I snarled when she dug her nails into an open wound on my chest, ripping the skin open further. A string of curses lingered on the tip of my tongue, but I sank my teeth into the flesh hard enough to make it bleed.

I wouldn't speak, no matter what the fuck she did to me. I hadn't spoken since my first day here, and it was driving them nuts .

"You're such a fucking?—"

Her words were cut off when her fucking head exploded, her brain matter and blood splattering over my skin. I blinked in surprise as she slumped to the side, falling off the mattress and hitting the floor with a sickening thump. I looked up to see who the intruder was, and every muscle in my body sagged at the sight of River and Joey.

"Holy fucking shit ," River snarled, horror filling his eyes. He rushed to me as he strapped his weapon behind his back. Joey did the same, both of them working quickly to pick the locks on the shackles binding my arms and legs to the table. I grunted in pain when each limb was released. I couldn't remember the last time I'd been able to freely move. I hadn't had a bowel movement in days due to no food being given to me, and they'd been forcing me to just piss all over myself.

"We're getting you out of here," Joey assured me just as gunshots exploded upstairs.

River hauled me off the bed, and I muttered a curse, my throat raw and painful. My knees wobbled, threatening to give out beneath me, and Joey quickly wrapped his arm around my waist, both he and River supporting my weight. "We can carry—" Joey started, but I shook my head.

"No," I croaked. "Walk."

River clearly didn't like my answer, but he clenched his jaw and nodded anyway. Together, they helped me up the many stairs that led out of the basement. Each step was agonizing, and a couple of times, I ended up sinking to one knee, my legs not strong enough to hold me up. But every time my legs failed me, River and Joey hauled me back up and forced me to keep moving.

The gunshots grew louder with each step further up the stairs, and by the time we emerged from the basement, the gunshots were deafening. Shouts of pain exploded through the halls. Orders were yelled. And all the while, Alejandro's men moved like smoke, taking out targets effortlessly while Vern—one of our patched members—Holden—our Sergeant at Arms—and Ink—Joey's VP—rushed over to us, guarding the three of us as Joey and River led me to the nearest exit.

"He needs a hospital," Joey told River as they led me to the van waiting just outside the doors. River grunted as they settled me into the back.

"We'll get him there," Vern said, looking over at Holden, who nodded once in agreement. "Take all these mother fuckers out."

Joey clapped Vern's shoulder before he and River rushed back inside. Vern jumped into the back of the van with me, and Holden rushed to the driver's seat. I grunted in pain when Holden stepped on the gas, lurching us forward right over a rough bump.

"Sorry!" Holden called. "You're fucking bleeding everywhere, Tank."

I looked down at myself. He wasn't wrong. And I probably should've been alarmed by the amount of blood seeping from my ass, but I was too tired. Too exhausted. Just fucking bone-deep done with it all.

"Beck? Clarke?" I rasped, my eyelids drooping as Holden hit the highway, gunning the van to make it go as fast as it could.

"They're safe, brother," Vern assured me as he draped a worn, soft blanket over my naked body. "They've been safe from the very moment you sacrificed yourself for them. They miss you."

A small smile tilted my lips. "I miss them, too," I rasped.

And then, the world faded to black, the pain, exhaustion, and lack of food and proper hydration officially taking me away.