17. Killing 101

Once again,I"m sandwiched in the back of the car, but instead of being between Blade and Saint, I"m between Riley and Nixon, and the chill that runs down my spine is getting progressively worse. As if we"re just a group of normal people, Blade pulls up to a McDonald"s drive-thru and turns in his seat, smiling as his eyes lock onto mine.

"Are you hungry?" He asks, dropping his gaze to my parted thighs and then back up quickly, keeping that dangerous smile on his face that sucked me in from the start.

"I could eat," I answer in a soft tone, still nervous about where we"re going once we leave here. They said something about going to the park to pick up a toy. In so many words, I was told I"ll be killing someone tonight and I feel sick to my stomach, but still, I"m starving. A voice cuts through the speaker, asking if we"ll be using the mobile app today and Blade answers with a solid No, continuing with the order.

"We"ll just take 10 McDoubles, five small fries, and five large cokes; that"s all." There"s some sighing on the other end before the voice tells him to pull forward for his total.

"Why work here if they"re going to have a fucking attitude?" Blade scoffs, pulling up to the next window and taking his wallet out of his back pocket. Once we have our food and are back on the road, we eat in silence, the sound of crinkling wrappers and slurping sodas echo in my ears, but my eyes stay glued to the sight of Salem out the back windows—the town I haven"t seen in days. It"s funny, even though I know it hasn"t changed, everything looks so different. Buildings that used to be lit are dark as we pass them. Parks that used to have kids playing in them at this time of night are now empty and desolate, leaving a shiver scattering along my tailbone as I slowly sip on my soda, relishing the burn from the carbonation. I pop a fry into my mouth, sucking the salt off of it and letting it melt against my tongue before finally chewing it and swallowing.

"So…" Nixon says, rubbing his belly as he lets out a loud burp. " Are you excited about tonight, Scarlett?" He grins, rolling the back window down as he lights a cigarette, holding the pack out to me. I take one as my mouth waters, craving the taste of nicotine for some reason.

"Ecstatic," I sneer as he lights the cigarette for me, knowing they can all hear the sarcasm in my voice. Riley leans forward, whispering something to Blade and Saint in the front seats, and as hard as I try to hear what he"s saying to them, I can"t. Blade and I lock eyes in the rearview mirror, and the look in them turns my blood cold, almost freezing it as it courses through my veins. I don"t like it. The look. Something going on. I know it is. They have something planned and I"m not going to like what it is. Out of nowhere, Blade pulls a random U-turn, sending me sliding into Riley. He wraps his arms around me, kissing the top of my head as he lets out an evil chuckle.

"It"s about time they listened to my ideas," he whispers into my ear so quietly that no one else can hear. My body starts to shake against his, but as he begins softly grazing my thigh with the tips of his fingers, oddly, I begin to relax. Nixon reaches into his pocket, retrieving those two little white pills again. Grabbing my chin, he tugs me toward him and forces my mouth open, placing the pills onto my tongue.

"I almost forgot about these," he smiles. "We don"t need you going crazy on us now do we?" He forces my mouth closed as the pills begin to dissolve into my saliva, leaving a disgusting, bitter taste on my tongue that I should be used to by now, but I"m not. I cringe, trying hard not to gag or throw them up.

"Swallow them, sinner. Be a good girl for me," Blade orders, still watching me in the rearview. There goes me trying to save one. I think to myself as I swallow the pills with all four of them watching intensely. One of them has to be crazy because these are crazy pills they give to the insane and all they"re doing is making me even more insane than I already was.

Noticing we"re going back toward my apartment, panic surges through me, and I find myself reaching over and gripping Nixon and Riley"s thighs, digging my nails into them deeper than I think I am. But they don"t say anything; they like pain too much. I haven"t seen a newspaper or a TV and I haven"t had my phone since they took me, so I have no idea what they"ve been saying about what happened at my apartment. And what"s even worse, I have no idea what they"ve been saying about me and if they"re even looking for me. Plus, I have no clue where Melanie is.

"Why are we going back here?" I ask angrily, loud enough for all of them to hear as my eyes turn big and wild, darkness taking over the color within them. The pills are kicking in. I have to find out exactly what they are… not a guess; they feel like poison to my body and I hate the way they make me feel—these ones anyway.

"Because we have a little surprise for you," Saint chimes in, not even bothering to turn around as he speaks deeply with a devious tone.

"But I don"t want to go inside my apartment… I don"t want to see all the blo–"

"Who the fuck said that"s where we"re going?" He growls, growing angrier by the second, turning into a man that I"ve only seen a couple of times—a man on the verge of losing his mind and everything he"s been trying so hard to control.

"Where are we going then?" I keep pestering them, a grateful smile claims my lips as I await the answer… but it never comes. All that follows is silence as things continue to grow tense, and I know that whatever they have planned for me isn"t going to be about sex tonight… at least not all about it.

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