Twisted Steel: An MC Anthology: Second Edition by Elizabeth Knox (top 5 ebook reader txt) 📕

will find someone to come for me,” Dela answered for me. “You think it’s only the few in the trees over there but I’ve seen so many believers.” She threw up the air quotes to let us know that she didn’t believe it. “They weren’t just extremist, these were lawyers, politicians, police. The Children of Gaia’s reach is far.”

“That’s why you don’t want to go to the hospital or the cops.”

She shakes her head. “This isn’t the first time I’ve broken out. In fact, this is number four. The first time, Emerson caught me. I didn’t know where I was and I was still a bit drugged out. The second time I thought a police officer found me and was going to take me home, instead he just brought me back. I can’t tell you how fucking deceptive these people are. I just want to get far away from here.” She dropped her head down.

“Hey, there is nothing for you to be ashamed of. You should be fucking proud. You made it out.”

All my brothers look at me. It’s not like me to try and give anyone a pep talk. Yeah, I will take a bullet for any of them but I don’t do so well with the hand holding or pats on the back.

“I’ll be proud when all this is over.”

“What are we going to do to get ahead of it? Are we just going to take this to the bureau?” Spark asks.

“I think we need to figure out exactly what we are working with. It’s time for us to go hunting.”

“What the hell are we even fucking looking for?” Cody asks as we walk along the area where I originally ran into Dela.

She said the house was big enough to hold at least three dozen people so that is what the fuck we are looking for,” I replied, sweeping my eyes over the horizon. The problem is White Mountain has some serious terrain. It’s almost impossible to see for any clear distance without getting a direct line of sight. It is quite possible that there is a house hidden in these hills and we’ve just never seen it.

“I think she is talking bullshit.” Cody pushes a branch out of his way.

“Are you kidding me? Did you see her fucking back? You think she did that to herself for kicks?” Brendan says, clearly annoyed at the bullshit that was spewing out of Cody’s mouth.

“Who knows maybe she liked shit rough and now she’s just running away.”

“Cody, shut the fuck up. She didn’t like any of what happened to her. Now fucking focus so we can get this shit done.” I push past my little brother and take his place in the line.

We comb our way up this steep ass mountain and we get to the spot where she said that she and the rest of the women were taken to bathe and pick herbs. We did see quite a few footprints but there was no cabin large enough that would hold even half of the people she said were there.

“It’s getting late, there is obviously nothing going on over here.” Spark turns and is ready to move. I’m a bit disappointed that I’m not able to prove Dela is correct right away.

“Shhh.”

My eyes whip to Brendan, he is stock still and has his head cocked to the side as if he is trying to listen for something.

“Bre . . .” Spark tries to talk again but Brendan just throws his hand up into a fist indicating that we should all stop.

“Step lightly, ladies. Please be careful,” someone said in the distance.

“Oh shit,” Spark mouthed as we all dropped down into some form of cover.

Finally, we would see someone but where the fuck did they come from? There was nothing around here.

I shuffled forward quietly trying to get a good view of what was going on. Down by the farthest bank of the river there are three younger women, an older woman, and one man. None of them look particularly stressed and none of them have on chains or cuffs. If I were just strolling through the woods it would look like they were all on some sort of family outing. This shit was just weird as fuck.

“Hurry now, we don’t want anyone getting sick.”

None of the young women answered, they just moved along like they were on autopilot.

“We can’t just fucking leave them.” Brendan turned toward me, whispering harshly.

“Follow my lead,” I say so my brothers can hear me. If there was no need for violence, then I wouldn’t bring any hostility but if I had to bash this man’s head in with a rock then that is what the hell I would do.

I close up my jacket so that no one can see the gun at my side.

I walk straight toward the man, if he has a gun this is about to be a fucking stupid idea.

“Please help me. I’m lost. Please.” I stumble slightly giving the impression that I’m tired and about to keel over.

The women by the bank all gasp and the older woman puts herself between me and the women. The one man is dressed in a dark green robe and even in the dim sunlight I can see the utter surprise on his face.

“Stay away!” he grunts, his shoulders hunching down. He doesn’t know who I am but he’s already ready to attack.

“I’m not trying to hurt anyone.” I stop and put my hands up waving my fingers forward a bit, letting my brothers know they need to move forward.

I hear shuffling behind me, so does the man standing in front of me.

“Heathen! You will not disrupt Gaia’s plan.” He takes a step in my direction and my hands instinctively twitch toward my side where my gun is still safe in the holster.

“I don’t want to disrupt anyone’s fucking plan. What I do want to know is why you are forcing these women to bathe in a damn river. Where are their