I definitely wasn’t a crier, but if I could have screamed and cried over the extreme torment my body was suffering right now, I probably would have.
Unfortunately, my tear ducts were bone dry, and my voice was nonexistent at the moment.
All I could do was squeeze my eyes shut, and hope I lost consciousness again.
Soon.
Very soon.
Because there was only so much agony a person could take.
Tiny dots of light appeared as I prepared myself to sink into another dark abyss.
Possibly the last one?
And then, I heard it—that horrible sound of metal grinding against metal as the guards removed the bars and barricades to the door from outside. I’d learned to fear that sound so damn much.
Because it meant they were coming into my prison for some reason, and their purpose had never been good.
My eyes popped open as I listened, not sure if I was just imagining the sound, or if someone was actually coming in.
Except…the noise was a lot more subtle, and not nearly as loud as the guards usually were when they yanked the steel barricades from the door.
I closed my eyes because those obnoxious little pinpricks of light wouldn’t stop dancing around in front of me, and I was convinced that I was hallucinating…again.
Just when I thought I was having a moment of clarity, turns out, I wasn’t.
I was still hearing and seeing things that weren’t real.
At one point, I’d even believed that Mac was here with me, urging me not to give up. To keep fighting this battle until I was rescued.
Obviously, I was hearing all kinds of crazy shit and seeing things that weren’t reality.
Just like I am right now.
That scraping sound wasn’t the guards coming to taunt me.
Or the rebel leader.
Nobody was coming to beat me senseless again.
It was nothing.
Just my brain playing tricks on me.
Nobody was coming.
Ever.
I couldn’t even remember the rebels checking anymore to see if I was dead or alive, but hell, I easily could have missed it since I rarely had a moment of reason anymore.
It’s time for me to face it. I’m not going to make it out of Lania alive.
Since I couldn’t take care of myself, I was going to die, and stay here until somebody stumbled over my skeletal remains someday.
Reluctant acceptance washed over me as I felt the blackness rising up to shut down my befuddled brain. Until…
“Taylor, can you hear me? I’m going to get you the fuck out of here.”
The voice was deep, harsh, and spoken next to my ear in a low voice that I could barely hear.
I tried to ignore the illusive voice, knowing it was just another manifestation of something I desperately wanted to hear.
It was just a little bit harder to block out a gentle hand on my neck. None of the apparitions I’d conjured up in my brain had ever…touched me. I wanted to swat the delusional sensation away, but I couldn’t.
It felt way too real.
“She’s alive,” the low baritone said.
“She has a pulse, and she’s breathing.” A second male voice said in a no-nonsense tone.
“Taylor, squeeze my hand if you can hear me,” the first voice insisted as he took my fingers into his grasp. “You need fluids, but I don’t want you aspirating. I need to know you’re with me.”
Water? Oh, God yes. I’d do almost anything for that.
Phantom or not, I squeezed a little, because there was nothing I needed more than water right now, and I didn’t care who or what provided it.
“Good girl,” he said approvingly. “We’ll stop soon, but we have to get out of this area. Let’s move, Jax.”
“I’m ready. It’s like a goddamn oven in here.”
I wanted to scream in pain as I felt myself lifted like I weighed nothing at all, and then settled against a huge, solid object, most likely the guy’s chest.
“I’ve got your six,” guy number two said.
I could tell we were in motion, and I recognized the temperature difference as soon as this strong man carrying me had exited to the outdoors.
I relished the cooler air, and took as big of a breath as I could manage.
If this was all a pleasant delusion, I damn well was going to savor it.
“Taylor, my name is Hudson, and me and my brother, Jax, are going to get you to someplace safe,” my current captor said in a husky whisper next to my ear. “You’re going to be okay. We’ll stop and try to give you some water as soon as we get away from this damn camp.” He stopped talking for a moment before he added, “Jesus Christ! I hope you can still hear me, Taylor.”
The truth was slow to hit my addled mind.
This man isn’t a guerilla!
The guy hauling me away from the rebels wasn’t one of the them.
These men were here…for me. To rescue me.
Both of them had American accents.
They were my rescuers, not my enemy.
I willed my eyes to open, but they were uncooperative.
“I…” Dammit, I couldn’t get the words out.
I tried again, using every bit of strength I had left to whisper, “I hear you. Just can’t talk.”
“Good girl,” he crooned beside my ear. “I’d feel like a fucking idiot if I were just talking to myself.”
If I could have smiled, I would have. It was kind of crazy how calm and confident my rescuer was at the moment, but I was grateful for that cockiness because it made me feel safer.
I had no idea how he was setting such a brutal pace when he was carrying my tormented body with absolutely no assistance from me.
I couldn’t move my arms to help with balance.
Nothing.
And God, I really wanted to do whatever I could to assist him now that I knew he was my liberator and not my captor.
Relief flooded over me as I finally digested the fact that I was…going home.
I was going to live.
I wasn’t going to die in a remote area of Lania and become a pile of bones.
I was actually going to make it out of this.
“Harlow?” I tried to get her name out of my mouth.
Apparently, he heard the scratchy whisper. “She’s fine and back in the States. It’s all over for both of you, Taylor, I promise. You need some medical attention, but we’ll get you that. Hell, at least you’re not in a place where you’re baking alive anymore.”
He had no idea how thankful I was for that. I felt cooler already. It was summer, and it wasn’t exactly cool at night in Lania, but at least I didn’t feel like I was being roasted while my heart was still beating.
I drifted in and out of consciousness until we finally stopped. I felt myself being lowered gently down to the ground, and if it were possible, I would have bawled like a baby with relief when Hudson cut the bindings on my limbs.
Every muscle in my body still tremored with pain, but knowing I was finally free meant…everything.
“You have to drink for me, Taylor. I can’t just dump water down your throat,” Hudson said as I felt something wet being pressed against my parched lips. “You have to try to swallow.”
My entire mouth was cracked and dry, and as much as I wanted that damn water, it was hard not to flinch from anything that touched the painful area.
My eyes finally fluttered open, but all I could see was darkness. Hudson was nothing more than a shadow, even though he was holding me and tipping the water container up for me.