Feeding Time

Chapter Thirteen

A gun goes off and I hear a small thump behind me as Adara collapses into the gray padded floor.
Jake glares at Gemma, who smiles and cocks her gun in response, Noah doing the same with fury in his brown eyes.
"Turn it off", the woman orders angrily. "Or I'll shoot you too."
The man's jaw tenses, but he moves the dial back down to zero and takes the headphones off before joining his wife on the floor.
My friends run over, Noah keeping his weapon trained on my captor while Gemma carefully undos the knots around my wrists, helping me stand up before guiding my arm around her neck to keep me upright.
"Can you walk?", she whispers in my ear.
"I-I think so", I murmur weakly. "But there's someone else we need to get."
"Do you know where we can find them?", she asks. I nod my head a little, my chin hitting my chest as I give up trying to preserve the strength I need to keep my head up. "Okay then. Just lead the way, and Noah will meet us at the car."
With my friend supporting most of my weight, I lead her all the way back to the Feeding Room, finding Samantha Moore chained to the floor by her wrists, fresh bruises dotting her face.
When she catches sigh of us, she tries to stand, the restraints yanking her back onto the cold cement ground.
"Theresa-"
"I'm fine", I mumble. "I can stand on my own for a bit, Gemma. Just get her out of the chains."
"Are you sure you can?" I manage a tiny nod, leaning some of my weight onto the wall as the woman releases me.
I watch through half closed eyelids as Gemma runs to the table, picking up a tiny knife I didn't even notice was there before and quickly trots over to my mother.
"Its okay", she assures Samantha, who looks at her with a panicked look in her eyes, jerking her hands away as my friend tries to stick the blade into the lock. "I'm a friend. I promise I'll get you out of here."
"You can trust her", I rasp, leaning all of my weight on the stone cold wall. "She's my friend."
My mom nods and let's Gemma pick the lock until it clicks, the metal falling off of her wrists and onto the cement floor. Both woman stand back up and walk quickly over to me, my friend slipping my arm back over her shoulders as my legs start to shake from exertion.
"You need to hold on just a little longer", she says gently. "I'll help you get to the car, and then you can rest for a while."
I don't respond, my eyes closed as I focus on sliding one foot in front of the other.
"Can you fire a gun?", Gemma asks Samantha quietly. "I can't hold mine if I'm keeping Theresa on her feet."
"Yes." I feel the woman's slight uncertainty in her voice, but make no comment on it as I stumble, tripping over my toes and letting out a weak cry.
"Stay awake." Gemma nudges me with her shoulder. "You can do it."
Her words sound like she's at the end of a tunnel, the sound echoing in my mind filled with cotton.
"I can't", I try to reply, but my mouth won't move and my eyes won't open as everything fades away.
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"- Will be fine", someone says. "I promise."
My eyelids snap open and I move my head to the side, my vision focusing to see the three people leaning over me.
"Holy-!" Morona covers my mouth with her hand, silencing my shocked cry.
"Shut up", she says quietly. "We're in public, dumbass."
I nod my aching head, widening my eyes to show that I understand.
"Why are you here?", I ask her once she removes her palm. "You were the one who-"
"- led your fake ex fiancé straight to you?", the woman finishes. "They didn't uphold their end of the bargain."
I sit up slowly, softly crying out as I look around. I'm sitting in the trunk of Noah's car, which is parked beside a gas station.
"Where are we exactly?", I ask after a moment, rubbing my forehead, trying to soothe the ache.
"Back in the city", Noah answers grimly. "Oh, and the police found your victims by the way."
"It wasn't my fault", I defend myself weakly. "They made me. I didn't want to."
My eyes flick to my mother's face and ask, "Is it okay if I give you a hug now?"
"I'd love that more than anything", she replies. "But let's get you out of the trunk first. People will probably think we kidnapped you."
"In the first place, we kinda did", Morona says, thoughtfully tapping her chin. "I mean, Theresa was perfectly happy in the insane asylum."
"It was safer for everyone", I snap, slowly hopping onto the pavement, a pebble stabbing my bare foot. "I only went because you begged me to."
"I was going to get put on death row for false charges", she argues. "And all the nurses knew by that time that we were besties."
"Because we beat someone up and then I stabbed him?"
"Pretty much."
"Fuck you."
The other two watch us, Samantha looking at me worridly while Noah sighs, rubbing the bridge of his nose tiredly.
"Does this happen a lot?", my mother asks him.
"All the time."
Morona sticks out her tongue as Gemma exits the gas station store, startling me as she walks over holding a plastic bag.
"Alright", Morona says, clapping her hands. "Let's go back to Texas."