Bully

Chapter 41

   It took over an hour to reach Emily's house, and the slow pace made me feel like I was swallowing oil. The anxiety was choking me to death. I needed to reach her, but we couldn't move with any speed due to the police crawling around town. That and Gabrielle kept insisting we should at least stop off at Rogue's house to reload and get more ammunition.

  "Byker, we don't know what we're running into here," she persisted one final time when we finally reached Emily's house. "I've got a couple clips left and then I'm out,"

  I shook my head -I was too close to be making a detour now. She was in there — I could sense it. And something didn't feel right either.

  "Rogue might be there," I replied, trying to make up a logical argument to avoid turning away from Emily's house.

  "Rogue's not smart enough for that," she insisted, her jaw clenching with annoyance. "If he said people have your friend then they've got her. And I'll bet you my life that those people also have guns,"

  I shook my head. "I don't want your life," I retorted, before stalking into the well-kept garden that rimmed Emily's house. I heard Gabrielle curse as I left her with no other option but to follow me.

  Light spilled out of the curtains, revealing that there was people inside. It shouldn't be too extraordinary — it was approaching late evening now and most people would be at home. And yet just knowing there were people inside was causing my gut to tie itself in knots.

  "The car is outside and the lights are on. Her parents are probably in and your friend's probably fine," Gabrielle muttered, coming to a halt behind me.

  "Probably isn't definitely," I replied back in a hushed tone. "Can you pick the lock?"

  Gabrielle nodded, her face resigning to the fact that I wasn't about to leave here until I knew Emily was ok. She took a pin out of her sleek black ponytail which had somehow managed to stay in perfect condition despite today's events and slid into the lock of the door. Her eyebrows knitted together in concentration, but as soon as she applied pressure to the door it pushed open.

  "Someone's already here," I muttered. "We're too late, they're already here," I repeated, a panicked feeling bubbling up inside me.

  "Byker, you can't just go barging in there! We need guns!" Gabrielle hissed. But her efforts were futile and her words barely registered. She was like a whisper in the wind, and right now I was a storm.

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  I crept into the house, keeping my

  "I make out three voices. A woman's, and two men," she muttered in my ear, pressing her ear against the door. My eyebrows furrowed. I had heard the voices too. None of them belonged to any of Emily's family that I knew of. Although I had never met her father, so one could very well be his.

  That's when a scream sounded from upstairs. My blood froze. Emily.

  "Shut her up before the neighbours hear!" one of the voices in the kitchen yelled irritably. But I was no longer interested in the people in the kitchen. Carelessly, I shot off towards the staircase, no longer keeping a tab on the noise I was making. Gabrielle hissed something at me, but her words went over my head. I didn't care to stop and see what she thought, or to see if she would follow. I just needed to save Emily.

  I charged along the corridor, heading straight towards her bedroom door, and although every element of Emily's room was pink, I saw red. The red haze of anger.

  She was pinned to her bed, struggling as a half-naked, heavy eastern man forced himself onto her. Adrenaline pulsed through my vein, almost making me feel as though I had floated over to the man. He was bigger than me, he was stronger than me, and he was more experience than me, yet somehow I had managed to grab him by the collar of his shirt and pull him off Emily, causing his body to tumble onto the floor. The gun pressed against my leg, but I didn't use it.