The Strays

Chapter Nineteen

My pain and despair soon switched to anger as I turned to Ratchet. “You bitch!” I screamed as I climbed to my feet. “You said you wouldn’t hurt them. Why would you do something like that? They were innocent people, they never hurt anyone, they just wanted to live in peace.”

“Reach and his people were knowingly harbouring fugitives, we couldn’t let that stand.” She smugly retorted as Drew held me back.

“Up until today you were a fugitive, in fact E.A.D were at the top of Delilah’s hit list, not above me, or Liberty but you were still pretty high up, so who are you to talk?”

“Don’t go getting lippy with me, tough girl, you’ve lost. GET. OVER. IT!” She hissed.

“You just made the biggest mistakes of your lives. Those people were the only thing stopping me from tearing your hearts out, now, they’re gone along with my last shred of compassion and patience. Everyone here has heard the stories of the things Ratchet trained me to do, you all know what I’m capable of and now you’re going to get to see firsthand exactly what I can do.” I snarled as I ploughed my fist into Drew’s face, continuing to pummel him and anyone else brave enough to face me, until Ratchet put a gun to Colt’s head. 

By this point, my fists, like the rest of me were covered in blood and there were at least a dozen unconscious bodies surrounding me, most unrecognisable. Drew’s broken arm, fat lip, and black eyes appeared to be the least damage anyone had suffered during my fit of rage.

I got back to my feet and glared at Ratchet. 

“I’d think twice before doing anything else, Cae, after all you haven’t quite lost everything, not yet anyway, though that will quickly change if you can’t behave yourself.” The older girl glowered, her finger gently stroking the trigger.

I dropped to my knees and put my hands behind my head, interlocking my fingers. “I did what you wanted, leave him alone.”

Ratchet pistol whipped Colt to make a point, knocking him out before putting her gun away and walking over to me. “That compassion and empathy isn’t entirely gone, now is it? That always was your weakness, you care too much about other people, it blinds you to reality.”

“Go to hell you deceitful bitch, you and Delilah are perfect for each other.”

Ratchet walked behind me and kicked me in the back, knocking me onto my stomach as she applied pressure. “You could have been so much more, so promising, and yet here we are, all that potential of yours, wasted.”

“Disappointing people was always a skill of mine, you aren’t the first to tell me I wasted my potential and I doubt you’ll  be the last.”

Ratchet dug her boot further into my spine as one of her guys handed her a length of rope that she used to bind my hands behind my back before dragging me to my feet and tossing me over to two of her goons.

I could feel the rope digging into my wrists and I did my best not to move too much as I was forced into the back of an old police van, Colt’s limp body being tossed in beside me. The cut on his head was pretty bad, and he was still out cold, but I was relieved to see he was breathing, even if he wasn’t quite awake just yet.

I took a seat on the bench that had been affixed to the wall and tried my best to hold on as the van trudged along, hitting every pothole on its way into the city. 

Roughly half an hour had passed before Colt woke up, and I watched with a smile as he tried to put his hand to the cut on his head, only to realise they were fixed behind his back like mine.