The Test

Chapter Twenty-Seven

Layna

I didn't know how long I had been unconscious, but I was awoken to a searing pain in my stomach. Gasping, I clutched my bloody stomach but winced when I moved my arm and it just caused me more agony.

As I lay there, I remembered what had happened before everything went black. Derek had gotten shot. I hoped to God that it had been a hallucination because if it wasn't... he wouldn't have made it from those wounds.

"This should help for the pain," Someone said, and I slowly turned my head to see Timothy standing there with a syringe. I tried to move away but he just grabbed my arm and injected me with the clear liquid.

Almost immediately the pain lessened, and I breathed out a deep sigh of relief. That was until my mind finally cleared and I realized why I was in so much pain.

"You bastard," I choked out, my voice thick with emotion. "How dare you!"

He said nothing as he took my left hand in his and examined it curiously. I tried to pull it away but he held on with a vise-like grip. It didn't help that that was also my broken arm, and I could barely move it without it hurting.

He pulled off my engagement ring and threw it to the opposite side of the room. I realized that he had moved me into a bedroom and that I was now resting on a comfortable bed.

"Give it back to me!" I yelled, trying to get up and find the ring. My head spun as I sight up, and I had to lie back down or else I was going to pass out again. This must have been the blood loss kicking in.

"You won't need that anymore," Timothy snarled. "He's dead now, not much use to you."

I closed my eyes and let out a soft sob, as the ache in my chest became overwhelming.

"You're mine now," he whispered and stroked the side of my face. "I know it hurts now, but it will go away. There is no one who can stop us from being together; I got rid of them all. Steve, Tom, Derek...all gone. It's just us now."

"You killed Tom?" I asked, my voice a soft whisper as my heart broke into unsalvageable pieces.

"Unfortunately, I can't be fully credited for his death, but I had a part in it. He killed himself because he thought you were dead," Timothy stroked the side of my head, and I flinched away from him, "But I was planning on doing it anyways."

"Don't touch me," I spat. "I hate you!"

"In time you'll understand why I had to do what I did."

His words ignited something in me, and I snapped. I didn't care that I was injured and losing a lot of blood. All I cared about what that this monster in front of me had to die and I was going to be the one who would be honored to end his life. He had taken too much from me already, and he would not be allowed to continue his life with what he had done.

As the adrenaline surged through my body, the pain disappeared and I was surprisingly focused. I jumped on him, using my nails to scratch any exposed skin, digging them in as deep as they would go.

He cried out in pain and tried to push me off of him, but I clung to him, throwing a punch at the side of his head. He could do whatever he wanted to me, I had nothing to lose. He had already stolen everything I held dear to me.

As we struggled, we fell to the floor and something clanged as it fell next to me. I quickly glanced over and realized that it was the gun he had shot Derek with. He must have had it with him in his pocket or something.

I pounced on the gun, backing away from Timothy who was sitting on the floor staring at me. He had a smile on his face, as he watched me shakily holding the gun. He assumed that I was a weak girl, who had no idea how to use it.

The joke was on him though; while we were in Florida, Derek had taken me multiple times to the shooting range so I could practice, and we kept a gun in the house for protection. I knew how to use it, and I knew how to use it well.

I smiled right back at him as I flicked the safety off. His mouth dropped in disbelief, and I knew that I had him. "This is for my family," I whispered, and I shot him twice.

My two well-placed shots had hit him on either thigh. That way he could suffer as he slowly bled to death.

Suddenly, my body drooped, and I was overcome by exhaustion. I sunk to the floor as my knees buckled, and I rested there for a couple of minutes as Timothy groaned in pain. Then, taking the gun with me, I slowly crawled to one of the doors in the room that was slightly ajar and pushed it open. Like I had expected, it was the room I had been kept in for the past month. Looking at it now, I assumed that it was just a large walk in closet that had served a more sinister purpose for Leila and Timothy.

In the middle of the room lay Derek. He was lying on his back; his eyes blankly staring at the ceiling. His chest wasn't moving, and I knew that he was gone.

As the tears streamed down my face, I made my way over to him and lay my head on his bloody chest. I wrapped both my arms around him and held him tightly as I sobbed into his still warm body, and whispered over and over again how much I loved him.

***

When I opened my eyes some time later, the room was abuzz with activity and there was someone leaning over me.

Allan Greene smiled sadly at me when he saw that my eyes were open, but it did nothing to disguise the horror that was evident in his eyes. With a loud sob, I launched at him wrapping my arms around him as I cried in his chest. He held me as I bawled, lifting up my trembling body and taking me away from that room, away from all the horrors that had occurred.

I slipped in and out of consciousness as he brought me to an ambulance downstairs and the paramedics were quick in grabbing me and getting to work. Before he could leave I grabbed his hand.

"My...ring," I managed to choke out as I finally succumbed to the darkness that was waiting.