The Tainted Rose

Chapter twenty one

We should always keep moving forward, don't look back because you might not like what you see.

.

.

.

As I heard those words coming out of his mouth I knew there was no convincing him, but I tried once again, "Jaylen let's go, we can make it together you do not need to play hero."

"Ashley, if we keep this up they will get us both and it will be bad, so if there's a small chance that I can buy you enough time to make it out I will do it. Now go!" his words were so firm and he was so sure of himself that I obeyed his words.

"Whatever you do don't look back, keep going"

I kept going in the direction we were heading, but a short time had passed when I started hearing the fight. I couldn't continue even though I tried. I hid behind a tree and I could see them from a safe distance

"Where the fuck is she Jaylen?" Damien yelled at Jaylen who was already kneeling in front of them all beat up.

"Go..." Jaylen spit to the side some blood and that's when he saw me hiding behind the tree. He immediately turned his face towards them so they wouldn't notice and continued, "fuck yourself asshole".

"You will never find her twenty minutes ago I send her on her way and told her how to get to the city, so by now she's far away and you will never find her." He grinned at them and Evan punched him.

"We won't find her huh? Well you will never know because you won't be here to find out for yourself what happened."

Damien took the bat from Evan's hands and started beating Jaylen with it, after the first swing I flinched in horror from what I was witnessing, I gasped and put my hands on my mouth as I started crying. Tears kept falling down as I witnessed Damien bashing Jaylen's brains in and with his last breath he made direct eye contact with me and mouthed me to go. I cried even more as I saw the light go out in his eyes after that last word, since Damien took the final blow that killed him before my very own eyes.

I didn't know what bothered me the most, the fact that Damien killed Jaylen, that Evan and the girls witnessed the same thing as I did and remained calm, or that I was in so much shock that I couldn't move. I heard them saying that they had to find me because I was a threat and that if I got away their lives would be ruined. After that I took a deep breath and started backing up when I heard the sound of a branch breaking under my feet. I flinched at the sound that had just alerted them that someone or something was nearby.

"That must be her, get her now!" Damien ordered.

Everyone started running in my direction and I tried to run as fast as I could to avoid getting caught. I ran and ran and ran, but no matter how hard I ran, someone was still on my tail and that someone eventually caught me. We both fell to the ground as Evan held me tightly waiting for the other to catch up to us.

"I got her hurry up and get over here."

"Let go of me Evan! Don't do this!"

"Stop struggling Ashley, you will never get out."

After he said that I swung my head back as hard as I could and connected with his head. The pain was agonizing, but it was worth it since he let go of me. I stood up and tried to run, but he grabbed my leg and I fell again. I kicked him in the face and got up again just to be brought down by Yoana who was the first to arrive. She got on top of me and started hitting me over and over again.

"My life won't be ruined because of you, I will keep living in the free world."

When Damien caught up to us he got Yoana off me and made me stand up. He started saying a lot of things which I couldn't quite make out since the constant blows on my head caused me to pass out.

When I finally came to again I was back at the cabin all tied up in the same fucking chair.