Free Nothing on Earth by Rachel Clark Page B

longer to pick up supplies and return to the cave than he intended, but when he got there, he found the place empty.

Chapter Eleven

    Tara woke slowly, her confusion heightened by the fact that she seemed to be locked in a completely dark room. She moved her wrists only to find herself attached to a wall the same way John had secured her that first night.
    She shook her head sharply. Were the last three weeks just a dream?
    Hoping to get her bearings she blinked her eyes several times, trying to see the small LED display that had been in that little room. Nothing. There seemed to be no light of any kind, and the fear that she was actually blind started to seep through her.
    She tried to speak several times, but her tongue and lips felt strange, felt numb. She tried again but could force no more than a low moan from her throat. What the hell was wrong with her?
    Things felt surreal, almost like she floated outside her body, but at the same time like her skin was too tight. She rubbed her face and chest, the stinging, burning sensation just feeling worse. It took a few more minutes of trying to reach the skin on her back and shoulders before she realized that she was completely naked.
    A bright light hit her eyes. She slammed them closed and pressed her face into her arms. A cruel laugh sounded off to her left, and she blinked rapidly, trying to adjust her vision so that she could see her tormentor.
    Gasping for breath, Tara squinted against the harsh light but could only make out rough features of the man in front of her. He laughed again, and the violent urge to lodge his balls deep in his throat buzzed through her. If only he’d step a little closer. She didn’t give a fuck who he was. The bastard deserved pain simply for that mocking laugh.
    “Not so tough now?” he asked in English. “I had to promise Grieg first allocation just so he wouldn’t retaliate. You sure made a mess of his face.”
    He laughed again, but she hung her head lower, straining to remember. She had blurred images of a fight, fuzzy memories of elbowing someone, of Alec’s deep voice. She closed her eyes, the images gray and watery, her recollection poor and incomplete.
    She tried to talk, tried to ask what they’d done to Alec, but if felt like her tongue was too big for her mouth, and the words came out sounding like grunts. She growled low in her throat in frustration, and the man in front of her laughed even louder.
    “Kind of hard to use that smart mouth now that the drugs are kicking in, huh?” He said it in such a smug voice she wanted to kick the bastard again. She was pretty sure he was the one she managed to double over with a well-placed foot, but considering her current situation, it obviously hadn’t been hard enough.
    He stepped closer, and she lashed out with her foot, but even her coordination felt off, and she missed completely. He grabbed her by the hair and bent her backwards so that her entire weight dragged against her bound wrists. He leaned closer to smile into her face and then said words that chilled her to the bone. “Don’t you just love these drugs? You get to understand every word, every emotion, every action but can’t do a thing to control it. I love watching you humans get what you deserve, but I’m especially going to enjoy watching you get yours. Grieg is going to make sure you never forget who he is.”
    Tara tried to pull away, but he pulled harder on her hair until she cried out in pain. “That’s it, bitch. We’re gonna hear a whole lot more of that moaning before we let you get pregnant.”
    He released her, and she fell to her knees. Tara felt like she was crying, but the drugs in her system made her unsure of anything. Her vision blurred, and she rubbed her face frantically, the stinging itch feeling worse with every moment.
    “Now, now, we can’t have you messing up that pretty face.”
    Tara rubbed harder, lifting to her feet as her arms were pulled high above her head. Desperately, she began