Read Jason Frost - Warlord 04 - Prisonland for Free Online

heard the rustling noise to his right. Then up out of the grass the dark figure leapt with hands flexed into claws. Eric instinctively swung the shotgun around but, remembering Tim, hesitated pulling the trigger. The two bodies collided, somersaulting backward through the cushy grass, down the embankment. Eric reached out and grabbed a handful of hair, yanking the body after him as he slid backward into the cold stream.
    Eric felt the fists hammering at his face as he sank under the water, his cheeks ballooned out with the last gasp of air he’d taken before going under. A hard knee clipped him between the legs and his air exploded out in an eruption of bubbles.
    He let go of the clothing and grabbed a limb, Dodd’s thick and muscular arm he thought, until he realized it wasn’t an arm at all, but a leg, long and slender. Coltish. And the face snarling in the water in front of him was not Dodd at all, but the girl. Duchess.
    Eric wrapped his hands around her upper arms and lifted her out of the water as he stood up. She kicked at him with her bare feet until he dunked her back under the water, holding her head under until he felt some of the fight go out of her. He looked around for Dodd, but realized that if Dodd had been nearby, he would already have shot Eric.
    After half a minute, Eric lifted her out of the water. She sputtered, gasping for air, drooping limply.
    “Had enough?” Eric asked.
    She nodded.
    Eric started to carry her to the bank when she suddenly twisted in his arms, her slick body too slippery to hold, and wrapped her legs around his chest into a scissors lock. She clasped his head between her hands and pulled him toward her, sinking her teeth into his ear.
    Eric cursed aloud, trying to pull her from his ear. No use. Her teeth were sunk deep, gnawing away with ferocity. He clamped his hand around her throat and squeezed the windpipe shut. Within seconds she released his ear and was pulling at his hand. Blood was mottled around her lips and chin from his ear. He dunked her back under the water and held her there, pinning her to the bottom of the stream with his foot while he touched his tender ear. “Christ!” he complained. “What next?”
    When her fists stopped beating at his leg, he waited another ten seconds and hauled her up into the air again. Great gulps of water leaked from her mouth. She convulsed a couple of times then vomited into the stream. Eric held her downstream.
    “More?” he asked with an annoyed frown.
    She shook her head weakly.
    He hefted her up onto the bank and crawled up beside her, still dabbing at his ear. He retrieved the shotgun from the grass and looked at her. Her features were hard to make out in the dark, but beneath the soggy blond hair and smooth freckled skin there was no mistaking the fevered expression burning in her green eyes. Fear and hate. Around her neck were the bruised imprints of the choke collar she still wore like a necklace.
    Eric didn’t have time for this. There was no telling how much of a head start Dodd had on him. He had to get going again. Studebaker and Teasdale had said she didn’t speak, but she could still shake her head yes or no. And point.
    “Which way did Dodd go?”
    The girl looked confused. She sat up, squinted at Eric’s face.
    Eric tried again. “The man who took you. Which way did he go? Point.”
    The girl reached behind her back, up under her sopping T-shirt, and unhooked something from her bra. Eric tensed, his fist ready to swing until he saw she was just bringing out a clip-on case for glasses. She poured water out of the case, removed the pair of sunglasses, and put them on. The combination of dark glasses and dark night forced her to lean even closer to Eric’s face, almost touching, as she peered at him.
    Then she leaned back on her elbows and started laughing. It was a loud crackling laugh, like a crowd of crickets.
    Eric assumed the worst. The combination of losing family, sexual and mental abuse by that outlaw