Read The Last Revenant (Book 1): The Crash for Free Online

hit the dirt. I couldn’t get up, not after that.
    The warmth immediately began to wash over me as my body went into overdrive to react to the blunt force trauma. I stared at the ground with the taste of blood in my mouth and could hear feet step around me. I could see Ryan come closer through my peripheral until I closed my eyes from the pain. I wanted to cry. I really just wanted to give up and ball like a baby, but for the second time in a row, the water works just wouldn’t run. It made the physical pain worthless. I felt so helpless.
    “Turn around, Jessica.”
    I didn’t.
    “Please…”
    I turned and opened my eyes to see Ryan straddling a chair that he had dug into the ground around me, narrowly missing my arms and legs.
    He stared down at me blankly. Then finally, “Why do you think you’re here?”
    I didn’t know what he wanted me to say. Hell, I didn’t even want to say anything. At that moment I just wanted the world to disappear.
    “Jessica…” He paused. “You’re going to become a whore.”
    I closed my eyes. Now the tears were coming.
    “I promise you won’t get hurt if you do what you’re told, but I can’t promise you anything as long as you don’t do exactly as I tell you. Do you understand?”
    I let the tears run down my cheek and burn my skin. I must have gotten cut. I sobbed and tried to wipe the salty water off, nodding my head.
    “Good.” He sat there for a moment, just a few inches above my body as I’d long gone lost my composure and let my nose run, my tears now fresh on a worn-out face. “We leave in three days.”
     

               Wounded
    I thought about my mom. I thought about my dad and Sarah. How had they seen me? Daughter? Sister? I realized how effortless it was to lose sight of my own identity within daily life, but when I became grounded to my past, it always seemed to come back. And at that moment it was simple: I was not a sex slave.
    I wiped my nose with the back of my hand and got up from my cot. My eyes and nose felt puffy, probably still red, and a burning pain continued to throb through the side of my face. I felt emotionally spent, like a void had built up inside of me as soon as my insides came crashing down and absorbed into oblivion. It was an interesting feeling and I’d always been surprised at how clearly I would be able to think afterward. It didn’t matter if it was because I’d gotten yelled at for stealing a pack of gum and balling my eyes out at the mature age of twelve or getting into a heated argument after school and slamming my door shut, crying, being pissed off. Once it had all drained away, my actions had become clear. So it was clear to me that I had to leave. I had to find Zach.
    I gazed around my new home, my familiar little tent. I realized that things were different now. In this new world, this harsh, unpredictable universe where other people tried to take advantage of you and there wasn’t a simple phone number that you could call to get help, it simply wouldn’t hurt to have something sharp.
    I grabbed the wall of my tent and rubbed the soft fabric in between my fingers. The problem was I didn’t have anything to work with, but I made a mental note to remember that a giant piece of cloth and dry air would probably make a good fire if I ever got my hands on something to start one.
    I stared at my cot. It was the only thing left when I came back. I slowly walked over and bent down to check underneath the frame, careful not to twist or excite any of the muscles near my neck in any way. It was a metal, solid piece of work with nothing loose or extendable to pry off, but it gave me an idea.
    I dashed the front flap of my tent to the side and stepped out into the open, the last waning rays of light hitting me as they broke across the horizon. I took a few steps to the side and followed a guy line made of nylon as it passed through the top of the tent and then down into the ground, securing it in place. I had used to